Burleson ineligible
Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2007 @ 12:44 am
Found this on the craigslist.com personal ads a few minutes ago:
WANTED: Point man for committed, successful Division I basketball program.
Program coming off fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Just ended long, successful relationship with four starters. In desperate need of a capable point guard.
Previous experience not required. Player must simply have college eligibility and pulse (the latter may be negotiable).
If interested, please contact Nevada Athletic Department.
OK, so the Wolf Pack isn’t quite ready to put out a classifieds ad yet, but methinks it isn’t so far from reality in the wake of Lyndale Burleson being ineligible for the first semester of this school year.
Spin it however you like, but losing the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Burleson hurts. A lot.
Point guard is the most important position on the floor. He’s the guy that runs and directs and helps the team develop a rhythm. Would N’SYNC have been anywhere near as mantastic without Justin Timberlake?
Didn’t think so.
With Ramon Sessions gone to the NBA – or the D League, depending on how the next month plays out – Burleson was the only player on this year’s roster that logged serious minutes at point guard last season.
Sure, the Wolf Pack has loads of young talent, but Marcelus Kemp and Demarshay Johnson are the only players on the roster with significant starting experience, so the Wolf Pack figured to take a few bumps early on even with Burleson.
Now there’s a complete absence of proven playmakers to run the Wolf Pack’s offense. The Wolf Pack was already going to struggle to make its fifth straight NCAA Tournament. Without a point guard, the Pack could be buried before Christmas.
Burleson isn’t much of a scorer and he’s careless with the ball at times, but his speed and perimeter defense are about as good as you’ll find in the WAC.
And Burleson’s star power isn’t even really the point. His experience will be missed.
Armon Johnson, a much anticipated freshman out of Hug High, is apparently manchilding his way into the starting lineup anyway, but Burleson would have provided depth.
Now it looks like Johnson will have to start without the luxury of a capable backup, regardless of whether he’s ready for major minutes at this level or not.
As Wolf Pack coach Mark Fox hinted at to the Reno Gazette-Journal, Johnson could platoon with sophomore guard Brandon Fields and the superscoring Kemp.
That’s a scary proposition.
Fields is more of a shooting guard and saw minimal time at the point last season. Kemp is a score-first guy that hasn’t had to create much for others during his time at Nevada.
It’s like the Starship Enterprise with no Captain Kirk – or Spock, if you prefer.
But as bad as the lack of a point guard might be, this isn’t quite apocalyptic.
The Wolf Pack is in trouble if Burleson can’t get eligible at all this year, but the semester ends Dec. 21 so he could be back for the Wolf Pack’s game against Northern Iowa on Dec. 22, meaning he’d only miss roughly a third of the season. That would enable him to play against North Carolina and all of the conference season.
His absence could help the maturity of the young players who would most certainly have bigger roles without him.
Also, his legs should be plenty fresh to chase Utah State guard Jaycee Carroll, the early favorite WAC player of the year, around the court, something Burleson excelled at last season.
Still, this could be an early deathblow for a team already faced with replacing so much. Best case is Johnson turns out to be the supreme baller that everyone seems to think and Fields serves as a serviceable backup. But there’s also a chance the offense completely sputters without a tenured leader.
The Wolf Pack needs the one thing you can’t find on craigslist.
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