Sports Extra - Blogs - Good news bad news kind of week for TUs Danny Manning

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Good news, bad news kind of week for TU's Danny Manning
Published: 5/9/2012 1:03 PM
Last Modified: 5/9/2012 1:03 PM

It's been a good news, bad news kind of week for new Tulsa men's basketball coach Danny Manning.

The news Monday obviously wasn't good, as Eric Bailey reported about the transfers of Tulsa guards Jordan Clarkson and Eric McClellan. (Read Bailey's story here).

Clarkson's decision to play for Missouri was the final chapter in a saga that began the day former coach Doug Wojcik was fired. And it's a story that generated negative national attention when Tulsa blocked some of the schools on Clarkson's transfer list.

Given the fact Clarkson's family started talking transfer the day Wojcik was fired, it's likely no new coach could have kept him in the fold. Clarkson, it seems, saw the chance to be a star at a big program and took this opening to make it happen.

Although McClellan's transfer was less talked about, it's also extremely damaging to next year's prospects. The guard from Austin made 16 starts in 2011-12 and was the team's fourth-leading scorer at 8.5 points per game.

If you're scoring at home, Tulsa's current roster of 13 players includes nine freshmen or sophomores. And the status of junior Kodi Maduka, who spent almost a week in the hospital after collapsing during a pick-up game April 4, is uncertain.

Without Clarkson, McClellan or Maduka on next season's roster, the Golden Hurricane would have just three upperclassmen and be without 73 percent of its scoring from 2011-12.

That has all the makings of a serious rebuilding season.

But not all the news for Manning has been bad. Tulsa is expected to announce a staff role for school all-time leading scorer Shea Seals on Wednesday afternoon. (Read Bailey's story here).

Seal's state high school connections and his link to Tulsa's past definitely can't hurt.

Too bad he doesn't have any eligibility left.

Reader Comments

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TCH51 (9 months ago)

Tough break for Coach Manning. Positive side of it is he gets to bring in his type of player earlier. Go Blue and Gold!

Tulsabills (9 months ago)

Coach Manning has done a great job starting out under very adverse circumstances. It was obvious from the beginning that Clarkson had his mind made up to transfer. There were rumors of him transferring in January. Manning walked in to a situation where his team leader was on his way out & trying to take as many guys with him as possible. Then Maduka's health scare hours after Manning's press conference.

Hopefully the sour attitude of Wojcik & his former star are completely gone from the program & Coach Manning can make a fresh start.

Next season sure doesn't look pretty but you never know. I do know I am buying season tickets again after taking the last couple Wojcik years off & will be excited to see a new coach for TU basketball !

Tulsa World Sports Editor Michael Peters (9 months ago)

Tulsabills, I don't think you're alone in buying back your season tickets.

But those fans who do return to the fold are going to have to be patient.

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The Editor's Desk

Tulsa World Sports Editor Michael Peters has nearly 20 years of daily newspaper experience. A 1993 graduate of Texas A&M, he worked at papers in Bryan-College Station, Texas, Beaumont, Texas, and Galveston, Texas, before joining the Houston Chronicle as High School Sports Editor in 2008. While in Houston, he coordinated coverage of the 2008 Texas Class 5A state football championships and the 2011 NCAA Men's Final Four.

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