KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

I figured this deserved its own thread. Nikola leaving early to pursue a professional career in the second tier of Italian Basketball with the Rosetto Sharks.

Good luck to him. The kid always played hard out there.

Good luck to him, but we lose nothing from this.

Good luck Nikola. They could have used him for depth upfront. Time for Layssard or Tertsea to step up. Need them for D and rebounding when Cyril and Harris are out.

Explains why they're still recruiting SFs.

Don't like going into the season with 11. Couple of injuries and you're in trouble.

So, we're still looking at '18s now, I assume? Who's left?

I liked Nikola more than many here. He wasn’t a star, but could have provided solid minutes and veteran leadership and experience. Can’t fault a guy for wanting to get paid, I guess. I wish him well.

Christmas in July!!!!!

Goodbye.

Shocking someone is actually going to pay him to play basketball though.

Billyboy78 wrote:So, we're still looking at '18s now, I assume? Who's left?

No one

Rhody15 wrote:Christmas in July!!!!!

Goodbye.

Shocking someone is actually going to pay him to play basketball though.

do you have to be that way?

Nikola is one of the nicest guys on the team, he played hard, and never complained. I wish him luck

Good luck to him. This is an opportunity to get someone (or get someone more minutes) who will play with desire, and good court sense and vision.

twisted3829 wrote:

Rhody15 wrote:Christmas in July!!!!!

Goodbye.

Shocking someone is actually going to pay him to play basketball though.

do you have to be that way?

Nikola is one of the nicest guys on the team, he played hard, and never complained. I wish him luck

He wasn’t good.

Seems like a weird reason to be an asshole, though.

I think this is terrible news. He was a veteran player who definitely would have seen solid minutes this year. Great character guy and had solid height at 6”8 at the 4 spot. Why did this happen so late? This was going to be his senior year. Did he already have enough credits to graduate? Wow we are really young team now. I really liked Nick and I think with more minutes he would have been a solid contributor. Very bad news.

I believe he did have enough credits to earn his degree. My guess is he got a contract offer to go back home to Italy just this week.
Last year he averaged 13 minutes and was a good backup 4. He shot 49% FG, 41% 3FG & 78% FT. Also avg 2.4 rebs.
He played solid D. They needed him last year and only played one Forward.

Preston, Layssard or Tertsea need to fill that backup role.
They aren’t going to fill the spot now. They are planning to bring three Fr next year (that include Akele’s spot) and aren’t going to change that.
Their only option would be a last minute 5th year Sr which is highly unlikely.

Rhody15 wrote:Christmas in July!!!!!

Goodbye.

Shocking someone is actually going to pay him to play basketball though.

wow, what a dick!

You probably would have said something like this last year about Berry if a similar thing happened and he had a very good senior season. Akele showed potential at times and never really got consistent run, he could have had a real role this year.

Oh well, Good luck to Nikola, he seems like a nice guy, hope he has fond feelings for his time spent at Rhody.

Salute Amico, I wish the best of luck to him. but yea short bench now. More freshman minutes.

Best of luck to Nikola

I think we will be fine opens the door for Preston Laysard or Tertsea to get some minutes

reef wrote:Best of luck to Nikola

I think we will be fine opens the door for Preston Laysard or Tertsea to get some minutes

None of these options thrill me.. Hope I'm wrong. Maybe another Berry like surprise. Do like the idea of more p/t for frosh.. Let's see what we've got

reef wrote:Best of luck to Nikola

I think we will be fine opens the door for Preston Laysard or Tertsea to get some minutes

One of these guys was going to have to contribute this year. Now two of them will have to.

Tom98 wrote:I think this is terrible news. He was a veteran player who definitely would have seen solid minutes this year. Great character guy and had solid height at 6”8 at the 4 spot. Why did this happen so late? This was going to be his senior year. Did he already have enough credits to graduate? Wow we are really young team now. I really liked Nick and I think with more minutes he would have been a solid contributor. Very bad news.

This is a little much. Last year was his shot to really earn minutes and guys outplayed him. I don't mean to be negative but I would expect the same thing to happen this year.

Right now I would prefer Cyril, Jermaine, Tate, Preston, and Layssard over Akele. I know Layssard hasn't played but I love his upside and I see talent there.

Akele is a great kid that played very hard, but he never seemed to develop into what we needed. I wish him luck!

It's amazing that people think it's necessary to bash a quality guy like that on the way out..

NYGFan_Section208 wrote:It's amazing that people think it's necessary to bash a quality guy like that on the way out..

One person bashed him and multiple people on the board called him out.

steveystuds06 wrote:

Tom98 wrote:I think this is terrible news. He was a veteran player who definitely would have seen solid minutes this year. Great character guy and had solid height at 6”8 at the 4 spot. Why did this happen so late? This was going to be his senior year. Did he already have enough credits to graduate? Wow we are really young team now. I really liked Nick and I think with more minutes he would have been a solid contributor. Very bad news.

This is a little much. Last year was his shot to really earn minutes and guys outplayed him. I don't mean to be negative but I would expect the same thing to happen this year.

