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KAEO: Dibaji Walker
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 3:56 pm
by 69MG
ADMIN NOTE: This thread was created on 10/18, after some of the posts that will appear at the top of this thread, so it looks like this first post comes out of nowhere.
Anyway, created this one as Walker deserves his own thread. Background:
He's ours now, after transferring from Cleveland State.
https://umassathletics.com/news/2019/9/ ... oster.aspx
https://247sports.com/college/massachus ... 134432330/
Glad that KTM is still on scholarship. Now the real question, will Walker get his waiver? Can he play in the exhibition game?
Re: KAEO: Khalea Turner-Morris
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 5:09 pm
by Juice Stand
Tough break for KTM. I'm glad the athletic department worked something out for him to continue his degree. As for Dibaji Walker, the team has been using him in promos for the upcoming season:
https://twitter.com/UMassBasketball/sta ... 5595568128. I would find it odd for them to be doing that if he wasn't already cleared to play.
KAEO: Dibaji Walker
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 8:05 pm
by rsox1221
As of Friday night Walker had not received a waiver. However I was told that the coaching staff feel "very confident" that he will get one given the situation he left at Cleveland State last season. CSU was, to put it delicately, a hot mess last year and that plays in Walker's favorite regarding the potential waiver. We shall see.
Re: KAEO: Khalea Turner-Morris
Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 8:35 pm
by 69MG
^ Thanks for the update. A front court body to replace KTM will help.
Re: KAEO: Khalea Turner-Morris
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 5:53 am
by Juice Stand
Thanks rsox1221. Would you mind explaining what the criteria are for getting a waiver, and what the situation was at CSU last year that gives them confidence about Walker's waiver request?
Re: KAEO: Khalea Turner-Morris
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 8:31 am
by uz2b-len
rsox1221 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 13, 2019 8:05 pm
As of Friday night Walker had not received a waiver. However I was told that the coaching staff feel "very confident" that he will get one given the situation he left at Cleveland State last season. CSU was, to put it delicately, a hot mess last year and that plays in Walker's favorite regarding the potential waiver. We shall see.
Does anyone get granted a waiver because their program was in bad shape? Seems like there would be a hell of a lot of waivers in that case.
Re: KAEO: Khalea Turner-Morris
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 9:37 am
by rsox1221
uz2b-len wrote: ↑Mon Oct 14, 2019 8:31 am
Does anyone get granted a waiver because their program was in bad shape? Seems like there would be a hell of a lot of waivers in that case.
Juice Stand wrote: ↑Mon Oct 14, 2019 5:53 am
Thanks rsox1221. Would you mind explaining what the criteria are for getting a waiver, and what the situation was at CSU last year that gives them confidence about Walker's waiver request?
The major criteria I believe they'll be citing is the fact that CSU's coaching staff was fired in July of this year. That's quite late to make a change. There also appears to have been a good bit of turmoil at CSU over the last couple of seasons with that staff, summed up well here in this article from Cleveland.com:
https://www.cleveland.com/sports/colleg ... pluto.html
No waiver is technically guaranteed, but there is something here that gives Walker a case to go to the NCAA with so we'll see what happens. Frankly I won't be surprised at either a 'yes' or 'no' outcome to this application since unfortunately the NCAA is basically a crapshoot and UMass isn't a HM school.
Re: KAEO: Khalea Turner-Morris
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 10:25 am
by Juice Stand
Right, that's kind of what I thought. My outside view of the NCAA waiver process is that it's not a yes until they actually say yes, and as you mentioned, it seems like a bit of a crapshoot. It's interesting that you said that the coaching staff is very confident, which indicates that it hasn't been finalized, and yet he's being featured in promos for the upcoming season on the team's official social media accounts. Just interesting, that's all. I hope it works out for him, we could use some front court depth.
Re: KAEO: Khalea Turner-Morris
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 10:38 am
by Marty Peretz
This is a notably improved basketball team with Walker. He's a really, really good piece, especially for a young team. His freshman years numbers, which were decent, would be even better if you take away the 4 or 5 games his coach inexplicably played him 3 or fewer minutes and he scored 0 each time. When he got extended minutes, he was often quite good and the jump for freshman to sophomore year is often the most significant anyway. He has length, strength and smarts and knows Bergeron's defensive schemes from having played for him at Woodstock. I honestly think if he's eligible I'd up our team win total by 2 or 2.5. It's not that he'll individually take over games, but he'll be really versatile and can fit in so many different lineups. If Tre is in foul trouble and we need offense he can play a stretch four. if we want to go big and be really physical for stretches, he slots in at the three with Djery at the 5 and Tre at the 4. I expect that if he's eligible he will start at the 3 alongside Keon, Carl, Sy, and Tre with Samba, Sean East, Weeks, and Djery all solid options off the bench. Preston will allow us to comfortably go to 10 without having to rely so heavily on 4 freshman since you'll have six guys with rotational experience at the college level. I just feel like having six guys with real experience is a lot more than five if that makes sense. And given how immediately ready Tre is, that allows the other freshman to get acclimated to the college game without quite as much pressure.
Re: KAEO: Khalea Turner-Morris
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 11:15 am
by Jackson96
I guess you watched a lot more Cleveland State basketball last year than I did if you can have such strong opinions.
Re: KAEO: Khalea Turner-Morris
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 12:02 pm
by Roadtrip
The last I read on NCAA transfer rules was dated in April 2019, and looked to favor a waiver for Walker.
Re: KAEO: Khalea Turner-Morris
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 1:13 pm
by uz2b-len
I will be pleasantly surprised if Walker gets a waiver.
Re: KAEO: Khalea Turner-Morris
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:15 pm
by 69MG
I had a chance to talk to Tony B. briefly about Walker. Maybe it's because Walker played at Woodstock, but he was very high on him.
Re: KAEO: Khalea Turner-Morris
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:43 pm
by Floyd
Marty Peretz wrote: ↑Mon Oct 14, 2019 10:38 am
This is a notably improved basketball team with Walker. He's a really, really good piece, especially for a young team. His freshman years numbers, which were decent, would be even better if you take away the 4 or 5 games his coach inexplicably played him 3 or fewer minutes and he scored 0 each time. When he got extended minutes, he was often quite good and the jump for freshman to sophomore year is often the most significant anyway. He has length, strength and smarts and knows Bergeron's defensive schemes from having played for him at Woodstock. I honestly think if he's eligible I'd up our team win total by 2 or 2.5. It's not that he'll individually take over games, but he'll be really versatile and can fit in so many different lineups. If Tre is in foul trouble and we need offense he can play a stretch four. if we want to go big and be really physical for stretches, he slots in at the three with Djery at the 5 and Tre at the 4. I expect that if he's eligible he will start at the 3 alongside Keon, Carl, Sy, and Tre with Samba, Sean East, Weeks, and Djery all solid options off the bench. Preston will allow us to comfortably go to 10 without having to rely so heavily on 4 freshman since you'll have six guys with rotational experience at the college level. I just feel like having six guys with real experience is a lot more than five if that makes sense. And given how immediately ready Tre is, that allows the other freshman to get acclimated to the college game without quite as much pressure.
Hey Marty, who would you compare him to, to give a sense of what his game is like?
Re: KAEO: Khalea Turner-Morris
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:52 pm
by Slapthefloor93
In this video he reminds me a lot of Put
https://youtu.be/AJfODFtSFKs