Todd Mayo is no longer with Marquette!

[brandx]

I've seen his age referenced a few times in this thread.  Give me a break, his being 23 now, 24 by next June would not be a "red flag" that you and others speak of.  The fact that his game is nowhere near good enough, consistent enough, is the red flag on him.  If a guy can play at an NBA level, you really think they're going to quibble about drafting a guy in his mid-20's to start his career?  Of course they're not going to.

Yes. If he is seen as a bench-type guy, they are not going to touch him.

It is the reason that Jordan Bachynski from Arizona State was not drafted. He certainly has the defense and shot blocking skills to be an NBA backup, but at age 25, no one is going to invest the time for a backup.

[AZWarrior]

Hopefully, in your defense, you are drinking that superb Scotch Ale from Pike Brewing and not that sludge from Four Peaks...

Nope.  Four Peaks.  But I do live in a relatively small house....

[mu72warrior]

not a bad thing

[MU82]

All these comments that are ripping Todd a new one disgust me. Yea he made some mistakes but you shouldn't be mad at him. He did nothing to you Personally. I wish the best of luck to Todd wherever he ends up.

I'm not the least bit mad at Todd Mayo. I was disappointed in him during some of his time at Marquette when he acted like a selfish little baby, but otherwise he always played hard and played to win.

He has slightly better than zero chance to be an NBA player - probably closer to zero than to 5% - but I wish him well in his endeavors.

[GooooMarquette]

We will miss the offense Todd can bring and I wish him well.

That said, this could make us stronger later this season, and certainly next.  Carlino looks to get the bulk of the time at PG with Derrick off the bench, but there are now more minutes at the 2/3 for Duane, John, JJJ and Sandy.  I think JJJ could have a breakout year - hard to see if Todd was getting 25+ mpg - and hope to see what we'd expected from Duane as a frosh. 

We may miss some of what Todd could give us in crunch time, but frankly I expect Deonte to be our go-to guy anyway.  Todd would have been plan B, so now we'll hopefully see who can make big plays down the stretch.   

[Spotcheck Billy]

Can Tyler Thornton play as a grad student or did he have a redshirt year at Duke?

[WarriorInNYC]

Is this Hiroshima?

[avid1010]

will be interesting to see where he lands.  my thought, with the timing, is either it wasn't completely todd's decision to leave, or the timing works well with overseas ball and he realizes that he won't be playing in the nba.  i always think if i were a d1 ball player planning to make my living playing overseas on 50 - 200K a year i'd be looking to leave early as i'd really need maximize the amount of years i could play/get paid. 

[4everwarriors]

Can anyone play in da NBDL just 'cuz ya wanna or do ya have to be selected?

[PE8983]

I wish him well, but he has zero chance at the NBA.

[NersEllenson]

While I do believe this is a significant setback for this coming season (how many players do we now have eligible - 9? 10?), as Todd provided scoring and even leadership, it forces the young kids to play more.  JaJuan gets more minutes, Duane gets more minutes, Cohen gets more (if any) minutes.  The only player on the roster that had more than one Stud of the Game last year is now Steve Taylor (w/2).

Hopefully, Deonte and Duane become the vocal leaders the team needs.

With that being said, the one concept that comes to mind when I now think of Todd is wasted unfulfilled potential.  There were always glimpses of something really special, but all the pistons never fired.  Whether it was academics, attitude, character, or circumstance, Todd never really got to show us what he had.  Unfortunate.

Best of luck to him.

Great post.  Sums it up very well.  Todd had a lot of talent...but as you wrote whether it was academics, attitude, character or circumstances - he never got to the point he was firing on all cylinders.

I was looking forward to seeing what Todd could do this upcoming season - as I thought it could be a breakout year for him, and along with it - the team could do some really good things.

It definitely does open up more playing time for the future guards in the program - JJJ, John, Duane - and that is the positive side of Todd's departure - along with any chemistry issues that may have been created through his behavior.

