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A tumultuous week ended the only way it could. With Shannon Evans leaving Buffalo and heading to Arizona where he rejoins his former coach and father figure, Bobby Hurley.
News that Evans was seeking a transfer broke on John Snyder's website WNY Big 4 Talk. News broke shortly after a tweet where the UB sophomore and Second-Team All MAC player tweeted that he felt disrespected by UB's Athletic Director, Danny White, for not meeting with him.
Later it came out that Evans only sought the meeting the morning of the tweet. As he saw White heading to a meeting the Director referred him to UB Men's Basketball Coach, Nate Oats. Oats then informed Evans he could transfer but not to a school in the Mid American Conference, Arizona State, VCU, or Old Dominion.
Without anyone being the least bit aware of this timeline people grabbed pitchforks and torches ready to storm Alumni Arena. White, getting out of a meeting and learning his hallway conversation turned into a social media event, tweeted that he would of course meet with any UB athlete who needed his time.
Later that day White and Evans met. The guard told the Buffalo News and WNY Big 4 Talk that he was still considering staying at Buffalo but wanted to see if he could find a bigger stage from which he could launch an NBA career.
Most saw the mention of Buffalo for lip service and within hours of receiving his release Evans planned trips to several schools including ASU. Last week sources close to Evans told Bull Run that "Hollywood Started Talking about ASU the second Hurley took the job".
It's clear that Buffalo was little more than a fallback plan for Evans.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>Buffalo transfer Shannon Evans has committed to Arizona State, source told <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSSports">@CBSSports</a>. Good get for Bobby Hurley. Story coming.</p>— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/591654562668281856">April 24, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Now, according to Jon Rothstein UB's starting point guard is going to try his luck in the PAC-12. Hoping that Bobby Hurley can elevate his game to the NBA. First he will have to sit out a year and hope the basketball legend does not bring in a better candidate for the job in Tempe.
On a personal note I don't mind at all that Evans wanted to leave, or that he wanted to follow Hurley. What grinds my gears is the decision to take to Twitter within minutes of not "getting the attention" of Danny White and then paying lip service to Buffalo. Those two things cement in my mind that White did nothing wrong and could not have because of the timelines and how quickly you had an ASU visit planned.
It's ok to move on with your life and even though I don't really care how things work out I don't wish you any ill. Just realize that you've left from a program where you were a star, and you demanded star treatment. At ASU, in the PAC-12, you may not have that luxury, even with Hurley at the helm.