Johnny Thomas to graduate, move on from NC State

Pack Pride is reporting that Thomas will graduate and move on from the program. After graduating he could also transfer and play right away somewhere other than NC State.

According to NC State head coach Sidney Lowe, redshirt junior Johnny Thomas is graduating this summer and could look to move on from NC State, possibly transferring to another school.Lowe reportedly addressed the situation at the Wolfpack Coaches Caravan last night in Atlanta, Georgia.

Thomas averaged .8 points and 1.1 rebounds in 5.2 minutes per game last season. He averaged 2.1 points and 2.1 rebounds in 11 minutes per game during the 2008-2009 season. One of Lowe’s first recruits as head coach, Thomas has battled injuries throughout his career and redshirted as a true freshman.

This rumor started gaining some ground in the last few weeks and came to a head in the last couple of days. There was some interesting discussion on the forums about it. Thomas, who has had a roller-coaster career with injuries and playing time, is one of those players you could never quite understand. He seemed talented enough to at least contribute at the ACC level but he was never healthy enough to make that a reality. Because of this his playing time never reached the level he would have liked and I always got the sense he was unhappy in Raleigh.

I could be wrong, but it’s the only way I can explain why Thomas would leave before the season when he would likely see the most minutes of his career.

This move also makes a mark on the 2010-2011 season more than you might think because of the depth Thomas would have provided at the small forward position. Unless the Pack take a transfer NC State will enter fall camp with 10 scholarship players, three of which will be freshmen. Obviously those freshmen will be more advanced than the freshmen from recent classes, but they will still be freshmen. Thomas would have been an important part of practice and early season games from a depth and experience point of view. His departure may not impact the point and rebound sections of the box score, but it will make a mark on minutes.

Another interesting aspect to this story is why Thomas is leaving. The rumor is that an AAU coach advised by Thomas and Josh Davis to leave NC State and get more playing time. I don’t know how true or untrue this belief is, but based on the impact AAU coaches have on kids every single day it would not surprise me at all. James at Riddick and Reynolds touched on this in his post about Thomas this morning. It’s worth the read.

10-11 Basketball ACC & Other College Basketball Sidney Lowe

24 Responses to Johnny Thomas to graduate, move on from NC State

  1. Plz2BStateFan 06/10/2010 at 9:36 AM #

    The players that do play will be better because they get to play more minutes. Unless we get injuries we are fine for this year. Its next year that becomes a bother assuming CJ makes the jump. Maybe Lowe can put together another large class.

  2. Derek Medlin 06/10/2010 at 9:40 AM #

    He won’t have a choice but to get a large class together.

  3. James C. 06/10/2010 at 9:41 AM #

    He’ll certainly have the scholarships available.

    Thanks for the link, brother.

  4. baxter 06/10/2010 at 9:56 AM #

    Yeah, I think next years class will probably be less eye catching, but hopefully we rope in some quality guys to support the backbone for 3-4 years. I guess that is the positive angle on another piece leaving.

  5. Alpha Wolf 06/10/2010 at 9:58 AM #

    The players that are leaving were hardly role players and didn’t look like they were going to make the step into that position. 0.8 ppg on a losing team tells me that Johnny Thomas was not going to make much of a jump when the talent is increasing for the next season.

    I certainly wish Johnny the best, and I will always wonder how he would have fared without his knee injury.

  6. PacknSack 06/10/2010 at 10:07 AM #

    It’s not like he is going to go somewhere else and in one season explode onto the NBA radar. He could transfer to N.C. Wesleyan and won’t get 30-plus minutes and average 20 and 10. At least he is getting his degree and won’t put a dent in the team APR.
    I wish him well and hope he finds what he is looking for at another school.

  7. choppack1 06/10/2010 at 10:18 AM #

    File this under head-scratching as well.

    Here you have a guy whose minutes appear to be limited by the problem w/ his knee…and he decides he wants to go somewhere to get more minutes?

    This offseason is starting to look Sendekian w/ the mass departures.

    Hopefully, it’s a sign of the talent we’ve got on the roster for 2010-2011 – and the kind that Lowe thinks he can bring in this year’s recruiting class.

    Now add swing man to combo guards for MUST HAVE in positions for the 2011 class. I wouldn’t be surprised if Painter or Vandenberg leave either this summer or next year, opening up another gaping hole.

    Still – these losses can be tolerated. All 3 of the folks we’ve lost were likely going to be reserves – and probably not the first reserve off the bench. What does bother me is that all 3 guys were supposed to be character guys.

    This is 100% Lowe’s team. He’s got the kind of guys he wants on the team right now at almost every position. Even if we have a good season next year – Lowe still isn’t off the hot seat – and I don’t think that individually these 3 guys would have made a difference in his ultimate success or failure here. Hopefully, we won’t be in a position in these next 2 years where we’re saying “If only we had Mays (Thoms or Davis”>

  8. 61Packer 06/10/2010 at 10:30 AM #

    The workerbees continue to leave the hive……….

