Navy Loses Basketball Standout Stanton

[ADLER]

Navy loses basketball standout

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Stanton, 6-foot-10 forward, to transfer

By BILL WAGNER, Staff Writer

Navy men's basketball coach Billy Lange thought he had a major building block for the future in forward Trey Stanton.

Stanton enjoyed a tremendous freshman season, ranking among the team leaders in numerous categories and earning Patriot League All-Rookie honors.

Unfortunately for Lange and Navy, Stanton has decided to continue his promising career elsewhere. The 6-foot-10 Texas native called Lange last week to inform the third-year head coach that he intended to transfer.

Contacted yesterday at his home in Friendswood, Texas, Stanton said he simply could not follow through on the post-graduate service commitment.

"I don't have anything bad to say about the basketball program. I loved the coaching staff, I loved the players. I enjoyed my basketball experience at the Naval Academy," Stanton said. "It's just that I realized during the past year that the military wasn't for me. I couldn't see myself as a Naval officer for five years."

Stanton was the most the most highly-touted member of Navy's 2006 recruiting class after averaging 16.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.1 blocks as a senior at Friendswood High. He chose the academy over Air Force, Rice, San Diego and Texas A&M.

Because he was a 6-foot-3 guard as a high school sophomore, Stanton had outstanding ball skills and perimeter shooting ability for a big man. He possessed an accurate jump shot to 3-point range and could also put the ball on the floor and drive to the basket.

As a plebe, Stanton started 29 of 30 games and averaged 28.4 minutes. He ranked third on the team in scoring (8.0 points per game) and second in rebounding (3.9 average). He led the Midshipmen with 24 blocked shots, the most by a freshman since David Robinson smacked 37 in 1984.

"It's tough to lose a player of Trey's ability, but there's not much a coach can do if a kid does not desire to be at the Naval Academy," Lange said. "We do all we can to support our student-athletes, but the demands and pressures of the academy can be overwhelming to some young men."

Stanton burst onto the scene in impressive fashion, scoring 17 points in his first career game against Loyola. He scored in double figures in eight of Navy's initial 10 games before suffering somewhat of a mid-season slump. He bounced back later in the season and drained four 3-pointers in scoring 15 points to go along with four blocks against archrival Army in the Star game.

Gonazaga, Texas Tech, Southern Methodist, San Diego and Evansville have all expressed interest in offering a scholarship to Stanton, who said he was well aware of what he was getting into when he enrolled at the Naval Academy.

"Coach Lange did a good job of explaining what the academy was all about and the challenges I would face," Stanton said. "I wanted a great education and I was real excited about the engineering program at Navy. I had my concerns about the military side of things, but figured I would give it a year and see if I would grow into it."

Stanton is not the only basketball player who has left the academy since the school year ended. Bobby Fenske, a 6-foot-8 forward from Carrollton, Texas, has also announced he will transfer.

Fenske appeared in 26 games with 10 starts and averaged 8.5 minutes. The Trinity Christian Academy product averaged just 1.5 points and 1.1 rebounds.

While Lange was not happy about the departure of another skilled frontcourt player in Fenske, clearly the loss of Stanton stings the most since he was slated to start in 2007-2008. Now the pressure falls to rising sophomore T.J. Topercer to fill the void in the pivot while classmate Scott Brooks must step up and become a contributor on the perimeter.

Navy also has a pair of promising recruits who could join the front-court rotation in 6-foot-9, 230-pound Jeremy Wilson and 6-foot-10, 220-pound Mark Veazey.

"I am confident we will be able to plug guys in who will get the job done. We lose a very skilled big man, but we are adding two traditional post players. We just may be a little different in terms of makeup," Lange said.

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This may be a recruit worthy of that last unused 2007 scholarship.

[GreenBat]

This may be a recruit worthy of that last unused 2007 scholarship.

In a heartbeat, but I expect him to end up Rice, San Diego or Texas A&M.

