‘19 LA SG - Gregory Hammond (URI ---> UMass-Lowell)

[Ramulous]

The hard part of getting to know the players and their families is when this happens. I wish all our players could stay and graduate

[Rhody83]

I like Greg a lot. Watched him play AAU in Vegas on BallerTV. I talked to him for awhile at the season ticket holder event. Very nice young man.
To think he should get 10 minutes/game as a Fr when there was a 8 man rotation in front of all the Fr is unrealistic.
This was a development year for Greg. Like most Fr he made some mistakes when he got playing time.
I would be surprised if Coach Cox was promising Greg playing time. Maybe it was a misunderstanding or miscommunication.
I wish Greg the best. He would’ve had his chance to earn a regular rotation spot next year.

[reef]

Best of luck to your son Mr Hammond

It’s a tough situation that Greg had to make a difficult choice to transfer this early in the season as a frosh but he probably wants to be eligible in Dec 2020 and figured he needed to transfer right away

Hopefully he chooses the right school for himself

[phipsiGD'11]

We can discuss ad nauseam Greg's playing time here, or lack of, but the PC game being the final straw is laughable. Dadika has been with this team as a walk on for years, doing everything the scholarship players do in regards to gym time, practice, travel, classes, etc. Is he as good as the scholly players, no of course not. Putting him in for the last minute against "our biggest rival" is a thank you for all your hard work reward. A freshman has not earned that last minute thank you, a scholly freshman has plenty of time to earn more minutes and when those minutes come, the thought of a meaningless last minute against PC will be an afterthought because theoretically they will be playing many more minutes in much more meaningful situations.
If we gave Will the last minute vs PC last year over a freshman who was struggling to earn playing time, would we respond differently?
Wish Greg all the best and hope he finds the right fit, would have been great to see him succeed here, but time to move on.

[ramster]

We can discuss ad nauseam Greg's playing time here, or lack of, but the PC game being the final straw is laughable. Dadika has been with this team as a walk on for years, doing everything the scholarship players do in regards to gym time, practice, travel, classes, etc. Is he as good as the scholly players, no of course not. Putting him in for the last minute against "our biggest rival" is a thank you for all your hard work reward. A freshman has not earned that last minute thank you, a scholly freshman has plenty of time to earn more minutes and when those minutes come, the thought of a meaningless last minute against PC will be an afterthought because theoretically they will be playing many more minutes in much more meaningful situations.
If we gave Will the last minute vs PC last year over a freshman who was struggling to earn playing time, would we respond differently?
Wish Greg all the best and hope he finds the right fit, would have been great to see him succeed here, but time to move on.

Dadica came in for Langevine with 15 seconds left and URI up by 14 points
Long came in for Russell with 37 seconds left and URI up by 15 points
Martin, Dowtin and Toppin all remained in the game

It wasn’t like a Dadica OR Hammond decision time moment for Cox. Cox could have put Hammond in for Dowtin, Martin or Toppin but he chose not to. Why? Only a Cox can truthfully answer that.

But final straws are just that. By definition they are small in measurement but added to the whole it just breaks the bank.

You could say Hammond was embarrassed that he was the only Freshman who didn’t play. Even with Tate unexpectedly suspended. Even with Fatts hurting his arm/wrist have having to visit the Locker Room For medical review. Even with URI up by 14 points. It’s not about whether Dadica deserved to play more. No either/or here.

I wonder if Cox got caught by surprise by Hammond quitting? Or if Cox was getting what he wanted and getting Hammond to leave the team thus opening up a scholarship? Would Cox have played Hammond if he knew Tate was going to bolt a couple of weeks later too? Only Cox knows. I’m purely speculating but to me I would have liked to have seen Hammond play more to see what Hammond could do or not do. 13 minutes doesn’t allow that. I know I’m not privy to practices.

Hammond was recruited by Ty Boswell who of course left. Did Hammond lose his main connection and become homesick faster? He verballed before he played his Senior year in HS so we had ample time to assess his performance. Not sure what went wrong here but.......

“Greg, we hardly knew ya”. Best of luck.

[SmartyBarrett]

UMass-Lowell

[bkoeppen]

UMass-Lowell

interesting - would have guessed closer to home.

[LoveThoseRams]

UMass-Lowell

interesting - would have guessed closer to home.

Yikes....Lowell.....really?

[LoveThoseRams]

UMass-Lowell

interesting - would have guessed closer to home.

Yikes....Lowell.....really?

I did not want this comment to be disrespectful. I hope he is happy there.

[STC]

Did not see that coming. Best of luck to him.

Should be no shortage of playing time there.

[ElmCityRhody]

UMass Lowell ?

are we done w/ the lectures now on our board and sh*tting on us ?