  9. Alpha Wolf 06/10/2010 at 10:46 AM #

    ^ So far, this seems to be all about minutes, though.

  10. Gene 06/10/2010 at 10:51 AM #

    I was surprised to hear Thomas was planning on continuing with the team next year. I read he was on track to graduate early, so I figured with his injuries, he’d get his degree and try to make his way in the world.

    Maybe he’ll try to play somewhere for a year, but his knees are gone and unfortunately for him, they will probably be in terrible shape by the time he approaches middle age.

    One of the big reasons his minutes have been so low the last couple of years is because he had been battling constant pain in his knees, which limited what he could do during practice and games.

    I wish him the best.

  11. packattack95 06/10/2010 at 10:59 AM #

    Any potential recruits that we may pursue before the 10-11 season starts?

  12. Clarksa 06/10/2010 at 11:00 AM #

    As my High School football coach used to say after losing several guys during summer practice…we’re just dropping down to our fighting weight.

  13. rtpack24 06/10/2010 at 11:34 AM #

    Thomas has been shopping other schools since the middle of May. His selling point to other schools is that he will graduate and not have to sit out. He is going to be playing ball somewhere next year. When I know where I will share it unless by then everyone already knows.

  14. stejen 06/10/2010 at 11:47 AM #

    To me this was the most logical of the transfers so far. No, I don’t believe Thomas will get much more playing time at another school but he will get a fresh start and he will be able to use his last year of eligibility to start graduate school. Granted, he could have done that at NC State but I think this was more about getting the past behind him and starting off new somewhere else more so then playing time alone.

  15. Rochester 06/10/2010 at 11:54 AM #

    Unless we get injuries we are fine for this year.

    No worries, then. We’re NC State. Our guys never get hurt.

  16. wufpup76 06/10/2010 at 12:40 PM #

    Good luck Johnny.

  17. WTNY 06/10/2010 at 1:22 PM #

    Best wishes JT.

    Anyone know the walk-on situation for next year?

    Even we are fortunate in the major injury department, we will need a couple of good walk-ons to help out because we are sure to have some minor injuries that translate to missed practices during the course of a season.

  18. mafpack 06/10/2010 at 1:46 PM #

    Rochester – I lol’d 🙂

  19. Classof89 06/10/2010 at 1:53 PM #

    Guess we should stop making cracks about the Butch Davis waiver wire…Sidney’s putting together quite a revolving door operation of his own…

  20. newt 06/10/2010 at 2:13 PM #

    Congrats to Thomas for graduating. I appreciate our players that do their work in class and the leadership shown by the basketball program in this regard.

    In terms of impact, none of the transfers this year come close to impacting the team to the extent that, say, the Wear Bros’ transfers would impact UNC – and their impact was minimal as all agreed.

    Not saying there is no impact – it’s nice to have a full roster for practice and to support each other really – but paint some injury scenarios that were going to lead to signifigant playing time for JT.

    If Javi transferred, that would have impact.

    Also, the 2011 class is extremely important with or without these transfers. One great recruiting class might make for a decent year (or not if there are still gaps in the roster), but it takes back to back to back recruiting to build a program like we should have.

  21. coach13 06/10/2010 at 3:40 PM #

    What is the next class looking like?
    OBTW good luck JT.

  22. packalum44 06/10/2010 at 10:45 PM #

    It doesn’t really freaking matter WHY he’s leaving or if he would play. 3 in 1 year. Not good not good not good. It looks really bad and if I’m a kid I take a long hard look at that. Actually no, I take a short look. WTF is going on guys. Where there’s smoke there’s fire and I have a feeling some of you guys in the know have your lips sealed.

  23. hball57 06/11/2010 at 10:31 AM #

    I am facinated by the lack of undertanding people have towards college athletics. We look at playing sports for a D1 University as being glamorous. Yes there are great aspects to it. But it is a lot of work and a lot of time.

    A young man like Johnny Thomas may simply want a payoff for all of the hard work and energy he has put into basketball. If this is his last year of competitive basketball, maybe he could go to a program and play 25 minutes a game. Maybe Josh Davis can play overseas after graduating if he gets to copete at a differnt level and can get to play more. IF you are playing, you have to decide what would make you happy. If you live for being on the court in games, then you should go to where that can happen.

  24. PoppaJohn 06/11/2010 at 11:15 AM #

    One of Sid’s first recruits is graduating. (full stop)
    That is worthy of noting, and good news. Well done and best of luck JT.

    A little scary for next year’s recruiting. Several slots are opening up late, with little time to get quality players.

Leave a Reply