Will Henry & Sheppard be back next season....
- Thread starter Ernest T.Cox
- Start date
pepsicock
Well-Known Member
I feel pretty confident that they'll both be back next year. Poor play isn't a good enough excuse, as Shamiek was injured or suspended for most of the year. As for Henry, remember how much everyone was dumping on Chat last year? Yeah, that looks kind of silly now (though he does still have room to improve his rebounding). Henry's still got plenty of time to improve himself. There's a reason he started for most of the year.
I also don't think they'll transfer due to disciplinary issues. If their infractions were that serious, they would have been dismissed by now. If it was expulsion-worthy, they would have been gone almost instantly, rather than suspended with a chance to come back late in the season.
Finally, having one or both transfer would seriously screw up our recruiting plans. Carrera, Kacinas, and Chat all graduate next year, so if we dismiss Henry and Sheppard we'll be losing five big men in two years. We'd have to devote the entirety of next year's class solely to big men to plug the gap. We'd basically be starting from scratch at that position, with every one of our forwards/centers being freshmen or sophomores in two years' time.
Honestly, I think this is a huge stink about nothing. They'll both be back.
I also don't think they'll transfer due to disciplinary issues. If their infractions were that serious, they would have been dismissed by now. If it was expulsion-worthy, they would have been gone almost instantly, rather than suspended with a chance to come back late in the season.
Finally, having one or both transfer would seriously screw up our recruiting plans. Carrera, Kacinas, and Chat all graduate next year, so if we dismiss Henry and Sheppard we'll be losing five big men in two years. We'd have to devote the entirety of next year's class solely to big men to plug the gap. We'd basically be starting from scratch at that position, with every one of our forwards/centers being freshmen or sophomores in two years' time.
Honestly, I think this is a huge stink about nothing. They'll both be back.
Remember coming into this season we had 2 scholarships available. One has gone to Dozier and the other to Silva. With the commitment of Bunch that makes us 1 scholarship over the limit. Also Frank Martin is still actively recruiting for next season for a shooting guard and possibly a power forward from the Juco ranks. This recruiting activity alone doesn't bode well for Henry or Sheppard.
Someone is not coming back.
The max number of scholarship players allowed is 13.
We currently have 13 scholarship players, including former walk-on Steele. Ty Johnson graduates, leaving 12 for next year. Add in two signees (Dozier and Silva) and one commit due to sign in April (Bunch), and we are already at 15 for next year. In addition, our staff is continuing to recruit a handful of guys for this class, and insiders say we would like to sign 2 to 3 out of this group.
Even if we sign no more than Dozier, Silva, and Bunch, we are two over the limit. This means two current players have to be cut from the scholarship list. In my opinion, the four most likely candidates are the following, in no particular order:
Steele -- former walk on who may return to walk on status
Theus -- never plays and may want to go somewhere smaller for more PT
Sheppard -- presently suspended
Henry -- presently suspended
Blanton -- least likely, IMO; would move on only if his injury is too severe to keep playing
It would not be a huge surprise to me if any of these four moved on. I would be surprised, however if any of the remaining seven (Thornwell, Stroman, Notice, Chatkevicius, McKie, Carerra, Kacinas) moved on.
The max number of scholarship players allowed is 13.
We currently have 13 scholarship players, including former walk-on Steele. Ty Johnson graduates, leaving 12 for next year. Add in two signees (Dozier and Silva) and one commit due to sign in April (Bunch), and we are already at 15 for next year. In addition, our staff is continuing to recruit a handful of guys for this class, and insiders say we would like to sign 2 to 3 out of this group.
Even if we sign no more than Dozier, Silva, and Bunch, we are two over the limit. This means two current players have to be cut from the scholarship list. In my opinion, the four most likely candidates are the following, in no particular order:
Steele -- former walk on who may return to walk on status
Theus -- never plays and may want to go somewhere smaller for more PT
Sheppard -- presently suspended
Henry -- presently suspended
Blanton -- least likely, IMO; would move on only if his injury is too severe to keep playing
It would not be a huge surprise to me if any of these four moved on. I would be surprised, however if any of the remaining seven (Thornwell, Stroman, Notice, Chatkevicius, McKie, Carerra, Kacinas) moved on.
I would be surprised if Theus didn't transfer. He's got to want to go somewhere he can get more playing time.
Are you sure Steele has a scholarship? I thought he was still playing as a walk-on. Not that it matters, in my opinion. If he's a walk-on, he'll stay a walk-on, if he's on scholarship, he'll revert to walk-on status. Either way, I expect Reggie Theus to transfer so we can get back down to 13.
CONDUCT DETRIMENTAL to the TEAM...I'm thinking with as little as we have heard and Coach Martin's emphasis on TEAM and FAMILY that there is a less than 25% chance that these two will return. I think it will be addition by subtraction...why would you NOT want to take two players with 4 years of eligibility left if you felt they were as good as Henry or Sheppard who not only weren't progressing that well but who did something bad enough to get kicked off the team. I do not worry about attrition etc. These guys were disloyal enough and selfish enough to do SOMETHING bad enough to get them kicked off the team. How did we do without them?
Blanton...I hope he will be able to return but the first report I heard about his injury compared it to someone who had been in a bad automobile accident. I have watched him move around at the games...it pains me to watch.
Reggie Theus...Until he had a concussion right before the tournament he actually got a little PT in some of those last few games when we were undermanned. Here is a sophomore...a junior to be who goes to class, comes to practice, contributes and who evidently stays out of trouble. Maybe he is majoring in something at Carolina that they don't have at one of those UC schools. Maybe he likes it here. Some of you would rather have two malcontents back to give a second chance rather than have a player like Theus back who has been loyal and I'll bet holds up to his end of the bargain by working in practice and being a true student athlete. I'll let Coach Martin and Reggie work that one out. I won't throw him under the bus and take his scholarship in speculation.
Blanton...I hope he will be able to return but the first report I heard about his injury compared it to someone who had been in a bad automobile accident. I have watched him move around at the games...it pains me to watch.
Reggie Theus...Until he had a concussion right before the tournament he actually got a little PT in some of those last few games when we were undermanned. Here is a sophomore...a junior to be who goes to class, comes to practice, contributes and who evidently stays out of trouble. Maybe he is majoring in something at Carolina that they don't have at one of those UC schools. Maybe he likes it here. Some of you would rather have two malcontents back to give a second chance rather than have a player like Theus back who has been loyal and I'll bet holds up to his end of the bargain by working in practice and being a true student athlete. I'll let Coach Martin and Reggie work that one out. I won't throw him under the bus and take his scholarship in speculation.
From what frank has said about theus over the past year. I doubt he goes anywhere. Unfortunately i think henry is done. And the fact that he's been living it up at "SB2K15", I'd say he knows hes out and will finish the school year and transfer to ucf or usf. Jmo
