Tennessee Coach, Bruce Pearl, announced today that Ramar Smith and Duke Crews have been dismissed from the team.
Here is the press release.
“I am disappointed to announce that neither Duke Crews nor Ramar Smith will be a part of the 2008-09 University of Tennessee basketball program,” Pearl said. “Both were provided every opportunity to succeed here but have not met our expectations. With both Ramar and Duke, we came to the conclusion that it was in their best interest to transfer to another institution in order to continue their academic and basketball careers.”
At this point I’m not sure anybody knows why Coach Pearl decided to dismiss the two former 5 star prospects from the team, but its safe to say they haven’t been model student athletes since arriving on campus. With that said, the only thing that matters right now is that they are no longer on the team, and its time to move on without them.
Neither Duke or Ramar were guaranteed a starting spot on the roster next season. Ramar Smith looked to be competing with J.P. Prince, who shockingly moved to the point guard position in the NCAA tournament. However, now that Ramar is no longer a factor, Prince looks like he will be the starting point guard next year, that is unless Daniel West, an incoming 3 star freshman, doesn’t take his spot. Plus, now that Pearl has two more scholarships to use, he might be looking to sign another point guard in this class. However, I think most people expect Prince to be the leader in the clubhouse, which means that Cameron Tatum and Scotty Hopson will get their chance to shine early and often, now that they don’t have to compete with Prince at the two and three spots.
The most memorable play in Ramar Smith’s career.
As for Duke Crews, he looked to be the odd man out with the emergence of Brian Williams, and the continued development of Wayne Chism. Pearl has recently said that he expects Williams to be a starter this upcoming season, and if he continues to get stronger in the weight room he could be a big part of this team’s success. Also with Duke Crews no longer on the bench, incoming freshmen Renaldo Woolridge and Phillip Jurick should get a chance to show what they can do to help this team next season.
Woolridge just got a boost in playing time. The big time prospect is not only taller than Duke Crews, he can also drive the lane and shoot from the outside.
Duke Crews and Ramar Smith obviously weren’t very dedicated to the program, and their play is evidence of that as they haven’t improved very much since they arrived on campus. Every program is going to hit a bump in the road, but I don’t think this is one that will cripple this team from reaching their goal of becoming an elite basketball program. We may struggle early on in the season because of the inexperience at multiple positions, but this team has the talent to do anything they want.
If Coach Pearl thinks our team is better off without Ramar and Duke then thats a good enough reason for me. Ramar Smith and Duke Crews have a lot of talent and its sad to see that talent go somewhere else, but as Chris Lofton proved throughout his college career, it takes more than talent to become great.
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I found out about this from Mom around 9 a.m. today and came straight here to corroborate (hey, it’s not that I didn’t believe my own Mom, but the KN-S didn’t have it visibly on the front of their web version). That said, I think VttW is right about making it past the inexperience to success later on in the season. And he’s dead-on about Coach Pearl - if he’s fine with them gone, so am I. I’d rather not sweat the loss and instead focus on the upcoming season.
All I have to say is good riddance on Ramar, who never really lived up to expectations, faded down the stretch of important games and never hit a clutch free throw.
As for Duke, yuck. We were better with him on the court last season. It’s going to be tough to replace. I’ll have a reax up shortly.
Drugs are bad, mmkay?
I know you guys won’t miss Ramar’s bone-headed drives and turnovers that suck momentum out of UT runs. It seemed like every time I watched a UT game he would kill a run by turning the ball over or trying to drive against 4 people or something like that.
I’m with you Ghost, see’ya “Raymar”, as the national press referred to him. Duke was a nice presence in the post this past season and I disagree with VttW about him not progressing in the system. In a half of a sophomore season (with a heart problem), he’d improved loads from his freshman year. His energy will be missed, but lets get serious, he’s definitely replaceable.
Besides, the almighty Bruce has spoken and that’s good enough for this VOLS FAN!!!