Mikey Dixon Transferring

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[quote="sjc88" post=312142][quote="SJU85" post=312127][quote="MarkRedman" post=312080][quote="Jinwoo Pae" post=312030]Respect Dixon's decision but pretty sad. He is realy a late bloomer.

I believe that bench power is the team's power, but still don't get it why
coach B.M had Rowson Mcleod sit on the bench, transfer to Duke and
start game for #3 NC out of bench..
check the staring line-up below 07:47s.
=7m47s[/quote]

The McLeod transfer was a different story altogether
Mahoney was playing him at center, he wanted to be a power forward
McLeod transferred to Duke and became a very good PF for them[/quote]

Roshown wanted to play on the perimeter as a 3, while here he played the 4 and 5. He also wanted more from the campus. By the end of his career here, his unhappiness showed and Sergio Lyuk (RIP) was playing ahead of him at the 4 behind Minlend.

He wound up transferring to Duke and due to injuries and defections, he still wound up playing the 4 there (and as you mentioned was a very good one there). He wound up a 1st round draft pick but injuries curtailed his career after two or three seasons I believe.[/quote]
The Roshown McLeod transfer almost killed me. I knew he had a chance to be good but our coach didn't know how to use him. But why did it have to be Duke? Why? Of all the gin joints, in all the world, why Duke?
[/quote]
I clearly remember sitting courtside for McLeod's last game for us (a first-round BE tourney loss to Ralph Willard's mediocre Pitt team) watching him do his pre-game stretching exercises by himself on the other side of floor from his teammates. Clearly an unhappy camper who already knew he'd be leaving. (By the way, when he announced he was transferring to Duke, he did comment that he wanted to go somewhere where he could enjoy a traditional campus lifestyle.) The next year, I found myself sitting next to Coach K at the NCAA semifinals at the Meadowlands, and at one point, I turned to him, identified myself as a St. John's fan, and jocularly made what I thought was a harmful comment, something like "It hurt when you stole McLeod from us." Well, K put on his rattiest face, glared at me, lean in and angrily said, "We don't EVER steal players from other teams!" Needless to say, not another word was spoken between us ... and I left the arena knowing I hadn't made a new friend.

 

[NCJohnnie]

Monte wrote: I know I'm a but of a dinosaur and I know that every transfer situation is different , but when I hear "the kid had to do what was best for him" (pretty much every time a kid transfers), I wonder what happened to things like "honor your commitment" or "finish what you started(at least finish out the season)" or "don't abandon your teammates" or "keep working hard and good things will come", etc. etc. I know it's the nature of high school and college sports these days, but the propensity for kids(oftentimes encouraged by their parents/handlers/etc) to jump ship as soon as things don't go their way(not enough PT, not used in the role they want, etc) is something that I'll never understand. Freshman year of high school my daughter saw very little PT on the JV team. She told me half way through the season that she wanted to quit the team. I flat out told her "if you don't want to play basketball anymore that's fine, but you do not quit on your teammates mid-season! You can stop playing after the season is over if that's what you choose". Well she stuck it out and the following year wound up being a starter on the team that won the league championship. To each his own I guess.

Monte, I hear everything you're saying and would have had the same message to any of my daughters or son. What's different with a kid like Dixon is he has a somewhat realistic expectation that he can make a living for several years with basketball and he really needs to maximize his opportunities. He had a radically different expectation of the PT he'd get for St. John's when he committed versus what he had when he decided to leave. Part of that may be due to his failure to live up to Coach's expectations, but much of it is due to circumstances beyond his control (Heron, Figgy, Mack etc.).

The schools act as if they do not owe the athletes anything beyond their scholarship (rightfully so) and it's hard and a bit unrealistic IMHO to expect the athletes who could make good money playing basketball to sacrifice that opportunity to better showcase their skills in order to be loyal/perseverant where they are. Just my opinion, but I have no problem with Dixon's decision.

 

[monte]

[quote="NCJohnnie" post=312171]Monte wrote: I know I'm a but of a dinosaur and I know that every transfer situation is different , but when I hear "the kid had to do what was best for him" (pretty much every time a kid transfers), I wonder what happened to things like "honor your commitment" or "finish what you started(at least finish out the season)" or "don't abandon your teammates" or "keep working hard and good things will come", etc. etc. I know it's the nature of high school and college sports these days, but the propensity for kids(oftentimes encouraged by their parents/handlers/etc) to jump ship as soon as things don't go their way(not enough PT, not used in the role they want, etc) is something that I'll never understand. Freshman year of high school my daughter saw very little PT on the JV team. She told me half way through the season that she wanted to quit the team. I flat out told her "if you don't want to play basketball anymore that's fine, but you do not quit on your teammates mid-season! You can stop playing after the season is over if that's what you choose". Well she stuck it out and the following year wound up being a starter on the team that won the league championship. To each his own I guess.

Monte, I hear everything you're saying and would have had the same message to any of my daughters or son. What's different with a kid like Dixon is he has a somewhat realistic expectation that he can make a living for several years with basketball and he really needs to maximize his opportunities. He had a radically different expectation of the PT he'd get for St. John's when he committed versus what he had when he decided to leave. Part of that may be due to his failure to live up to Coach's expectations, but much of it is due to circumstances beyond his control (Heron, Figgy, Mack etc.).

The schools act as if do not owe the athletes anything beyond their scholarship (rightfully so) and it's hard and a bit unrealistic IMHO to expect the athletes who could make good money playing basketball to sacrifice that an opportunity to better showcase their skills in order to be loyal/perseverant where they are. Just my opinion, but I have no problem with Dixon's decision.[/quote]

I wasn’t specifically talking about Dixon. Hard for any of us to know what went on behind closed doors between him and the staff. Whether he was simply disgruntled with his PT or whether it was something more. Whether the decision was joint or his alone. Without knowing the whole story it’s tough to form an opinion. Regardless, I wish the kid well and hope he goes on to flourish somewhere else and make lots of money professionally. I still think he would have had a nice run here had he stuck it out, and that he would have gotten some valuable tourney experience. But as losses go, this is one we should be able to absorb relatively easily(barring injury).