Leaderboard

They could be referring to whether Towson has officially granted them their respective releases. As I understand it, without an official release, a transfer can enroll at a new school, but must pay his own way (or I guess take out student loans) for the year he has to sit out. In other words, no free ride scholarship during the sit out year. So, let me say this-when I 1st heard ZM & Gorham were leaving I was, as a TU basketball fan, devastated. But, the more I ruminate on this, I’ve come around on my way of thinking-I’m now glad that the dark cloud from last years team-of which ZM & Gorham were a part of-has been lifted. Between EK’s bickering, Ingram’s quitting over minutes, Morman being kicked off the team, & now obviously ZM & Gorham having formed their own clique, I say good luck to all of them & its time to look forward, not backwards. My own sense (with the caveat that I’ve never met either young man) is that neither, especially ZM, embody the characteristics I’d like to see in a real “student athlete.” The vibe I get from ZM is that school is an annoyance, to be (barely) tolerated in order to play basketball. If that’s his mindset, fine, leave college & go play for pay. As to Gorham, I seem to recall he was suspended as a senior from his HS team. I’m not privy to why, but it should have raised a red flag as to his character. Bottom line, both have undeniable basketball skills. 1, or both, will eventually get paid, at some level, for their skills. But, they may learn a valuable lesson from all this, which is that the grass isn’t always greener someplace else. I have no sympathy for either. If they want, they’ll get an opportunity to continue playing college basketball at another school & will have a chance to parlay that opportunity into a degree. For either to infer they’re a “prisoner” demonstrates a mindset of one who is spoiled, immature, lacking a certain degree of education, & in complete denial. I’d rather lose without them, then win with them. Frankly, we’ve already lost with them, so their departures are hardly the end of TU basketball as we know it.

Matt Sovero's goal in overtime gave Towson the 9-8 win over Delaware tonight to send them to the CAA Finals to face #1 seed UMass on Saturday at 1pm (Lax Sports Network). The Tigers blew a four-goal lead in the fourth quarter with the Blue Hens scoring four straight, including two on extra-man goals. Chad Patterson also threw a misguided pass on a clear that the Hens took advantage of with Shane Brennan out of the night. After all that, the Tigers found a way to win in OT despite Alex Woodall not winning the face-of (Shawn Nadelen said his stick was being held after the game). But Sovero found a way with his first goal of the game to give the Tigers the sudden death winner. I'll be blogging and chatting on Saturday for those interested.

TU2012, your post brings to mind a larger debate now going on in some quarters-whether D1 basketball & football players should be paid, seeing as they generate huge income for the schools they play for. Without getting in to that in detail, it’s fair to point out, as you did, the multitude of benefits these kids already get, that the overwhelming majority of their fellow non-athlete students don’t. So, while the ZM’s of the world may feel “used” in some sense, it should also, in the interest of fairness, be pointed out how the ZM’s of the world are being given a golden opportunity to “use” the university to hone their playing skills, get a platform to audition for the pros, & get a degree, all while getting free tuition, room & board, and all the other perks attendent to being a D1 football or basketball player

Kid has decent handles and I love his pump fakes. Looks like a possible stretch 4. Nice to see Pat switching it up with a euro player. Let’s just hope he’s better than Alex Gavrilovic.