he's already married. life has moved on.

I agree that he will and should play next year but what you wouldn't want to be doing is irrelevant....you would also probably not want to interrupt your undergrad experience with a 2 year mission. This young man does not operate with the same set of values, timeline and goals as a typical college basketball player.

Not to jump off track and certanily not singling this comment out specifically but as a general observation that it is amusing when folks think how a normal student experience or the norm for what they would have done or thought as opposed to those who live in the world of NCAA hoops.T his kid wants to play, my bet after being in this world is that if he was offered an extra year of school he would jump at the chance irregardless of age. He knows he is not going to the league and even if he were married the free education is too good to pass up.

My big question here is the chemistry. THe reason we made a quantum jump here from the year before is chemistry and maturity. Kids of similar backgrounds with similar values and ethics buying into a single system each understaning his role and contribution to the system and acepting moves made mid season with regard to those roles..  THis years team really got along on and off the court. End of story.

Borna, you raise a good point about chemistry.  I did hear JC say that his main priority in recruiting was to not bring anyone in who would mess up the chemistry, so I figure the coaches thought this through. 

Also, having people of similar backgrounds helps, but having some diversity also can be a great learning experience as well, as the kids all learn to get along on and off the court even if not all come from the same background. 

We still have one scholarship left for next year.  Is that correct? 

Even with Willis on board we should still have one more.

1. Cooper
2. Keely 
3. Baltic 
4. Offutt 
5. Kellogg 
6. Hall 
7. Johnson 
8. Smith 
9. Wilkins
10. Taylor 
11. Green 
12. Willis 
13. (open)

Our recruiting grid is always there to answer this question: http://bobcatattack.com/basketball/recruiting.asp

 Agreed Jeff.

That position should now be solidified for the first 2years post-Coop Renaissance Era.  Eventhough I must say, I can not wait to see the type of 4-year starter JC brings in at that and other positions.  I understand the filling of holes, but I'm just very anxious to see what this guy does on the recruiting front at OU... when not playing catch up, if you will.
 

Me too Van...human nature and chemistry being what it is.....

This team is being built to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament and deliver a MAC regular season and tournament championship. I agree with going for the win now.  You get back the NCAA tournament and find a way to advance and you then climb the ladder in the recruiting game to where Butler, Xavier, Gonzaga have existed for a while.  This team's mission is to prove it wasn't luck or some fluke we reached the sweet sixteen. You go back to back and all the sudden you change the program's profile.  To reach 3 NCAA's in four years would establish this team as one of the best in MAC history.  That would have a huge effect on recruiting for the next decade.   

Men's Basketball: Bobcats bring in sober shooter as junior-college transfer

Really?  I don't know if this is more demeaning to him or alumni.

I hate to even give a link to the post - what an incredibly poor thought

http://thepost.ohiou.edu/content/mens-basketball-bobcats-...

The article was decent but I agree that some of the word choice was immature.  "Sober" and "pious" were probably misused.  In the OU student culture, "sober" is almost a pejorative term.  It's almost like the student journalists don't know what to make of someone who isn't a heavy partier.  

OTOH, I thought the article overall was complimentary.  

I thought "sober" and "pious" were properly used in the article.  The first meaning of pious is "devoutly religious," which I think fits.  And, he certainly is always sober.  The article, IMHO, painted a positive picture of this young man.   Now, I had a few beers in my day, and still like an adult beverage every now and then, but I don't have a prejudice against someone who is a teetotaler.  However, the fact that they had to use the word "sober" to distinguish him from the majority of the student population is another matter all together.  I guess I'm reading this in the context "fest season" and unruly student behavior.  I did think that throwing in all the garbage about the #1 party school was a little over the top.  The picture that painted of the campus was kind of one-dimensional.