Rice basketball gets bad news.

Coach Bill Lewis · March 27, 2017

Marcus Evans is transferring to a bigger program.

greenjoe · March 27, 2017

So he's looking for a college with over 7,000 students ? I think my Biology lecture class in 1969 had about 7,000 seats. I was told once that Rice Stadium could hold every student that had ever registered for a class at Rice.

drex · March 27, 2017

This is symptomatic of the schools in the mid-majors who cultivate a talent and then that talent flies away to greener pastures. So, we become a farm team for the majors without even a thank you from the big boys.

MeanGreen_MBA · March 27, 2017

18 minutes ago, drex said:

This is symptomatic of the schools in the mid-majors who cultivate a talent and then that talent flies away to greener pastures. So, we become a farm team for the majors without even a thank you from the big boys.

I hate that this has happened. I wish we could limit this from happening. We/Mid's will have a hard time moving up the chain if we happen to land a talent....only to have that talent move on when they realize how good they are....

drex · March 27, 2017

One way to retaliate is to start recruiting bench warmers at the big schools.

Everyone who thinks the Rice kid just up and decided to go up the food chain without being recruited, please raise your hand.

UTAmaverick · March 27, 2017

I don't understand this whole hundreds of kids transferring every year. Many of these players are allowed to leave when the school gets another coach. But doesn't the student agree to the school for 4 years? Not just playing for a specific coach? Whatever happened to honoring your commitment?

Edited March 27, 2017 by UTAmaverick

drex · March 27, 2017

Honor in 2017? You must be kidding.

TreeFiddy · March 28, 2017

FWIW, the Rice coach that recruited Evans just took the VCU job and it is rumored that Evans is following Rhoades to VCU, although Evans has said he is looking at more than just VCU. Rice's #3 scorer (Marcus Jackson) from this past season also announced he is transferring, minutes after Evans announced. Rice named the lead assistant as the new coach, but the kids are still choosing to leave. Sucks for the University of Rice.

Cooley · March 28, 2017

Rice is losing at least 2 more contributors/starters. They also lost their best player and top CUSA player (Kazemi) to Oregon a few years ago.

GrandGreen · March 28, 2017

In college basketball, it is pretty much a two-way street. With lots of ship players being told to look elsewhere if they are not performing up to standard.

I am not sure how they can change the rules to stop all this turnover. The graduate transfer rules has just about ending redshirting, now no one wants to save an extra year for another school.

DeepGreen · March 28, 2017

NCAA should change the rules. School getting the transfer should pay for the scholarship of the replacement player of the school who has lost the transfer(Rice).

TreeFiddy · March 28, 2017

Redshirting, along with having the athletes taking classes over the summer is allowing them to graduate early with remaining eligibility, sometimes as much as 2 years to go somewhere else and play if they so choose. As GG pointed out, there is a lot less incentive for the school to redshirt a player, especially in hoops.

MeanMag · March 28, 2017

4 hours ago, TreeFiddy said:

FWIW, the Rice coach that recruited Evans just took the VCU job and it is rumored that Evans is following Rhoades to VCU, although Evans has said he is looking at more than just VCU. Rice's #3 scorer (Marcus Jackson) from this past season also announced he is transferring, minutes after Evans announced. Rice named the lead assistant as the new coach, but the kids are still choosing to leave. Sucks for the University of Rice.

This and kids are going to transfer at the first sign of adversity at their current school proves the point that you never promote an assistant or hire a specific coach in hopes of keeping players. You hire the best you can, all the time, every time. The kids are going to decide what they do anyway.

Edited March 28, 2017 by MeanMag

forevereagle · March 28, 2017

15 hours ago, UTAmaverick said:

I don't understand this whole hundreds of kids transferring every year. Many of these players are allowed to leave when the school gets another coach. But doesn't the student agree to the school for 4 years? Not just playing for a specific coach? Whatever happened to honoring your commitment?

