Terps Sports

J-Will better start learning how to tweet "Blessed" in the non-English Euro languages...

I like Jordan and I'm not losing sleep over the fact that he left early. But now that he's in the D-League, is he still "Blessed"?

See Keith Booth.

Actually his contract IS guaranteed. He'll get his 1 million bucks (minus tax and agent's cut, of course).

You're right that it is relatively small.

I'm not sure you could have a more short-sighted view on life. Hopefully you're not a guidance counselor. The point is whether he could have made more Money long term, not whether he would have made more money for the next year or two.

"I'm 99.9% I'm coming back..."

Ugh, I was at that game.

I'm guessing you're young. There is nothing like your college days! I don't understand anybody who rushes out into the "real world". College was so much fun!

That's right, there were people mad at Francis...but I think more for making that statement and then reneging on it, rather than the choice he made. He was clearly NBA-ready.

Wilcox was a little more of a questionable decision, but it was hard for many of us to get too upset when we were basking in the glow of a national championship, and he had all kinds of NBA potential and has done OK.

Joe Smith, yeah we were all frankly just happy he gave us 2 years instead of 1.

With Jordan, the reports have been that he painted himself into a corner by not going to class, and that forced his decision. That is something that is worth getting some criticism, IMO, and it's also on Gary a little bit. The Chris McCray thing seemed to show that Gary's staff did not stay on top of class attendance and grades, and apparently that continued with Jordan. I know, I know, these are grown men and they SHOULD be able to get themselves to class and stay eligible without prodding, but it happens all over the NCAA and it seems like a lot of major college sports programs have tools and resources to stay on top of that.

Gary's had one kid become academically ineligible in the last 10+ years and he's part of the problem? The kids have first pick at (easy) classes, mandatory study hall and their own tutors. Should they physically drag them to class?

That is 100% on Jordan and IMO is worth the majority of the criticism. He was given a free education and basically said "no thanks."

His decision was bad for him personally and for the program. It is also hard to have respect for a cat who quit in the classroom and came in out of shape. Making a questionable decision is one thing, not taking full advantage of the opportunity given to him is another. It is a shame for both.

You really consider a guy well into his 60's with that type of resume is "quitting?" I think a lot of circumstances other than JW leaving factored into him stepping down, one of which has to be that he outlasted Yow.

I don't care about JW quitting either, I just think that he had an opportunity and a decent prospect of a future and he seemed to want to take the easiest road to the quickest cash without any foresight beyond. For most guys, you have one crack at the NBA, you want to be in the best position possible when given that chance. I don't care what anyone says about this draft, a guy like JW with a solid season and MORE acclaim may have cracked the first round this year. With that comes more guarantees for a roster spot, 3 years/$3M and better development over that time. What's the worst that could happen had he stayed. His stock doesn't improve. It wasn't going to get worst unless he tanked it. so he gets his $500K contract a year later. what did he lose? It's not like he's has one extra year of pay from the NBA...at this rate he's not getting any other NBA money.

it's well documented that he'd been trying to quit for some time and that people convinced him to stay longer. It's out of the blue to you as a fan, but people don't walk away from their life of 40-50 years without long deliberations. Would we all have wanted him to quit in April after the season or had a retirement circuit, maybe, but he instead quit in May. Oh the horror! Sometimes people just realize that enough is enough.