Clay Yeo... is Transferring.

[IndyValpo]

Next problem with Oren's column:
PG -- Brandon Wood
SG -- Jay Harris
SF -- Samuel Haanpaa
PF -- Richie Edwards
C -- Bryan Bouchie
Sixth Man -- Andrew Ferry
Seventh Man -- Clay Yeo

If Ferry is indeed worthy as 6th man on a transfer list then we really don't have a problem.  I thought perhaps I had missed something but the guy played 22 games, under 5 minutes per and averaged under a point.  I wont even list all that belong there ahead of him.

I would be hard pressed to put Yeo ahead of Harris, Miles or Haskins maybe not Sylla.

I do love to debate lists though.

[classof2014]

It's quite obvious to me that the coaching staff new of Yeo's intentions for quite the while. Thus the signing of Darien Walker makes much more sense than it did a week ago, since he will take the spot of Yeo in the lineup. 

[valpotx]

Ferry went on to average around 11 ppg at Cornell, while shooting 39% from 3, and is currently playing professionally in Spain:

http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Andrew-Ferry/Summary/15766

http://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Andrew_Ferry/Albacete_Basket/163117?AmNotSure=1

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Sixth Man -- Andrew Ferry

I thought that was a joke, and a funny one at that.  Tex points out that, maybe not.

But I don't think that is necessarily true.  It's kind of revisionist history to say that because he is playing pro ball in Spain (which certainly is not true of any of our other walk-ons) he was better than, say, Yeo.

Just because the girl that was less-than-attractive in junior high became gorgeous while attending high school in upstate NY doesn't mean she was any better looking when she was here.

[Pgmado]

Witt to focus on academics; Will not compete
http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/news/2011-12/10949/valpos-witt-to-focus-on-academics-will-not-compete/

As for Kurth, I was making a list of players who left the program with eligibility remaining. If he isn't on the list because of health, then Kenny Harris and Alex Rossi would be off the list as well. If he isn't on the list because he graduated from Valparaiso, then Brandon Wood and Cameron Witt would be off the list as well. Yes, Kurth spoke at Senior Day (and spoke and spoke and spoke), but the list was comprised of players who didn't play out their entire eligibility at Valparaiso.

[Pgmado]

Here is my point with Andrew Ferry. That kid was something special and he was completely disregarded while he was here. Great kid from a wonderful family (his father was finalist for VU President before Heckler got the job). Ferry was on the team in the 9-22 year and overcame numerous medical issues to play at the collegiate level. He just never got a fair shake from the coaching staff. I can still remember the game at Loyola when Valpo was down to six scholarship players and it was clear that Ferry should be on the floor. He got 1 minute. His father wrote a book called "Faith in the Freshman" (http://faithinthefreshman.com/) about his own journey and includes a chapter at the end about Andrew's time at Valparaiso. It's a solid read.

Call it revisionist history if you'd like, but Ferry could've helped the Crusaders in 2008-09 and certainly could've done so later in his career.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

That kid was something special and he was completely disregarded while he was here.

I don't doubt that.  But it is telling that he was the success at CU that he never was here for two reasons--one, the style of play in Ithaca really suits the whole white-dude-sniping-from-the-corner thing--but two, because they don't have athletic scholarships.

It's too bad he didn't get more of a shot here, but it is hard to blame the coaching staff for basically ignoring the walk-ons when they have tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention thousands of hours, invested in scholarship players.  In the Ivy League, they don't have those sunk costs staring them in the face at every practice.

[mj]

Is it possible that Yeo just didn't like Valpo? I remember some kids could never get comfortable at Valpo. They couldn't find a group and eventually left for other schools. Maybe the same thing happened with Yeo?

[wh]

Here is my point with Andrew Ferry. That kid was something special and he was completely disregarded while he was here. Great kid from a wonderful family (his father was finalist for VU President before Heckler got the job). Ferry was on the team in the 9-22 year and overcame numerous medical issues to play at the collegiate level. He just never got a fair shake from the coaching staff. I can still remember the game at Loyola when Valpo was down to six scholarship players and it was clear that Ferry should be on the floor. He got 1 minute. His father wrote a book called "Faith in the Freshman" (http://faithinthefreshman.com/) about his own journey and includes a chapter at the end about Andrew's time at Valparaiso. It's a solid read.

Call it revisionist history if you'd like, but Ferry could've helped the Crusaders in 2008-09 and certainly could've done so later in his career.

Are you saying you knew all along that Ferry should have been getting minutes while he was here, or you surmised it after the fact based on how he performed at Columbia. Personally, no one was more surprised about what he accomplished after he left here than I was. The Ferry I saw was slow afoot with limited athleticism. He seemed far more suited for NAIA than D-1. Obviously, that was the coaching staff's assessment, as well.

[Pgmado]

I guess all I'm saying was that 9-22 season was miserable on every level. Giving Ferry some run couldn't have been any worse.

[valpopal]

Looking back at my photos, I noticed that I had captured Clay scoring the last basket in the final game, the College Insider Tournament game against Columbia. At the time, this shot seemed to offer promise for the future, especially since Clay finally appeared fully healthy. It is a shame we won't see more images like this one:

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Thought about captioning that photo "COMING SOON TO 127 PEOPLE NEAR YOU" but you know, some people can take things the wrong way when you're only trying to be funny.

