Dom Pointer was nowhere near a BE caliber player as a junior and all BE as a senior. He averaged 5 points and 3 rebounds a game and shot .40 percent from the floor as a junior. As a senior he averaged 13 and 7 and shot 50 percent from the floor. How many of you NBA scouts predicted that? Now a kid who averaged 8 and 5 and shot nearly 50 percent from the floor as a junior, including half a dozen double doubles, including a thirty point game against 2 front court guys who are going to play in the NBA, a kid who showed remarkable improvement over his previous years in which he had limited playing time, you're all pronouncing like Moses come down the mountain that he stinks and was a bust. I don't know how anyone who has watched college basketball for any length of time can not have seen what happens to players their senior years or how important upperclassmen are to success on the court. We've made the tournament twice in ten years both times with rosters comprised completely of seniors, which teams made quantum leaps forward between their junior and senior years. But no by all means let's sign a 2 star freshman, maybe he'll turn out to be a diamond in the rough. I'd say you can't make this stuff up, but clearly you can.
If the player is no good, it doesn't matter if they are seniors or not. See: Johnson, Durand and Mvouika, Ron.
Man, it's amazing how a guy that was extremely average as a junior for 95% of the season on a 1-17 team and has proven he can't play defense or pass plus turns the ball over an obscene amount for his position gets so much love
I think we've all been guilty of assuming that a poorly performing underclassmen could never turn into a valuable part of the team, but we'd be ignoring a great deal of our own history if didn't acknowledge that seniors usually play well. Even the guys who didn't play well at all up until then.
Tyshawn Edmonson became a player who was eventually scouted by NBA teams. Cedric Jackson actually became an NBA player. David Cain was a total bust until he became one of the top point guards in the BE and nationally, too. Donald Emanuel was every bit as bad as Amar was last year during his sophomore season. That dude would commit fouls instantly, and anywhere.
A few years ago I said that Quincy Robetts should transfer because expected the incoming freshman to be ready from day one to play, and play well. Out of our awesome ten player class, only 2 guys were ready to play, and both Harkless and Harrison were far from a guarantee every time out. Roberts would have really helped that team. He showed only a small glimpse of what he could do against Notre Dame, and basically got worked in just about every other game when we had him running the point. But he got better. Much better.
Like I said above, the staff needs to figure out how to coach him up.