Wow

[romar]

9 times our of 10 - Perception is reality - St. Joe's & Phil Martelli need to realize that this will be recruiting fodder for many years to come if they are holding O'Brien up over a summers worth of tuition and/or personal vendetta by the coach. They need to either roll-over or state their case in some manner. JMO...

[Bravesfan]

It's clear cut you are not getting your release.

And it's clear cut that you have no clue about freedom of choice in this country!

Really! Are you telling me the kid can't decide to change his mind because the NCAA and the St. Joe's administration won't overrule Martelli, who's acting like a petty dictator here?! Amazing!

And the biggest cretin here is the St. Joe's athletic director who doesn't have the guts to fire Martelli on the spot! THAT'S the biggest issue here!

[Bravesfan]

I used to respect Coach Martelli. I thought he was a really good coach at St. Joe's. After reading that article I would never let my kids go play basketball for him. He sounds like a big egotistical "richard". I don't understand why the AD can't overrule him on this one. It does not sound like he has any problem with it at all.

I agree. Same here. Yes, we haven't heard their side of the story yet, but if this is all there is, well Martelli looks like 2 year old who won't get his way! Now that Tim published this piece in SI, I think it's even more important to hear St. Joe's side of the story, because the longer they go without doing that, they look worse and worse by the hour.

[Bravesfan]

Who are you? Are you just trying to get under everyone's skin on purpose or do you believe in your posts. As much as I did not like SM leaving BU I would have been madder if BU did not release him. A person last I checked if they complied with the rules has the ability to transfer. I really hope you're not a judge.

+1 SFP. See my response to him above.

[Bravesfan]

More backlash to St. Joseph's refusal to grant a release to one of its players...

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/42525/what-is-phil-martelli-doing

Seems like the solution is pretty clear-cut!

Spot on! Now that the ESPN bloggers are expressing their disgust with Martelli, it's becoming more evident that there is no "other side" of the story!

[Bravesfan]

Now there's a bit more info coming out...

but the single main thing is that after St. Joe's declined to sign off on the kid's waiver - the player (O'Brien) appealed to the NCAA
who could have granted the release and overridden the failure to sign off by St. Joe's..
BUT the NCAA instead chose to side with St. Joe's and did NOT override on the kid's waiver request -
so in the end the final decision was by the NCAA not by St. Joe's.

People who are condemning St. Joseph's or their coach Phil Martelli - are obviously doing so without knowing virtually any of the facts,
except the ones (if true- and we have no independent verification on many of his statements) that the player chose to go public with.
St. Joe's has stated plainly that they have more facts that would support their position but that they are under federal regulations
that prohibit them from even mentioning the name of the kid or speaking to any of the circumstances
unless they have his permission to do so and he has NOT granted them permission to release any info.

Fine, but the NCAA does not have to be the final arbitrator here. All Martelli needs to do is sign the waiver, so I still hold him and St. Joe's responsible.

Regarding the other circumstances, well that's unfortunate if they can't state their side of the issue, but as was stated earlier, if it was something negative this guy did to the team and the school, I would think Martelli would be happy to release him. And even if this is something they can't talk about, it still makes St. Joe's and all involved look bad.

[tornado]

The kid in question who had petitioned for the extra year at UAB, Todd O'Brien
has now officially finished his season and never did play....

UAB played their SENIOR NIGHT Wednesday...
and three seniors were honored - with one other being a somewhat familiar name...

"He just couldn't play. He was, in the words of Coach Mike Davis, "the poster
child for being mistreated" by St. Joseph and the NCAA"

The other kid was Beas Hamga - the well travelled 7-footer who never got much playing time anywhere..Iowa, New Mexico, UNLV, Valpo, junior college, then finally UAB..
He played 3 minutes on senior night, and totalled only 34 minutes in 9 games in his career at UAB...scoring one basket.
He was originally a 5-STAR recruit - LINK

http://uab.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1337151