Blade Reports Hamblet Dismissed from Program

Ryan at The Blade has this disappointing news to report:

Ryan Hamblet is academically ineligible and has been dismissed from the BG men’s basketball team.

His analysis follows, which you can see on the link, including that he was our only senior, one of our better scorers, and we are now down to nine scholarship players. It is indeed looking like a rough year for the hoopsters.

One minor quibble on Ryan's analysis of Hamblet as not a "punk." I don't like to sum people up in one word, but there had been some problems, such as this post I blogged on New Year's Day, 2007, when Coach Dakich suspended Hamblet for throwing a punch against Wisconsin Green Bay, which Dakich saw on film.

Hamblet was a JUCO player, and represented an attempt to get a quick fix into our program to fill in gaps left by highly unproductive recruiting as detailed below. JUCO players are always tough. Other MAC teams have used them effectively, and we did get Martin Samarco through that route, but if they aren't the right guys, they can just be the last gasp of a program that is sucking wind.

Ryan's blog does have some good recruiting news, which we report below:

I spoke today with Gary Teasley, the coach of BG recruit Austin Calhoun. Teasley said Austin is beginning to understand his strengths, while adding that Austin can be “unstoppable” and that “everyone knows BG got a diamond in the rough.” In a recent win over a rival opponent, Austin scored 21 points and grabbed 22 rebounds (perhaps those numbers should be flip-flopped; I can’t recall with certainty). A few weeks ago Calhoun’s team squared off against Country Day, led by future Falcon Dee Brown. Brown hit a game-winning 3-pointer as time expired. Teasley said when Brown brought the ball up the court he just knew Brown wasn’t going to pass the ball. Brown seemed so focused, so determined, according to Teasley.

More for archival purposes, here is the sad tale of the recruiting scoreboard, just to remind us how we got to where we are today.

Falcon Hoops Recruiting Scorecard, Updated December, 2007

02-03
Stephen Wright--Productive player, left prior to his senior season.
Ron Lewis--Two productive seasons, no junior year. Prominent Big 10 player.
Raheem Moss--26 games, two starts, 66 career points, left program. Contributing at Cleveland State.

03-04
Chris Hobson, 28 games, 51 points, left program.
Austin Montgomery 56 games, 189 points, transfered.
Reggie Harwell--Nada.
Matt Lefeld--A contributing senior and a true warrior. Academic All-American
Isaac Rosefelt--24 minutes, two points. Left Program for stellar DIII career.
John Floyd--Played 59 games averaging 8.4 ppg. 247 career assists. Left program.

04-05

Scott Vandermeer, 60 points and 40 fouls. Transfered.
Moon Robinson, Left program after sophomore season. Transferred.
Mawel Soler, completed eligibility. Effective player, even good in spots.

05-06

Jeremy Holland--left program after one practice
Nick Wilson--left program without playing a game.
Lionel Sullivan--Sayonara. 30 minutes, 6 points.
Dusan--Minor contributions. Left program prior to Junior Season.
Erik Marschall--appears to be legit.
Daryl Clements--Inconsistent, but appears ready to be a role player at worst.
Brian Moten--high credentials, came on strong at end of sophomore season.
Martin Samarco--2nd team All-MAC, legit D1 player. Finished career.

06-07

Ryne Hamblett--Contributing player, left program during senior year.
Brandon Bland--Left the program.
Marc Larson--Getting some minutes.
Otis Polk--huge man, huge upside.
Ryan Sims--has big potential, is contributing, though he fell off the radar.
Nate Miller--All-MAC honorable mention. Great get for the program.

07-08 (Too soon to tell)
Chris Knight
Joe Jakubowski
Cameron Madlock