Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Wear twins now Bruins

Former North Carolina forwards David and Travis Wear have signed written offers of financial aid at UCLA and will attend the school this coming year, Bruins coach Ben Howland announced today.

As per NCAA transfer rules, the sophomores will have to sit out a season.

"I am absolutely ecstatic about Dave and Travis joining our program," Howland said in a prepared statement released by the school. "Both are outstanding players. They are highly-skilled good athletes who are hard workers and extremely motivated to be at their best. They are constantly working hard on their overall game."

The 6-feet-10, 230 pound twins surprised everyone -- including UNC coach Roy Williams -- earlier this month when their father called Williams to request their release.

Last season, David Wear averaged 4 points and 1.7 rebounds in 27 games before having hip surgery that ended his season prematurely; he is not expected to be able to return to the court until June. Travis Wear averaged 3.5 points and 2.2 rebounds. Both were McDonalds All-Americans, and were expected to earn ample playing time next season behind probable starters Tyler Zeller and John Henson.

Their sudden departure left the Tar Heels thin in the post, although Alabama transfer Justin Knox committed to UNC on Monday, helping the depth issue.

The twins' father, Dave, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram that there was plenty of interest in his sons after they gained their release from Carolina.

"Some very high-profile schools reached out to us,'' he told the paper. "Some were willing to recruit one, the other or both of them. But the boys were adamant that they wanted to stay together."

He told the paper that whatever school they chose, it was going to be on the west coast (where their family lives): "The boys and their mother had no intention of going outside of this time zone."

-- Robbi Pickeral

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Funny how the west coast media is really ripping the tarheels for letting these 2 go.I know they were big mater dei studs,and ucla was on their short list to begin with,but the fact they left unc after 1 season says a whole lot about the current unc program.We will see.....either roy has a few more years as bottom feeders coming,or the wear twins will forever regret leaving.This tells me the local observer knows nothing,but something smells rotten in the tarhole apple basket.

Unknown said...

haha - Anonymous, you haters are hilarious!! so really what does the twins leaving EXACTLY say about the UNC program? If you are in the know, you should alert the world to the details!

Anonymous said...

He told the paper that whatever school they chose, it was going to be on the west coast (where their family lives): "The boys and their mother had no intention of going outside of this time zone."

- sounds like the boys just wanted to be closer to mommy. Nothing wrong with that, but hardly says anything about the UNC program. The twins looked like nothing more than role players this season...guess the whole team did. Ready for some remption next season.

Anonymous said...

Roy is counting on a benchwarmer from Alabama to rescue his program. Yep. There is nothing wrong in Chapel Hill...

GK said...

I'm a Duke fan through and through, but a couple of these comments are ridiculous. It says nothing of the state of UNC's program because the Wear twins transferred. Only they *really* know why wanted to leave, but given that most articles have indicated that they only entertained offers from schools on the West Coast, it seems they wanted to be closer to home.

Furthermore, I don't think anybody is considering the transfer from Alabama to be "rescuing" Carolina's program. He's simply coming on board to give them some added depth in the post. He very well may not even start at UNC.

Anonymous said...

GK said...
Furthermore, I don't think anybody is considering the transfer from Alabama to be "rescuing" Carolina's program. He's simply coming on board to give them some added depth in the post. He very well may not even start at UNC.
=======================
Added depth? the bail out of Davis-Wear 1& 2 left the Holes front court DECIMATED at the power positions..... after "Bean" Henson and "Walking Cast" Zeller......the front court in TAR HOLES land....has ZERO depth at the C and PF positions. The Softest team in D1 America....

As for the Wears...LALA Land....the culture of a big time city...the beach, the weather, beautiful Westwood, beautiful Bruin campus, and most of all, Beautiful Bruin Babes....

http://sportscasualties.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/brianna-ucla_05.jpg



And now they can watch the dysfunctional TAR HOLES program stay in the ACC OUThouse another year... while they have fun in the sun.

Life's a BEACH for the WEARS and jealousy and DENIAL never ends in TAR HOLE land... !!!

GK said...

Well, if your depth is "0" and you add a guy, that makes your depth "1" right? That's a bit of added depth, eh? :)

Like I said, this guy isn't going to rescue their season by any stretch of the imagination, he'll just be a big guy they can put in the game to give Zeller or Henson a blow, or fill in for them when they invariably get injured. The Heels frontcourt will certainly be lacking again this year, but even if they kept the Wears, it really wouldn't have been that much better.

Jake Klein said...

Old post but funny to look back on. UNC has the deepest front court in the country and is a legitimate title contender. UCLA is one step away from throwing all their scumbag players in jail.

Good call, Wear's!