Right now I would prefer Cyril, Jermaine, Tate, Preston, and Layssard over Akele. I know Layssard hasn't played but I love his upside and I see talent there.

Akele is a great kid that played very hard, but he never seemed to develop into what we needed. I wish him luck!

How could you possibly include Preston in that group?

By all accounts the kid was a good student good teammate and hard worker. I think he would have had a role on the team this year. Maybe he was just homesick. Anyway I thought we would try to add a 5th year and make another push this year but looks like we’re going young

I have to assume Nik must have seen the writing on the wall that he wasn’t going to start and his minutes were going to be limited. No way he leaves if that wasn’t the case. I know we are not as good of a team as we were yesterday. Quality bench players are key and he would have been solid in that role. Anybody who says different doesn’t know what they are talking about.

NYGFan_Section208 wrote:It's amazing that people think it's necessary to bash a quality guy like that on the way out..

I’ve bashed him every year since he was a freshman.

Year after year he has one average game and people call him the second coming the next day.

He provided little to nothing his three years here.

Now is he a nice kid? Sure, maybe he is.

But basketball wise, he was nowhere near an A10 caliber player, and I don’t believe our team will suffer at all.

Rhody15 wrote:

NYGFan_Section208 wrote:It's amazing that people think it's necessary to bash a quality guy like that on the way out..

I’ve bashed him every year since he was a freshman.

Year after year he has one average game and people call him the second coming the next day.

He provided little to nothing his three years here.

Now is he a nice kid? Sure, maybe he is.

But basketball wise, he was nowhere near an A10 caliber player, and I don’t believe our team will suffer at all.

No, it's not "now" he is a nice kid. Has been a nice kid all along.

ETA: Wow, every year since he was a freshman! Go you!

RAM67 wrote:

steveystuds06 wrote:

Tom98 wrote:I think this is terrible news. He was a veteran player who definitely would have seen solid minutes this year. Great character guy and had solid height at 6”8 at the 4 spot. Why did this happen so late? This was going to be his senior year. Did he already have enough credits to graduate? Wow we are really young team now. I really liked Nick and I think with more minutes he would have been a solid contributor. Very bad news.

This is a little much. Last year was his shot to really earn minutes and guys outplayed him. I don't mean to be negative but I would expect the same thing to happen this year.

Right now I would prefer Cyril, Jermaine, Tate, Preston, and Layssard over Akele. I know Layssard hasn't played but I love his upside and I see talent there.

Akele is a great kid that played very hard, but he never seemed to develop into what we needed. I wish him luck!

How could you possibly include Preston in that group?

I like Prestons game more. An athletic forward that can block shots. I'm hoping the game is slower for him this year and he learns how to stay on the floor. I thought he deserved more minutes after he showed some flashes early in the season. Both guys contributed very little last season. Give me the player that has the talent to block a shot like Preston did against Seton Hall. That was special.

I wish him luck. Quality kid about to go home and get paid, good for him.

If you don't think this hurts the team without finding a replacement you don't know shiyte about hoops.....

A high character, high energy, athletic upper classman can sit on my bench anytime.....easy player to find minutes for.

That's ok it's the internet.

Have fun out there.

Go Rhody.

No doubt Akele will be missed. I'm sure he would have contributed on and off the court for the team. Not everyone who contributes to a winning team needs to light up the stat sheet. Seemed like a hard worker, a good person and good role model. His game would have definitely improved from his Junior to Senior seasons. Sometimes that jump can really surprise you...Andre Berry for example. His experience would have helped us too. I was looking forward to seeing how his game would have developed and I am disappointed that he won't be on the team next season.

Good luck and all the best to Akele!

Go Rhody!

There goes a lot of experience on a very inexperienced team.
He knows how things go here at URI.
He helped create a championship program.
He may not have gotten much better this year but it's also possible that he start to hit his stride. He always showed flashes and hustled.
He would've been an asset in many ways.

Rhody 15's disdain for Nik is maybe worse than the Baron 2.0 tread. C'mon man.

Is he definitely leaving? The original tweet has been deleted? Who was source of original tweet?

STC wrote:Is he definitely leaving? The original tweet has been deleted? Who was source of original tweet?

It’s all over Twitter when you search for him by name.

hrstrat57 wrote:I wish him luck. Quality kid about to go home and get paid, good for him.

If you don't think this hurts the team without finding a replacement you don't know shiyte about hoops.....

A high character, high energy, athletic upper classman can sit on my bench anytime.....easy player to find minutes for.

That's ok it's the internet.

Have fun out there.

Go Rhody.

This hurts the team zero.

Rhody15 wrote:

NYGFan_Section208 wrote:It's amazing that people think it's necessary to bash a quality guy like that on the way out..

I’ve bashed him every year since he was a freshman.

Year after year he has one average game and people call him the second coming the next day.

He provided little to nothing his three years here.

Now is he a nice kid? Sure, maybe he is.

But basketball wise, he was nowhere near an A10 caliber player, and I don’t believe our team will suffer at all.

Can we keep Nikola and get rid of Rhody15? He's provided nothing of substance to this forum. Not even a nice person. Fan wise, he is just nowhere near an A10 caliber Rhody fan. I don't believe this forum will suffer.

theblueram wrote:

hrstrat57 wrote:I wish him luck. Quality kid about to go home and get paid, good for him.

