PistolPete wrote:

Towson, I agree and disagree with a couple of your points.  First, I guess all of the 2 guards know that Maceo is signed for next year and is a high level recruit.  No matter I think they realized there is talent no matter where you go year in and year out, but roster projection is something all kids do.  Secondly, my belief is that FHughes and LNorman should be your guys playing the 2 guard.  Better length, better D, and as good of shooters (I am going by % here) as Mike Lewis - probably better so far this year - and more upside.  Mike L is a junior and I think you know what you have, but it is not at the level of talent that you have with LNorman and FHughes.  Yes he can have his moments, but why should he get more than his 14 minutes or so a game if he is not hitting his shot and he is not as good of a defender when you have FH and LN?  Again, he is a junior and needs to be a reliable scorer at this point.  We don't have the luxury of letting him play 25 + minutes and hope that his shooting improves and he becomes a better defender.  Yes, his D has improved, but he is not where the other two are in that regard and some of that is attributable to length.  Right now I would say FHughes should be starting and is the best defender of the three - in part because he has more experience than LN.  Just sayin.  Go Dukes. 

Pistol, I think you hit the nail on the head. What I’m about to say is not an indictment on Norman Jr. because we do not know that anything is or isn’t happening yet, but this whole transfer thing has gotten totally crazy. These kids must see the Williamson kid or Barret at Duke being the best players on the team as freshman and think that they are in the same vein. NONE of the kids on our roster are “one and done” type guys, not even close. Again that is not a criticism, because their are probably 10 freshman per year that fit that description out of at least hundreds of freshman coming into college each year. Norman and all of these guys are obviously talented, but all of them also need to develop as players as well.

IF this happens to be the case with Norman (I also saw some of the comments made by his father as well as the changes to his twitter and cryptic posts), I think it would be a big mistake. He has really flashed a ton of talent and should be getting significant minutes. That being said, based on the competition we have faced, he would need to be putting up 20 a game and shooting the lights out game in and game out to accompany good defense to be getting sniffs from schools that would qualify as transferring “up”, which is really the only way transferring would make sense.

Against power 5 schools in OOC (ND, Pitt, PSU), he had 2, 0, and 0 points respectively in those games, while getting about 10 minutes a game. Again, any coach at a school that would be considered transferring “up” would look at the production against these teams.

He is averaging 5.1 PPG 1.8 RPG and 0.5 APG. He had 11 against UIC, 15 against Longwood, and 16 against UMES, and 7 against Maine. Other than these 4 contests, he has not scored more than 5 in a a game, and has never had more than 2 assists in a game. He put up big numbers against teams that are in the lower half (some near the bottom) of D1 rankings, that ain’t gonna get you to Kentucky.

I think a lot of these kids get really bad advice. To me it also says a lot about someone’s character when they leave because they are not willing to fight and prove they deserve the minutes they want. Again, this is not me referring to Norman Jr. saying this because we don’t know if anything is happening. More a statement of the overall trend we are seeing in college athletics.

I really hope he stays, but I really hoped I Mike would have stayed too. Funny thing is we are much better off as a program even though he didn’t stick around so I don’t worry about guys leaving as much as I once did. He would still probably be the most talented guy on our roster this year. It is what it is. Frankie Hughes looks like the best 2 on the roster to me this year. Him and Norman should probably be getting the bulk of the minutes there based on the things Pistol said in his post.

DennisC91 wrote:

If Norman or any other kid on the roster is dissatisfied with his playing time, I don't think he'd be looking to transfer up. More likely down or laterally. Why does that make sense? Well, if you're putting in the time in practice and off-season, you want to play, not sit on the bench. Given the current makeup of our roster, if you're not playing much this year, you probably won't play much next year either and you could still find yourself in a very limited role two years from now. If you have any aspirations of playing professionally (most likely overseas), you need to play. I'm sure any number of Horizon or MAC schools would love to give Norman a four-year scholarship for three years of eligibility. Sure, TJ McConnell and Isaiah Mike took a step up, as did LG Gill and Tarin Smith (I think we could argue that grad transfers are a whole different animal), but most kids who've transferred in recent years made a lateral move or took a step down. Pretty much all the kids who saw limited playing time did. 

