It obviously was not enough to keep him engaged.
He was not used enough his freshmen year. No, he did not deserve to start, but he got very little tick and the others were not exactly tearing it up in second half of year.
He clearly saw himself behind RJ and Underwood's new adopted son Goode.
Both showed some potential but both were a bust this past year.
Obviously if both had blown up like staff had hoped nobody would care too much about Podz.
Bringing in for four combo/wing guys I am sure also played into him leaving.
He wanted a major role now. Maybe they was nothing they could have done.
The basic point here is that staff missed on evaluation of him. He believed in himself and clearly when given a shot he excelled.
He is going to be in the NBA. That didn't happen by coaching at SC.
We have no idea - your entire point is based on assumptions without any evidence supporting them.
He chose to leave. He was not creaned, he made a decision for himself and his family and it turned out to be a good one. We have no idea why and speculation - especially speculation from people who already dislike our coach about how he might’ve mishandled Podz - doesn’t do anybody any good. We could’ve played him more, sure, at the risk of the conference title we won and with zero guarantee whatsoever it makes him stay. I think that would’ve been an obvious dereliction of duty from our coach, though, whose job is to win basketball games. There are going to be more guys like him, who have talent but aren't quite ready, and playing them at the risk of losing games in the hope that MAYBE they'll stay, even though playing time hasn't at all determined who transfers, is contrary to what the head coach's job is.
Like just think about what happened this year - we started a freshman PG who played much better than Podziemski did in his time here. He was outplayed by another freshman who earned the starting job, causing the first kid to transfer. Then the kid who we put in the starting lineup transferred too. It just doesn't matter how much you play a kid - just look at the top of the portal rankings for more evidence of that.
Other guys weren’t tearing it up? We won the fuckin’ league on the final play of the season, which we got to by winning 4 of our last 5 (two against ranked teams, two on the road). THAT is the cost of playing a dude who was very clearly not ready. The only conference title we've won since Deron Williams was on campus.
It makes sense that he saw himself behind those guys - he was worse than those guys here.
Why do you suspect the best offer he got as a transfer was Santa Clara? Is it Underwood’s fault? Seems to me like a kid who made a decision to play at a lower level of competition and thrived there, earning a look at the pro level. I don’t see a negative there unless I’m really determined to find one.