Brayon Freeman Dismissed from Team

[Jersey77]

Hate to say it but this staff has not lived up to its reputation as recruiters. Of the 8 players they brought in do any excite you?
Must do much better with 2nd class.

Iggy still too early to tell on some because of the inexperience.

[Billyboy78]

Why should Archie take some of the blame? Should he just accept insubordination? Is that how things go in 2023?

He absolutely shouldn’t accept insubordination.

But freeman didn’t end up here by accident, Archie recruited him. Same with Harris.

Coach is also accountable for the guys he brings in

He had to put together a roster quickly by adding 8 new players. He took a chance on a talented player. He probably thought he could change his attitude. He had to take chances. He did it with Weston, Tchikou, Bilau and Harris too. All had question marks in one way or another. What else could he do?

[Da_Process_Survivor]

Hate to say it but this staff has not lived up to its reputation as recruiters. Of the 8 players they brought in do any excite you?
Must do much better with 2nd class.

Maybe wait for them to have a recruiting class? This year's team was cobbled together mid recruiting stream. They haven't gotten to do actual recruiting yet

[Blue Man]

The blame on Archie is that he didn’t see any of these red flags in his vetting. Remember we likely took Bray over Diggins at Umass.

But Bray’s play on the court was almost uncoachable at times. And his body language even worse. He’s a talented player but it will take a special coach to get the most out of him.

Yup, that’s why Archie needs be blamed a bit.

He is in charge of every aspect in this program from the top down.

Not giving him one iota of blame is still being in the “Archie can do no wrong” camp, which I assume has less and less people in it each day.

Like with the Hurley situation - I don't think you start blaming a coach til year 4.

This is a total rebuild and overhaul. If they're not the right pieces, I'd rather rip the bandaid off sooner rather than later so we can find the right pieces.

This is going to make the rest of this year suck more than it did (and pretty much ensure we go no further than Wednesday in Brooklyn), but it doesn't really change what this season is/was for.

The guys in the building are buying in. And Bray leaving might pay dividends long term in the "no one is above the team" mantra Arch has been trying to establish.

Bray was probably the most talented on the team. But also the most selfish. And unfortunately he isn't good enough to help the team win while being selfish.

If this kid was Ja Morant? Sure. Do what you want, take over the team and let's go for a ride.

But he's not. He's diet Fatts Russell with a better stroke from deep but less talented a finishing at the rim and less talent defensively. If we couldn't win with Fatts, then I for sure don't want to lose with a guy who's a bigger headache.

This definitely blows, but at least it shows Archie has a spine and isn't going to let one guy dictate how he coaches the team. We will be better off in the future when we're able to put together a team that can win.

[jcru]

I was a big fan of Bill Parcells and Bobby Knight.

I can't get too wound up over this move, because 1. it's a wasted season and the only good you can actually accomplish at this point is establishing expectations and boundaries. and 2. more importantly, if you are going to do something like this, do it EARLY. Like in season one, not in season three, after you've allowed it to fester for some time. You need to act swiftly with a move like this.

[RhodyRams916]

Not boxing out FT shooter in last game mightve been last straw.

We also don't know what happened off the court. I'm gonna wait until I blame Archie.

[KingstonLane]

Why should Archie take some of the blame? Should he just accept insubordination? Is that how things go in 2023?

He absolutely shouldn’t accept insubordination.

But freeman didn’t end up here by accident, Archie recruited him. Same with Harris.

Coach is also accountable for the guys he brings in

He had to put together a roster quickly by adding 8 new players. He took a chance on a talented player. He probably thought he could change his attitude. He had to take chances. He did it with Weston, Tchikou, Bilau and Harris too. All had question marks in one way or another. What else could he do?

You’re 100% right. All of this is easy for me to say from my couch. The staff had to get out there and make decisions with the limited time and info they had.

This was always a lost season. I didn’t expect anything else but a rebuilding year

My biggest frustration is now it’s becoming a completed wasted season. We’ve essentially seen little to no development of any of the guys Archie brought in. A lot of the young guys haven’t played at all, and the transfers either aren’t here anymore or have left a lot to be desired.

We’re on track to have spent this season just watching Ish develop. Which is great in isolation, but not sure how much better off the team is because of it.

Again, success was never going to be instantaneous, but my hope was we’d come out of this season seeing a few guys move the needle

[RhodyRams916]

He absolutely shouldn’t accept insubordination.

But freeman didn’t end up here by accident, Archie recruited him. Same with Harris.

Coach is also accountable for the guys he brings in

He had to put together a roster quickly by adding 8 new players. He took a chance on a talented player. He probably thought he could change his attitude. He had to take chances. He did it with Weston, Tchikou, Bilau and Harris too. All had question marks in one way or another. What else could he do?

