David Thomas Entering the Transfer Portal
- Thread starter MDSpider8
- Start date
Spiderman 17382
Walk-on
So we currently have 3 open roster spots for next year right?
Spiders4ever
Starter
Too leafy.
*23*
Assistant coach
Mooney gets a cut.
Eight Legger
Starter
No loss here, obviously.
Correct. I suppose you call this “the basketball major”.
There is no way he will ever get a degree.
*23*
Assistant coach
Seemed like a good dude. Just crazy portal world out there. Bunch of guys like him hopping to 3 or 4 schools. Should be super easy for him to get a degree. Will have 4 years of tuition free college. Plus, guarantee got a pretty good chunk from Depaul, and we likely paid him pretty well. Can certainly afford to pay for an extra year on his own to get a degree.
We really need to bring in three very good athletes that can soot in the 6'4 to 6'7 range. Before we get the naysayers, we know there is a huge market for p4 type athletes that got stuck on the bench, got paid, but probably hurt their NIL value this year. We should be able to find those guys. Will we, and will Mooney be able to identify the ones that can produce for us??????
We really need to bring in three very good athletes that can soot in the 6'4 to 6'7 range. Before we get the naysayers, we know there is a huge market for p4 type athletes that got stuck on the bench, got paid, but probably hurt their NIL value this year. We should be able to find those guys. Will we, and will Mooney be able to identify the ones that can produce for us??????
Spider2020
Bench player
Another sad case of 4 schools in 4 years. I hope he gets a degree, but would be surprised if he is able to next year (I guess some of that depends where he transfers to). That level of turnover cannot be good for a young man’s development (in basketball or in general), and I really feel for the guys who are put in this situation where they feel transferring 4 times is best for them. But heaven forbid you put any type of restriction on player movement. Yet another reason I’m starting to check out from this program and college sports in general.
I hear you, but every kid is different. Plenty, as in thousands, of kids go to school for only basketball reasons. Maybe transferring multiple times is best for them? So, why not keep trying for the best fit in the portal? What's the alternative? Stay here and probably be unhappy having another year like last year? I know kids who have transferred multiple times and been way more happier at their new place than previous places.
If the issue is life after college, Thomas seems like a good guy with good character. If I am interviewing a guy for a job, I would take a high character guy who has transferred multiple times over a guy with lesser character who stayed at one place his whole career every time.
I wish the best for Thomas and hope he finds a good fit and has a fun final year.
SpiderPrime
Starter
Good news
Spider17
Assistant coach
This may be an unpopular opinion here but why do we (society, our university) stress getting a degree so much? To me a university should be a place of higher learning, of course, but really more general in that a place where it can help one pursue his or her dreams. Why can’t someone pursue basketball as a career/dream and that is deemed less socially acceptable than whatever office job they get from a degree. We can have a compromise by creating a sports management, sports marketing or entrepreneurial major.
If a kid really wants to pursue basketball as a career then essentially college is their internship to showcase professional teams their abilities. I don’t see that any differently of someone wanting to pursue a career in finance or being premed/pre law or something like that. If a guy really wants to pursue basketball, what benefit would taking classes he does not want, to pursue a degree he does not intend to use, be?
Now if someone wants to do both, absolutely! I think we all recognize that the likelihood of being a professional athlete is slim and the career only lasts until someone is around 35. So I think if someone has other passions outside of basketball, that getting a degree can be a valuable tool for them. Still, it’s up to them to decide what is best for their lives and in my eyes, a mission of the university should be to give them the tools necessary to achieve those dream.
Would be interested to hear others thoughts on this.
If a kid really wants to pursue basketball as a career then essentially college is their internship to showcase professional teams their abilities. I don’t see that any differently of someone wanting to pursue a career in finance or being premed/pre law or something like that. If a guy really wants to pursue basketball, what benefit would taking classes he does not want, to pursue a degree he does not intend to use, be?
