Sjolund to (not) transfer

[jbix80]

To me, the bigger waste of scholarship is Didenko. I would have rather red-shirted him, forcing him to make this decision. I feel like Sjolund could have helped us.

 

[kg01]

To me, the bigger waste of scholarship is Didenko. I would have rather red-shirted him, forcing him to make this decision. I feel like Sjolund could have helped us.

Agreed. That's the reason I wonder if there was more to Sjolund leaving.

 

[lv20gt]

If that's the real story, then why did we offer him a scholarship and recruit him in the first place? He's exactly the guy we thought he'd be.

Because we needed shooting and thought he could help. Turns out he couldn't right away, which people weren't expecting. Either way, with Usher and Moore, he likely wasn't going to play too much next year anyways. This loss is more of an impact on the year after, but that's why the real story is that we have an open ship to use. If we can land a wing similar in caliber to the 3 recruits we've landed in this class then this transfer likely doesn't matter too much. Or we could use it on a transfer who would have to sit next year and be ready to step in the year after.

To me, the bigger waste of scholarship is Didenko. I would have rather red-shirted him, forcing him to make this decision. I feel like Sjolund could have helped us.

Sjolund needed a year to physically develop which was probably why he redshirtted as well as put a class between him and Moore. Didenko redshirting would make no sense as he is already physically developed, and he's not worth spending 4 scholarship years on to play 3.

 

[ChasonBaller]

This really...for lack of a word....pisses me off.

 

[YlJacket]

Curious why it would piss you off. Understand being "sad" if you thought he could help but being pissed off tells me you know more of the story and why he is leaving?

 

[RyanS12]

I honestly don’t know what to think of this or the Didenko kid or really anything Coach Bobby Brady is doing anymore. This season could go off the rails quick with Kentucky this weekend, a tough Boise matchup in Hawaii and a brutal 5 game stretch to open ACC play.
He does have a nice class commitment for next year and the Sotto kid would be huge too. (Literally lol)
I’m just curious what happens if we fail to make the tournament. Is he fired, who leaves, who decommits? Right now I’m fully of the Pastner wagon.

 

[ESPNjacket]

I think it's still early to feel this way, however, I can't blame you if you do. There's a stank in the air but we still have time to right things so I wouldn't tune up the Titanic band just yet.

Lastly, how come @ESPNjacket can get away with calling him 'Coach Corny"? If I'd said that, folks would be all over me.

Then again, I'm nowhere near as cool as ESPNJ. Maybe one day. One day?

It's all in the delivery. Aww, shucks.

 

[Techster]

No offense to Sjolund, but I don't see the big deal about him wanting to transfer. This isn't Martice Moore transferring to Colorado, or Ed Nelson transferring to Connecticut.

If he was in position to offer more to the team than he did last year, I'm sure Pastner wouldn't have redshirted him. It sucks because you would like to think "get old, stay old" Sjolund would be better next season, but you never know. What we do know now is he wasn't going to be one of the top 8-9 players for us THIS season.

If this gives Sjolund an opportunity to play more minutes and contribute to another team, while giving GT an open scholarship for someone that can be in impact player next year and beyond, it's a win-win. Some may use it as some kind of referendum on Pastner, but it simply isn't. Now if it was Devoe or Alvarado...well...

He chose GT, so obviously you want to wish him well. Sometime things don't work out...Sjolund isn't the first to transfer out of GT, and he certainly won't be the last.

 

[Jacket Forever]

I wish young Mr. Sjolund well and thank him for his energies and efforts for Georgia Tech while he was here. I'm not surprised he enters the transfer portal and I see little reason to worry that Sjolund's transfer reveals problems inside the program. Transfers in and transfers out are just a fact of life in today's collegiate basketball world. Example: Curtis Hayward 'out', Bubba Parham 'in'. Another fact is that Sjolund didn't or couldn't beat out Asante Price for PT and it sure wasn't because Price was a more effective shooter/scorer. It was because even as a freshman, Price was still a better defender than Sjolund, sophomore. I like Sjolund's 3-PT shot potential but I never thought he got much better on defense. With the three player commits coming in next fall, I just didn't see Sjolund getting much PT even next year. I wish both him and us well.

 

[Home Park Jacket]

If that's the real story, then why did we offer him a scholarship and recruit him in the first place? He's exactly the guy we thought he'd be.

Maybe we had a development plan for him needs more time. Maybe we didn't evaluate well for the best fit. Maybe it is simply other players are outplaying him. Maybe we took a chance. Maybe we are recruiting better now. Obviously it just didn't work out.

