Sophomore Guard, Je’lon Hornbeak, To Transfer
Posted on: April 15, 2014
Image via Fox Sports
The rumors of a possible Je’lon Hornbeak transfer had been circulating the interwebs for a week or two, and on Tuesday afternoon Oklahoma confirmed them. The school put out a release expressing the sophomore’s guard intention to transfer.
The reasons behind the decision seem to be fairly obvious after Hornbeak spent the majority of this past season as a reserve after starting 29 games the year prior as a true freshman. With Oklahoma’s entire backcourt returning this season, the odds did not appear to be in Hornbeak’s favor of regaining a spot in the Sooners starting lineup. However, according to the Tulsa World’s Guerin Emig there seemed to be some level of indecision on Hornbeak’s part.
Hornbeak was working out with the #Sooners recently as last Fri. They thought he had decided to stay, despite frustration. It's a setback.
— Guerin Emig (@GuerinEmig) April 15, 2014
With the loss of Hornbeak, head coach Lon Kruger indicated that he and his staff will use the late signing period, which starts this Wednesday, to try and add to their current three member 2014 class.
“We learned about this decision this morning, and even though it’s late in the recruiting game we’ll try to add a player at his position,” said Kruger.
“We have an outstanding group returning next season and several talented new players coming in. We’re excited to start the process of building on the success we’ve experienced the last two years.” – Sooner Sports
It should come as little surprise given Lon Kruger’s well-earned reputation that, based on the statement released by Oklahoma, the split seems to be an amicable one.
“I met with Coach Kruger and he was understanding of my desire for a fresh start,” said the 6-4, 184-pound Hornbeak. “I appreciate (assistant) Coach (Lew) Hill recruiting me, and all my teammates. That bond is strong. All the coaches are trying to help me get to wherever I want to go. I’m thankful for that. Everyone has been good to me.”
Hornbeak, who indicated he will go through the recruiting process again, said he’ll look back at his time at OU fondly.
“The last two years I had two sets of great teammates,” said Hornbeak. “We really set the bar for the incoming freshmen (next year). Now it’s their job to keep raising that bar.
“I know the team is going to do well next year. We’ve already got a little preseason ranking, and I’m happy that we were able to achieve this for the program and the school. I wish everyone good luck going forward. I’ll be watching and cheering them on.” – Sooner Sports
It’s always disappointing when a player chooses to leave the program, but if the player isn’t happy then it’s usually best for both parties to part ways. Hopefully Hornbeak will find success wherever he eventually lands.
11 Comments
I wish him well.
Dang, that sucks. Wish him luck wherever he goes.
His time on the bench increased with the Woodard addition. I guess he didn’t see himself getting any more minutes in the next year.
As a student I was interested & we’d go to games, but now I can’t get into it. It’s so boring to watch. Don’t know about you guys but I’ve reached a stage where its football or we’re just gonna watch this series on tonight or a movie. Give me Joffrey getting killed over anything but OU football.
Did a double take on the “try to add to their current 3 member 2014 class” So used to hearing the football recruiting numbers. Was curious how you guys feel about watching it now, though don’t think I’m gonna find out due to the number of comments being the same size as the recruiting class
It really is all about the numbers in basketball recruiting. Football coaches have to be concerned about building depth around 22 starters. On the hardwood, that number is five. And when your basketball team has a graduating class of two and the loaded back court that OU has, three talented big men is all you need to start playing as well as the football team.
OU basketball was boring under Sampson. It improved for a brief period under Capel before it went to the crapper. Coach Kruger coaches a more exciting brand of basketball to watch. WE had great momentum as a program under Billy Tubbs, but Kelvin Sampson was the antithesis to that. He was a jerk, his basketball style was dull as could be (seriously, does anyone really miss that 8-straight-minutes-without-scoring in every single game?), and he cheated on top of that. I think this year we will see an even better OU basketball team than we saw last year as Kruger’s bringing in better talent.
I really thought he played his role well last year and his minutes would increase going into next year. Very disappointing. I do wish him well. He seemed like a good kid and teammate.
I agree. He might have been a backup heading into this season, but he’d have been a very valuable one that, IMO, would have seen plenty of minutes.
They now don’t have a backup point, which is obviously a problem.
Hate to lose the kid, he was developing into a nice role player. No point in being somewhere you aren’t happy though. I just wish he would have made his decision a little sooner, so Lon could have planned accordingly.
Je’lon was probably never going to start, but I think his role would have increased in the next couple of years. Oh well…best of luck to the kid.
Saw this coming a while back. At the end of last year, I honestly thought it would be Cousins that would leave, but Hornbeak was better suited to backup the pg spot, and that, coupled with his injury, sent him to the bench. The kid was recruited to probably be our starter at sg. He was looking at spending his soph/jr/sr years as our backup pg. Can’t really blame the kid.
Good, luck Je’lon.