STrib: Jelly finds a new home: ex-Gophers PG Isaiah Washington transfers to Iona

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BleedGopher

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per Marcus:

Former Gophers point guard Isaiah Washington will transfer to Iona College for next season, the Star Tribune confirmed Wednesday night.

Washington, a former four-star recruit, announced he was leaving Minnesota’s program last month after he struggled to find playing time during his sophomore season.


His scoring dropped from 8.7 points as a freshman to 4.3 this year, but he also averaged career-best 2.8 assists in 16.1 minutes per game.

The former New York prep player of the year and co-founder of the “Jelly Fam” brand arrived in Minnesota from St. Raymond’s High School in the Bronx with high expectations in 2017. After having a tough time in the Big Ten living up his social media stardom and hype, he’ll be playing closer to home in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

CBSSports’ Jon Rothstein first reported Washington’s transfer Wednesday night to play for the Iona Gaels. Washington later followed with a tweet: “Go gaels…jelly home.”

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http://www.startribune.com/jelly-fi...saiah-washington-transfers-to-iona/510000452/

Go Gophers!!
 

Oof - going from Power 5 school to Iona!
 

A far cry from the B1G, but hopefully a better fit for the young man. Close to home. Four straight NCAA appearances -- although they're 1-13 in the Dance, and only have three victories against ranked opponents, the last coming in 2005.

JTG
 

Good for Jelly.

Pretty decent chance he'll get to play in another NCAA Tournament or two. Iona has played in last 4 NCAA tourneys, and 5 of the last 7.
 

Good luck IW. Iona is one of the winningest mid-majors of recent memory. I'll be cheering for you.
 


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nooram said:
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I'm sure he will get it..or maybe.... well...who the heck knows... coin flips are 50/50
signed
NCAA
 

Think this is a great spot for him. Close to home, Cluess is a pretty good coach and he can be a big fish in a small pond. I’m sure he wants to play right away but a year away to work on his fundamentals and jumper may not be the worst thing for him. Hopefully it works out for him.
 

This is nothing against Isaiah but if he gets a waiver the NCAA may as well just make everyone instantly eligible because the only hardship was that he wasn't good enough to earn regular minutes here.

I hope it works out for him at Iona but he should be required to sit for a year before being eligible.
 



MNVCGUY said:
This is nothing against Isaiah but if he gets a waiver the NCAA may as well just make everyone instantly eligible because the only hardship was that he wasn't good enough to earn regular minutes here.

I hope it works out for him at Iona but he should be required to sit for a year before being eligible.
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He has sick grandparents that live in/near NYC. So I think that is the reasoning for the hardship waiver, if he gets it.
 

MNVCGUY said:
This is nothing against Isaiah but if he gets a waiver the NCAA may as well just make everyone instantly eligible because the only hardship was that he wasn't good enough to earn regular minutes here.

I hope it works out for him at Iona but he should be required to sit for a year before being eligible.
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He'll get it, has a sick grandma and Minnesota is gonna try to help him get it.
 

I got a feeling it isn't going to work out well at Iona. I figured he would end up at a small MAAC or Northeast Conference school, but Iona is a successful team. He would fit better on a team that loses a bunch but he gets to shoot 25 times and play half-hearted defense.
 

whalenfan said:
He'll get it, has a sick grandma and Minnesota is gonna try to help him get it.
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That shows class by Pitino and the U. Unlike Pitt did for our player.


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I was hoping he would go to Annapolis so he would become Naval Jelly.
 

Good for him, I'm glad he is landing on his feet.
 

whalenfan said:
He'll get it, has a sick grandma and Minnesota is gonna try to help him get it.
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I would hope this is the case, that we are helping him get the waiver. Seems like the right thing to do considering it just wasn't a fit here or however you want to say it.
 

WoodburyTim said:
I got a feeling it isn't going to work out well at Iona. I figured he would end up at a small MAAC or Northeast Conference school, but Iona is a successful team. He would fit better on a team that loses a bunch but he gets to shoot 25 times and play half-hearted defense.
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Really have to stick the knife in?
 

