It is really sounding like Davis is going to be redshirted this year.
He talked about recruiting local players. Odem, Wattad and Wiggins.
He said ETSU was interested in them but was told early on that they all
wanted to go somewhere out of the area. He also brought up a point I had forgotten. Shulman was still a coach at UH when Cutlip (Science HIll's coach) was there in 86-87 so they had a long relationship so that gave Shulman an inside track with Odem.
It's been a war of wills. Bartow has been wanting to redshirt Davis unless he *really* completely recovered before now. Davis *really* wanted to play this year; he's graduating, after all. Bartow has again imposed his will, sort of daring Davis not to go somewhere else. I may be painting that a bit dramatically, but that's the conflict. We got that point coming in from IN, so Davis may be tempted to "think outside the Dome". To be clear, I have not heard that from him, but it doesn't take a genius to see that. I personally think bartow is hedging his bets here, at the expense of the kid. Just my opinion........
Hubbard may not be able to help us much this year at all, either. Remains to be seen, but his foot is very slow to heal - tough injury.
"...at the expense of the kid."
I'm not sure that I know what would be "at the expense of the kid" here. I think that Jocolby might well be better off taking another free year, and getting in great shape to try to finish strong. Granted, there will be a real log jam at guard next year, with Sollazzo coming back at point and the new point guard Grimm coming in. But Sollazzo can't give us the 'drive and dish' option that Davis can; and we have seen from Adam's struggles how hard it will be for the freshman Grimm to take over at the point.
Murry might actually benefit by getting what he can out of the kid as a spot player over the next dozen games and then saying 'by-by' and freeing up another scholarship. That sounds more like 'using' the guy to me. Take what you can to bolster a team with a weak bench, even if it doesn't represent Jocolby at his best.
Frankly, I do not see Murry acting 'at the expense of the kid' here.
I don't understand the using the kid either. Bartow is wanting to let the kid play a whole year of ball instead of half a season at best. I would find fault if Bartow was pushing the kid to come back and play so he could free up the scholarship for next year. If the kid wants to play, I say let him go ahead and play use the scholarship. If he wants to stay in a school and start working on his masters and get a whole year of playing in that would work to.
Even if Davis could somehow play a few minutes tonight, he's had almost no practice time. It would probably be another 2-3 weeks before he's really in "game" shape. So he would only be really healthy for maybe eight games of his senior year. Just doesn't make sense to play him at this point, even though he might be able to help ETSU win a key game at some point--say, in conference tournament.
As a juco player, Davis' best performance is likely to come in his senior year. So to have him play only a small fraction of that year would be a waste. Also, with only one rising senior next year (Mike Smith), it would be a plus to have a second senior on the perimeter.
The injuries to Hubbard and Davis are unfortunate, but it makes sense to redshirt them at this point. With them, and their toughness on D, I think we'd probably be 15-2 right now, with only losses to Temple and Bradley.
On the plus side, it's possible Sollazzo and Jones are developing faster than they would have with Davis and Hubbard eating up minutes. And the minutes at point guard should help Courtney in his pro endeavors.
There is more to the situation. Bartow IS looking out for Jocolby on this one. I will elaborate more after the season or this situation is over with.
I'll take your word on that, ETSUAlumni. The thing is, if he's graduated, he may not want to 'hang around' another year. Who says he's going to get a Master's?
Don't know if wants a Masters are not but to me sounds easy. His major is Business. Another free year of school to get his MBA and ETSU's MBA program has a pretty good rep. Having an MBA vs just a Bachelor's could make a big difference in $$$$ over the long haul. As a bonus one more year of college life and getting to play basketball.
R