As was noted by pointguard10 in the diaries, Drew Viney has received his release and will look to transfer to his school in Southern California.
The R-G confirmed today that Kamyron Brown will stay at Oregon, despite some thoughts to the contrary.
I had pegged Viney as a big part of our team next year. Not only can Viney shoot, but the only guys bigger than him on the roster next year are Dunigan, Crittle, and Frantz (who is no longer playing football, BTW). And, as I'm not sure Frantz and Crittle are going to contribute a whole lot next year, Viney would've been huge.
That means our roster is likely to have seven new players next year--thats over half the team. And with EK on the hot seat, that might not be good for him. We have two open scholarships--so expect to see two new players signed in a few weeks. We are recruiting two PGs--Brad Tinsley out of Oregon City, and Garrett Sim out of Sunset, so expect us to land one of those. I'm sure EK doesn't want two point guards, so expect him to scan the leftovers out there for someone with some size, maybe out of the JUCO rosters. JUCOs can be hit or miss, but if we could find a Robert Johnson out there on the scrap heap again, we really need a player like that.
This is our roster for next year as it stands now:
| Dorsainvil | C | Sr. |
| Odia | SG | Jr. |
| Porter | SG | Jr. |
| Catron | PF | Jr. |
| Voogd | PG | Jr. |
| Longmire | SF | So. |
| Brown | PG | So. |
| Dunigan | C | Fr. |
| Crittle | PF | Fr. |
| Williams | SG | Fr. |
| Humphrey | SF | Fr. |
| Wiley | SF | Fr. |
| Tinsley/Sim | PG | Fr. |
| JUCOForward? | PF | ? |
That's a whole ton of freshmen. And, of the upper classmen, I don't see Frantz or Voogd contributing a whole lot. And we know that nothing much happens when Odia's in the game either. This could be our starting lineup:
Dunigan, Catron, Odia, Porter, Brown.
Ugh.
It could be a long season, especially with our brutal non-conference schedule. The good news is we don't lose anything except Frantz after next year, so the team will have some time to grow. The question is, will EK have that leeway?
We understand Drew's wish to be closer to his family, however, and wish him the best in his future endeavors. There is no restrictions on where he could go and, although I hope he doesn't go to USC or UCLA, they are open options for him. Especially as UCLA is going to have some open scholarships with KLove's declaration.
Update [2008-4-19 19:5:41 by Dave]: It was pointed out that I can't count and was off by a scholarship. I guess Tinsley or Sim will be our only addition (no JUCO PF). Perhaps EK knew Drew was thinking about leaving before he did (otherwise why was he still recruiting). Anyway, this leaves us even smaller.
GO DUCKS!!!
--Dave