The thought that weed is or is not more or less dangerous than alcohol is 100% irrelevant if the question is suspension for breaking the rules.  At that point, what the rules are ain't in question.  The question at that point is can ya show a little bit of discipline and responsibility.

To the guy's friend:  Whatever.  Yes, he can make any choice he wants to.  The odds are very great that he made a poor one here.  That would be another in a series of poor choices--as you admit about his eligibility status for the two years that he's been here.  Think he's gonna end up anywhere else playing ball--any place of consequence?  hahahahahahahahahahaha.  I laugh.

EG321- I appreciate you coming on here an sticking up for your friend and I'm guessing Steven appreciates it too. Although its hard not to do, don't let these guys get under your skin too much. We've all got opinions, which makes these types of boards entertaining, and if you stick around here long enough you'll see we save our harshest remarks for each other, believe me!

You have to remember, we're sports fans, we care about Steven the person a little bit because we share that OU bond, but really this is about Steven the B Ball player This might sound odd ,but in a lot of ways its nothing personal. I won't compare this to how Clevelanders reacted to LeBron, but its a similar concept. If you're a sports fan you can probably understand where I'm coming from.

Getting a free college education is a tremendous opportunity to waste, but that's his decision to make, not ours. I will share my two cents- I spent 5 years getting my music degree from OHIO and the next 10 years paying off the loans so I'm a little jealous when i see someone not take advantage of the opportunity to get a free education. I also know first hand that OHIO has a good music dept and majoring in Music Business could have helped him out in the long run. I only listened to some of his tracks but I think Steven has some potential, he has a good flow and I thought the track with the overdub of Jordan's retirement speech was a cool idea. But, as I said, that's his decision, not ours.

So for whatever the reasons are, Steven's no longer on the team, and I wish him the best of luck. Now let's get back to focusing on the players that are going to get us back to the Tourney next March. 120+ comments on a BBall thread in August? Damn I love OHIO!

I don't disagree with you John, the kid made some big mistakes and I think leaving is one of the biggest, and I'm certainly not trying to gloss over those. My point is that in the end I don't know Steven, the person, to care about his life choices and how they affect him personally, my passion is for the team. I'm disappointed that we lost a talented guard, but beyond that I'm just indifferent about piling on regarding his life choices.

Pragmatically, none of the MAC coaches would want to offer him a scholarship at this point.  They can use that scholarship for someone who has relatively equal promise, and who does not have the record of suspension for violation of team rules, a marijuana bust, and a failure to show up for the season while giving no adequate notice to the coaches.  That's a three time loser from a Division I basketball coach's perspective.  Why is heaven's name would any coach want to gamble when you give the scholarship to a freshman or a transfer student who does not have that baggage?   I do not disagree with wishing him good luck, he is going to need all that he can get.    

Fascinating - I  quess

Never heard of "team players" being suspended multiple times, isn't that in itself the definition of a person who puts themselves about "team"?   Good luck to Stevie Fresh, he has chosen to go in a different direction, this makes Stevie Fresh no more or no less of a person.  Just trying to point out that some are trying ignore what is the document facts of the past.

I'm aware he wasn't a team player off the court, or a leader at that. On the court, in a basketball sense, he was a team player.

As stated here, there's a lot of intangibles that make up any player (work ethic, team spirit, dependability, etc...).  However from a pure basketball point of view, losing Coleman was potentially huge and a Coleman for Sayles swap is not anywhere close to even.  We go from having two solid double digit scoring options at the #2 (A.B, Coleman) potentially coming into this season, to having to hope that Ricardo and/or Nick can grow up real fast.  Sayles is a nice role player, but lets be honest, he only saw the court last year because we were out of reliable bodies.  There's a reason he wasn't extended a scholarship initially and that's because it appears we have other guys that can be counted on right now.  With Alex eligible and Ivo having another year under his belt, he's needed even less this year other than 5-6 minutes to give the other guys a break.  On the other hand, Coleman was a guy we were expecting to give us 25-30 min/13-16ppg this upcoming season.  Where that's coming from now is questionable.  Appears our hope is that Ricardo is ready to fill those shoes quick and most of us have never seen him even take a shot, not alone be an impact player.

So from purely an on-the-court perspective, the preseason outlook for the Cats is not nearly as strong as it was with either A.B or Coleman on the roster.  With both these guys on the roster + the potential of the new recruits--we would've entered the season "loaded."

Hey mid70s, did you consider that in the 70s, there was a 18 year old drinking age, different DUI laws, and no NCAA drug testing(to my knowledge)? That would represent a majority of 'trouble' that today's student athlete gets him/herself into. None of which a player in the 70s had to really deal with. Poor comparison IMO.

ben

Several inside the Convo have confirmed his presence since Tuesday and in fact say that he is in good shape and has been playing all summer. Cancelled his Gardner Webb Housing and ride.

I'd agree even though (to channel my father) his music of choice makes my ears bleed.  There is a huge market for that type of music.  The only concern I have for him is that he is really going to regret giving up competitive basketball somewhere down the road.  I don't know if he's got any kind of musical talent but that is an extremely difficult industry to hit it big in. You not only have to have talent but you've got to know the right people and your timing has to be perfect.  I'm just worried that he is getting some bad advice. I hope that's not the case because if it is he might really be kicking himself in a year or two.

Well, this is pretty disappointing news that Coleman is leaving. However, it is very encouraging news that Sayles is back on the team. We won w/out Coleman last year and won with Sayles. Sayles was a huge role player for us down the stretch. Played lock down defense on a variety of positions and helped out on the boards on both ends. He has improved immensely, can't wait to see what he brings for his senior season.

By the way, the comments regarding Coleman's music are pretty predictable for a message board dominated by pasty, graying, balding and fattening white males. A Tribe Called Quest and Wu-Tang are among my favorite groups of all time, I guess I'm one of the few that is open minded.

A little birdy tweeted that Stevie Fresh is coming back to Ohio. Don't get your depends in a bunch..he will be a starter again very soon..granted he keeps his nose..lungs clean