Every early-entry decision made by a college player has repercussions. Ripples that flow outward from that simple “yes” or “no” to testing the NBA waters.
At Tennessee, Jarnell Stokes decided to pull back his candidacy and remain a Volunteer for his senior season. That had direct personal implications for his own development and financial prospects. It also had a positive effect on the lineup head coach Cuonzo Martin can expect to put on the floor next season.
The ripple effect reached a little farther than the obvious however. Martin had done what so many coaches feel forced to do - he oversigned. Planning ahead for the possibility of Stokes’ departure, the Volunteers head coach used up all of his scholarships. When Stokes decided not to leave, that meant someone had to go.
That someone, according to AL.com, is Travon Landry, who signed with Tennessee in 2011. Landry spent this past season as a teammate of Andrew Wiggins at Huntington Prep.He averaged two points and about three assists for Huntington, the country’s seventh-ranked team this past season.
According to the report, Landry was the casualty of what’s tantamount to a cut after Tennessee sophomore big man Jarnell Stokes decided to return to Knoxville for his senior season instead of entering the NBA Draft, leaving the team one over its allotted number of scholarship players.
Rivals.com lists him as having an offer from Vanderbilt. 247sports.com rates him as the nation’s No. 67 overall player at his position.
While it’s hard not to be overshadowed by a player like Wiggins, Landry’s lackluster senior season stats can’t have helped his case when it came time to decide which UT scholarship commitment would be sacrificed to the early-entry deadline.
Eric Angevine is the editor of Storming the Floor. He tweets @stfhoops.