March 10, 2010

And By 'Graduating' They Mean, Being Kindly Nudged Off The Team

Unless you've been living under a rock, or are one of those casual Penn State fans who only follows football and tends to crack the familiar "We have a basketball team?" joke (in which case, we strongly suggest you go play in traffic and stick to rooting for Duke, or whatever bandwagon you've managed to cling to with your feet dragging along the ground), you're probably well aware by now of the Altoona Mirror's Neil Rudel bringing to light the likelihood of there being roster changes for the Fighting DeChellises:
Though they did not have a Senior Day for the first time in 25 years, the Lions may well have a scholarship or two conveniently become available. DeChellis left open the possibility last week that a couple of players could graduate, and assistant coach Kurt Kanaskie, off recruiting, wasn't in attendance Saturday.
Now, the most likely 'graduation' candidate would be redshirt junior Andrew Ott, given his lack of PT compared to fellow redshirt juniors DJ Jackson and Andrew Jones. Ott-zilla jokes aside, from this day forward, he's unlikely to see the court for more than 5-7 minutes a game unless injuries begin to ravage the team or Ed becomes as desperate as became halfway through the 0-12 Big Ten start and actually gives Ott a starting spot. However, I wouldn't put too much emphasis on the word 'graduate.' There's a chance that redshirt freshman Billy Oliver could be on his way out as well, due to long-term effects that a couple of concussions have had on his playing ability (i.e. exercise-induced migraines).

At this stage however, just who will comprise the dearly departed scholarship players is mere speculation, which makes this perfect timing for a reader poll. Commence voting exercises.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Once you make your selection, you may have to scroll to the right to see the voting results]

Which of these players will most likely NOT be back next basketball season?




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