The Upstate Life

Friday, May 23, 2008

Terrapin Turmoil - Tyree Evans Gone

Remember all the publicity Maryland received when Gary Williams offered Tyree Evans a scholarship a few weeks ago? Well, so much for Evans coming to College Park. I'm telling you, I'm downright sick of this recruiting nightmare. Oh, and Sean Mosley, Maryland's now lone commit of the 2008 class, has yet to academically qualify because he didn't reach the minimum score of 730 on his latest SAT exam. Yes, that's the new SAT which is out of 2400. (I'm not going to comment further on that, but The Diamondback sheds a little more light on the matter). Anyway, he's got one more shot at it otherwise it's onto prep school for a year. If Mosley doesn't qualify, Maryland would be bringing zippy players for the 2008-09 season. Yeah, it's that bad.

Apparently Evans' departure has to do with the administration, specifically Athletic Director Debbie Yow. What a shock. Can't say I'm surprised since she essentially hates Gary and vice versa. Granted she was left out of the dark about Evans' criminal past, but you can't have this type of relationship between a coach and his AD exist in a high-major program. I applaud Maryland for having higher academic standards than other programs, but even prestigious schools like Duke admit players with poor grades and legal problems (Sheldon Williams anyone?). Maryland just can't catch a break when it comes to stuff like this. The 2008 class has been a revolving door of prospects. Let's go down the list shall we and see what a circus this has become:

Terrence Jennings - Blue-chipper that commits to UMD before even stepping foot on campus. Unable to academically qualify, decommits, and signs with Louisville.

Chris Turner - Excellent shooter (Mike Jones-ish) that wanted to come to Maryland (a rarity these days it seems), but Mosley committed first, thereby taking the last available scholarship between the two. Turner is unfortunately forced to look elsewhere.

Bobby Maze - Athletic JuCo point guard that would've greatly helped Maryland at the 1 so Terp fans wouldn't have to frustratingly watch Vasquez bring the ball down the court for another season. Wanted to commit, but Gary accepts Evans commitment instead, taking up the last available scholarship for the 2008 class.

Ken Bowman - Maze's teammate that also wanted to be a Terp but didn't have the grades

Tyree Evans - Impact JuCo player with criminal past and poor locker room history. Gary offers Evans a scholarship, the first time GW offers a player with a less than admirable background. Yow is left unaware of Evans' felony charge which pisses her off, forces Evans to go through an admissions process to determine if Maryland can use one of their "at-risk" scholarships, and then things go haywire from thereon out. Supposedly asks for his release from his LOI to attend a school where there is less bickering about whether the dude can get admitted or not.

Ater Majok - Didn't have the grades, commits to UConn.

There's probably some others I missed or may have inaccurately reported (hey, that's why it's a blog and not Sports Illustrated), but as you can tell, Maryland certainly has some recruiting woes. Let's face facts, if the Terps don't make the tournament this year, expect Gary to resign. Yow is not going to fire him, no way. But she's essentially forcing him out by giving him such a hard time with things like the aforementioned Evans saga. 2002 seems so long ago.

Posted by Brett at 3:27 PM |