May 24
There has been lots going on in college basketball. Yes, it's the offseason, but there has been a flurry of activity. That's right, every time you look, it seems like there's another transfer from a big-time college. There are a number of reasons why players leave schools and look elsewhere.

A key reason kids transfer is that it's all about being a star.

For some kids, if they're not the star -- and they have their posse telling them they should be the man -- then they pick up the phone and transfer, baby. When you look at some of these names and the schools they left, you're talking about lots of talent!

Think about Wesley Stokes saying so long to Missouri, Orien Greene leaving Florida, Scooter McFadgon leaving Memphis, Tony Stockman saying farewell to Clemson, J.J. Sullinger saying goodbye to Arkansas, Odartey Blankson departing Marquette, Shane Power leaving Iowa State ...

Then there's North Carolina losing Brian Morrison and Adam Boone, Rashaad Carruth leaving Kentucky for Oklahoma and J.C. Mathis departing Virginia.

The beat just never stops. It's a wacky scene, absolutely chaotic! Some of the excuses for leaving just blow my mind.

Stokes might be heading West; he may have felt challenged by incoming juco transfer Ricky Clemons. Greene started 30 games at Florida last season. McFadgon decided to stay in state and transfer to Tennessee. Stockman and Sullinger are Ohio State-bound.

Blankson averaged 8.4 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game, starting 27 games. He said he felt he needed a change and wanted to go where he would have a bigger role in the offense. Reportedly, Morrison is bound for UCLA and Boone for Minnesota. Carruth is transferring to Oklahoma.

There's an old adage that if you think things get better by just moving on (but not looking in the mirror), you'll run all your life. There's a tendency to take the easy way out, not accepting the challenges in front of you. The quick fix doesn't always work.

I'm not saying that every kid is making a mistake. Obviously, there are some situations where a change is needed. Sometimes the coach-player relationship isn't great and there isn't the comfort zone desired. Everyone has the right to move on, and that's the freedom we possess in the greatest country in the world.

But a key reason, when you get into the mindset, is that it's all about being a star! When a player isn't the star, he sometimes can't face the reality that maybe he isn't as good as his big-time reputation. Some guys come out of high school overrated, because they're stars in their own little world before finding out about reality in the real world of college athletics. When these players mix in with the others who have big-time reputations and live up to them, there can be problems.

In time, we will see how these players fare in so-called greener pastures. I wish them well. I'll have quite an All-Marco Polo team in the future, baby! I hope they turn out like Ryan Humphrey at Notre Dame and Scoonie Penn at Ohio State, to name a couple of successful transfers. It will be interesting to keep track of their futures.