Just what the Arkansas athletic department needed - a little more drama.
The Arkansas men's basketball team will be without its only returning player with any real SEC experience next season as Patrick Beverley will not be back. No further details are being offered, but it's hardly a shock. Ever since Arkansas fired Stan Heath, there have been rumors swirling that Beverley was unhappy and was thinking of possibly transferring to USF to reunite with Heath. While there's no way to say how valid those rumors are, it'll certainly be intriguing to see how this plays out in the next few months.
The Hogs were going to struggle to not finish last in the west before Beverley's "departure". They're now without 87 percent of their offense and 77 percent of their rebounding from last season. I'm not sold on Pelphrey to get the job done in Fayetteville. He took one of the most experienced teams in the conference last season and turned in a ho-hum year. HogNation is certainly enamored with him now, but it'll be interesting to see how patient they'll be with Pelphrey, particularly if the Hogs fail to even make the NIT in 2008-09.
UPDATE (8/11/08): It's grades, so not much drama. Still disappointing though
Monday, August 11, 2008
More drama in Fayetteville
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4 comments:
There's no real "drama" - the kid didn't make his grades. But I guess that is quite a dramatic feat in itself considering the seemingly lax class-attendance requirements for "student"-athletes. Judging by the pic of Bev though, it looks like he had other things to do.
Even if it is "just" grades, where was the support system to make sure he was doing what needs to be done?
Regardless, after all the drama n NW Arkansas lately - Springdale, FOI, being turned down by their top 5+ choices in football and basketball, the Dana Altman debacle - the Arkansas brass wanted to disappear quietly in the sunset for the summer. This will not help that cause.
I agree with you that it's not good PR for the Arkansas B-ball team.
I was merely clearing up why Beverley can't play next year and countering your insinuation that he is leaving UA because he is unhappy - which has no basis in fact.
Was not trying to insinuate that Beverley was leaving because of he was unhappy. I was merely stating those rumors have been around since Arkansas fired Heath. I'm not one of those who subscribe to the theory that "if it's on the internet, it must be true", but those rumors have lingered. Because of student privacy laws, the real reason he's leaving may not come out at all. If it is grades though, seems both he and the coaching staff would've known this and he might have declared for the draft or gone overseas or something.
Regardless, it's a real loss for the SEC as Beverley was certainly one of the leading candidates for SEC POTY next year. In addition to his scoring, he's a fantastic rebounder from the 2G spot.
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