More evidence of the bullshit transfer rules, the second kid has to sit out next year if he wants to stay D1 even though he was essentially cut.

Rick Pitino, oversigning and some more ramblings about transfers
Rob Dauster

For the second time in the past two months, Rick Pitino has urged one of his upperclassmen to transfer in an effort to get them more playing time.

Back in April, Jared Swopshire officially announced that he would be transferring to Northwestern where he would be allowed to play immediately (graduate transfer waivers and all). The reason given by Pitino for urging the move? He “would love for Swopshire play 32 minutes somewhere else than 10 minutes here.”

And on Wednesday, rising senior Stephen Van Treese officially announced that he would be leaving the Louisville program, ending speculation as to how the Cardinals would solve their scholarship problem with the addition of freshman Montrezl Harrell. But, as Van Treese told the Indy Star, the explanation given to Van Treese was differnt. “(Pitino) said he felt like I need to go somewhere and play and get 30 minutes a game,” he said. “That wasn’t going to happen here.”

Pitino is going to be ripped for this, especially considering the fact that it is coming on the heels of his decision to force George Goode out last season. It doesn’t help matters that, prior to the season, Pitino was already talking about how this would be Swopshire’s last season at Louisville. Or that last season, he needed three scholarship players — Elisha Justice, Kyle Kuric and Chris Smith — to become walk-ons.

This is, quite literally, the definition of oversigning.

And what makes the issue even more troublesome is the fact that the players Pitino is running off are getting “cut” due to injuries they’ve sustained. Swopshire nearly had his career ended by a gruesome groin injury he suffered after spending the 2009-2010 season as a Louisville starter. After a reasonably successful 2010-2011 campaign, there was reason to believe that Van Treese could have become a solid contributor in his final two years in the program. He played just three games this past season due to knee issues.

It would be one thing if Pitino came out and said that he is forcing these players to transfer by refusing to offer them a scholarship for next season. (Scholarships are only renewable for one-year.) Instead, he is saying that he is doing this because it is in the best interest of the players. Given the fact that both are struggling to see minutes at the college level while dealing with serious injuries, it is awfully presumptuous to think that playing 30 minutes a game in a lesser program is a better situation than being a member of a team playing for a national title.

Look, Pitino does have a point. With a front line consisting of Harrell, Gorgui Dieng and Chane Behanan, playing time was going to be tough to come by for Swopshire and Van Treese. On an individual level, it is probably better for the potential professional careers of those two players that they go to a place where they can have a chance to play a lot of minutes.

But why is the power in Pitino’s hands to make those decisions? And why is he allowed to force his dedicated upperclassmen to transfer when he can, at the same time, refuse to release them to the school they want to go to?

That’s why this rule is unfair.

I don’t have a major problem with Pitino telling Swopshire to transfer because they ran out of scholarships or asking Van Treese to leave because they brought in Harrell. They got cut because Louisville got better players. It sucks, but it happens.

My issue is with how easy it is for a coach to get rid of a player when things don’t work out while it is, comparatively, a potential nightmare for the player if he decides he wants to leave.

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The NCAA could easily fix this buy giving players 4 year deals and even if they are cut from the team it just becomes an academic scholarship with room and board, but the NCAA gives out 1 year deals!

But they are too busy not making sure Jim Delaney was happy in the playoff model!!!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Anyone who signs on with Pitino gets what they deserve. It sucks for the kid but I wouldn't trust Pitino to look out for anyone but Pitino.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

At least he stopped screwing the cheerleaders for a bit.

Can we get a list of trustworthy coaches that dont dick over players? That would probably be a shorter list.

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I believe there are many coaches that would honor commitments if the kid is working hard and doing his best. Pitino is not one of those people. I know this will make you mad, but sometimes the kids are at fault when they are transferring.

I still don't know what your solution is to this. Bigfans solution is the best(and actually available to all school right now at least for football). You seemingly want players to be able to transfer anywhere they want at any time. Is that true?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!