[KRAM1]

This kid can play...can we at least give him a call????? Let's not "think small" and think we shouldn't even try...UNT MUST start thinking like a winner and go after kids like this...Johnny...pick up the phone and make the offer!

[Censored by Laurie]

If JJ assesses that this kid is better than any of the other high school, JUCO or D-1 players that he and the staff are looking at...then he has already picked up the phone and started communicating. I can't stand the mentality on here that as soon as a player leaves a program or is bigger than 6'7" we need to immediatly sign him. JJ's pulled a very nice class so far...have a little faith he knows what he's doing.

[UNT_92_Fan]

Thinkin like that is too logical Jesse.... Its a proven fact that every scholarship athlete that leaves a major program is REQUIRED to come to UNT...

[KRAM1]

Until we get to the point where we look at these kids, and get them to sign, BEFORE they head off to other D-1 schools, then we will continue to need to pick up quality transfers where we can. I think JJ's last season helps a ton in that we have something to show kids we are recruiting that UNT CAN and DOES win...but, how long has it been????? And, let's see us go back to back in the Sunbelt...win the conference crown as well as the tournament...I think we CAN, and I think JJ is on the way...BUT...we are not there yet. In fact, we are just now beginning to even think we should be getting this quality of palyer on the "front end"....keep thinking BIG, keep playing well, and we won't have to take transfers...until then...CALL THEM...CALL ALL THE QUALITY ONES...and I mean quality on and off the court. We do not need any head cases or "legally challenged"...GO JJ!!!!

[Censored by Laurie]

Until we get to the point where we look at these kids, and get them to sign, BEFORE they head off to other D-1 schools, then we will continue to need to pick up quality transfers where we can. I think JJ's last season helps a ton in that we have something to show kids we are recruiting that UNT CAN and DOES win...but, how long has it been????? And, let's see us go back to back in the Sunbelt...win the conference crown as well as the tournament...I think we CAN, and I think JJ is on the way...BUT...we are not there yet. In fact, we are just now beginning to even think we should be getting this quality of palyer on the "front end"....keep thinking BIG, keep playing well, and we won't have to take transfers...until then...CALL THEM...CALL ALL THE QUALITY ONES...and I mean quality on and off the court. We do not need any head cases or "legally challenged"...GO JJ!!!!

I agree entirly...I'm very keen on adding D-1 transfers...it has been a successful philosophy for UNT and many other SBC schools, especially South Alabama. Stanton atleast on the surface appears to be a talented player...however lets take a bit deeper look at his statistics: 38% FG percentage his awful for a post. 8.0 ppg was good for third on a Navy team that went 4-10 in the Patriot League, 14-16 overall. Holy Cross and Bucknell are the class of the Patriot; in two games against HC, Stanton went a combined 2-14 from the field scoring a total of 4 points; against Bucknell he was 6-18 for a combined 14. He finished with 8 games in double figures, season high in his first game with 17 against Loyola-Maryland. His highest rebounding output was 8 (twice). He took 106 3pt shot attempts (3rd on the team) and hit 37. (35%) (and I'm not sure what kind of system Navy ran but man they jacked up a lot of 3's last year; 260-726 36%)

All in all he had a solid season for a freshman, but in a confernece that is no where near as deep top to bottom as the SBC. He disappeared against better opponents...and a 3.9 rebounding average for a 6'10" player is rather paltry.

My point is that not every player who leaves a D-1 program needs to automatically be offered...called and brought in for a workout, perhaps. I like the post with an outside game in general...but not if hes going to shoot 35%. We may not have looked at this kid out of H.S. b/c we weren't interested and he didn't fit the system JJ is going with...the closest thing in my UNT fandom to a post with an outside game was Michael DeGrate...or if you want to call Mike Jones a post...and if you want to call his tosses towards the hoop an outside game. Its not a role that seems vital to JJ's system.