Column: NBA draft, transfers have IU reeling

I saw one writer on Twitter call it Bloody Monday.

Transfer Monday. Exodus Monday. Deuces Monday. The Maddest Monday in March. Call it whatever you want, but when the dust settled Sunday, the IU men’s basketball program was reeling from the departure of several players due to transfers and a professional opportunity.

To recap, IU lost freshman Noah Vonleh on Monday to the NBA and sophomore Jeremy Hollowell, redshirt sophomores Austin Etherington and Jonny Marlin to transfers. Other walk-ons such as Andrew Calomeris and Joe Fagan are also rumored to be on their way out.

Vonleh’s departure is obviously the most impactful. He’ll most likely be a top-10 lottery pick in the NBA draft this upcoming June.

I personally thought it would be beneficial for Vonleh to stay another year to develop and wait for this crop of great freshmen to go pro so he could go higher in next year’s draft — plus he turns 19 in August — but his decision makes complete sense.

It will be cool to see him wear an NBA uniform next season. Vonleh’s decision to make millions of dollars playing basketball didn’t come as too much as a surprise to IU fans. It was well within the realm of possibility.

Then came the transfers of Etherington and Hollowell. Both averaged more than 10 minutes a game. Etherington came back this year after tearing his ACL and provided some quality minutes.

According to a press release, Etherington will graduate this spring, after three years, so he’ll be able to play for whatever school he decides to transfer to right away.

Plus his departure means the recruiting class of 2011 — which was also my class, don’t worry guys I’m coming back for my senior season — has now completely left the program. Cody Zeller went to the NBA last year, Remy Abell transferred to Xavier and
now Etherington will leave.

Zeller’s departure was expected, but Abell and Etherington could have really helped this upcoming year.

Hollowell is more of a sad story of unfilled potential. Billed as one of the premier players of “The Movement” recruiting class of 2012, he has never become the player IU fans thought he would become.

His on-court effort has come under fire and he was benched for three games earlier this season for “focus issues.”

OK, take a deep breath IU fans. This is a lot to digest.

For IU to take a jump next year, the young core of Ferrell-Williams-Robinson-Davis will have to improve, Oladipo-style.

Incoming freshmen five-star James Blackmon and four-star Rob Johnson will help mend the levee IU basketball is currently undergoing.

It’s hard for any program to sustain success after three quality role players transfer — don’t forget about Luke Fischer — and a top-10 lottery pick leave in a single year.

But here’s the problem: IU isn’t trying to sustain success. It’s trying to take a significant step up.

This season was a disappointment in terms of fans’ expectations. Nobody was expecting a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament like last year’s bunch, but people expected this to be a tournament team.

Not only did IU not qualify for the NCAA tournament, they couldn’t even qualify for the NIT.

The development of Ferrell-Williams-Robinson-Davis, plus the additions of Blackmon and Johnson might be enough to get IU back to the same level they were this year
with the departures of Vonleh, Sheehey, Gordon, Etherington, Howard and Etherington.

But going 7-11 in the Big Ten isn’t good enough for IU fans.

IU fans will expect a bounce back year. Instead of reading about what they can do to return to greatness in March, IU fans expect to be rooting for a team that’s
dancing.   

All yesterday did was make the mountain to relevance steeper.