For His Sake, We Hope Chris Wright Does Well @ G’Town

Basketball Recruiting General21

Were you wondering where Georgetown was going to get the slew of available scholarships for Chris Wright and all of their other recent commitments?

Well…worry no more.

The Hoyas are starting to clean house with sudden “departures for undisclosed personal reasons” by non-contributors to make room for the new superstars. (Link to recent entry on the topic)

This guy was only a freshman.

Oh well…we certainly hope that Chris Wright does well…and does well IMMEDIATELY at Georgetown. If not, we have wonder how long he will even be allowed to stick around school when the next crop of highly rated recruits want to commit to the Hoyas and there aren’t any scholarships available.

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Basketball Recruiting General

21 Responses to For His Sake, We Hope Chris Wright Does Well @ G’Town

  1. westwolf 10/20/2006 at 12:27 PM #

    It’s funny how the NCAA will fixate on situations in which a recruit is given an unauthorized ride to lunch, or a player gets money to fly home for his father’s funeral, but crap like this as G’Town, or tOHS paying players, or schools hiring a rectuit’s relatives, or Reggie Bu$h taking hundres of thousands gets ignored.

    What a disengenuous organization.

  2. redfred2 10/20/2006 at 12:46 PM #

    Run along now young man, we have bigger ambitions than any your contributions have shown so far. Oh, and BTW, have a nice day.

  3. partialqualifier 10/20/2006 at 1:20 PM #

    I totally agree with westwolf! There are soooo many issues with the NC2A that I couldrant all day!

    Overall tho…not a big deal that the kid left. If I remember correctly we had quite a few of those during the “Sendek Years.” Anyone remember Adam Harrington? The only difference was we didn’t have Chris Wright stepping in to replace him! LOL!

    SFN: The “only difference”? There is nothing similar about State losing a host of starters and key players for a decade because they weren’t happy with a school who already has a pipeline of top talent committed for scholarships that are not currently available.

    Furthermore, John Thompson III is a good guy. I don’t know why this kid left, but Coach Thompson does things the right way usually.

  4. vtpackfan 10/20/2006 at 1:40 PM #

    I would actually like to see the Wolfpack in this type of storyline one day. Its like a conservative Republican bashing Clinton for being morally inferior only to wake up one day in power and with the whole world watching you take out your trash.

  5. ShootingGuard 10/20/2006 at 1:43 PM #

    “If I remember correctly we had quite a few of those during the “Sendek Years.â€? Anyone remember Adam Harrington?”

    Unfortunately, you don’t remember correctly. Adam Harrington was recruited to play for 4 years and was overhyped as a star. Unfortunately, he was unable to make some mental adjustments to college life and college bball (despite seeing a counselor), had an overinvolved family (his mom would actually call Sendek and demand playing time and shots ala Gerald Wilkins), and, in general, was not a good teammate (hooked up with Archie Miller’s girlfriend, Kenny Inge and others hated Adam and would not pass him the ball, etc.). These and a number of other reasons led to Adam HIMSELF choosing to transfer…although Sendek and Kenny Inge didn’t cry when he left.

    This is FAR different from recruiting a bunch of all-stars with scholarships everyone in the world knows you don’t have open at the moment and THEN, when you get a star to commit, making a guy you just recruited move on to make room for the star…It would be different if the kid moved on for “personal reasons” and THEN JT3 went after a replacement…In this case, JT3 got Wright to finally commit, and then gave this kid the ultimate “personal reason” to leave (“You are never going to play, we need a scholarship, and I ‘personally’ recommend that you leave despite everything I told you before when I needed a body and recruited you to come here.”)

    “Furthermore, John Thompson III is a good guy. I don’t know why this kid left, but Coach Thompson does things the right way usually.”

    “Good guy” and “usually” may be key words here. JT3 has already been successful and will likely be VERY successful at Gtown. But, he is going to cut “every” corner he can to get there (just like his daddy “usually” did with “student” athletes), and not honoring the word you give to a guy you just recruited and his family is not being a “good guy” by any relevant definition. Just because you beat Duke and a coaching change gave you a chance to get a star recruit doesn’t make it right to screw some other kid…

  6. StateFans 10/20/2006 at 1:46 PM #

    ^ We cannot thank Shooting Guard enough for his presence and comments on this blog. He brings A LOT of value to our conversations and we just want to say thank you.

