I heard from a decent (but not a great) source that Shamari Spears is transferring after getting into Al's doghouse at the end of the season. The only public evidence of that is the 1 game suspension back in January and his dwindling minutes culminating in a DNP-CD yesterday. I remember there were reports that he had a sore back, so I thought that was the reason (it couldn't have been Tyler Roche beating him out). That would be disappointing to me if true. While I don't think Spears will ever be a great ACC player, he has some skills, especially rebounding and a decent shooting touch, and could be a career contributor. In fact, I was hoping he would work on getting his shot off in the offseason (like fellow undersized forward Danya Abrams did after his freshman year), and come back as a scorer. We'll see if the rumor is true.
Another guy who could use some work is Roche. Maybe he can't play at this level (and those are the indications right now), but my instincts tell me he was thrown into the fray too early and wasn't ready for it upstairs. In other words, I saw a guy with a major confidence problem. I'm hoping that's his issue, not talent. We'll see about him as well.
On the plus side, BC has it's most talented recruiting class coming in next year. From what I read, swingman Rakim Sanders from RI is the real deal (ask anyone), as is big man Joshua Southern. Corey Raji also reportedly has some game. The other two are projects. But if two of these five can step in and really play, BC will be all right in a transition year. Rice, after all, is a star, and may even improve.
I'm feeling a little better today about the loss to Georgetown, and the season in general. Stating the obvious, the Dope Dismissals were devastating. But BC essentially went .500 in the ACC and the NCAA tournament after those guys got kicked off, which is pretty remarkable. If you take 2 big men out of any team's rotation, even the elite programs, they'd be hard-pressed to go .500 in a top conference like the ACC. The undermanned Eagles should get a lot of credit for what they achieved.
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Roche is a role player--a pure shooter. He's not a starter. He can contribute at the ACC level, as he did coming off the bench, it was really only when he was forced to start that he began struggling.
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