Devezin, LB Williams, gone

[oldfox]

As reported in today's Poughkeepsie Journal. Devezin denied by league office and Williams "not a good fit", says Martin.

Understand one situation, the other is hard to get your head around based on the article. Kind a new thing to happen in a Marist program regarding the latter, no? I can imagine both sides of a conversation, but it leaves me wondering if this iwas an outlier-type event, or a tool. It certainly sends a message.

Basketball-wise that means two more new players. I was really looking forward to seeing Devezin playing with some talent around him in his senior year. Who steps in? RJ really didn't strike me as a wizard with the rock last year. Maybe Kaba since he is usually listed as a combo guard? New guy maybe? A setback in the short term and you can read it in Martin's words.

www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20090408/SPORTS0401/904080321/1002/SPORTS

[nomar33]

OldFox I'm not going to neccessarily take credit for this article - but I sent an email yesterday morning to Dan Pietrafesa asking him about the status of Williams (told him that many of the Marist boards had mentioned Williams being dismissed from the team - I also asked if the journal was going to publish Marists response to the Lyons law suit just as they published the complaint) He told me he would have someone look into the Williams situation and that legal was handaling the Lyons case. Like I said I'M SURE THE JOURNAL WAS ALREADY ON TOP OF THIS. lol

[nomar33]

The other thing he mentioned was that Williams was suspended last year for a game for a violation of team rules - anyone remember that?

[ctfoxfan]

Have to trust the coach on this one. Chuck must have a replacement in mind for Williams. JUCO maybe. His turnovers were ridiculous. If Williams had any significant roll on the 09-10 team then we were dead men walking. So no big deal. Good luck to DD and Lawrence. Two new signings on the way!

[ctfoxfan]

Apr 8, 2009 8:17:53 GMT -5 nomar33 said:

The other thing he mentioned was that Williams was suspended last year for a game for a violation of team rules - anyone remember that?

Williams on the bench was not something very remarkable. It probably went unnoticed.

[nomar33]

CT not sure if he will use one or both this year - I do not think he wants 6 new people coming in (even if one only has 1.5 years left) - he will probably save at least one for next year as i think Parris is only one to graduate next year - so then he would have 2 or 3 scholarships.

[foxred]

I really wish we had Devezin for one more year, that is a pretty huge blow to our team. However the loss of Williams is nothing to call home about because although he was agressive and played hard, the fact is that he was a below average post up man with terrible hands. I agree ctfox, I really hope Chucky has got someone already in mind to replace LB; could you imagine getting a JUCO big man that is a bruiser down low, with him and Casiem the Dream that would be a dominant front court that noone in the MAAC could handle.

[foxred]

We should keep an eye on this as it develops...this is a link to the Big Apple Basketball Games, which Chuck went to last year, and features the top 40 unsigned seniors in the NYC Metro Area. Last year Alex Vouyoukas and Dorvell Carter were at these games and thats where Chucky found them. Maybe he's waiting and going to this to try and find someone to fill a scholly.

www.bigapplebasketball.com/hsexpo.html

They haven't put up 2009 participants yet, as they are waiting to see who gets signed in the spring period then invite all players. I'll keep an eye on the website to see when they post the recruits.

[reddy]

If Williams was "let go" for disciplinary or any other valid reason other than ability, it sends a good message and starts to validate Martin as someone other than a "win at all cost" coach. If it is based on ability, it sends a terrible message to potential recruits.

[alum76]

Nice work Nomar in helping to get this story out.

The story in the Poughkeepsie Journal indicates there were a number of different reasons for LB's departure. I feel bad for him since it seemed to me he always worked hard & hustled. However, there were times he looked overmatched.

Although this was a non factor in LB's departure, Siena's resigning McCaffery makes it now an absolute luxury to carry a post player that doesn't fit Martin's dribble drive system.

[ken]

Now we need a PG and one big guy.
We'll have several 2/3 players but our 1 and 4 is weak. 5 is fine in mid december.
I don't think we want to rely on freshmen.
I'm certain team Martin is watching HS and JUCO very closely. I am sure they were already looking at PGs after the DD issue went to the MAAC.
Who knows maybe they have a #4 ready to go.
What I've seen so far leads me to believe we'll be OK.

Really doesn't matter why LB was asked to leave.
LB would not get much PT the next two years. He is better off in a different program.

[yankee]

I think the Williams thing is crap honestly. First of all for the paper to mention that minor infraction is disgusting. For Martin to skirt around it is not cool either in my opinion. He should just say, "he is not talented enough to play for me". Instead this comes off as Williams maybe did some things behind the scene. Don't like it, know it is how the "business" is done, but shame for the kid and his family.
In regards to Devezin, rules are rules, what are you gonna do? Feel bad for him, but Marist tried to get him back, just couldn't get it done.
Hopefully the Williams thing is not a pattern this coaching staff plans to follow, not good for building relationships with the players and future recruits might be told about these circumstances from competitors. But other schools do it all the time, so guess that means little. Really crappy that college athletics is handled like this.

[nomar33]

Yankee you think it might actually be the other way around - that maybe Williams did something that people might consider real bad and Martin protected him by not saying exactly what it was he did; as to not embarass him or his family. I'm sure talent was not part of the decission. Martin didn't let him go because he needed the scholarship - from the people I spoke to this wasnt something that just came up - Martin just kept it in house for as long as he could.

[yankee]

nomar, see, I don't think its fair to have that as a possibility out there. There was a poster on the Marist board about 2 weeks ago that scooped everyone on this. He seemed pretty convincing it was the coach yanking the scholly. In other cases, coaches come out and say it was for disciplanary reasons. For example, Pitino came out and said some derogatory things about a player that left a year ago or 2 years ago. If it was something Williams did wrong, just say he didn't honor his scholarship terms, very simple. This leaves it open to interpretation. Nomar, since you did such a good job getting the journal to get this out, is it possible you could ask the reporter to try to interview Williams one more time?

Rethinking it, if it was for reasons that Williams did something wrong, should just leave it alone.

[ggaff]

As much as I loved DD, if Martin can land someone who can stick a j with half of DD's penetrating ability, they will be better off. There were way too many times where he was wide open and just wouldn't shoot. I loved the guy. He deserved a better fate. If he could shoot, he'd be the best. Don't give up on Hall yet. He did pretty well , considering he was a freshman. I liked LB. Hard worker but definitely struggled. They'll be fine.