I wish him the best, and I hope he finds a great landing place.

 

[deeznats]

Maybe we had a development plan for him needs more time. Maybe we didn't evaluate well for the best fit. Maybe it is simply other players are outplaying him. Maybe we took a chance. Maybe we are recruiting better now. Obviously it just didn't work out.

I wish him the best, and I hope he finds a great landing place.

He came in as a shooter, but the rest of his game was a project... part of the get old stay old philosophy. I get that it didn't work out, but I'm just not buying the spin of other people that it's no big deal because it opens up a scholarship. GT's issue isn't a lack of scholarships. I can't think of a player we've had to turn away in 10 years due to a lack of scholarships.

 

[alagold]

WE won't know how bad this is (or good) until we use this 'ship. Stay tuned.

 

[CLM]

Seems like the player and the coach were not on the same page.

 

[dtm1997]

He came in as a shooter, but the rest of his game was a project... part of the get old stay old philosophy. I get that it didn't work out, but I'm just not buying the spin of other people that it's no big deal because it opens up a scholarship. GT's issue isn't a lack of scholarships. I can't think of a player we've had to turn away in 10 years due to a lack of scholarships.

 

[tbglover]

To me, the bigger waste of scholarship is Didenko. I would have rather red-shirted him, forcing him to make this decision. I feel like Sjolund could have helped us.

Why redshirt Didenko? ForFan extra yearyof him on the team. All things considered this mightmbe that extra year. The likelihood with him is that he won't be around next year unless he really shows something. Even now he only gets minutes in garbage time soso mo likely he'll be gone next season.

 

[jbix80]

Why redshirt Didenko? ForFan extra yearyof him on the team. All things considered this mightmbe that extra year. The likelihood with him is that he won't be around next year unless he really shows something. Even now he only gets minutes in garbage time soso mo likely he'll be gone next season.

I guess I was thinking about it from the “I’m never going to play here at Tech” mentality, forcing him to transfer. You make a great point.

 

[lv20gt]

I’m just curious what happens if we fail to make the tournament. Is he fired, who leaves, who decommits? Right now I’m fully of the Pastner wagon.

This year? Likely nothing due to financial issues unless the wheels just fall off. There's no real point in making a coaching change unless we can get a somewhat proven commodity this time. With Gregory we had to fire him because the roster was obviously getting worse and we couldn't really afford to let him stay and do even more damage. In his last year we were losing our top 4 players, another role player, and we were only adding a 2 man class. That combined with the previous class being a 1 man class of Ogbonda made it so we had to make a change before more damage was done. With Pastner you could easily argue his recruiting hasn't been great, but there is no real doubt that the state of the roster is better now than what he inherited, and for next year when you compare what we are losing (Banks, Sjolund, Phillips) to what we are bringing in (Gigiberia, Meka, Maxwell) it's arguable that we're improving our roster overall with that move.

Now, if we could land a homerun hire then after this year would be a pretty good time to do so. We would have a pretty good returning group of players allowing for, hopefully, a good first year, and a lot of open scholarships setting up for a big first real recruiting class. That sets up for the right guy building some quick momentum. But it'd have to be the right guy, and imo you absolutely do not make a move this year unless you already have that home run lined up. Even next year is probably a similar situation unless the recruiting class is just bad.

I guess I was thinking about it from the “I’m never going to play here at Tech” mentality, forcing him to transfer. You make a great point.

There has long been a rumor that his scholarship was more of a tryout year and that he wasn't guaranteed a spot going forward anyways. Don't know the validity of it but it has been put out.

 

[dtm1997]

 

[Connell62]

There still seems to be a little ambiguity here. Almost like he is leaving the door open unless a more appealing option opens.

Am I the only one that read it that way. I'm sort of indifferent here. I think that he has potential to be a solid contributor for us, but if he leaves, its not end of the world.

For what it's worth, I understand his desire to play a bigger role. Wish him the best with however this ends up.

 

[RyanS12]

There still seems to be a little ambiguity here. Almost like he is leaving the door open unless a more appealing option opens.

Am I the only one that read it that way. I'm sort of indifferent here. I think that he has potential to be a solid contributor for us, but if he leaves, its not end of the world.

For what it's worth, I understand his desire to play a bigger role. Wish him the best with however this ends up.

Is this the new trend?
College kid: “I’m declaring for the transfer portal but keeping my options open in case I want to return to my original school”
Respect my indecision!

I hope this isn’t a new trend