Forum › Forum › Lehigh Sports › Lehigh Men’s Basketball › Watson leaving BU
This topic contains 23 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by Bison137 10 years, 10 months ago.
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April 2, 2014 at 5:31 pm #14037
Mo Watson is transferring from BU – to a school TBD. In a sense, I guess this is good for LU, but I found myself getting annoyed reading the article. Bottom line seemed to be “PL isn’t good enough”. I honestly wasn’t that impressed with Watson. Granted, I saw Cormier in person, and didn’t see Watson, but I was far more impressed with Cormier and his ability to get to the basket.
We’ll see how it plays out, but this looks like a mistake to me. A stated goal in the article is to play in the NCAA tourney; I’m not clear he’ll find that. Maybe he will land in a major program – but will he get meaningful minutes? At 5’10”, I think he’d have set the PL on fire if he has that kind of talent. I didn’t see it.April 2, 2014 at 5:41 pm #14038Considering the recent timing of the announcement, Watson doesn’t yet have a list of schools who will be interested in his services. But his father said there are a few factors they’ll be looking for, and it’s clear they’re aiming for high-major territory.
“We’ve looked at the schools and we’ve looked at who’s leaving, graduating, who’s transferring, who’s going to need a transfer guard,” he said. “And when we think about programs like that we think about UConn, we think about Marquette, we think about a Stanford, who has some things going on. Those are schools that we looked at, that we’ve thought about, but we haven’t talked to any of them.”
There are a few higher-level schools in Philadelphia that could be in need of a guard, most notably Saint Joseph’s and Temple, both of whom will need backcourt help in 2015-16. But those were among some the same schools that largely ignored Watson even while he dominated the Philly high school scene, and that might still factor into his decision.
Delusions of grandeur much? He wasn’t even a unanimous pick for first team guard on the all-PL team. Now he wants to start at UConn?
April 2, 2014 at 5:46 pm #14039According to 137 Malik Thomas and James Kennedy also transferring. Plus losing 3 seniors. Bu has a 6’11 transferfrom SMU but it would appear theyhave morphed intoa mid PL team overnight.
April 2, 2014 at 6:06 pm #14040This is a huge bummer to me. I like it when the other teams in the league are good.
BU still will have good talent (Hankerson, Fanning, Mbargorba, Papale) but they lost their engine and best player.
April 2, 2014 at 6:23 pm #14041Totally agreed, SBum. I’d like to see the quality of hoops in the PL continue the upswing. “A rising tide lifts all boats”? Probably part of why the article made me bitchy…
April 2, 2014 at 6:44 pm #14042Agree,but doubt it is fatal to PL. Love PL rising, just want LU to soar higher
April 2, 2014 at 7:00 pm #14043Agree Rich. It won’t have a huge impact on the PL. I just thought that with the talent they were compiling they were a team that could win some nice OOC games, garner some attention, and set a nice high bar for the rest of the league. I still think they will be a solid to good team, but I don’t see them getting anyone in the league or out too excited.
April 2, 2014 at 10:41 pm #14045Agree with everyone’s thoughts. One would have thought that with cj and mike goin to the league last year that players would understand that you can get to the league from a PL school. Dominate the PL and do well in our of conference games and show well in ncaa tourney which if your a NBA player you should get your team to.
So I really question Watson decision, hope it works out for him, I doubt he is a pro no matter where he finishes up his two remaining years of eligibility.
Bigger question is whether or not something else is going on at BU? If it was just Watson leaving I wouldn’t think much of it but with Thomas and Kennedy deciding to leave…..well where there is smoke there’s usually fire…..interesting to say the least.
April 3, 2014 at 1:45 am #14046Thomas may well be leaving because he is scheduled to graduate this year but still has a year of eligibility. That makes him a kind of free agent in terms of finding a graduate program that will give him a free ride. And Kennedy, who has been plagued by injuries, is likely leaving to find some playing time. Likely at D2/D3. He would likely have not been in their rotation this year.
As for Watson, I doubt he makes the NBA but he is a very good PG. Likely had a number of POY votes from the coaches. He will get offers from BCS-conference programs, possibly a lot of them if he takes his time.
April 3, 2014 at 3:22 pm #14047Guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree this time, Bison. I think he’s a good point guard, but nothing beyond PL special. Been matching up his numbers with Gardner, McKnight, and Lindner – and they don’t jump off the page by any stretch, to me anyway.
I’ll take the bet on him getting a major upgrade. And re: “BCS” conferences – I won’t consider getting garbage minutes at Penn St. to be an upgradeApril 3, 2014 at 3:35 pm #14048Bison,
I disagree completely, I do not see Watson getting a number of BCS offers. He is very good player in the PL but don’t see him changing a BCS team. Only a few players in recent PL history change BCS programs aka CJ and Muscala. Would anyone on this blog compare Watson with the likes of Napier? Napier is the type of talent UConn and the likes are looking for. Even a horrible Penn State Team has talent like Gino Thorpe who IMO is much better than Watson.
April 3, 2014 at 3:36 pm #14049I think he’s good enough to play at a BCS level. I know it’s not BCS but I watched the entire St. Joe’s – Uconn game and St. Joe’s would have won that game (should have won anyway) with an upgrade at PG. And I think Watson would have been enough of an upgrade to beat what is now a Final Four team. Just one example, but there are plenty of high-major teams that could use Watson. I think most, if not all, PL all-league guys would be able to contribute to that level.
April 3, 2014 at 3:40 pm #14050Watson had 14 points and 8 assists against Harvard, 12 and 6 against GW, 13 and 7 against Maryland, 21 and 7 against St. Joes. He also shot 49% from the field which is damn impressive for a guy his size, and that is with a mediocre outside shot (which may improve with a transfer year of only practice). Numbers never tell the whole story, but I’d put money on him contributing at the high-major level.
April 3, 2014 at 3:50 pm #14051I recently watched TJ McConnell do almost exactly the same thing. After watching the 1st 2 rounds of the NCAA in Pittsburgh, he decided to transfer from Duquesne for exactly the same reasons. He subsequently ended up at Arizona and started for a team in the Elite 8. For some it works. For others it is a complete disaster. I wish him well.
April 3, 2014 at 4:09 pm #14053I wish the young man well but think it is a major mistake for him to leave. I will be very surprised if he has any significant impact at a high major program. Below average shooter and very small. TJ McConnell had the Pittsburgh connection with Sean Miller as McConnell and Miller’s father are both long time high school coaches in Pittsburgh. Numbers against OOC teams is a poor projection tool IMO. Many High Major teams do not prepare and perform in those games they way they do in conference and against other high majors. Taking nothing away from TK’s performance against Pitt, it was very good, but do we think Dixon prepared for Lehigh like he did for UNC or did he just work on his system?
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This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by
pafan11.
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