You’re 100% right. All of this is easy for me to say from my couch. The staff had to get out there and make decisions with the limited time and info they had.

This was always a lost season. I didn’t expect anything else but a rebuilding year

My biggest frustration is now it’s becoming a completed wasted season. We’ve essentially seen little to no development of any of the guys Archie brought in. A lot of the young guys haven’t played at all, and the transfers either aren’t here anymore or have left a lot to be desired.

We’re on track to have spent this season just watching Ish develop. Which is great in isolation, but not sure how much better off the team is because of it

I feel like Weston has potential. We'll see what he looks like next season, if he stays :/

[RhodyRams916]

This is what I mean. There are some things we can't see on the broadcast... He might've been an absolute pain to coach.

[NYGFan_Section208]

COLOSSAL failure.

I’m not putting 100% blame on Freeman, however.

Most of it? Yes.

Archie needs some blame as well.

Trollin', trollin', trollin'

[rhodysurf]

My biggest frustration is now it’s becoming a completed wasted season. We’ve essentially seen little to no development of any of the guys Archie brought in. A lot of the young guys haven’t played at all, and the transfers either aren’t here anymore or have left a lot to be desired.

We’re on track to have spent this season just watching Ish develop. Which is great in isolation, but not sure how much better off the team is because of it.

Again, success was never going to be instantaneous, but my hope was we’d come out of this season seeing a few guys move the needle

tchikou, weston, stewart, and Ish have definitely improved, you all are just very impatient lol its not wasted season. Need more dudes, period.

[SmartyBarrett]

He also fired off several tweets and liked several others after the Mason loss. Guessing that didn't sit well.

[RhodyRams916]

My biggest frustration is now it’s becoming a completed wasted season. We’ve essentially seen little to no development of any of the guys Archie brought in. A lot of the young guys haven’t played at all, and the transfers either aren’t here anymore or have left a lot to be desired.

We’re on track to have spent this season just watching Ish develop. Which is great in isolation, but not sure how much better off the team is because of it.

Again, success was never going to be instantaneous, but my hope was we’d come out of this season seeing a few guys move the needle

tchikou, weston, stewart, and Ish have definitely improved, you all are just very impatient lol its not wasted season. Need more dudes, period.

Crazy that people think Ish is the only improved player. Weston??? Noticeably better than he was in November/December.

[jcru]

That's kind of a weird argument to me. "Miller cannot have had good control of his locker room"

THIS MOVE shows that he is getting the locker room under control. What did you want him do to, give the kid the boot after his first offense?

I'm sure he's been assessing the situation the entire season, obviously believing he could reign this kid in and get him to be a team player. I think it is obvious that something drastic happened this past game where it became a situation where it was now clear it was not going to work out, and there was no sense playing it out any longer.

[bigappleram]

My biggest frustration is now it’s becoming a completed wasted season. We’ve essentially seen little to no development of any of the guys Archie brought in. A lot of the young guys haven’t played at all, and the transfers either aren’t here anymore or have left a lot to be desired.

We’re on track to have spent this season just watching Ish develop. Which is great in isolation, but not sure how much better off the team is because of it.

Again, success was never going to be instantaneous, but my hope was we’d come out of this season seeing a few guys move the needle

tchikou, weston, stewart, and Ish have definitely improved, you all are just very impatient lol its not wasted season. Need more dudes, period.

Crazy that people think Ish is the only improved player. Weston??? Noticeably better than he was in November/December.

Agreed, Tchikou as well. Has averaged 7ppg and 6rpg over his last 3 starts. Game is slowing down for him IMO.

[KingstonLane]

My biggest frustration is now it’s becoming a completed wasted season. We’ve essentially seen little to no development of any of the guys Archie brought in. A lot of the young guys haven’t played at all, and the transfers either aren’t here anymore or have left a lot to be desired.

We’re on track to have spent this season just watching Ish develop. Which is great in isolation, but not sure how much better off the team is because of it.

Again, success was never going to be instantaneous, but my hope was we’d come out of this season seeing a few guys move the needle

tchikou, weston, stewart, and Ish have definitely improved, you all are just very impatient lol its not wasted season. Need more dudes, period.

Crazy that people think Ish is the only improved player. Weston??? Noticeably better than he was in November/December.

I’ll maybe concede on Weston, but I’d even like to see him have played a lot more this season. Hopefully he gets force fed minutes down the stretch.

You’ll have a hard time convincing me really anyone else has gotten better this year. And to be clear, that’s not me saying they won’t ever be better. I hope they are. But I also don’t think many of them have had any or enough game minutes to do that

[DeanDome88]

I was not in love with his game and to be honest did not even notice him when GW visited the Ryan Center last season. There are players whose talent really stands out and in my eyes his did not. I wish the young man well but did not really like watching him try to play like Alan Iverson without the required skill. Getting an attitude and giving minimal effort on the court after some time on the bench is unacceptable. We were not going to win any meaningful games with him as our point guard.

