What praytell did I misrepresent? I said he had 6 transfers in three years which averaged 2 transfers a year. That is a fact.
Fact: This is Gott’s 5th offseason as State’s head coach.
Fact: During those 5 offseasons, he has had 8 players transfer out of the program: Harrow, TDT, Raymond, Harris, Painter, Purvis, Lewis, Washington
Fact: The first 5 of those transfers occurred in the first 2 offseasons.
Fact: Harrow’s transfer was due to coaching turnover.
Opinion: The TDT, Raymond, and Harris transfers were due to coaching turnover, once those players played one year under Gott and saw how he would use them (or not).
Fact: Painter transferred out due to a family situation.
Fact: Gott has had 3 of ‘his’ recruits transfer out: Purvis, Lewis, and Washington.
Opinion: TDT, Raymond, Harris, Lewis, and Washington transferred out due to lack of playing time.
Opinion: So far, Painter is the only transfer out that actually negatively impacted the program.
Fact: To offset these transfers out, Gott has brought in 5 transfers: Johnson, Turner, Lacey, Lee, Henderson.
Opinion: The net transfer results have been a net positive to the program.
IMO a reasonable person would boil the above down to the fact that Gott has lost one of his own recruits each of the past 3 offseasons, which are the offseasons after the coaching turnover. Those transfers have mostly been due to concern over playing time. That is not atypical in major college basketball today. When combined with the transfers in, Gott has managed this well IMO.
As for players leaving early to go pro, that has certainly hurt the program, as Brown, Leslie, Warren, and Lacey would have all been difference makers if they stayed. It appears that Warren made the right decision. Brown and Lacey were kind of in the same boat. No one can really know if Brown made the right decision; he is in the NBA and has probably made a lot of money already, and no one can know for sure how his path would have been different had he stayed. Same deal for Lacey. I can’t begrudge either of them making that decision. In Leslie’s case, he probably actually hurt himself by staying a year longer than he should have. But, again, I can’t begrudge him that decision.
Bottom line, if you successfully recruit players at the talent level of Leslie, Brown, Warren, Lacey, Purvis, Lewis, Abu, Cat, Anya, et al., some of them are going to be good enough that they will leave early to go pro; some are going to be good enough to earn minutes that make them happy, so they will stay; and others aren’t going to be good enough to earn minutes that make them happy, so they will transfer out. Would you prefer that Gott instead recruit less talented players? I wouldn’t.
Would you like to arrgue that having only seven scholarship players is a good thing?
I have never made such an argument, and, in fact, I specifically posted about it yesterday in response to a VaWolf post in one of these threads. Frankly, it’s a stupid question, as no one would answer that it is a good thing. Does asking a stupid question somehow prove a point in your mind?
