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Freshman Leaves UNLV

tornado

tornado

New member
another mid-season transfer....

Beas Hamga, a 7-footer who prepped at Decatur Christian, and who has been discussed many times here on BradleyFans, is leaving UNLV and will transfer elsewhere.
He was highly rated and highly recruited, going to UNLV, then sitting out a year due to his overseas/pro connections (like Iowa State's Lucca Staiger who was a teammate of Hamga's at Decatur Christian).

He was touted as going to be their starting center from DAY ONE!!!
Once he was eligible and started playing however, reports began that he looked awful and was a long term project.
Makes you wonder how they can miss so bad on talent?
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/dec/12/hamga-granted-release-unlv/

Yet one more who aimed "too high"!
 
wow-- lots of stuff going on with Cameroonian Beas Hamga leaving UNLV....even some intrigue and allegations of tampering.

First-- right off the bat, this kid was a 5-STAR prospect, and even had an extra year to mature sitting out last season at UNLV.
then when he played this season he was widely viewed as a project....called overrated by some.


second...this article seems to suggest he is angry at how he was treated in Las Vegas, left without even saying goodbye to his own teammates and roommate, and that he is going to Indiana!
Indiana University presently has Gambian and country-mate of Saihou Jassey, Tijan Jobe, but he has only scored one basket in eight games, and barely gets garbage time even in 25 point blowouts.

Then they (Indiana) have signed 7-ft Ghana native Bawa Muniru, who is presently at Mt. Zion, but averaging only about 4 ppg, and possibly seems overrated also....just how is it a 20 year old - 7-footer can struggle to score against high school kids?
Could IU end up with three 7-ft African kids?
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/dec/12/frustrated-playing-time-hamga-departs-unlv/

Lastly, a discussion fortified by some UNLV posters on the Indiana board suggests how Beas Hamga was possibly tampered with & convinced to leave UNLV and transfer to Indiana by the IU folks, since they need size badly.
This thread was axed but other threads there still refer to it...
http://indiana.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?highlight=hamga&sid=942&fid=726&tid=121978414&mid=121978414
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=169&f=2616&t=3594736
 
Now word is that Indiana & Tom Crean are aggressively pursuing Jeff Withey a 5-Star kid (freshman) who just left Arizona after Lute Olson left, and who is going to transfer elsewhere.
Withey first committed to Louisville (Oct. 2006), then decommitted when Louisville's interest backed off after Withey injured his shooting hand and he wanted to play closer to home in San Diego.
Then went to Arizona, where he quit before he even played a single minute.
Thus he is eligible for four more years.
http://scouthoops.scout.com/a.z?s=75&p=2&c=821284&RequestedURL=http%3a%2f%2fscouthoops.scout.com%2fa.z%3fs%3d75%26p%3d2%26c%3d821284

Indiana is out of scholarships for this season and is already oversigned by at least one for next year.

That means if Withey is to transfer now, he'd need a scholarship for now and one for next year.
Indiana is getting very little from their other 7-ft. newcomer, Tijan Jobe, and yet it is a little harder to yank a scholarship from a one of the kids who are already signed....so it is still a bit of a puzzle who might be going to get booted for next year's incoming class.
 
A couple more comments from premium sites about how Indiana will get yet another scholarship to go after Jeff Withey.

"he's told some of the first years that they might lose their scholarship"

"Crean is assuming that at least one of the four freshmen guards on scholarship will look to transfer knowing that Rivers, Hulls, and Creek will come in next year and take up a majority of the minutes at the guard postions."

"...not so sure Tijan Jobe is going to be a long term guy on (the) roster."

"the 09' numbers will be "worked out"" (meaning someone will go)

"If a player leaves it will be because of lack of future playing time."

"The coach simply has a heart to heart with a player and lets them know what their role will be on the team in the future. The kid makes the decision it would be better to leave and play somewhere, then to stay and not play."
 
tornado said:
"If a player leaves it will be because of lack of future playing time."

"The coach simply has a heart to heart with a player and lets them know what their role will be on the team in the future. The kid makes the decision it would be better to leave and play somewhere, then to stay and not play."
Click to expand...