[jcru]

If I remember the recruiting time line after Archie was hired correctly, we were involved with at least a couple of guards who took visits and were interested, and Brayon actually came out of left field with his commitment. And it was like oooh, ok, this is interesting. But, in hindsight, his commitment cleared the rest of the field out and they all shortly committed elsewhere, one going to UMass.

Again, you take a chance on someone like this. Archie said he was familiar with him from the past. For that reason, whatever problems this kid was having with his previous coach at GWU were kind of set aside in favor of the belief that Archie could reign him in and get him to play as a part of a real team. Consider it a failed experiment.

I do think if Brayon had stayed put or gone elsewhere we would have had a real shot at another good guard transfer, however.

[RhowdyRam02]

I know we'll never find out the actual last straw, I wonder if it was liking the tweet after the George Mason game suggesting he was going to transfer or if there was something else afterward

[Rhody15]

COLOSSAL failure.

I’m not putting 100% blame on Freeman, however.

Most of it? Yes.

Archie needs some blame as well.

Trollin', trollin', trollin'

It's my opinion that Archie deserves some of the blame for taking him in and not being able to contain him.

If you disagree with my opinion, that's fine. Does not make it a troll.

Someone earlier said he went to 4 high schools. Red flag right there.

[RhodyRams916]

Here we go.

[KingstonLane]

Here we go.

As expected, no new details will come from this

[RhodyRams916]

COLOSSAL failure.

I’m not putting 100% blame on Freeman, however.

Most of it? Yes.

Archie needs some blame as well.

Trollin', trollin', trollin'

It's my opinion that Archie deserves some of the blame for taking him in and not being able to contain him.

If you disagree with my opinion, that's fine. Does not make it a troll.

Someone earlier said he went to 4 high schools. Red flag right there.

That's a huge red flag...

[Blue Man]

COLOSSAL failure.

I’m not putting 100% blame on Freeman, however.

Most of it? Yes.

Archie needs some blame as well.

Trollin', trollin', trollin'

It's my opinion that Archie deserves some of the blame for taking him in and not being able to contain him.

If you disagree with my opinion, that's fine. Does not make it a troll.

Someone earlier said he went to 4 high schools. Red flag right there.

You know I don't think you're a troll.

But you also know I'll die on the Archie hill.

And I'll welcome everyone back to this camp with open arms when we're winning in 2-3 years.

[RhodyRams916]

Here we go.

As expected, no new details will come from this

Yeah, not a big deal for me. The reasoning was probably a combination of outbursts as opposed to the one that happened after the GM game.

[Jdrums#3]

Stevey, I hope the young man finds what he is searching for and I hope his experience at Rhody helps him find it.

It’s unfortunate as I saw potential in his game and would have liked to see things work out, but people don’t always see eye to eye ( plus I mostly side with the rule that no player is greater than the program) and so the separation.

Also, I don’t have any inside info on the program or players beyond what is shared here and observed by KB’ers so I really don’t have anything to add as far as reasons for the situation.

[Rhody15]

Trollin', trollin', trollin'

It's my opinion that Archie deserves some of the blame for taking him in and not being able to contain him.

If you disagree with my opinion, that's fine. Does not make it a troll.

Someone earlier said he went to 4 high schools. Red flag right there.

You know I don't think you're a troll.

But you also know I'll die on the Archie hill.

And I'll welcome everyone back to this camp with open arms when we're winning in 2-3 years.

Oh I'm not going anywhere.

[KingstonLane]

These are going to be some painful final games of the season. Thomas is literally going to be playing 40 minutes a game.

And we’re literally 1 injury away from walk ons playing real minutes

[rhodyrudder]

[bigappleram]

I hope this means more Weston too. Carey and Ish at the 1 and 2 and Weston at the 3. Malik at 4 and Alex at 5. That is our best lineup currently so hopefully we see a lot of it.

[RhodyRams916]

These are going to be some painful final games of the season. Thomas is literally going to be playing 40 minutes a game.

And we’re literally 1 injury away from walk ons playing real minutes

Yeah, what an unlucky shit show. From Ant never making it to campus, to Bilau getting injured and now our 2nd best PPG leaving. I'm ready to just move on.

[JFrech21]

Finally, Bassy can get the minutes he deserves...

[Blue Man]

Finally, Bassy can get the minutes he deserves...

*laughs with his mouth full of his car's tailpipe while crying"

[Jersey77]

I hope this means more Weston too. Carey and Ish at the 1 and 2 and Weston at the 3. Malik at 4 and Alex at 5. That is our best lineup currently so hopefully we see a lot of it.

We know Carey has skills, but with him at point will he have more turnovers than assists.

