Is it possible that Moser is so cynical that he engineered Matt's departure so that he would have a better shot at landing Nolan Berry?

Berry would play Matt's position as a sort of stretch 4/ tall 3.

This speculation is a bit of a stretch itself , but Moser definitely has a history of running off players to "upgrade" the roster.

I mean no disrespect to Matt.

I think he would've got rid of King over O'Leary if that was the case. Plus, I think you HAVE to have a commitment from either Berry or Thomas before you would let anyone go. And given the competition for both (Berry- SLU, Northwestern, Florida Gulf Coast, Vermont, Davidson, UC-Davis; Thomas- Florida St., St. John's, Memphis, Dayton, Ole Miss, Southern Miss, Wright St., Fordham), it'd take quite a "brass set" to do it before you have someone's word.

As the great Bo Schembechler once said: "Those who stay will be champions."

Porter Moser should hold a press conference and proclaim: "Those who stay will [hopefully] finish in the top half of the Missouri Valley Conference standings."

I was waiting for the first frostbite joke.

Seriously though, I like Matt, and I'm disappointed to see him leave the program. He's a good prospect. I hoped he would develop into a good role player here.

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C'mon Swella !! That little blog of yours is pure yellow Journalism--None of us know what Matt O'Leary is thinking--Nor do we know what Porter has going--All we really know is Matt is leaving, period--We also do know one small thing--immaturity (the frost bite incident--It was dangerous for him and hurt his team-mates.)

So as in the Payne case, did we really need players and teammates such as those ?? May Matt find success and a tad of growing up wherever he lands--God Speed !!

My take is that Matt was not good enough for the MVC--I am probably wrong--but tyhat is my feeling

Matt's leaving is very depressing news. I like him very much.I like him as a player. I like his earnestness and slightly awkward quality. Who is going to be on the team? A bunch of no-name basketball mercenaries? There is a major problem here when players don't want to play on the team. It's hard to rally support or even care about a team when the players are unknown, nearly-anonymous, TBA.

I agree with roggirl that Moser should recruit another earnest and "slightly awkward" player to replace Matt. But given that it's late in the recruiting cycle, we might have to settle for somebody who's merely sincere and just a smidgeon ungainly.

On a serious note, I agree that it becomes harder to root for a team when the roster is a constant revolving door. You never get to really know the players, or get the chance to watch them improve and mature from season to season.

The great thing about college sports is that you feel a closer personal bond to the players because they've shared similar experiences with you as students at your alma mater. Whether this is merely an illusion or not, it becomes harder to maintain when players are shuttled in and out of the program like so many disposable guns-for-hire.

This/Agree/+1/etc.

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