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(03-28-2012 12:58 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(03-28-2012 12:32 PM)rebounder2u Wrote:  Ovie is a senior to be, his choices are limited, if he is tired of college life and want to move on, thanks for being a Blazer, If he believe his senior year is worth playing out at UAB and it makes him more marketable, happy to have him stay.
But, the choices are easy, because they are so limited, stay or go, it all come down to who is helping him make the decisions, whether a parent is saying you stay and get better, dont quit, or if a runner is in the ear of his parents and saying, he can make 100's of thousands of dollars in europe.

Remember, Soko and former blazers playing overseas may be communicating about the leisure life, and he may believe the transition at this stage of his baskeball career isn't worth it, in addition we, at least I dont know what finanical advantages or disadvantages Soko face, does he need to earn a living, are his parents well off.

Who knows what is going on, but until Soko leaves, he is a Blazer, when he leaves he is a Blazer.
I will respect his decision no matter what he decides, and I will show him respect for the blood and sweat he shared for UAB.

Keep in mind that from Ovie's and Scotty's perspective, they are already playing overseas and all this unhappiness may be just good old fashioned homesickness.

That's the thing we don't know, and it's impossible for us to ever really know. What were their goals when they came here? Does staying here help them achieve those goals or not? Was Ovie already considering leaving even before Davis was fired, and now he's even more apprehensive about the change? Some people just hate change. We have no idea what factors they might be considering. Plus, they're kids. Kids don't always think rationally, so trying to speculate about what they might do based on what would be rational to an adult is a fool's game.

My guess is Haase is smart enough to know he can't start his head coaching career pandering to marginal players. I hope he's being straightforward about what their opportunities are but making clear he's going to be fine either way. If the players who are considering leaving were happy here before Davis was fired, I bet Haase brings them around. If they weren't happy here, I bet he barely even tries. It may sting a little in the short-term to lose Ovie or Preston or anyone else we thought might get minutes, but we'll be better off in the long run with players who want to be here and made a fresh decision to be at UAB after the new coach laid out in a clear, honest way what he expected from them.

Either way, I won't have any ill will towards them. There are so many unknown factors that go into these kinds of decisions that it's just not fair to judge. All I know is that if I was an athletic, talented basketball player who knows how UNC plays and knows Haase is bringing that to Birmingham, it would sound fun as hell to me.