Creighton update (long)
To no one’s surprise, the word is Zona straight up purchased Nembhard off of our roster.
At first I was furious but now less so. Due to his physical limitations Nembhard always had a more modest ceiling than some of the guys who are in the conversation with him regarding skill. Great player, loved the hell out of him, but too slight and too hot/cold to be a truly top shelf guy. His bad days were pretty ugly, and just look at the X tape from MSG for proof.
Really what everyone wanted was the whole starting 5 to come back, and him leaving brought out some vitriol, but after a week (and finding out what our other options might be) cooled people down.
Now to Kaluma: not only are there rumors Zona is trying to buy him too, it’s not the first time they’ve pulled this. Last year the rumor was they offered him a million to go. He went to HS in Arizona and they were one of his final teams. I found out the existence of the offer was real but not confirmation of its contents. But Art stayed, and I appreciate the heck out of it.
However I’d just as soon see him go, be it the NBA or somewhere else. Art isn’t the greatest fit for how we historically have played; at the 4 I think our ideal player would be someone like Tom Chambers (there’s a name) and Art, while really talented, isn’t that. Plus he does head scratching stuff and is another guy like Nembhard who’s ‘on’ most of the time but when he’s off it’s bad. I’d rather they turn it over to Mason Miller, who has the biggest hops on the team and is considered by some our best NBA prospect due to his shooting/size/athleticism. Oh and we may have gotten our Chambers type in 6 foot 10 Isaac Traudt, a transfer from Virginia who was a top recruit we finished second on last year.
Alexander’s reports are all over the place. Things like today, where he popped up at 21 on CBS’s draft board, won’t help.
Now to Ashworth: the word on the BYU board is we offered 400k. No idea if that’s true or sour grapes but it’s sounding like it’s us as a destination. His visit is tomorrow. You might not realize it but there’s a small but vibrant Mormon community on campus, aided by our dental school, which is a destination school for a staggering number of BYU grads who want to be dentists. I’m not kidding, it was even mentioned on the BYU board amidst all the grousing. Our last two Billy Bluejay mascots are/were dental school grad students who went to BYU and we’re both the Cougar mascot there as undergrads. Plus, one of our walk ons is from his town and knows his family, and put in a great word for us. High hopes there.
If we can somehow keep Trey in the fold and get Ashworth, we are loaded for bear regardless of Kaluma.
