As it has been reported, Trent Lockett, the leading scorer on the Arizona State basketball team, has been released from his scholarship and intends to transfer from the program. He makes the 12th player to transfer from ASU in the last four seasons.
Just a couple of days ago, when it was reported that Kyle Cain was transferring, I was critical of Herb Sendek for his recruiting and apparent misrepresentation. I wrote this:
Why do these players leave? There are a lot of reasons why kids change their minds, but it points to some flaw in Sendek's recruiting.
On the topic of playing time, either he is not getting players talented enough to play for him more, or he is promising them more than he can give.
If the kid is just wishy-washy, then the flaw is that Sendek is is recruiting those players. It is either that or he is not building these kids up to want to stay.
If they don't buy into the program, then he is misrepresenting what he is selling.
In any case, something is wrong. We all know that college kids are not always reliable. But this is a clear trend of kids not being happy at ASU. But Sendek has to do better at getting players that have the talent he seeks that will not be happy.
But this time, with Lockett, it is different.
Lockett is not leaving because of differences in philosophy or playing time or discipline issues. It is because his mother is ill with a serious case of cancer. He wants to be close by. I cannot imagine how tough that would be to have Mom be sick while I live thousands of miles away.
That has nothing to do with Sendek, so we should not put this on him in this case.
Say what you want about Sendek's choice in players to recruit and how it seems that they just don't want to play for him. This case is about family and health.
In Lockett's situation, he even might get to play at a Division 1 school this year because he is set to graduate.
We all are pulling for Trent. May his mother recover.