Yes, he's "short" (6'). My boss calls him an Oopma Loompa (yeah, that really doesn't sit well with me). But he is dang good. It's true that he's had the ball embarrassingly blocked down into his face a couple times, but, guess what? So has Jimmer.
Honestly, this whole situation sounds a little fishy to me. I can't help but think there's something going on behind the scenes that we're not being told. Maybe it's just my extreme admiration of Dave Rose talking, but I can't imagine Coach throwing someone off the team for something that wasn't that player's fault or that wasn't a mutually acceptable decision. To quote Coach directly (from the linked article above): "I am sorry. It is my fault. I didn't play you, and it didn't work out how we thought it would." Ok, that's understandable if you changed your mind and thought other players might be better to put in the game at certain times. But don't pull his scholarship for it. Like you just said, it's not his fault you didn't play him. He worked hard, and he earned that scholarship. Now he's being punished for it. Something's not right with that.
The bottom line is that I feel back for Nick. I can't blame him for being angry. "Of course I am hurt. I think any athlete, when they are finished, they would have liked it to keep going. I am disappointed that the situation is how it is. And I am disappointed in how it went down. But I think it is important to focus on all the good that has happened, and I am trying to not focus on the disappointment and the things that are negative. I am trying to focus on all the positive things I have been able to accomplish here and experience here."
Best of luck in the future, Nick. I hope I get to see you play basketball again some day.
The way I see it, Martineau had his undergrad education paid for by his basketball scholarship. He should be grateful for that, and should move on without any more fuss. BYU and Coach Rose fulfilled their obligation by letting him keep his scholarship for as long as they did.
ReplyDeleteCoach Rose is now looking at the future of the team, and I hate to be cold, but Martineau barely contributed as a bench warmer. Rose needed to free up a scholarship for some of the great players coming in to the program. Martineau had his education paid for, is graduating, and Rose gets the needed scholarship. It should have been a win-win situation, but unfortunately Nick thinks otherwise.
Good point. I agree with you for the most part. My main complaint is that Martineau was way under-rated. I don't think he deserved to just be a "bench warmer." It wasn't his fault that it's what he became. I don't know much about the new players, but I'd be willing to bet that Nick is capable of playing just as well as some of them, and he has 3 years of experience on top of that, yet they are taking away his scholarship.
DeleteI agree that his attitude about it isn't really stellar, but I don't blame him much. For most people to get their undergrad education paid for, it would require 4 years of scholarship. Nick only got 2. So even though he did get some financial help, he didn't get as much as most of the players get. And he still had one year left of eligibility. He probably planned way in advance to graduate a year early and then use his last basketball scholarship year on grad school. But then he got shot down. So I can see why he's upset. Maybe he just shouldn't have made his harsh feelings so public. Probably a Max Hall-esque, should-have-kept-his-mouth-shut moment.