Seniors

[Southgrad07]

Wanted to post this before I post about the future in the coming days/weeks..Thank you to the seniors who are moving on! Before looking forward and what we need/ should do to ensure we don’t have another miserable winter I wanted to give a little blurb about some of the guys leaving.

Davis- First off feel good for him accomplishing what had to be his biggest goal…Playing an entire year injury free..Not only did he do that he gave us 10 and 5 with decent shooting and good D. In comparison a much more hyped grad transfer joined MSU (JT miller) and didn’t give them nearly what Davis gave us..Getting a grad transfer in the valley who performed like Davis did is very rare historically. That put back against Bradley was a nice moment for the senior.

Murph- 1 word to describe his SR year…Solid…Gave us a presence on both ends and had a senior moment of his own with the tip in against UNI. He came a longgggg way in one season. Maybe the most of any tree in recent memory?? I mean I remember having discussions last march with several people and weighing whether we would even miss murphy at all if he left a year early. He was basically a no show for 3 seasons but turned in a nice senior year. He deserves credit for changing his body and putting the time in on his game around the rim. Would love to see him stay in Indiana and be successful with his degree moving forward.

Scott- No matter what you/I think of him nobody deserves to go out like he did. As far as his legacy is concerned he will be debated for years down the road..Can see 10 years from now SSOM and I having a beer and arguing over his place in Sycamore history. I’ll leave the debating for the future, but the one thing nobody can dispute is his dedication to the program and for that I am thankful. He never was accused of half assing it in practice or in a game setting. Was known for putting up shots on his own when the gym was empty and even sacrificed during his SR year by taking the back seat to JB and playing the best defense of his career...He played in every game for 4 years and despite the losing stuck it out until the end. His biggest moment in a ISU uniform was against Butler and as the students rushed the floor he is proudly tugging on the SYCAMORE part of his jersey.. In a world where it is so often about the name on the back I think he truly cared about being a part of the program on the front.

 

[BrokerZ]

Well said, Southgrad. You don't always know what you have until it's gone. We're going to really feel the departures of Davis, Murphy and Scott.

Even though Qiydar was only here for a year, I agree with you that he had a big impact. We really don't have anybody like him on our roster for 2018, which worries me. We've always been a guard-oriented team, but we need a guy or two that can athletically matchup with Yarbrough, Alize Johnson, Thomas from Bradley, etc. He's leaving big shoes to fill, even if he only filled them himself for a year. He's another super-competitive guy we're going to miss in the locker room.

Murphy, I think I'm going to miss him the most. For everyone that says we cannot develop a big man at ISU - just look at Murphy. He may not be the 20/10 monster so many people seem to think we should have (who nobody really has), but he was a reliable 8/6 or 10/8 guy on a good day who was a LOAD for opposing defenses to handle. You had to game plan against Murphy...at least a little. No team we played could deny we had a 280 lb beast in the interior. He was also the only player this year who could limit Kutwig from Loyola. Rickman has his work cut out for him if he's going to become the consistent interior presence we're losing with Murphy.

Scott is one of the most interesting players we've had in a long time. There were games he played where I thought he'd never miss, and then there were other games where you cringed every time the ball left his hands. The fact that he accomplished what he did at his size is remarkable. Scott is barely 6' tall, regardless of what the program says. He played like it didn't matter, and that level of competitor is going to be sorely missed. I am in a weird way a little happy the "Brenton Scott era" of ISU basketball is over, but that's not necessarily his fault. Good or bad, he's going to be tied to the last four years. Time will remember him more fondly than we will today.

 

[TreeTop]

Demonte....I know you've been through a lot in life. Thank you for your contribution to ISU basketball! Your effort this year was especially appreciated!