GREEN BAY – A lot is expected from Leon Ayers heading into his first season with the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball team.
Those expectations have been put on hold after Ayers announced Saturday he is entering the NCAA transfer portal. There still is a chance he will play at UWGB, but after the school fired Linc Darner last week, he wants to explore his options.
He is the third player to enter the portal since the firing, joining senior guard Josh Jefferson and senior forward Tank Hemphill.
“I’m at the point now, I’m not counting Green Bay out at all,” Ayers said. “I’m still interested in going to the school, but I just want to let them figure out what they need to figure out. I was just feeling uncertain with everything.
“The coaching change, the longer I thought about it, the more I felt uncomfortable with it. I know Green Bay wants to succeed and have the best program, so they are going to look for a really good coach. But I only have two years of eligibility to play college basketball, so I just want to make the best decision possible for myself.”
The 6-foot-5 guard has spent his first two seasons at Henry Ford College in Michigan. He was a National Junior College Athletic Association Division II All-American as a sophomore in 2019-20, averaging 21.7 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3 assists.
He has the chance to play a big role for the Phoenix as a junior. Darner was excited by Ayers’ scoring ability and said he felt he was one of the best shooters in junior college.
Ayers visited Green Bay in October and committed to the school a short time later. He also had another DI offer from Alcorn State and about 10 offers from DII programs.
Out of nowhere, the coach he committed to was dismissed.
“It was really tough, and it was just really hard to understand what happened,” Ayers said. “I know Coach Darner was signed through 2026, so it was just really a shock to me when I got that phone call from him and him telling me that he got released.
“The longer all this stuff plays out, it just makes me feel uncomfortable. I’m really a quiet and comfortable guy, and I want to know the situation I’m in is comfortable and that I have a plan coming in before I commit there. It was just very random, and it just made me uncertain about certain things.”
On the day he learned Darner had been fired, Ayers still planned to come to Green Bay next month and play for the team.
But he had a chance to process the reality of the situation in the days that followed and decided to perhaps look elsewhere, even though his situation is made more complicated by how late it is in the offseason.
“Yeah, me and my coach (Chris Shepard) definitely talked about that,” Ayers said. “He explained how big of a risk it was. Getting a release this late, he definitely told me about all the risks and how I might not find a Division I school, and I might have to play at a lower level.
“I’m really open to look for the best fit possible for me to go in and have a successful career. All the Division I and Division II stuff, it’s still basketball. I’ll still be playing the game I love, so I’m just really looking for a good program to go into and somewhere where I can play.”
Sources said UWGB hopes to hire a new coach by June 12, but timelines never are certain.
If the school hires a coach before Ayers finds another home, and if he feels everything is settled and good, he will be back.
“I’m just not sure who is going to be coming in and the head coach I’m going to be playing for,” Ayers said. “It’s a lot of things that go into this decision, but my family and I, we just talked about it. We know it’s high risk me taking it this late in the process, but I’m just hoping everything will work out.”
"enter" - Google News
May 24, 2020 at 03:49AM
https://ift.tt/3ederv1
Leon Ayers becomes third UWGB player to enter transfer portal - Green Bay Press Gazette
"enter" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2TwxTMf
https://ift.tt/3d6LMHD
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Leon Ayers becomes third UWGB player to enter transfer portal - Green Bay Press Gazette"
Post a Comment