Samuel was a great teammate and a valuable contributor in spot minutes during our 2014 title run.
He was, however, an unexpectedly lousy ball-handler who can't shoot, and is understandably being recruited over. He could see the writing on the wall with Adams (who would relegate him to the first guard off the bench) and the recruitment of Gibbs (who would relegate him to the second guard off the bench) and Gilbert (who would replace Gibbs).
It's interesting that Samuel and Facey are in basically the exact same position:
- Came in unheralded, during a period of recruiting purgatory
- Played sparsely freshman year (Samuel more so)
- Handed a starting job sophomore year on a less-than-talented roster
- Played poorly and managed to lose that starting job
- Saw long-term threats at their position in 2015 recruits (Adams, Enoch)
- Saw the staff pursue short-term solutions in order to bury them on the bench in 2015-16 (Gibbs, Miller)
Facey is apparently sticking it out, while Samuel wants no part of it.