Hope he lights it up there. He could have been a big locker room issue for the Gophers this year. I thought he handled the situation with class. I think Iona's getting someone that'll really help their team. Here's to you Jelly :clap:
 

Livingat45north said:
Hope he lights it up there. He could have been a big locker room issue for the Gophers this year. I thought he handled the situation with class. I think Iona's getting someone that'll really help their team. Here's to you Jelly :clap:
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I agree. There is circumstantial evidence to suggest he and Pitino had a discussion about IW staying above the fray near the middle/end of the Big Ten season and IW would be fully supported and assisted by the program in the transfer process - including maybe advocating for a hardship waiver. Washington was overtly a supportive game time bench warming teammate for the last 1/3 of the year by my read. Maybe this was no coincidence. Maybe it was a win-win engineered by RP.
 

MinnGopher said:
I would hope this is the case, that we are helping him get the waiver. Seems like the right thing to do considering it just wasn't a fit here or however you want to say it.
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If we help him great and if he gets it good for him but it really does illustrate how backwards the whole transfer system is. In the end he may have selected Iona over some other mid major due to location but his sick Grandparents have nothing to do with why he is transferring.

Does anyone really think for one minute he would be leaving if he was the starting point guard here? Allowing players to come up with a soft reason to get immediate eligibility just encourages more players to transfer. So either open it up completely or actually enforce the rules, this in-between BS just causes problems and hurt feelings when some guys get waivers and other don't.
 

GopherJake said:
I agree. There is circumstantial evidence to suggest he and Pitino had a discussion about IW staying above the fray near the middle/end of the Big Ten season and IW would be fully supported and assisted by the program in the transfer process - including maybe advocating for a hardship waiver. Washington was overtly a supportive game time bench warming teammate for the last 1/3 of the year by my read. Maybe this was no coincidence. Maybe it was a win-win engineered by RP.
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Very likely scenario.

JTG
 

Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Hopefully Jelly doesn't constantly pout at Iona.
 

MNVCGUY said:
If we help him great and if he gets it good for him but it really does illustrate how backwards the whole transfer system is. In the end he may have selected Iona over some other mid major due to location but his sick Grandparents have nothing to do with why he is transferring.

Does anyone really think for one minute he would be leaving if he was the starting point guard here? Allowing players to come up with a soft reason to get immediate eligibility just encourages more players to transfer. So either open it up completely or actually enforce the rules, this in-between BS just causes problems and hurt feelings when some guys get waivers and other don't.
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He could still leave if he was starting, just for a bigger fish like St Johns

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GopherJake said:
I agree. There is circumstantial evidence to suggest he and Pitino had a discussion about IW staying above the fray near the middle/end of the Big Ten season and IW would be fully supported and assisted by the program in the transfer process - including maybe advocating for a hardship waiver. Washington was overtly a supportive game time bench warming teammate for the last 1/3 of the year by my read. Maybe this was no coincidence. Maybe it was a win-win engineered by RP.
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It’s also possible he is a decent person and the explanation of his behavior is as simple as that.


What a world we live in that the only way a player could behave with class and as a good teammate when things don’t go his way is if things were promised to him
 


macgopher said:
Really have to stick the knife in?
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Guess I wasn't really trying to stick the knife in. From his time here it would seem that he would much rather be the focus of an offense. He had a chance to play a role on winning team here. The evidence seems to be he didn't want to pursue that. I find it unlikely that he would transfer to the MAAC to become the type of player Pitino wanted him to be.
 

Some guy said:
It’s also possible he is a decent person and the explanation of his behavior is as simple as that.


What a world we live in that the only way a player could behave with class and as a good teammate when things don’t go his way is if things were promised to him
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Why can’t it be both. Having some incentive helps keep a person from letting the anger or emotions take over.


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Wish him well. He seemed like a decent guy
 



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