Don Verlin is thinking longterm

Idaho is going to suffer a short-term negative on-court effect with the following decisions but a new coach can and needs to look beyond tomorrow. Don Verlin will be given the time to develop an actual men's basketball program in Moscow and obviously felt the players on his team needed to be going in a certain direction. Jordan Brooks and Mike Hall apparently felt differently. Guess who won?

This may or may not mean anything but when Idaho played at San Jose State on January 24, Jordan Brooks refused to heed repeated calls by an assistant coach to join the team huddle. We obviously don't know what that incident was about but it's not difficult to connect the dots vis-a-vis the display of such an attitude and Brooks' dismissal from the team.

(we posted the entire article because the Moscow-Pullman Daily News requires a subscription to read -- uh oh, who's that knocking at our door flashing that badge...)

Brooks, Hall won't return to UI hoops program
Standouts were Vandals' first- and third- leading scorers last season
Aaron Wasser
Moscow Pullman Daily News
May 29, 2008

Idaho men's basketball standouts Jordan Brooks and Mike Hall will not return for their senior seasons, first-year Vandals coach Don Verlin told the Daily News this morning.

Verlin wasn't specific as to why his first and third-leading scorers from a season ago won't be back for the 2008-09 campaign, only saying that no player was above the rules.

"There're rules in this program that our staff and our players will uphold and Mr. Brooks and Mr. Hall didn't do that," the former Utah State assistant coach said. "There's rules no matter who you are."

Brooks and Hall will be greatly missed on a team that went just 8-21 during the 2007-08 season and 5-11 in Western Athletic Conference play.

Brooks, a 6-foot-3 forward from Houston, Texas, led the Vandals in many offensive categories, including points (12.4 ppg), rebounds (6.2 rpg), steals (48) and assists (132) in a season that saw him become UI's first player to earn all-conference honors since 2004-05.

Hall, a 6-foot guard from Troy, Ohio, averaged 9.6 points per game as the team's third-leading scorer. Hall's forte, however, came at the 3-point line. His 64 made 3s led the team and his nine in a Jan. 24 game against San Jose State set a new Idaho school record.

Verlin said earlier this month that oft-injured post Mike Kale also will not return for his final season of eligibility.

The good news for the Vandals is that all three players will leave the university eligible and if Brooks and Hall land at a four-year university after sitting out a season it won't affect UI's APR score. Kale is not expected to transfer, but will seek out a professional career overseas.

Idaho's scholarship total is now at 12, leaving Verlin one scholarship left under the NCAA limit of 13. He has already added four players since arriving in Moscow in March, and he said he isn't sure what he'll do with the remaining scholarship.