If you don't think this hurts the team without finding a replacement you don't know shiyte about hoops.....

A high character, high energy, athletic upper classman can sit on my bench anytime.....easy player to find minutes for.

That's ok it's the internet.

Have fun out there.

Go Rhody.

This hurts the team zero.

That’s wrong. I’d agree that it isn’t devastating, but it’s never helpful to lose a player that would be in your rotation, even if he wasn’t going to get major minutes.

TruePoint wrote:

theblueram wrote:

hrstrat57 wrote:I wish him luck. Quality kid about to go home and get paid, good for him.

If you don't think this hurts the team without finding a replacement you don't know shiyte about hoops.....

A high character, high energy, athletic upper classman can sit on my bench anytime.....easy player to find minutes for.

That's ok it's the internet.

Have fun out there.

Go Rhody.

This hurts the team zero.

That’s wrong. I’d agree that it isn’t devastating, but it’s never helpful to lose a player that would be in your rotation, even if he wasn’t going to get major minutes.

And at the very least, he's a good yardstick to measure other guys up against in practice. It's a long season, so it's always better to have more bodies than less.

BleedBlue87 wrote:
Can we keep Nikola and get rid of Rhody15? He's provided nothing of substance to this forum. Not even a nice person. Fan wise, he is just nowhere near an A10 caliber Rhody fan. I don't believe this forum will suffer.

THIS

Akele probably would have gotten about 10 minutes a game tops

DH seemed to give him the benefit of the doubt and trusted him over a different type player than Preston

Hard to know how Cox feels about Akele

I don't think this hurts the team at all and offers opportunities to others

Go get Djery Baptiste. (Half kidding)
He graduated from Vanderbilt in three years. Two years of eligibility left.
Other than that, not sure about the quality of transfers left out there.

Any idea what type of $ players can make in a league like that? If he wasn’t going to play much here and can get same/more time playing at home then it seems like a nice move for Akele. Especially if he has or can get his degree.

It's just not that big of a deal. It would be like Tertsea or Preston or Layssard leaving. They have contributed nothing so far, and I'm not sure they are ready to take us to the NCAAT.

theblueram wrote:It's just not that big of a deal. It would be like Tertsea or Preston or Layssard leaving. They have contributed nothing so far, and I'm not sure they are ready to take us to the NCAAT.

Its not a huge deal but how can you compare Akele to 3 players that didn’t play (two that haven’t seen one minute of playing time in a meaningful part of a game)? Akele averaged 9 minutes/game last year. He was a serviceable 4 that allowed starters to get needed rest and covered when their was foul trouble up front. He did his job on defense and rebounding. He played 13 mins/game his Soph year. Ryan Preston played a total of 92 minutes mostly during mop up time.

I'm not knocking the guy. Just saying he would not take us to the NCAAT as a starter.

Rhody83 wrote:

theblueram wrote:It's just not that big of a deal. It would be like Tertsea or Preston or Layssard leaving. They have contributed nothing so far, and I'm not sure they are ready to take us to the NCAAT.

Its not a huge deal but how can you compare Akele to 3 players that didn’t play (two that haven’t seen one minute of playing time in a meaningful part of a game)? Akele averaged 9 minutes/game last year. He was a serviceable 4 that allowed starters to get needed rest and covered when their was foul trouble up front. He did his job on defense and rebounding. He played 13 mins/game his Soph year. Ryan Preston played a total of 92 minutes mostly during mop up time.

If Tertsea or Layssard had outperformed Akele in practice or in any of the measured and tracked areas in DH's system they would have seen more meaningful minutes. Its a shame to lose our only would be 4 year senior with experience with such a young team. I was excited to see him have a breakout year like Berry this year.

rhodylocal wrote:

Rhody83 wrote:

theblueram wrote:It's just not that big of a deal. It would be like Tertsea or Preston or Layssard leaving. They have contributed nothing so far, and I'm not sure they are ready to take us to the NCAAT.

Its not a huge deal but how can you compare Akele to 3 players that didn’t play (two that haven’t seen one minute of playing time in a meaningful part of a game)? Akele averaged 9 minutes/game last year. He was a serviceable 4 that allowed starters to get needed rest and covered when their was foul trouble up front. He did his job on defense and rebounding. He played 13 mins/game his Soph year. Ryan Preston played a total of 92 minutes mostly during mop up time.

If Tertsea or Layssard had outperformed Akele in practice or in any of the measured and tracked areas in DH's system they would have seen more meaningful minutes. Its a shame to lose our only would be 4 year senior with experience with such a young team. I was excited to see him have a breakout year like Berry this year.

I get it. A lot of driftwood on the bench. I'm not ok with giving minutes based on seniority. I think our freshman class coming in will take care of things.

Nikola in this video which was just posted by Chase Campbell. I am guessing this was taken in the last 7 days.

Hopefully this lights a fire under one of the other bigs. Best of luck to Akele. Now it’s time for others to step in and fill the void. I think this is a deep team. Everyone should be geared up to contribute.