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Brad Underwood still has three open scholarships for his 2018-19 Illinois Men’s Basketball team. It’s mid-June.
With time running out until the start of the season, Underwood has a few choices: fill the scholarships with players who play basketball OR have open scholarships. We’re going to break down these two options, using Minnesota transfer Matz Stockman as a prime example.
Matz Stockman
Matz Stockman is a man who is stands at 7-foot, and he also plays basketball.
Since he plays basketball, he gets five fouls per game when he is on the court. He also takes a scholarship, which is beneficial for a team that wants to have players on its team and in practice.
Here’s a situation: If somebody gets hurt, you want somebody to replace them, right? Well, here’s your guy! Matz Stockman!
Stockman is transferring from Minnesota, and he is eligible immediately as a graduate transfer. In other words, he can play THIS SEASON and then he’ll never have to don the Orange and Blue again. Would you care if he wore a Golden Gophers or Louisville Cardinals (his former former school) shirt in public after next year? No. You wouldn’t.
He sat out last season after three years with Louisville, so he never played for Minnesota. Take his junior year at Louisville, though. Stockman scored 1.7 points per game and had 1.2 rebounds per game, as a bench player. Remember those numbers. Maybe not those EXACT numbers, but just remember that Matz Stockman had numbers associated with his name when he played basketball because he is a basketball player who is 84 inches in height.
An Open Scholarship
On Twitter, a place where opinions are smart and well-thought out, many people say Matz Stockman isn’t a very good basketball player. That’s a fine opinion. But, what about an open scholarship? Is he a good basketball player?
Open scholarship actually isn't a very good basketball player. Open scholarship doesn’t get any fouls per game, or any time on the court. Open scholarship can’t help in practice or cheer on Trent Frazier with water during a timeout in a game.
Last year, open scholarship averaged 0 point per game and 0 rebounds per game. Remember Matz Stockman? He had numbers. Zero? Zero isn’t a number.
Open scholarship can’t play positionless basketball because open scholarship can’t play basketball. Open scholarship sucks. Do you want Illinois Basketball to suck? Didn’t think so.