[The Equalizer]

That was sophomore year, not junior year. 

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/marquette-todd-mayo-academically-ineligible-latest-mishap-o-180725492--ncaab.html

I stand corrected on the timing.  However, the need to make up the deficit in completed credits remains.  He had to have 60% of the credits to graduate in order to play this year.  Even if the courses were dropped the year before, missing them makes it harder to qualify in subsequent seasons--especially if any additional classes were dropped

[Loose Cannon]

Can Tyler Thornton play as a grad student or did he have a redshirt year at Duke?

He did not Redshirt at Duke

[LloydMooresLegs]

Miss a little miss a lot.  I love checking in after being off the site for 15 hours and discovering MU is down one player. 

Interesting note:  Only 5 total SotG returning from last year (cf. last year with 21 returning and 2 years ago 11 returning and 16 the year before that; it's the newest thing in advanced statistical analysis).

Going to be really interesting to see who steps up. JJJ?  Likely not a great W-L record this year, but will be fun to see development.  Opportunity abounds.

[mu_hilltopper]

I'd say Mayo pulled a Vander.   Vander wasn't interested in school (over getting paid) and his loyalty to MU didn't trump his personal desires to move on, and get paid.

Mayo isn't interested in a MU degree, likely never was, and frankly would likely never benefit from it anyhow.   He was destined to have a nice career in Europe, just like nearly every other mubb player.  That he chose not to be under constant educational scrutiny with planned schedules and tutors for 9 more months .. in exchange for a trip overseas and some cash .. no surprise.

Does it hurt mubb this year?  Absolutely, and people who suggest otherwise are daft.   Does it help for future seasons?  Yeah, maybe.

[Goose]

Only surprise here is that this was not announced a couple of months ago. As Keefe pointed out, this has been in the works for awhile. He was gone well before yesterday.

[hdog1017]

As Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs once said, "it's all about the Benjamins baby."

For his sake, I hope he can make a decent living playing the game of professional basketball.  

[esotericmindguy]

Guy had a terrible attitude and wildly inconsistent. This is fine with me, I'd rather see the young guys develop and not waste minutes on Mayo. It's going to be a rough season with or without him, why not play the young guys and get ready for '15 & '16.

[humanlung]

Let's all keep in mind that while Todd was a very good player when he was focused, he did not get through a single season without missing time due to academic/attitude/behavior issues.

With such a young team, that is not the kind of behavior (and example) any coach would want to see out of an upper classman.

He will be missed early in the season, in my opinion.  Without him, however, some of the young guys get the chance to grow up fast.

Could very well be, by March, a great example of addition by subtraction. 

[jsglow]

Now that it is all done I'll comment a little on Todd's potential academic situation.  As to his Sophomore year, Todd was compelled to drop a class mid semester.  He actually did this a few weeks before the 'drop dead' date.  That action took him below 'full time' status and he was necessarily ineligible for basketball until the semester ended when grades posted at 5pm on Tuesday following exams (heretofore known by me as Luke Fischer Day).  Most basketball players carry 12-15 credits during the year, supplementing during the summer months as allowed by the NCAA.  I do believe there are summer limits (perhaps 9 overall credits).  As to his overall GPA I have no information nor would I share anything if I did.  

I also know that certain hurdles are required as a student progresses through his 4 year of eligibility.  For example, one needs to have a certain percentage of his core curriculum completed before beginning his Junior year of eligibility, with others at every step.  This has zero to do with whether a student is in 'good standing' and is merely an NCAA requirement forcing kids to be true student athletes and make progress toward their college degree.  None of these rules apply to non athletes.  As an example, a student with decent grades could absolutely decide to be on the 7 year plan working a full time job while taking 9 credits a semester.  Hope that helps.  

[Lennys Tap]

Great post.  Sums it up very well.  Todd had a lot of talent...but as you wrote whether it was academics, attitude, character or circumstances - he never got to the point he was firing on all cylinders.

