Early Off The Team

Chris Early's suspension has turned into a permanent dismissal from the team. No, there is no new information. He is planning on staying in school and finishing up the rest of his senior year and graduating. He will have access to the athletic facilities. After graduation, he will attempt to continue his basketball career overseas.

There positive points here. The first point is that everyone keeps on talking about how Jahmal Burroughs has turned into the emotional leader of this team. Yesterday, I expected Early to be coming back, and I wondered how things would go. What happens when a former starter returns to a team to try to take minutes away from the emotional leader of the team? I have no idea. It was actually scaring me a little bit to find out.

The negative side is that there is no question that at this point in time, Chris Early is a better basketball player than Z Mason or Burroughs. That's not to say that Mason and Burroughs can't be better than him. Early could challenge even big schools with his abilities. He did not consistently bring it, though. If he had finally started to consistently bring it, then Early could have been a very valuable addition to the Mocs down the stretch.

So which side wins?

We'll have to let that play out before we can figure that out.

Some of the more interesting questions that are left unanswered:

1) Why now? If Early was going to be dismissed, couldn't this decision have been made back before the Dr Pepper Classic? What about right after the Dr Pepper Classic? Why now? This is why I thought he'd be reinstated. It just seemed likely that was why no decision had been made until Early was back in classes.

2) Who really made the decision not tohave Early return? Shulman? Early? The seniors on the team? Hart? Shulman said it was his decision, but maybe it was Early deciding that he didn't want to return. Or it could have been the seniors, and Shulman doesn't want to throw them under the bus.

3) Is the chemistry better because the Mocs have started winning? Or have the Mocs started winning because of better chemistry? May never know this one. It's basically the question that has plagued humanity from all time- which came first, the chicken or the egg?

I'll be intersted to see what happens when the Mocs play Davidson, and if they play Davidson and College of Charleston again in the SoCon Tournament. The Wildcats are the best SoCon team in rebounding. This is when they may miss Early the most.

GO MOCS!