[RhodyRams916]

Finally, Bassy can get the minutes he deserves...

[Blue Man]

lost in all of this is how dominant one team in the mackal pickup league is about to be

[Jdrums#3]

There will be a young player in the portal with just as much talent and a much better attitude. Looking forward to see who that player is.

Agree, 78. Life marches on so may as well look ahead for now. Plus, there will be time to reflect on the past in the future, as usual.

[KingstonLane]

Finally, Bassy can get the minutes he deserves...

*laughs with his mouth full of his car's tailpipe while crying"

The most offensive thing Archie has done to date was this press conference.

“Thomas will have a bigger role”

“Carey will handle the ball a bit more”

Let us pray.

[PeterRamTime]

I mean Archie whiffed on the two perceived best players from the transfer portal. Kinda sucks.

I dont have any doubts that we will compete for A-10 titles in the future, but Archie would probably admit things haven't gone according to plan.

It's just a little extra frustrating when we've all seen so many fast rebuilds all across college football and basketball because of the transfer portal. We had a very below average haul.

Had things gone according to plan, Bray works out, Ant is eligible, Bilau doesn't get hurt and we win a lot more games this year.

Alas, a lot can be mended in the offseason, so this really isn't all that devastating.

[JFrech21]

With the way the season's going I'm pretty sure we beat VCU on Wed.

[rhodyrudder]

I mean Archie whiffed on the two perceived best players from the transfer portal. Kinda sucks.

I dont have any doubts that we will compete for A-10 titles in the future, but Archie would probably admit things haven't gone according to plan.

It's just a little extra frustrating when we've all seen so many fast rebuilds all across college football and basketball because of the transfer portal. We had a very below average haul.

Had things gone according to plan, Bray works out, Ant is eligible, Bilau doesn't get hurt and we win a lot more games this year.

Alas, a lot can be mended in the offseason, so this really isn't all that devastating.

Except we had to watch this team for an entire season.

[Jersey77]

There will be a young player in the portal with just as much talent and a much better attitude. Looking forward to see who that player is.

Yeah 78 there will be young players like that in the portal, question is will they end up here.
Hope so.

[RhodyRams916]

With the way the season's going I'm pretty sure we beat VCU on Wed.

I'm actually more inclined to go to see how much of a shit show it could be LOL

[rjv]

YES!!!
We beat VCU by 15!!!!

[DeanDome88]

Finally, Bassy can get the minutes he deserves...

He is going to have one heck of an opportunity here over the rest of the season. It's going to look very different.

[Jdrums#3]

COLOSSAL failure.

I’m not putting 100% blame on Freeman, however.

Most of it? Yes.

Archie needs some blame as well.

Trollin', trollin', trollin'

NYG, I don’t believe 15 is trolling here. There are 2 sides to every story and we don’t know the whole story - or at least, I don’t. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to speculate that the staff might have SOME blame. However, I do think his use of “colossal” is stretching it.

If you are joking about the trolling’ then disregard my post.

[Rhodymob05]

Besides the obvious scoring loss......On another note, as others just mentioned, this definitely creates an interesting situation with the rotation. It may (or may not) bring out some positive outcomes with player development. Lou will probably get off the bench and Weston now has the stage with Carey/Leggett. Opens up scoring opportunities for everyone.

[hrstrat57]

Bottom line regardless who’s at “fault” it’s a darn shame. Kids got legit game.

With much reluctance and disappointment I’m now conceding a pass on the 22/23 season.

I will be expecting tremendous improvement in 23/24.

Carry on with the analysis.

[ram1980]

With the way the season's going I'm pretty sure we beat VCU on Wed.

Huh!!! This team has had trouble beating the press with Freeman. What's it going to look like without him facing the havoc of VCU. Going to be ugly. I can't believe we are going to see more Thomas. I want more Weston, Stewart and Hutchinson. We already know what we have in Thomas. Obviously his playing time increases with only 3 true scholarship guards on the roster. What are the odds of winning another game. Play the young guys. Let them get their lumps. Is it November yet. Looks like a double IPA at twisted for Wednesday night.

[Jersey77]

COLOSSAL failure.

I’m not putting 100% blame on Freeman, however.

Most of it? Yes.

Archie needs some blame as well.

Trollin', trollin', trollin'

NYG, I don’t believe 15 is trolling here. There are 2 sides to every story and we don’t know the whole story - or at least, I don’t. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to speculate that the staff might have SOME blame. However, I do think his use of “colossal” is stretching it.

If you are joking about the trolling’ then disregard my post.

I think he used that term because of all our new players, he was the most proven and expected to have the largest immediate impact for us.
Also being only a sophomore, that would give him 3 years with our program.

To me this is a huge disappointment that it didn't work out and will put our rebuild even further behind.