Plain and simple -
IT'S THE HEART
The kid showed little desire on the court, he took plays off on the offensive end, was caught off guard on passes and assignments, rarely fought for a rebound and when he was on the bench, from my seats at HCC, I saw him goofing off with Durham and one of the walk ons many times.
Yes defense can be taught. However, in order to improve on the deficiencies, you need to want to work on them - desire is what was/is lacking - it is almost impossible for someone who is claiming to work on something to not get better if they have the physical tools - and looking at SE's size and some of the things he did show on the offensive end - he had physical tools.
I hope things work out for him but truth be told - he is in a far worse position now than the day before he walked off the Storrs campus.