I BLEED KEANEY BLUE

[DC_Rams]

Smh, I can’t say I get it. Best of luck kid. May they shower you with unlimited minutes.

[DC_Rams]

UMass-Lowell

Where did you see this reported?

[SmartyBarrett]

UMass-Lowell

Where did you see this reported?

Jeff Goodman had it. It's on Verbal Commits as well.

[steveystuds06]

https://watchstadium.com/college-basket ... 0-31-2019/

[reef]

Very surprised by this as well thought it be closer to home

Wonder how he chose that school any connections there ??

[McRam]

Dad, Huh ?

[ramster]

Khalil Thomas is a Freshman SG at UMASS Lowell from New Orleans. Greg and Khalil played some ball together in All Stars in New Orleans.

Khalil has played 150+ minutes for the River Hawks - quite a bit more than Greg’s 13 total minutes at URI.

[Rhody83]

Wow, what a drop down in level. He should’ve stuck it at RI.

[ramster]

River Hawks beat Brown by 12.

[Rhody74]

River Hawks beat Brown by 12.

Obviously he wanted to go to a higher level program.

[RamStock]

Shocking that he not only went to such a lower end basketball school, but that he didn’t go back towards the south. Schools like Stephen F Austin, East Tennessee State, Furman, Belmont and Murray State are all real good mid majors. I know he tried to get away from Louisiana when he came here, but wait until he is playing in a high school gym every night. Hammond has talent and could have gone to a bigger school for sure.

[eli#10]

So much for homesickness being part of his decision. My guess was that Tulane would have been a prime destination.

[SGreenwell]

So much for homesickness being part of his decision. My guess was that Tulane would have been a prime destination.

I think that's substantially overrating him. Like, I think his situation is more akin to Matthew Butler, who ended up at UT-Martin. Butler played 43 games for Rhody, about 281 minutes, about 6.5 minutes per game. I'm not sure who the last player is who 1) couldn't get minutes at URI and 2) ended up being a guy who really excelled at another program. Thompson, Biggie Minnis and Reischel got more minutes at other schools, but they were all playing here.

[ramster]

Homesickness was only brought up on this board. I never read that anywhere else, nor did Hammond's father mention Homesickness.

Personally I think UMASS Lowell is a good landing spot for Greg. He has a friend from New Orleans in Khalil Thomas on the UMASS Lowell Team who is a Freshmen just like himself.

UMASS Lowell is a program that is looking to rise. Greg can be a part of a program like that.

Looking at their schedule this year:
UMASS Lowell:
@ UMASS
@ LIU
@ #18 Ohio State
UMASS Boston
Jacksonville
Merrimack
Dartmouth
Brown
Central Connecticut State
Sacred Heart
St Francis Brooklyn
@NJIT
BU
@ Loyola Maryland
@ #11 Michigan

America East Home and Home Games
UMBC
Hartford
Binghamton
Maine
Albany
Vermont
Stony Brook
UNH

It's all about fit, and if Greg thinks that UMASS Lowell is the best fit for him at this time, then more more to him. I wish him the very, very best.

[RamStock]

Homesickness was only brought up on this board. I never read that anywhere else, nor did Hammond's father mention Homesickness.

Personally I think UMASS Lowell is a good landing spot for Greg. He has a friend from New Orleans in Khalil Thomas on the UMASS Lowell Team who is a Freshmen just like himself.

UMASS Lowell is a program that is looking to rise. Greg can be a part of a program like that.

Looking at their schedule this year:
UMASS Lowell:
@ UMASS
@ LIU
@ #18 Ohio State
UMASS Boston
Jacksonville
Merrimack
Dartmouth
Brown
Central Connecticut State
Sacred Heart
St Francis Brooklyn
@NJIT
BU
@ Loyola Maryland
@ #11 Michigan

America East Home and Home Games
UMBC
Hartford
Binghamton
Maine
Albany
Vermont
Stony Brook
UNH

It's all about fit, and if Greg thinks that UMASS Lowell is the best fit for him at this time, then more more to him. I wish him the very, very best.

There is the answer right there that you mentioned. He has friend on Umass Lowell. It makes transfer and transition much easier for him.

[TruePoint]

Exactly. Not really anything else to consider.

[Rhodymob05]

Good luck to him. One thing I've noticed is that most transfers end up at lower tier schools.

[Iggy1979]

maybe he wanted to go to a team that beat Brown.

[TruePoint]

Iggy please do not trigger me I’ve been doing better lately.

[Rhody83]

Greg could’ve started for URI tonight.

[steviep123]

Greg could’ve started for URI tonight.

It’s doubtful he would have but would have seen a fair number of minutes off the bench.

