Senior Big Man Ifeanyi Onyekaba Leaves Program

[Smokinjimit]

Hal seems to have his priorities in order. Yikes

[Hal Kopp]

Guys,I am coming around. Iffy quits his last year (waits until) after bills are paid for first semester.
Gets full boat for 2nd semester. Maybe he should be applauded. Can we still honor him at Senior night ??

[BleedBlue87]

We have to remember that playing ball is second to academic achievement. Who knows, maybe Iffy will achieve more for the school through his non-profit efforts or business success then he would have on the court. He's a young kid who needed to make a decision for him. I'm sure it was tough and he went back and forth with it. Hal, I hope your attitude towards stuff like this changes. That's not the type of fan I want to cheer with. You sound like the fans on the other side of the state.

[neil]

15 - I'm not sure if this answers your question, but Dave Bialski, a transfer from Yale, played his senior year at Rhode island. He was the only player honored at Senior Night.

[ace]

Senior night will include a walk on, a 5th year transfer, and a jc transfer. When was the last time we didn't have a four year senior on senior night?

2014 was Munford, Kemp, and Nazarko.


And, updated-

http://gorhody.com/sports/m-baskbl/2015-16/roster

[Billyboy78]

I'm assuming this is incorrect?

11/10/2015 - Rhode Island 2012 C Ifeanyi Onyekaba (6-8, 265, 3★) will be transferring. - Per Michael McDermott, The Providence Journal - See more at: http://verbalcommits.com/conferences/at ... 4fPIc.dpuf

[Puck Frovidence]

Hal your posts in this thread are some of the most ignorant stuff I have ever read around here. Congrats.

Struth. Good luck to Iffy in academic and all other pursuits.

[TruePoint]

[Hal Kopp]

BillyBoy-great post and thanks.
Am sure ProJo is mistaken,Ifffy quit to concentrate on academics.
If it is true,I should be a psychic.

[ace]

BillyBoy-great post and thanks.
Am sure ProJo is mistaken,Ifffy quit to concentrate on academics.
If it is true,I should be a psychic.

They're referencing this tweet, which posts Koch's article, so no, the ProJo is not wrong.

Verbal Commits counts anyone leaving a program (that includes guys like Powell and Hare) as a transfer.

[SmartyBarrett]

+2001. Well done, TP.

[Native]

Iffy leaving the URI team WHEN he did allows him both to concentrate on academics in his senior year at URI and also to use his remaining year of eligibility to play next year elsewhere as a graduate student.

When he plays next year as a graduate student, he will appear to his new fans at the new school as though he is a "transfer".

He did his prep ball in the Roanoke, Virginia, area; he will likely go to graduate school some where in the state of Virginia, and play basketball there.

I would imagine he will enjoy his time playing basketball at the new school more than he would have enjoyed being the forgotten practice player at the end of the Rhody bench.

Iffy's major at URI is Business. It seems to me that Iffy as a Business major considered his options, and then made a business decision.

As Donald Trump said to Larry David on SNL, "as a businessman, I can fully respect that. That's OK."

[Hal Kopp]

Ace-OK we all know he quit the team and Projo under the auspices of academics-correct?
Or is it to play BB somewhere else??

[Hal Kopp]

Alright,I get it. By quitting before playing a game this season,it preserves a year of eligibility (somewhere else).
Yet,by waiting he commits Rhody (at this late date) paying his ride for the semester .
Rhody cannot use his schollie (if available) 2nd semester unless divided up amongst walk ons.
There has been no real mention of any dire academic issues on his part-so the academic issue for quitting is a red herring?
Alright Iffy!! Slick.

[section(105)]

Just asking, did Iffy steal the morning paper from your yard or something?

[sf2010]

There has been no real mention of any dire academic issues on his part-so the academic issue for quitting is a red herring?
Alright Iffy!! Slick.

Just because the academic issues were not "dire" does not mean that it is stupid to drop basketball to focus on them.

Perhaps Iffy would like to actually learn something and get the most out of his senior year classes, as opposed to having to struggle to scrape by with C's due to his athletic commitments?

I'm probably just being naive. But there is a big difference between merely doing enough to pass classes and actually gaining meaningful knowledge from them.

[Blue Man]

I didn't even want to feed the troll - but really, what is your problem with a guy leaving before the season - a guy who by all accounts is a good kid, good teammate, and isn't going to figure into the lineup this year?

It's not like he snaked his way onto the team to get a free education and then quit the team before even playing. He was a body that was needed at a time when we had NO ONE on our bench and had to scramble to find people who wanted to play.

Iffy was a part of our rebuild, and no matter what he did on the court, is still a piece of where we are right now, on the eve of what looks to be our best year in almost 2 decades.

The best thing he could do to help this team in his position is to kill it with grades and graduate, and keep the team's APR up. I have no problem with my taxes, tickets, and donations also going to help a kid who contributed as much as he could to this team, as well as my alma mater, and will continue to so by getting a degree and moving forward.

I have no idea why you need to post and be a spiteful dick to this kid who wore a Rhody uniform with pride and represented this program well, but to each his own I guess.

[Running Ram]

Yeah Hal you are kinda being a dick.

By all accounts Iffy seems to be a good guy, he was a great teammate, very supportive even as he found himself the 11th man on the floor. Why can't we just leave it at that and wish him well? I do. I for one am glad he got/is getting a good education from URI on the cheap.

[Billyboy78]

I think they're clearing the scholly for Abu's transfer...

[adam914]

Hal would be happier if Iffy went around beating up frat boys instead. He still blindly follows and posts about our pathetic football team and has no problems with anything going on over there.

[SGreenwell]

I mean, theoretically, he could play another year (or two, I guess) at another school. I'm not sure where the heck that would be. Biggie Minnis went down to Wright State, and hasn't played yet because of injury. Matthew Butler went down to UT-Martin. OO has played significantly less than both guys, even though the Rams have been thinner in the frontcourt than the backcourt. Height is height, so I imagine someone might take a flyer on him, but I don't think there has been a strong indication that he is definitely interested in playing hoops somewhere else, just that he could if he wanted to.