  7. Dan 10/20/2006 at 1:57 PM #

    We’d all love to have G’Town’s problem of not enough scholarships for the top 50 players that want in.

    Guys leave teams all the time for “undisclosed reasons”. Its called finding out you arent good enough for big time basketball. Its the same thing that drove Keith Bean, Mike O’Donnell, Dom Meija and Mike Bell from NC State. They couldnt cut it.

    That kid saw the writing on the wall and wanted to play ball more than he wanted to be at G’Town.

  8. westwolf 10/20/2006 at 2:01 PM #

    “Its called finding out you arent good enough for big time basketball. Its the same thing that drove Keith Bean, Mike O’Donnell, Dom Meija and Mike Bell from NC State. They couldnt cut it.”

    ^Sorry, but this is complete BS.

  9. EdoubleE 10/20/2006 at 2:25 PM #

    JTIII is as shady as they come. I completly agree with SG. He is bending the rules and it’s disgraceful, IMO. Shameful that he doesn’t manage his scholies and keep promises to guys. Maybe the guy is leaving for personal reasons. Maybe he sees the writing on the wall without being told to leave. But it shouldn’t even come to that if he didn’t recruit over the guy and give him a chance as an upperclassman. That’s something that no NCSU coach has ever done that I recall. They’d never get to heavy at one spot. The opportunity would always be there to develop into a starter or get minutes. Shameful, disgraceful, and inappropriate bottomline.

  10. ShootingGuard 10/20/2006 at 2:35 PM #

    “We’d all love to have G’Town’s problem of not enough scholarships for the top 50 players that want in.”

    Not if it means telling a kid one thing and then changing it on them and doing another…You keep preaching that Sidney Lowe should save some scholarships for future stars, and you are absolutely right—so that Sidney Lowe can rebuild the “right” way rather than the way JT3 has chosen to do it by screwing a kid he just recruited.

    “Bashing JT3 is ridiculous. Its so bad, that its not worth getting into. Guys leave teams all the time for “undisclosed reasonsâ€?. Its called finding out you arent good enough for big time basketball. Its the same thing that drove Keith Bean, Mike O’Donnell, Dom Meija and Mike Bell from NC State. They couldnt cut it.”

    Googs sucked coming out of high school, but Jim Valvano did the “right” thing and honored his word to Tom’s father and the program benefitted by Googs’ development and we all enjoyed his play. IF JT3 is the coach, Tom’s jersey likely does not end up in the rafters…This kid wasn’t at Gtown long enough for anyone to know whether he could cut it…

    “That kid saw the writing on the wall and wanted to play ball more than he wanted to be at G’Town.”

    There is a difference between seeing the writing on the wall YOURSELF, and someone TELLING you the writing on the wall and giving you a good shove after telling you something completely different just a short time before…

    “Bashing JT3 is ridiculous.”

    No, it’s called being fair. If Jim Valvano can be trashed for some real discretions as well as a ton of mythical ones, then JT3 should be open for criticism just like everyone else in the biz including Kelvin Sampson, Bobby Knight, Herb Sendek, Sidney Lowe, Roy Williams, Coach K, etc. If JT3 doesn’t want any heat on this, he should go back to the kid and say he is sorry and give back the scholarship he promised the kid or let the kid REALLY choose on his own…and, then, if Jeff Green goes pro in the spring, Chris Wright has a spot that is devoid of criticism…No sour grapes, hopefully Sid Lowe will sign Chris Warren—and won’t screw him over if OJ Mayo or someone higher rated were to call…

  11. Cardiff Giant 10/20/2006 at 2:38 PM #

    I’ve said this before and, at some risk of sour grapes accusation, to hell with this little bastard. I don’t wish him ill, but I wouldn’t be disturbed to see him hanging off the back of a sanitation truck in five years, either. In my view, when you make a commitment, you stick to it. Whatever the result, he’s ancient history in my book.

  12. Rick 10/20/2006 at 2:39 PM #

    I would think this kind of thing woudl hurt your recruitng in the future.
    Seems wrong to me.