The school has to agree to let them out of their scholarship and they still have to sit a year (depending on circumstances) when they transfer after a coach leaves (something the coach doesn't have to do). There is nothing that allows them to just walk away without penalty. The school and student agree to "4 years" but the coaches evaluate scholarships every year and a scholarship is a year to year thing in actuality. The coach can cut a player loose any time. If we are going to hold students to these agreements, then the school needs to commit to them for four years and the coach needs to commit to them/the school for their contract as well. When the other two parts of the agreement honor their commitments, I will start to be a little more hard on the players. It sucks that this is where we are, but it is where we are.

UTAmaverick · March 28, 2017

Wow. Interesting.

So if I'm the coach and a star late-bloomer JC or big-conference kid averaging 40 points and 12 rebounds a game wants to play closer to home and can replace my lackadaisical freshman that barely attends practice, I can just release the other player? But I'm guessing if coaches did that too much, their reputation would suffer and future/current players would be afraid to play for them. As a coach is it almost tempting to save a scholarship until the late stages of recruiting in case a star player looking for more playing time or whatever might become available? Does transferring/releasing players affect graduation rates at all?

Sorry for all the questions, it's just that I am totally fascinated by this topic, and I never really knew what the pros/cons were for both the students/coaches.

DentonLurker · March 29, 2017

With the way coaches are leaving schools after 1 or 2 years, why would we expect players to just stay where they're at? The tone is set from the top. At least the players lose a year of eligibility. One could argue the coaches are a big part of why this is happening.

southsideguy · March 29, 2017

i don't know if the guy is good enough for the NBA but a degree from Rice is pretty impressive in the working world.

TreeFiddy · March 29, 2017

I have never been completely clear on this, but

Scenario 1: I believe if a school grants a kid his release that he can move immediately to another school without having to wait a year and can be placed on scholarship immediately.

Scenario 2: If a kid leaves a school without the school's permission and the school does not grant the player a release the player must sit out a year before being eligible. If the player moves to a school below the Division 1 level they are eligible immediately, even if the school does not grant the release. I am not certain if the player is eligible to receive a scholarship from another D1 school while they are in this waiting period or if they must pay their own way.

forevereagle · March 29, 2017

14 hours ago, UTAmaverick said:

Wow. Interesting.

So if I'm the coach and a star late-bloomer JC or big-conference kid averaging 40 points and 12 rebounds a game wants to play closer to home and can replace my lackadaisical freshman that barely attends practice, I can just release the other player? But I'm guessing if coaches did that too much, their reputation would suffer and future/current players would be afraid to play for them. As a coach is it almost tempting to save a scholarship until the late stages of recruiting in case a star player looking for more playing time or whatever might become available? Does transferring/releasing players affect graduation rates at all?

Sorry for all the questions, it's just that I am totally fascinated by this topic, and I never really knew what the pros/cons were for both the students/coaches.

A lot of coaches do exactly that for just the scenario you mention just in case that great transfer comes along. And yes, they can release a player. That usually comes in a comment that it was a mutual decision or something like that. Releasing players can impact RPI if the player is not in good academic standing when they transfer.

1 hour ago, TreeFiddy said:

I have never been completely clear on this, but

Scenario 1: I believe if a school grants a kid his release that he can move immediately to another school without having to wait a year and can be placed on scholarship immediately.

Scenario 2: If a kid leaves a school without the school's permission and the school does not grant the player a release the player must sit out a year before being eligible. If the player moves to a school below the Division 1 level they are eligible immediately, even if the school does not grant the release. I am not certain if the player is eligible to receive a scholarship from another D1 school while they are in this waiting period or if they must pay their own way.

Scenario 1 only applies, if my memory serves, in cases where the player has yet to enroll in the university. If they are there for a year, they lose a year if they transfer. The only immediate availability that I am aware of are grad transfers. Scenario 2 is what happens most every time. The school has to grant a release in order for them to play elsewhere. You usually hear of a couple of instances every year where the school doesn't want to grant a release. The school almost always plays ignorant to the situation and caves, but it does happen.