Whaley was always the sort of player who would be a contributor end of junior year and more of senior year. He was raw, and he still isn't great at knowing where to be schematically (i.e. last year Hurley frequently had to yell at him because he didn't know where to be in offensive or defensive sets). But he works hard, has always played good 1-on-1 defense, and has a nose for how to get a rebound.
Once the more schematic stuff really sunk in, he would be a solid A10 starter or, as he is now, a kid who we root for, won't be the reason you lose, and ideally would be putting in great minutes off the bench. If he's our starter next year, we're in trouble. But if he's giving us 16-20 minutes of his energy, that's awesome.
He's easy to root for and I'm glad the staff didn't run him off the team as a number of posters thought they would--and openly clamored for.