Tydus Verhoeven: UTEP
Nicholas Kratholm: Longwood
Marko Krivacevic: Division II IUP
Tarin Smith (grad): UConn
Isiaha Mike: SMU
Nakye Sanders: Towson
Spencer Littleson: Toledo
LG Gill (grad): Maryland
TySean Powell: Pacific (now at Division II Cumberland,Tenn)
Mar'Qywell Jackson: JUCO, then Division II Pittsburg State
Jordan Stevens: Division II Midwestern State (made the Cleveland Cavaliers summer league roster this year)
Desmond Ridenour: Kent State
Tra'Vaughn White: Longwood
Isaiah Watkins: Furman
Quevyn Winters: JUCO, then Washington
Marvin Binney: Division II St. Mary's, Texas (now playing professionally in Canada)


 

Great point and great list, that was a real “where are they now”.

However, these guys don’t know where they are going when they announce they are transferring (usually). They put themselves out there and gauge interest. None of those guys left in the middle of the year either (I think). I think most guys want to go where they will get time as you pointed out but if that would be at a higher level, they would certainly take it.

I referenced transferring up in Norman’s case because he was a fairly highly rated recruit, with at least one p5 offer I know of in Butler. Based on comments from his camp it sounds like there may be some unhappiness with the fact he is not playing because of his talent level. Like I said, some of these kids get bad advice. Have a couple good games against d1 dregs and you have people telling you you should be the focal point of the offense and you believe it. Again, we have no idea what is going on but Asuanders wouldn’t hint at something he had no knowledge of.

I’m not judging him. I think he is super talented and really hope he stays. I was saying it would be a mistake to transfer at this point in the season if his intention is to try to move up, as a full seasons sample size would give him a better chance to do so, especially now that the competition on average pound for pound will get tougher. These kids have to do what is best for them I totally agree. I just hope that means Norman staying with the Dukes because it looks like he has some serious potential.

Dsnyder15 wrote:

I think if he leaves now he will be able to play for another school in January of next year.  I think that is true...correct me if I am wrong.  If that is true and he wants to leave, now would be the best time to leave.  I don't want to see him leave because he seems to have talent and he is only a freshman with upside talent.  That being said...parents have a lot of influence on kids.  Take a look at the Balls playing all over the globe.  He should have opportunities in Michigan that will make it easier for his father to attend games and play immediately.  Detroit, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan are all good D1 programs that he can get to the next level from.  I will not be surprised if he leaves knowing that his father is unhappy. 

Advice.  If and when you become a parent you will learn that you see your kids through a different pair of glasses.  It is not wrong...just fact. I hope I can avoid some of the asinine behavior I have seen from some parents.  It has to eat up some parents to remain quiet when they believe their kids is not being treated fairly...or not being given an opportunity.

Wish him the best whatever he chooses.  Hopefully his father has time to reflect and helps him make a good life decision....however difficult. 

Regarding eligibility, almost positive you are correct, that is what Cam Johnson, formerly of Pitt, was able to do after his appeal when he left Pitt.

duq81 wrote:

Players who transfer up are usually starters who are excelling, and think they can play at a higher level. TJ is a perfect example. A player who is on Duquesne's bench isn't likely to attract interest from a high level program.

Exactly! This is what I was referring to by saying it would be a mistake to transfer if that was the intention. Just because you and I agree on this, someone actually making the decision to transfer may or not may not look at it that way. There may be unrealistic expectations involved.

Duques102 wrote:

Exactly! This is what I was referring to by saying it would be a mistake to transfer if that was the intention. Just because you and I agree on this, someone actually making the decision to transfer may or not may not look at it that way. There may be unrealistic expectations involved.

Sorry, did his father say something about him being able to transfer up to a better program? Where is this coming from? I looked at his father's Twitter feed, but didn't see anything of that nature. 

https://twitter.com/Marnorm21Norman/status/1071874410989215746?s=19

This is what I believe people are referring to.

... and there it is.