By Mark Bennett
It's one first that Indiana State basketball
coach Royce Waltman hoped to avoid.
The decision by sophomore guard Barry Welsh
to transfer from ISU to a yet undecided destination marked the
first time in Waltman's 14-year college coaching career that
a player he'd awarded a scholarship chose to leave his program
for another school.
Welsh made his decision official Friday, Waltman
said.
"He's a kid who's worked very hard, and
could have been a better player than he had the opportunity to
show," Waltman said of the 6-foot, 170-pound Welsh.
Welsh played 18 minutes in last Saturday's
57-51 double-overtime exhibition loss to Indianapolis in a reserve
role. Last season as a freshman, Welsh played in 25 games, backing
up veteran Michael Menser at point guard. He averaged 5.1 minutes,
0.8 points and 0.4 rebounds per game last season.
With Welsh out of the point guard mix this
season, the ball-handling duties could fall to first-year Sycamores,
either freshman Lamar Grimes of Chicago or junior-college transfer
Batiste Haywood, a walk-on player from Hammond.
"That moves Lamar up a notch and Batiste
up a notch," Waltman said.
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| Tribune-Star/Joseph
C. Garza |
| Gone: ISU sophomore guard
Barry Welsh is the first player to leave a Royce Waltman-coached
team. |
Last season began rough for Welsh, battling mononucleosis
at the outset, and then trying to regain strength. In an interview
earlier this season, the former Abingdon (Ill.) High School star
also said playing in Menser's shadow wasn't easy either.
"I had Menser to follow up. He did so
many things well," Welsh said. "It was overwhelming."
Welsh could not be reached Friday for comment.
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