Memphis Blues: Pastner "Indefinitely" Suspends Wesley Witherspoon
by Adrian Mac on Jan 13, 2011 5:15 PM MST
in UTEP Miners Basketball
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Print[Note by Adrian Mac, 01/14/11 12:12 PM CST ] Update: The Memphis Commercial Appeal's Jason Smith has the story. Apparently, Witherspoon 'mimicked' and 'mocked' a Memphis assistant after the Tigers loss to struggling SMU. Witherspoon even grabbed the microphone on the team bus and did an impression of the coach. Witherspoon was a preseason first team All-CUSA selection. Below is the original post which was published yesterday.
CBS Sports Gary Parrish is reporting that Memphis coach Josh Pastner has indefinitely suspended junior Wesley Witherspoon from the Tigers basketball squad. Witherspoon was expected to be a veteran leader on this young Memphis team, but the 6'9 guard/forward has not had the season the Tigers expected or needed from him. Witherspoon is averaging only 11.5 points per game which is actually a point off his sophomore stat line.
Memphis coach Josh Pastner has indefinitely suspended Wesley Witherspoon.
Gary Parrish
GaryParrishCBS
It's interesting to see the Twitter fallout that has come on the heels of Parrish's first tweet. While Parrish hasn't yet reported as to why WItherspoon has been suspended, he did offer one hint:
Pouted constantly and sucked at basketball consistently. RT @mikehodge14: @GaryParrishCBS What did Wesley Witherspoon do?Gary Parrish
GaryParrishCBS
Seth Davis of CNNSI chimed in with his thoughts. Well, just read it.
I expected Memphis to struggle with so many young players. But when the so-called elder leader gets suspended indefinitely, it's Code Blue.
Seth davis
SethDavisHoops
Code Blue? This morning in the Dig, I led off with Memphis news because it's obvious that the wheels are starting to fall off the wagon. Josh Pastner's second squad was filled with talent and with Witherspoon was expected to steamroll the C-USA. Now, ego's and attitudes have plagued the young and immature roster.
Hey. I'm not complaining.
While it would have been nice for the C-USA to have two teams in the Top 25 right now, and helped the league considerably to have Memphis beat Georgetown or Tennessee, watching this team unravel before our eyes is far more entertaining and interesting.
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Couldn't happen to a nicer program....
Sorry Tiger Nation, you reaped the whirl wind. “got too big for your own britches” (can’t believe I just used that saying?!). Your whole Modus Operandi for the last half decade has been one of self entitlement and condescention to everybody else in C-USA occupying your space. You’ve constantly lobbied for perceived salvation from the BE as you believe you deserve better than what this conference has to offer and now…..enjoy your HUGE FREAKING BOWL of %$#&!!!!
DITTO!!
I had really gotten tired of their superiority complex, it was old and honestly they had no legitimate reason to act that way. Honestly I think that if C-USA wants to be recognized as a solid conference we needed this. If Memphis isn’t dominating everyone then maybe we will be able to show that our teams can compete.
Wow, defnitely didn't see this coming...
but its obvious that squad is completely lost. I’m starting to believe Pastner is way over his head here. The thing that made Calipari great was he knew how to manage the top talent and get them to buy into his system. You can argue Pastner won 24 games last year, but that team was a senior laden team with Mack, Sallie and Elliot Williams.
I understand the blame shouldnt be all placed on the coach here, but IMO Memphis made the wrong hire here. I always thought they should have tried to lure Scott Drew from Baylor, but now they’re stuck. It will be interesting to see where they go from here.
Tiger blues
I don’t know if anyone here has pondered the possibility so I’ll bring it up. Is Josh Pastner really the guy to lead that team? If Memphis keeps losing I’m sure those rumors will start — if that haven’t already. The Tiger fans are, as we know around here, expecting/demanding their team to be in the upper echelon of college basketball and to dump all over C-USA. Well last season they were not and this season, with a highly touted class of recruits, they are not.
So I plant the seeds in Tigerdom: Dump your coach.
There are rumblings now for sure
He’ll get a pass for now because this team is so young, but he better end this season with some sort of momentum or the recruiting classes are going to start to drop in their depth.
Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans
There's no doubt that Pastner can recruit...
But can he maintain control over the # of blue-chippers he seems to be bringing into that program? So far the answer would appear to be no, however the jury may still be out?
Yeah- I'd say he has till the end of this season to prove that
And then we’ll see what the fall out is afterwards. Who goes pro? Barton’s gone, right? He’ll get another season but I think from our view its clear to see he’s no Calipary and their program is slipping a bit.
Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans
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