Dez Willingham to graduate this summer, leave team

[jtstang]

I think this really opens it up for Mike Walker to be the point guard next year. I really like this kid.

What do you like about this kid other than the fact he signed with SMU?

[Charleston Pony]

I've never seen him play but being a coaches' son and having impressed Coach Doh when he was actually there to scout Papa - my guess is that I will like him, too.

[SMUFan]

I think this really opens it up for Mike Walker to be the point guard next year. I really like this kid.

What do you like about this kid other than the fact he signed with SMU?

I was wondering the exact same thing.

GSP: Have you ever seen him play?

[RGV Pony]

According to the story in the DMN, he's actually going to transfer to another school and use his final year of eligibility somewhere else. He is going to pursue his graduate degree in education somewhere else since we don't offer that.

But good for him. Remember, he was in Doherty's dog house early in the year but they appeared to repair their relationship.

I'm pretty sure I saw where they did away with the rule that once you graduate you can transfer w/o penalty. They talked about it with the coach's son at UNLV.

I also thought SMU offered an M.Ed. No?

[Ponymon]

According to the story in the DMN, he's actually going to transfer to another school and use his final year of eligibility somewhere else. He is going to pursue his graduate degree in education somewhere else since we don't offer that.

We need to start offering a degree in education to be able to compete for the best talent! Thank you Ken Pye for getting rid of all these "worthless" degrees!

[perunapower]

We do have a M.Ed.

http://www.smu.edu/teacher_education/mastered.asp

[mrydel]

Whew! I thought RGV said he thought SMU had offered Mr. Ed.

[George S. Patton]

I think this really opens it up for Mike Walker to be the point guard next year. I really like this kid.

What do you like about this kid other than the fact he signed with SMU?

I was wondering the exact same thing.

GSP: Have you ever seen him play?

I've just seen a couple of internet films of him. Who knows how good they were. At the time, he used both hands well, kept his head up when he dribbled and seemed to have command of spreading the floor.

And again, I can only go by what Doherty said when he and I talked about Mike. Of course, Matt's going to be high on him. But Mike's going to have to work for it.

I just want my point guard to be able to distribute the basketball and get it to the right people. And yes, he showed he could go to his left.

I hope it will translate from a prep school to DI ball.

[The PonyGrad]

I wonder if Coach Doh already has someone lined up, or if one of the newcomers is THAT good that coach let Dez know he probably wouldn't have that much p.t. this year. If Dez truly has a burning to do something in education, he could've stayed another year on SMU's dime and been well on his way to a graduate degree, translating to more $ and more opportunity early for Dez. Opportunities like that which are FREE, as Kenny Chesney says, don't happen twice.

I think "building a foundation" is a code word for "we are going to let the freshmen play a lot." Perhaps Dez got the message.

[jtstang]

I've just seen a couple of internet films of him. Who knows how good they were. At the time, he used both hands well, kept his head up when he dribbled and seemed to have command of spreading the floor.

And again, I can only go by what Doherty said when he and I talked about Mike. Of course, Matt's going to be high on him. But Mike's going to have to work for it.

I just want my point guard to be able to distribute the basketball and get it to the right people. And yes, he showed he could go to his left.

I hope it will translate from a prep school to DI ball.

You should link those clips here. If everything you say is true, then Killen's PT at the point should fall off significantly this year. I hope he's worked on his shooting in the off season.

[George S. Patton]

I've just seen a couple of internet films of him. Who knows how good they were. At the time, he used both hands well, kept his head up when he dribbled and seemed to have command of spreading the floor.

And again, I can only go by what Doherty said when he and I talked about Mike. Of course, Matt's going to be high on him. But Mike's going to have to work for it.

I just want my point guard to be able to distribute the basketball and get it to the right people. And yes, he showed he could go to his left.

I hope it will translate from a prep school to DI ball.

You should link those clips here. If everything you say is true, then Killen's PT at the point should fall off significantly this year. I hope he's worked on his shooting in the off season.

I'll see what I can do. I did a google on him and papa dia and found some random site. I don't even think it was Rivals or scout. I found it in October or November.

I do know on that team that at some point during the year, he wasn't starting. That may sound like alarms, but you never know how those prep school coaches like to run their teams.

[MustangIcon]

I think this really opens it up for Mike Walker to be the point guard next year. I really like this kid.

Another possibility could be Ryan Harp. I have read that he played mostly PG on his Dallas AAU squad so maybe he will get some playing time at PG in addition to playing the off-guard for us. Haven't heard anything to indicate that could happen, just throwing out another potential outcome.

[mrydel]

Doherty seemed pretty matter of fact during the sports show the other evening that Walker would be the point, and be teamed with Harp. He was so casual about it, that it sounded like a done deal to me even though they are not even there yet.

[MustangIcon]

Doherty seemed pretty matter of fact during the sports show the other evening that Walker would be the point, and be teamed with Harp. He was so casual about it, that it sounded like a done deal to me even though they are not even there yet.

Wow. As in it seemed like its pretty much a done deal that he plans for them to start? That would be a pretty big indicator of how highly he thinks of these kids if he is saying that matter of factly at the start of summer. Thanks for the info mrydel.

[gostangs]

I liked Dez but he was never much of a threat or a tempo changer in the game. And JK is a natural 2 and should not have played point. That fact that he did tells you what you need to know about what the coaches thought of dez's ability.

Knock out about 7-8 turn overs a game once we get into the conference schedule though better point guard play, and this team has a totally different season.