Any insight into Matt Van Komen?

I thought that the original plan was to redshirt him, but that he was progressing and was going to see playing time. It looks like he has only played in 3 games and with 18 minutes of playing total playing time (13 of which were against Mississippi Valley State), and didn’t play last night. Is he injured? Not ready enough? Just hate to see a possible redshirt year wasted on sparse non-significant playing time.

I’ve been wondering the same thing. And my memory on basketball redshirt rules is hazy (or getting confused with football now). Isn’t it like, if you play AT ALL you’ve pulled your redshirt? Like, isn’t it already out of the question for Matt?

Because I’ve also been curious about his lack of playing time. I mean, I get it. The time I’ve seen him on the court, he’s VERY raw and still a bit of an overall liability. But you either work through that by giving more playing time, or you redshirt them if it’s a bigger project. If a redshirt is already out the window for him, I think we should put him out there more. (FWIW, I think Thoune is a similar liability. There’s quite a drop off after Carlson at our 5).

I was hoping Larry would put him in for the OT tip, but that didn’t happen.

My only guess is that they were planning on a RS year, then either he or his family said no to that plan.

Larry more or less said this was the case in an interview I heard on ESPN700. Not sure which day, but this was his response to a question about MVK. At a certain point, you can make recommendations, but if player of family are not willing, and you force it, he’s in the transfer portal.

I sincerely hope for MVK’s sake, it turns out to be a good decision.

Seems like a no-win sitch for LK.

He either RS’s a kid who doesn’t want to be RS’d and so he transfers — or he doesn’t RS the kid, the kid rides the pine, and he transfers anyway.

I hope both sides show some patience, because I think MVK could be a unique weapon eventually. For better or worse, it probably won’t happen until he’s an upperclassman. That’s how Jayce Johnson struck me. It was obvious that he needed some work, but by the time he was a Jr/Sr he’d be a valuable contributor. In spite of all of the criticism against him, that began to happen. And he’d have been a beast in the middle for us if he could have held on. Obviously it didn’t get that far. I think it’s unfortunate for all sides.

Agreed with you up to Jayce, his hands, spastic nature, and lack of coordination were always going to be a problem for him. I watched him get some min in a marquette game the other night and reaffirmed, he’s pretty much same as last year and just not where Carlson is already and below Lahat’s potential. Not sure on MVK as i have too small sample size but what little I’ve seen he appears smoother than Jayce so we’ll see.

Yes, Carlsen as a true FR is already better than JJ. If JJ had stayed he’d be sharing backup minutes with Lahat.

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Yeah, the Jayce case is a whole other topic. He definitely was not what fans hoped for or even what the coaches thought he could be, I suspect. I think there’s more there than he gets credit for, but I agree that Carlson brings more to the table out of the gate.