What Happens to College Stars who flame out?

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What Happens to College Stars who flame out?

Post by Pirates »

Many of you probably remember Kevin Pittsnogle college basketball player from West Virginia. He was one of the better players in the country and led the team to an elite 8 appearance in 05 and a sweet 16 appearance in 06.

He finished his career with the 6th most points in a career (1,708), the 2nd best 3-point field goal percentage in a career (41.1%), the 25th most rebounds in a career (563), the most games played in a career (128) and the ninth most games started in a career (105) in school history.

Expected to be taken in the 2006 NBA Draft, neither Pittsnogle nor his teammate, shooting guard Mike Gansey, were chosen by any teams. Although Pittsnogle was predicted in most mock drafts as being chosen in the early-to-mid second round, he went undrafted and thus became a free agent.


Where is he now?

Now, at 24, he is a middle school teacher in his hometown. He is also an unpaid assistant coach for a high school basketball team. He bowls in leagues three nights a week and occasionally plays bingo at Big Bucks Bingo. His wife, Heather, is a bank teller. They have two children and live in a double-wide trailer, and together they wonder how much appetite they have for uprooting their lives again so Pittsnogle can have one more chance at a basketball career. According to the story, his weight has ballooned to about 300 pounds, and pro teams are telling him he needs to lose weight to get back in the game.
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Post by Astros »

Yes but he also has a degree and even if he never plays pro ball again, will be able to earn a living for the rest of his life. That's more than a lot of kids that don't have to go to class, leave early and never play in the NBA can say. I still can't believe Gansey and Pittsnogle never made it in the NBA. Those West Virginia teams are my favorite non Indiana teams of all time. I watched them religously and still follow WVU because of them.

That's part of why I hate the NBA now. In the past, accomplished college players would always get drafted and at least get a chance at playing, even if only for a year. Now there's 70 kids that come out early every year and shitty players get drafted solely on basis of potential. BJ Mullens will get drafted out of Ohio State this year and most people say he's a lottery pick. He's a 7 foot freshman that doesn't start and averages like 8 points and 4 rebounds a game. I watched him against IU and if you look at the box score, he ended up with 10 or 12 points. None of that was his doing, he got wide open shots created by his teammates, and all he did was dunk. Yet players like that get drafted in the top 10 and great college players like Pittsnogle, Gansey, Chris Lofton and the like have to go play in Turkey or Bosnia to continue their careers
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Post by Giants »

Pittsnogle was never going to be athletic enough to play in the NBA. He might have a shot in a lower level European league, but that West Virginia team was a classic college basketball team, winning with execution and teamwork, rather than overwhelming athleticism. If you want to know why players like Mullins get drafted and players like Pittsnogle don't then just check out Adam Morrison, Sean May, or JJ Redick (or Tyler Hansborough circa 2009-2010). On the college level you can win with smarts, but the pros require athleticism.
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Post by Pirates »

I agree, except Morrison had a descent 1st year averaging nearly 12 a game, and then tore his ACL last year. Probably wont be good every again.
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Post by Giants »

Yeah but a good player would have averaged 20 with the role he had, there was just no one else to take the shots he was taking.
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Post by Astros »

Well that's another thing I hate about the NBA, it doesn't matter how good of a player you are, or how good your fundamentals are. If you're a freak athlete that's a horrible basketball player you can succeed in the NBA
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Post by Giants »

Not over the long haul, see Miles, Darius, Coleman, Derrick, Kemp, Shawn, or Swift, Stromile. The league got a lot less fundamental post Jordan, but since LeBron and the gang it has improved by leaps and bounds in that regard.
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