I was looking forward to seeing what Todd could do this upcoming season - as I thought it could be a breakout year for him, and along with it - the team could do some really good things.

It definitely does open up more playing time for the future guards in the program - JJJ, John, Duane - and that is the positive side of Todd's departure - along with any chemistry issues that may have been created through his behavior.

Wait a second. Todd had problems at MU? I thought his only problem was that Buzz was picking on him. LOL.

One positive for you, though - with minutes opening up at the 2/3, John Dawson goes from being a third string point guard/bench warmer to getting some minutes playing off the ball. You may win your wager with me yet.

[Spotcheck Billy]

Miss a little miss a lot.  I love checking in after being off the site for 15 hours and discovering MU is down one player. 

Interesting note:  Only 5 total SotG returning from last year (cf. last year with 21 returning and 2 years ago 11 returning and 16 the year before that; it's the newest thing in advanced statistical analysis).

Going to be really interesting to see who steps up. JJJ?  Likely not a great W-L record this year, but will be fun to see development.  Opportunity abounds.

well there were less opportunities with only 17 wins

[River rat]

Does it hurt mubb this year?  Absolutely, and people who suggest otherwise are daft.   Does it help for future seasons?  Yeah, maybe.

This times a billion,  guy was prolly worth 3-4 wins more for us next year. he at times played liked an absolute stud last year.  Yes it was in flahed and he needed to be more consistant but he was one of the only retrners who could even go on a run like those.  
And I am not gonna speculate o team cancer, attitude, etc.  From the outside looking in he did not have the greatest body language etc.  , but he always said the right things and looks can be deceiving , we have no idea on how he was accepted/emebraced and interacted with his teammates and coaches.

I thought we would greatly surprise people who had lowered expectations after last season, i no longer feel this way.  huge unfortunate loss no way to view it any way else

[NersEllenson]

Wait a second. Todd had problems at MU? I thought his only problem was that Buzz was picking on him. LOL.

One positive for you, though - with minutes opening up at the 2/3, John Dawson goes from being a third string point guard/bench warmer to getting some minutes playing off the ball. You may win your wager with me yet.

I never said Buzz "picked on Todd."  I've posted numerous times Todd brought on Todd what he did - yet the way Buzz coached him while eligible and able to play was awful...until the last 10 games of last season.  Buzz always had Todd on a short leash in games...one mistake and it was to the bench...and it killed Mayo's production.  The point is, if Buzz was willing to play Todd...essentially saying he's eligible to play - then don't jack him around with the quick hook.

As for your comments on Dawson, yes, it will open up more potential time for John.  That was one of the reasons I made the bet with you, because Dawson can play the 1 or the 2.  Derrick of course is a 1 only.  Even if Mayo were still here I'd be very confident in the bet - since I made it when I felt Todd was going to be on the roster anyway.  I see a LOT of talent in Dawson, which you simply don't see.  You've been hyper critical of Dawson, and suggested he isn't a very talented player all the while taking up and championing a guy who got max minutes to show what he was capable of...who produced next to nothing.  

Dawson will be a VERY good player at MU - and when he proves this to be true - I'll look forward to your admission that you were clueless with regard to being able to evaluate his basketball talent.

Lastly, let the whole Buzz love go Lenny.  Buzz's ego got WAY out of control, and he wasn't the same guy in his 6th year as he was in Years 1, 2, 3 or 4 that we both loved.  Success got to his head.  Sadly.

[MUfan12]

This times a billion,  guy was prolly worth 3-4 wins more for us next year.

That's really, really exaggerating his impact. He stood out last year because the team was so bereft of backcourt scoring options. That won't be the case with Carlino, Duane, and JJJ seeing significant minutes.

Losing Mayo will hurt their depth, but I don't think it changes the W-L numbers a whole lot.