From the official press release:
Morrison decided to leave the team for personal reasons after struggling with Graves Disease during the last six months. The junior forward indicated that he felt he wasn't making the progress he wanted to and has returned home in an effort to get healthy.
"We're disappointed that Ty has decided to leave the team," said Altman. "We wish him all the best. It's been a struggle for him to play up to his expectations."
A 6-7 Phoenix, Ariz. native was in his first year with the Bluejays after transferring in from Redlands Community College. He was averaging 2.0 points and 1.8 rebounds while playing in all 10 games off the bench to date.
Morrison had been the prize of this year's recruiting class, picking CU over Arizona, Gonzaga, and others. His defection leaves Creighton with Anthony Tolliver, Dane Watts, and not much else in terms of frontcourt depth.
In October, when the World-Herald ran an article on its front page quoting Morrison as wanting to redshirt -- almost whining about his predicament -- and Altman's reaction telling Morrison "no, you're not redshirting", I wondered if there wasn't some tension developing there. Now, two months later, he's going home.
There are a number of interesting angles here. As a junior this year already, if he were to transfer somewhere else, he has just one year of eligibility. Who is going to recruit a guy that has now departed not just one but two schools after what appears, from the outside at least, to be disagreements with coaches? His collegiate career is basically over. And his skills are nowhere near those necessary to have a pro career -- and health concerns with his Graves Disease probably scare off anyone thinking about taking a chance based on raw talent.
I heard someone at the game today call him "Thyroid Morrison", and say "if he doesn't want to be here, then good riddance! We don't need him!" Snide remarks aside, the statistics bear that out.
Its not difficult to replace 2 points and 1.8 rebounds a game. It hurts us next year, when his health would hopefully have allowed him to be the athletic power forward that had drawn the attention of all those "big name" schools. But in terms of immediate effect, it means Manny Gakou gets more minutes. So maybe that is more of a concern than I thought...
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