  13. RickJ 10/20/2006 at 2:59 PM #

    Slim Duncan (even though he never actually got to State) and Kenny Poston would be much better examples than Adam Harrington, Keith Bean, Mike O’Donnell, Dom Meija and Mike Bell.

    I can’t honestly say I’m glad Les Robinson passed up on Jason Sasser and/or Joe Smith because we didn’t have any scholarships. He may have been better served making room for one or both of these players.

    SFN: Holy cow this couldn’t be a better point!!! Or what about not accepting Ray Allen’s commitment because we didn’t think we were going to have any scholarships because of verbal commits from other players. JT3 & BTB would simply have taken the commit and found a scholarship in some other kid’s “personal reasons”

    I distinctively remember a story regarding Bear Bryant after the NCAA had passed the first of the scholarship limits (I think it was 105 or 110). This was way before the 85 limit. Of course, Bear hated any limits and he had to cut loose a number of senior players (8 – 10 I think) that weren’t that good in order to sign all the new recruits that he needed. He said it was the hardest thing he ever had to do in his coaching career. Of course, it wasn’t so hard that he would actually sign fewer recruits and let the stiffs remain on the team.

    And it never hurt his recruiting.

  14. Cardiff Giant 10/20/2006 at 3:18 PM #

    Sounds like Big John Bunting’s waiver wire, actually.

  15. redfred2 10/20/2006 at 4:07 PM #

    It’s all about timing boys. They just get a commitment from a recruit who was in limbo(?) right up until the final hour, but have no scholarship to offer. Then another great recruit commits to the place where that uncertain kid was leaning, but the program he commited to in the final hour still doesn’t really have room for him. What do you know, right in nick of time, a young man all of sudden finds personal reasons to leave the program.

    A scholarship unexpectedly just happens to open up for that verbally commited and much sought after recruit. Et voila, problem solved.

    What a stroke of luck for the Gtown program, not the kid leaving of course. I never would have seen any of this coming.

  16. Woof Wolf 10/20/2006 at 5:15 PM #

    This kind of stuff doesn’t hurt recruiting because almost all of the kids think they are going to be superstars. ‘No one would ever want to get rid of me.’

  17. vtpackfan 10/20/2006 at 6:50 PM #

    ‘This isn’t Russia Danny, is it? Is this Russia, no I didn’t think. No, the question then is do you want to go to college?”
    Capitilistism 101 boys, and girls. American colleges need to produce bright young Americans. Its dog eat dog everywhere.

  18. class of 74 10/21/2006 at 6:42 AM #

    Just one small point. A scholarship offer is a one year deal only not a four year deal as many think. Now you may make the moral argument of what is a commitment? But the contract is for one scholastic year only so, technically there is nothing “wrong” with the practice of non-renewal but the practice cuts both ways. Future recruits will be made aware of the Georgetown staff’s practices in recruiting and can’t imagine that will be helpful to them.

    SFN: Technicality

  19. ADS95 10/21/2006 at 11:23 AM #

    A little info on the kid that was “cut”:

    Josh Thornton, 2005 recruit
    Had offers from Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgetown, and Va. Tech, along with interest from Georgia Tech, Kansas, Wake, and Miami.

    Bet he’s wishing he had gone to one of the other schools now.

    As for the scholarship being a 1-year deal…I’ve always taken that to mean that the coach has the right to revoke it if you are flunking out or not following team rules. The rule gives the coach some authority over the players to make sure they are handling their part of being a student-athlete and a representative of the University. It is NOT a tool for the coach to simply say “sorry, you haven’t panned out and I want someone better”.

    Hell, remember Damien Wilkins? When Herb told him he couldn’t play any more, he also told him that he could STAY ON SCHOLARSHIP if he chose. Herb honored that commitment because Damien was holding up his end of the bargain in the classroom. That’s the RIGHT way to do things.

  20. NCSUownzJoo 11/21/2006 at 9:28 AM #

    Archie Miller must be a nice guy. If Harrington had done that to me ONE of us or BOTH of us wouldn’t be playing for NCSU anymore. Cause I would beat that little punk stupid.

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