Man, Sure wish we could held onto him. He is burning it up. Interesting he had a career day against the Mountaineers..........I can't really blame him for wanting to bail...but he paid the price and I'm reluctantly happy for his success I neve wish for anyone to fail unless it's the Dallas Cowboys or GSU.

Rekdiver wrote:Man, Sure wish we could held onto him. He is burning it up. Interesting he had a career day against the Mountaineers..........I can't really blame him for wanting to bail...but he paid the price and I'm reluctantly happy for his success I neve wish for anyone to fail unless it's the Dallas Cowboys or GSU.

The amazing question is, how did Capel ever land a player of that caliber?

No one had offered him anything because he's 5'9" until the NC High School All Star Game and he burned it up.....Not saying that a year or 2 with Capel wouldn't have ruined him.

The Kansas roster lists him at 6'2".

I erred....He's 6'1' KU is lying

Appsolutely wrote:The Kansas roster lists him at 6'2".

He's 6-2 only with a '70s 'fro and a pair of platform shoes.

Wasn't Spike Albrecht coming here too before Michigan offered late? Would have been his senior year this year.

yep

Couple of guys that could have made a big difference in the product we've seen the last couple years.

Yeah I think App fans are too harsh on Devonte. Can't really blame a kid for preferring to play for Kansas (or hell, even NCSU) over App. Plus I think the Jayhawks are one of our best chances of beating UNC. Ugh.

Disagree. Dirty recruiting.

Saint3333 wrote:Disagree. Dirty recruiting.

People want to pay athletes and treat them like adults, then say "oh he is just a kid, he did not know what he was doing" when a contacted employee and a rival employer would get sued in a heartbeat for the same behavior.

Capels did little if anything right while our coach, but one thing he did get right, was holding his ground when Graham tried to back out of his agreement late in the recruiting season when we had little if no chance to replace him with a comparable point guard. Proud of the way the administration and Capels handled this situation.

appgrouch wrote:

Saint3333 wrote:Disagree. Dirty recruiting.

People want to pay athletes and treat them like adults, then say "oh he is just a kid, he did not know what he was doing" when a contacted employee and a rival employer would get sued in a heartbeat for the same behavior.

Getting paid for generating revenue isn't exactly treating them like an adult. It's treating them like they're in a free-market.

So is it his fault or the lack of integrity of other colleges who should have made him honor his commitment to App? Listen the same thing has happened in football with us on the receiving end. I'ts part of the landscape and he looks happy and is pretty awesome. I dont blame Devonte at all. I do blame the adults in the room(s).

When have we been on the receiving end in football? I assume you mean verbal commits that flip to us later, that isn't the same.

Football and basketball recruiting is much different. There is no early signing period in football and you have 18-23 scholarships a year vs. 2-4 in basketball.

Some may say that when a recruit verbally commits to a program they should stick with it, but I believe there is a difference between a verbal commitment and a binding contract signed in the early period for basketball. I wish football had an early signing period and both sides should honor the contract.

I recall Bobby Cremins verbally committing to return to his alma mater to coach hoops. In an emotional press conference he announced he had changed his mind. I did not lose one ounce of respect for him over that. In fact, I admired him more because it took more guts to change his mind than honor a non-contractual commitment he was no longer comfortable keeping.

Devonte paid his price for indecision. I wish him nothing but the best.

Wonder what would have happen to Mr. Graham had he not had the great fortune of being so athletically talented and had sign to join the Marines instead and then decided he wanted to change his mind? I think he would have been treated like a man and his arse would have been in boot camp. No way I would let a kid out of a signed agreement. Not a good life lesson for the kid.

Devonte signed a National Letter of Intent. He was announced as a recruit and everything.. I had zero problem with Capel refusing to release him and had zero problem with Fox releasing him when he became head coach.

http://www.appstatesports.com/ViewArtic ... =205742675
(On an aside, look at that class. Two didn't make it to the sophomore year, Graham never stepped foot on campus and the other was Kobani)

I just wish he had told the truth. His camp's first excuse was that he was surprised with the Sun Belt move and wanted to play closer to home. The timeline on this doesn't match up because word that Graham wanted out of his NLOI started in February when the Sun Belt move was announced in late March. Also, the potential Sun Belt move was known as a possibility for months. So Graham, who says he wants to play closer to home, chooses to play prep ball in New Hampshire, 800 miles from home.

In September 2013, this whole thing became national news when Devonte's prep coach made it a big deal, especially when Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo said App was holding Graham "hostage". He later apologized for using those words, but the damage was done. Then the tampering allegations with NC State happened and the media got on App for that. After that, Cobb tried to hire Bobby Lutz, which is another story for another time. This all led to App releasing a statement.

http://www.appstatesports.com/ViewArtic ... =209269294

And all during this time from February 2013 to April 2014, Graham's family members and friends would barrage anything App on Twitter and message boards under names such as "YosefKiller" and the like with #FreeDTae. Of course, all those accounts are now deleted. Graham himself even responded to App fans such as myself and others before deleted those messages.

Since then, Graham has admitted that he just signed the first NLOI that was put in front of him because he hadn't been heavily recruited up to that point. He also admitted that he wanted out because he saw greener pastures after blowing up his senior year.

I don't blame Devonte as much as I blame his coaches and support circle.

Funny thing is that now people are writing about Graham and talking about how few offers he had coming out of high school. Well that's because he signed with the first school that offered him. The fish tales are already starting.

Who are we talking about, this devonte person? (and yes this is sarcasm)

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