Bradshaw peaces out

Can't even pretend like I'm not mind blown by this one, but Riley Bradshaw has left the Utah State basketball team. After a whole year of hype, tweets about excitement in coming to be an Aggie, a summer's worth of work, two weeks of practice and eight whole minutes of exhibition action, Bradshaw apparently felt that was enough of a sample size to know this wasn't the right place for him.

Speculation is that it is due to homesickness, which can be tough for any freshman. Others think it has to do with the fact that he likely wouldn't have played much at all for this year and the next one. Or it could be because he wants to play point guard, but has Marcel Davis in front of him at that position.

 - If it's homesickness, it'll pass. Logan can be a tough adjustment for an 18-year-old, but once you're here for a bit, it becomes a part of you that is impossible to leave behind.

 - If it's not playing for the next two years, look at what a year of sparse playing time followed by a redshirt season did for Preston Medlin! Bradshaw would have been a clear favorite to start at shooting guard as a redshirt sophomore after Medlin graduates, and with two years of work under Stew Morrill, he probably could have been a borderline all-conference threat by then too.

 - And if it has to do with playing point guard, well... Then maybe that one actually makes sense. I always imagined Bradshaw as more of a shooting guard, but if he has dreams of being THE guy to bring up the rock for the bulk of his college career, then maybe this is the right move.


Regardless, I can't imagine why he would up and quit on the team like this after just two weeks of practice and a decent showing in the exhibition game. You never know how other things are going to pan out, and some kind of opportunity could have presented itself for him here.

IMPACT
At the end of the day, Bradshaw's departure hurts more emotionally than it really hurts from a basketball standpoint. He wasn't going to see the floor for two years, and while he was probably going to be a stud from there, this gives Stew plenty of time to go out and find a replacement to ideally redshirt next season on the wings, and then step in as a rotation guy the following year in 2014-15.

With Quincy Bair already in the program and Jalen Moore coming next year, that could be wing duo of the post-Medlin/Berger era and that would be just fine with me. SUU transfer Kyle Davis should be in that mix too, so the roster will be just fine in two years from now.

HISTORY
It seems that prior to the 2006-07 season was when Morrill started trying to hit the high school recruits a lot harder. Having experienced JUCO guys is nice, but they only last two years, while the high school guys are able to give more quality years.

And while the benefits have undoubtedly paid off, there's been a trend of one highly-touted freshman leaving before ever making it to a second season. This marks the fifth year in a row now that the team has suffered a big loss like this.

2009: Deremy Geiger
2010: Anthony DiLoreto
2011: James Walker
2012: Steven Thornton
2013: Riley Bradshaw

This is especially tough because I believe a big part of what makes players develop so well at USU is that the coaching staff holds guys to such a high standard. That list is upsetting, but don't forget the likes of Tai Wesley, Tyler Newbold, Pooh Williams, Brady Jardine, Preston Medlin, Ben Clifford, and even Nate Bendall (despite playing one year at SLCC). Each of those guys were recruited out of high school, stuck it through the bumps in the road, and turned out to be very good players.

While suffering another loss like this sucks, and hopefully this trend dies here and now, the team can bounce back from this, maybe even be better off with the time the coaching staff has to work with in replacing Bradshaw for the 2013-14 roster.