[vu72]

Thought about captioning that photo "COMING SOON TO 127 PEOPLE NEAR YOU" but you know, some people can take things the wrong way when you're only trying to be funny.

That's hysterical!  I actually went to their sports site to try and see how many folks attend their games.  All of their games, including the big conference tourney, showed official attendance of 0!  I wonder if its some sort of NAIA rule not to publicize the stats or whether it is out of embarrassment, who knows.  I know D3 shows attendance.

Apostle, as to these comments:

It's too bad he didn't get more of a shot here, but it is hard to blame the coaching staff for basically ignoring the walk-ons when they have tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention thousands of hours, invested in scholarship players.  In the Ivy League, they don't have those sunk costs staring them in the face at every practice.

Don't be too sure.  They don't give "official athletic scholarships" but, in the same way as Valpo football players not getting scholarships, somehow all these guys are getting money.  As for the not having "thousands of hours" invested, I know that isn't true.  I was on the staff for a big AAU tournament held in Minneapolis.  Every year Tommy Amaker (Harvard) and his guys were there recruiting.  Given the high academic standards, Ivy coaches may well travel more, to find good fits both academically and skill wise.  It's not like they hold an open gym and how enough guys show up to field a team!

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Oh, I certainly didn't mean that these guys don't get money--of course they do, as we've talked about in other threads (recruiting)--but they aren't on "athletic scholarships", thus the money is not coming out of AD pockets, but out of the school's. 

And Ivy coaches do put in time recruiting and coaching--I didn't mean that they don't--just that when other coaches look down their bench--they don't see everyone equally, try as they may.

Just like in the NBA, where the guy making the max deal is not looked upon in the same way as the guy on the 10-day.  When a college coach looks down the bench and sees a schollie and a walk-on as his two options, he will put the former in 97% of the time--exceptions being a) gahrbaj time and b) "sending a message".

An Ivy coach looking down his bench is liberated from a great deal of those constraints.

Man, do we get far afield sometimes.

[valpotx]

Witt to focus on academics; Will not compete
http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/news/2011-12/10949/valpos-witt-to-focus-on-academics-will-not-compete/

As for Kurth, I was making a list of players who left the program with eligibility remaining. If he isn't on the list because of health, then Kenny Harris and Alex Rossi would be off the list as well. If he isn't on the list because he graduated from Valparaiso, then Brandon Wood and Cameron Witt would be off the list as well. Yes, Kurth spoke at Senior Day (and spoke and spoke and spoke), but the list was comprised of players who didn't play out their entire eligibility at Valparaiso.

Right, I remember the release, but figured that was the program putting a good face on a situation where we didn't need him to play anymore.

[bbtds]

As I'm sure I'm the only Valpo fan that has attended a recent men's basketball game at tiny Gates Gymnasium on the Bethel College campus (Homer Drew coached there in the early 80's) it was not a bad experience. My guess is there were 400 to 500 fans for a 3:00 p.m. game against Marian University of Indianapolis. They had video showing on two screens one facing each side of the gym. Just like at Valpo they had an opening video which showcased their talent. Remember that Bethel is a well established program in NAIA Div II. They went to the Final 8 of the NAIA Div. II national championship this past season in Point Lookout, MO. Yes, that is where Greg Tonagel's Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats won the NAIA Div. II national championship. Bethel lost to Midland U of Nebraska in the tournament. The niece of a good friend was a cheerleader at Marian University and he had promised to see one of the last games that his niece was going to be cheering at. I, as a good friend, went with him so he would have some one other than his not-so-knowledgeable-about-sports sister to talk to during the game. I was intrigued by the fact that Homer had started out at Bethel.

The things that stood out for me the most about that game is that there was a prayer before the game, one of the Bethel cheerleaders got engaged during halftime and Marian pulled out an impressive win over Bethel in a high scoring game. Other than eating at a loaded Chinese buffet up near the mall on Grape Rd in Mishiwaka after the game it was a nice experience. 

[a3uge]

I went to high school with Andrew Ferry and his 37 siblings. I could be misremembering, but I don't think he started when he was a junior (we were DIII in a rather talentless state)... It's not that he was some underrecuited gem, but he always did have a nice confident shot.

I was shocked to see him end up with a productive career at Cornell. It's a bit of 20/20 hindsight to blame Valpo for letting him slip through the cracks.

[Valpo89]

Has anyone considered perhaps Clay didn't want to work hard enough in the off-season to play Division I? That's what I was thinking. And with all of the other talented guards coming in, maybe he saw the writing on the wall with regard to his playing time.

I'm disappointed, because he showed plenty of potential last season and I talked to an assistant coach last summer who told me he thought Clay would end up being the best player in this class. I had trouble believing that, especially after seeing Alec Peters play.

I do know one thing - I'll bet the coaching staff will be very hesitant in the future about recruiting a kid from a small school in Indiana. Maybe it's too tough to make the adjustment from being the big fish in a small pond to the "larger pond" at VU. Get closer to home? Please. It's got to be a girlfriend thing.