TRITONS LOSE TOP PLAYER TO OPT-OUT
Two others expected to contribute won’t take part this season
When UC San Diego finally plays a men’s basketball game, hopefully later this month, and christens its Division I era, the Tritons will be without their best player, another starter and a reserve.
Coach Eric Olen on Friday confirmed three players have opted out this season as the NCAA has allowed during the pandemic, most notably Div. II all-American guard Tyrell Roberts. Also sitting out are senior Marek Sullivan, who started 22 games last season, and DePaul transfer John Diener.
The three remain enrolled in online classes but cannot practice, participate in any inperson team activities or use athletic department facilities for the duration of the season. They will retain their eligibility, although that became moot when the NCAA decided to grant all athletes an extra year whether they play this season or not.
“It has nothing to do with their eligibility because they would get that year back anyway,” Olen said. “It was just concern over the virus, plus a lot of uncertainty around what’s happening and what’s not happening. I think those are the main things that are weighing on guys. Everyone’s got his individual situation with COVID, and they have to make the best the decision as it relates to them.
“We obviously respect that. We’re doing everything we can to keep them connected and support them.”
A bigger question is whether any of the three will return.
Roberts, who would have two years of eligibility remaining, was unavailable for comment and is not currently in the NCAA transfer portal, but there is strong speculation in the Southern California basketball community that he eventually will be.
“He’s still part of our program and our plan is for him to come back when things kind of resolve,” Olen said. “Unless that changes, we’re going to take that approach.”
As a redshirt sophomore, the 5-foot-11 Roberts averaged 19.2 points for a Tritons
team that went 30-1 before their season was ended the day before the Div. II West Regional they were hosting. He shot 46.3 percent behind a slightly shorter 3-point line, since Div. II didn’t immediately adopt the longer line that Div. I did last year, and set a single-season school record with 111 makes. He was player of the year in the CCAA conference and for the West Region.
In the CCAA tournament
semifinals against Cal State East Bay, he had 45 points after going 10 of 12 behind the arc.
Sullivan, a CCAA honorable mention selection, averaged 8.6 points and 5.9 rebounds after transferring from Palomar College. His brother Finn is a junior at USD and is not opting out.
“Marek lives with our dad, who is in his 60s,” Finn Sullivan said via text, “so he doesn’t feel comfortable risking getting him sick by playing this season. I live with my teammates near USD, so I’m OK with playing knowing
that I could get the virus.”
Diener, a redshirt sophomore, appeared in 13 games last season and was expected to have a bigger role with the graduation of four seniors.
“It’s like other times you go through a season and there are situations where guys aren’t available,” Olen said.
“You try to prepare everybody to fill those roles. Obviously, those guys are good players and big shoes to fill, but it’s more opportunity for some of the young guys to develop and get a lot of great experience.
“It will be a little trial by fire, but I think it will be better for us in the long term.”
The Tritons still have not played a game, with a schoolimposed moratorium on competition through the end of the fall quarter Dec. 18. Olen said he’s hoping to schedule two non-Div. I games in late December but is awaiting university approval of their testing protocols.
Their first scheduled game against a Div. I opponent is the Big West opener Jan. 1 at Cal Poly.