[LoveThoseRams]

The more I think about the Hammond situation, the more perplexed I am. It seemingly is a MAL type transfer. The difference is that the Hammond family kept the comments confined to KB, as far as we know, and did not broadcast it to the world like MALs father did. Although if I recall correctly Hammond’s Dad did respond publicly to a tweet. And that MAL transferred to a good academic institution with a good BB program.

I just don’t understand the lack of patience that the family and Greg had with the situation. Could they actually have thought he would come into a program like URI and be getting meaningful minutes his Freshman year? Is he THAT good? I didn’t see it when he was on the floor. He looked like an upcoming Freshman that had potential, but needed to develop and needed to work the Freshman jitters out. But maybe I missed something.

How many of the players that go to mid-majors have serious BB careers after college? With that in mind, wouldn’t you want your child at the best academic environment possible with a good D1 program? Do you think Lowell MA is a good environment, academically or otherwise? Let’s be honest it’s a shit hole depressed city and the lowest performing university in the U Mass system.

I just don’t get it?

[rambone 78]

It's obvious that he wanted immediate PT.

He wasn't going to get that here.

He left. His dad likely pushed him to do so.

End of story.

[RF1]

Do you think Lowell MA is a good environment, academically or otherwise? Let’s be honest it’s a shit hole depressed city and the lowest performing university in the U Mass system.

UMass Lowell has dramatically improved in the last two decades. A lot of money has been invested in it and it has been able to leverage its proximity to the strong MA business sector. Several rankings such as US News & World Report have it on par with URI. It is not the lowest performing university in the UMass system as I believe it only trails Amherst but ranks above Boston and Dartmouth for undergraduates.

[josephski]

I just don’t understand the lack of patience that the family and Greg had with the situation. Could they actually have thought he would come into a program like URI and be getting meaningful minutes his Freshman year? Is he THAT good? I didn’t see it when he was on the floor. He looked like an upcoming Freshman that had potential, but needed to develop and needed to work the Freshman jitters out. But maybe I missed something.

Look at all the guards who came in since Hurley was hired and played meaningful minutes as a freshman. Even Thompson got meaningful minutes. If Greg couldn't get on the court this year with our lack of depth then I don't think the future looked all that bright for him.

We're not a perennial NCAA tournament team and once Sheppard was announced as out I'm sure him and his family would have thought he'd play more minutes.

[RIFan]

UMass Lowell is very similar to URI in rankings and is by far the second best of the State U's in MA. Their average SAT score is slightly higher than URI's. I have a daughter who is a senior in high school and we looked and she applied to and was accepted to both URI and UML for nursing. Also, Lowell like many towns near Boston is much nicer now than you may remember...our neighbors son went there for engineering over WPI last year. Being in-state, the value was much better. As RF1 stated previously, the head of the UMass System used to be a politician from the Lowell area and he has had a ton of money invested in it the last 10 years.

[DeanDome88]

UMass Lowell. Isn't that where Steve Lane transferred to back in the day? I wish Greg success but still think he could have had it here.

[ramster]

UMass Lowell. Isn't that where Steve Lane transferred to back in the day? I wish Greg success but still think he could have had it here.

Yes. Steve was recruited by Tom Penders but when Penders left and was replaced by Al Skinner Steve transferred to UMASS Lowell. Steve had been Massachusetts HS Player of the Year and he was an excellent baseball player too. He played baseball at Lowell as well as basketball. I would have liked to have seen him stay at URI.

[reef]

Steve Lane Josh Oppenheimer and Jimmy Christian all reserve guards on that 88 team

[DC_Rams]

Can we let this post die now....

[steviep123]

UMass Lowell. Isn't that where Steve Lane transferred to back in the day? I wish Greg success but still think he could have had it here.

Yes. Steve was recruited by Tom Penders but when Penders left and was replaced by Al Skinner Steve transferred to UMASS Lowell. Steve had been Massachusetts HS Player of the Year and he was an excellent baseball player too. He played baseball at Lowell as well as basketball. I would have liked to have seen him stay at URI.

I was at Rhody at the time - 88 was my freshman year. I also would have liked to have seen Lane play more. I remember the next season going to games and someone in the crowd yelling, "Get Steve Lane out of the doghouse Al!" LOL

[Spook]

Lane was a fantastic high school player and a great outside shooter. He was not able to deal with speed of game at our level then.

[DeanDome88]

Steve Lane Josh Oppenheimer and Jimmy Christian all reserve guards on that 88 team

I recall a few Josh Oppenheimer no look passes going out of bounds without being touched and thinking maybe this guy should start looking.

[Billyboy78]

It was a little tough getting minutes behind Silk and Tommy.