Happens all the time! Let's not throw rocks when living in glass houses. Does TCS come to mind. :oops:
 
TCS' scholarship was NOT already given to someone else even before he was informed he was leaving...
this is quite a bit different.
Every program has losses due to players leaving, but some programs give the players the boot, and other programs hand out even more rides than they have then decide on who has to go.
 
I hate to this also, but the IU job has a lot more pressure to produce then the BU job. If the pressure was the same here I'd bet we would be doing some of the same things. I'm glad we do not have to do these things but one never really knows if and when this could happen here. IU is just pretty wide open to what they are doing right now. Most schools keep this under wrap for as long as they can.
 
I wouldn't have thought UNLV was aiming high.

I agree with SFP. I think players are "forced out" at many university basketball programs. BU included. Most fans will never know the reasons why, and in my opinion it is not important for all to know. I just assume it is not a good fit between the program and the player. I think it is important for the program to be honest and fair with the players and also help them find another place to go. As far as I know the BU staff has done this. I have no problem saying that programs make mistakes sometimes when recruiting players...it happens at all programs. Admit the mistake, be honest with the player, help them move to a better fit.
 
tornado said:
Beas Hamga has told one of the Rivals recruiting experts (Jerry Meyer) his list of five schools that he is considering transferring to...
and one of them is Wichita State!
http://rivalshoops.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=103&tid=122101507&mid=122101507&sid=910&style=2
Click to expand...

I think the Shuckers are building something good in Wichita. Torre Murry is a very nice looking freshman, and they have some highly regarded freshmen coming in next year. Marshall has a proven record of success, so it wouldn't surprise me if a transfer like Hamga would consider them.
 
BU has 3 such players this season, and all three are starters!!
In fact, I can think of a Sweet Sixteen team that also had three who played very important roles.

In fact, last year was a very disappointing season because we didn't have a few more such players
to fill in for the one who was injured.
 
There are innumerable college teams that start and play 2 and 3 guards at a time who are 6-foot and under.
 
Da Coach said:
There are innumerable college teams that start and play 2 and 3 guards at a time who are 6-foot and under.
Click to expand...

I believe we lost to Memphis because their guards were 5-6 inches taller and bigger then ours. So if we want to do well in the Valley then we can start 2-3 guards that are 6' or under but to be a top 20 team I believe that formula will just not work. The better teams have guards that are 6'+ that are also fast and can shoot. On another hand if AW was playing we would not be playing that lineup. I also think next year we have the possibility of playing quite big.

EM - SM at the 1
AW - 2
TB - 3/4
JW - 4/3
WE - 5

I bet Norris and TB will be fighting it out for who will start. We cannot start both EM and SM because if both get in foul trouble we're in trouble.
 
SFP said:
I believe we lost to Memphis because their guards were 5-6 inches taller and bigger then ours. So if we want to do well in the Valley then we can start 2-3 guards that are 6' or under but to be a top 20 team I believe that formula will just not work. The better teams have guards that are 6'+ that are also fast and can shoot. On another hand if AW was playing we would not be playing that lineup. I also think next year we have the possibility of playing quite big.

EM - SM at the 1
AW - 2
TB - 3/4
JW - 4/3
WE - 5

I bet Norris and TB will be fighting it out for who will start. We cannot start both EM and SM because if both get in foul trouble we're in trouble.
Click to expand...

Drake did quite well last season with a backcourt of Adam Emmenecker, Leonard Houston, and Josh Young-- all around 6' tall

Woodfox and Witter at Creighton are 6', and their 2 good young freshmen guards Josh Jones and Antoine Young are both about 6 footers, too.

And SIU did well for a couple years with Brian Mullins, Jamaal Tatum, and Tony Young who were all under 6-foot tall.
 
SFP said:
I believe we lost to Memphis because their guards were 5-6 inches taller and bigger then ours. So if we want to do well in the Valley then we can start 2-3 guards that are 6' or under but to be a top 20 team I believe that formula will just not work. The better teams have guards that are 6'+ that are also fast and can shoot. On another hand if AW was playing we would not be playing that lineup. I also think next year we have the possibility of playing quite big.

EM - SM at the 1
AW - 2
TB - 3/4
JW - 4/3
WE - 5

I bet Norris and TB will be fighting it out for who will start. We cannot start both EM and SM because if both get in foul trouble we're in trouble.
Click to expand...
I couldnt agree with you more SFP! I also like that lineup for next year!8)
 
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