Now if someone wants to do both, absolutely! I think we all recognize that the likelihood of being a professional athlete is slim and the career only lasts until someone is around 35. So I think if someone has other passions outside of basketball, that getting a degree can be a valuable tool for them. Still, it’s up to them to decide what is best for their lives and in my eyes, a mission of the university should be to give them the tools necessary to achieve those dream.
Would be interested to hear others thoughts on this.
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Agree 100%.
Spider2020
Bench player
This is nothing personal against Thomas. Agree that he seems like a good guy and he’s given us no reason to believe otherwise. I feel by allowing kids to transfer anytime they want, we are failing to teach perseverance and patience. College is as much about growing as a person as it is getting a degree or excelling at a sport.
I don’t want him to be forced to stay here another year - to me, if he wanted to leave DePaul after last year, he should have had to sit out a year. He already got his free transfer out of Mercer.
As for the degree argument, if a player is capable of making basketball their career, I agree that a degree does not matter. Thomas is a solid player, but I would be surprised if he ends up playing much basketball after college. As a kid, it’s easy to be short sighted and think that college basketball is forever. The NCAA (at least in my mind) has a duty to protect the athletes from thoughts like this, and from people like agents who may be selling guys dreams that are unrealistic. For most college athletes, having a degree to fall back on when “going pro” falls through is a huge benefit.
I’m all for the athletes trying to maximize their earnings while they’re in school, but for guys like Thomas, are they really making so much money in college that they can throw a degree out the window and forego the earning potential that comes with it?
Spider17
Assistant coach
On a personal level, I agree with you 100%. For instance, I had been recruited to play soccer at some no name division 3 schools, but decided not to pursue that because I recognized that professional soccer isn’t going to be a viable option and those schools were no where near the academic profile of Richmond.
When I make this case, I’m not trying to impart my own values, but think about it objectively. You mention, “if a player is capable of making basketball a career”. I’d argue that playing at a high division 1 school like UR, makes it certainly more realistic to go pro compared to all the other basketball players in the country playing at D1, D2, D3, JUCO, NAIA, etc . Will most of our guys make the NBA? No. But many can find a career playing overseas like in the 1st or 2nd division.
Secondly, you say “For most college athletes, having a degree to fall back on when “going pro” falls through is a huge benefit.”. Again, on a personal level I get where you’re coming from, but philosophically how is this any different than the biology major at UR who wanted to go to medical school but wasn’t accepted, the business school kid with the entrepreneurship minor for their start up that doesn’t amount to anything, or the theater major kid who doesn’t land any acting jobs on broadway they hoped for. Just because they have degrees, does that make their future outlook better in their chosen career paths? Nothing is guaranteed.
College is not the only successful path in life. I know people who didn’t go to college, work construction, and probably make more than me. College is what you make it to be and I just feel that as a university, our mission should be to support our students in whatever endeavor they choose, whether that’s become a CEO, lawyer, politician, doctor, teacher, actor, or professional athlete. Who are we to say what’s more important value in someone’s life.
Duke brings in kids every year that will leave to go to the NBA who take the spot of a kid who would’ve otherwise planned on staying 4 years and get a degree. Duke is fine with that because not only does the student athlete get the benefit of using Duke to propel their career, Duke gets the benefit of having their university be marketed throughout the country. Same thing at UR, to a lesser extent.
I think a compromise with what I’m saying and the mentality our school has in this topic is that the UR creates a sports branding/management major where guys who want to play professionally can at least learn the skill set to market themselves, create a brand for themselves, learn to manage their finances, etc. Can certainly make the case that if/when their professional athlete career is over those skills are transferable to another job. Most people ended up doing jobs that aren’t associated with their undergraduate major. I think it’s certainly a better option than forcing kids to take classes they don’t want in order to get a degree in a major they’ll never intend to use.
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Arachnid
Bench player
The present state of the UR Mens BB program is not even in the same universe.
Spider17
Assistant coach
Doesn’t take away the fact we’ve had a lot of players who’ve played here go on to have some sort of professional basketball career somewhere in the world. Don’t know how lucrative it is but if you get paid doing it, by definition you’re a professional.
