DeLaSalle, White part ways
Posted on March 5th, 2008 – 9:58 AMBy John Millea
DeLaSalle junior Royce White, one of the top basketball recruits in Minnesota, has been dismissed from the school for undisclosed reasons. School officials will not discuss the reasons, or even confirm that it has happened. But it has.
White might be able to gain eligibility at another Minnesota high school next season if his family physically moves. How his dismissal from DeLaSalle affects the recruiting process remains to be seen. The 6-7 forward has been offered scholarships from colleges such as Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan State and Iowa State.
45 Responses to "DeLaSalle, White part ways"
And this is a big deal because?
White is one of the key in-state players Tubby was counting on getting to come to the U in order to turn around the program. There already were questions about his eligibility and this only increases them. That’s why it is a big deal.
because he is a high profile recruit doing really stupid stuff. its entertaining
DeLaSalle is a private school. His family won’t have to move for him to be eligible to play at another school next year. he just needs to go to a public school in his own attendance area.
Because it’s another star athlete screwing up a bright future. Sad to think we are becoming desensitized to this broken record.
Because it isn’t a good thing when one of the top players in the state is kicked out of school. Do you need more of an explanation? Plus as written in the story this is probably going to affect college recruiting.
kid your an idiot. white is the top basketball recruit in the state right now. hes one of the top 20 juniors in the nation. if you dont understand highschool basketball dont post comments about it.
kid your an idiot. white is the top basketball recruit in the state right now. hes one of the top 20 juniors in the nation. if you dont understand highschool basketball dont post comments about it..
Let me clarify something: the way I understand the new transfer rules, Royce White’s family would indeed have to move out of their current public school district for him to be eligible next season. It doesn’t matter where they move to, but a move is necessary to retain eligibility. If his residence does not change, he will not be eligible anywhere. At least that’s my reading of the rules.
Please ignore me. I am a moron.
This is a big deal because De La Salle has almost 100 years of high school basketball tradition in the state.
White wasn’t the scorer he could have been, he was too timid in the low post. Not to worry, there is always a star Minneapolis player waiting to get his chance to play at De.
Is how does this effect his class status. Does he have enough credits to complete his junior year of high school? Does this transgression make him a junior next year or a senior? Summer school versus AAU tournaments?
Really a messed up situation for the young man. Just hope he is on a positive learning curve.
Sound like the new transfer rules are similar to the “No Child Left Behind” and “Three Strikes” laws–regressive and punitive.
Sounds like White would do better to move out of state and attend a high school outside the glaring judgment of Minnesota athletics.
Tough break.
It’s bad news … aside from the basketball implications. It’s sounded like he’s brought this upon himself so he has to bear the consequences for decisions he’s made. But it’s happened early enough that he has time to get himself turned around while there are still options.
Do the transfer rules apply in cases like this where the school essentially creates the transfer? I’d be surprised if the MSHSL doesn’t have some form of a variance procedure that would kick in for such a situation.
He won’t have to move if he attends the public school in his own attendance area. If he plans to go to any other school, he’d have to move.
I don’t know what happens if his family moves, that may be a loophole. I personnaly know of students who have been “dismissed” from a private school, then enrolled in their local district and have been ruled ineligible. The MSHSL league says a transfer is a transfer, regardless of the reason(s). Here’s a prediction - He “moves” in with someone in St Paul and goes to St Bernard’s…..ala Trevor Mbwake
Which school district does he currently live in?
To answer the credits question, it depends… If he’s doing ok academically, his in-progress credits would probably transfer to another school (provided they have the same/similar class). If he was failing his classes, then whether that affects his class standing depends on how many classes he’s failing, etc. It’s kind of hard to answer without knowing details of his transcript (which of course is private info).
What did he do?
One can look to Larry Fitzgerald and his situation. Fitzgerald received no credit for his freshman year at Minnehaha Academy. He attended Holy Angels for a few years, then went to a prep school in Pennsylvania (I believe) to get eligible. It worked out well for him.
Asa DeLaSalle alum, I am proud that my institution is sending a strong message about athletes. If you do something wrong, then there will be consequences. I don’t know what White did, but I have the highest respect for the administartion at DeLaSalle. This couldn’t have been an easy decision for them.
John:
In Royce’s case - since he’s lived with with Mother, grandmother and grandfather, could he just move from the place he’s currently residing (I believe his Grandmother’s), to another relatives if he does, indeed, need to transfer?
If he doesn’t need to move, what is his assigned district high school.
A Teacher’s View on this “story.”
Why even report this stuff. It is great to commend students when they achieve great successes, however, publishing this story (and currently putting it on the front homepage of the online edition) does nothing to help the student in questions. Whatever this young STUDENT-athlete did, he is most likely in need of someone to reach out to him and guide him through what might be the most difficult week of his life. Instead of helping him find his path, we publish that he made a mistake and publicly embarrass him; this is completely counter-productive.
It is fine when the newspaper reports on star ADULT athletes (not, the lack of ‘student’ before athlete). Professionals are adults, and should be able to take the heat. Student-Athletes, especially prep student-athletes should not be held to the same punishment of public humiliation when they make a mistake. They should be given a helping hand and a little guidance to help coach them back onto the right path and to a better future.
this is a non story. there are more important things in life than a high school athlete not knowing how to behave. move on people!
To Anarad;
If the transgression at De was enough to boot him, why would you think SBH would allow him to go there, much less play BB?
Trevor, as I understand it, was not dismissed from his previous school
Big difference.
Who cares. Let him screw up his life somewhere else.
Apparently a comment that this story is boring is not long enough to be posted.
The fact that this is a high school kid, who apparently did something we will never hear about becuase he is a juvenile is newsworthy. Unless he is a danger to society; murdered, raped or burlgled someone, what is the point.
He would be over a year away from playing for any college, maybe his conduct or ability to play basketball would be more newsworthy next year.
Back to original comment:
Boring.
I’m sure big Ed from St. Bernards is already working out a all tuition and expenses paid deal with Royce. If he has trouble with Grades Big Ed will enroll him in 6th grade classes aka Trevor.
I wonder what percentage of kids who get kicked out of high school end up in jail….. Now I know that correlation doesn’t equal causation, but I would think that we could label anyone who gets kicked out of high school as potential jail material. Too prejudice? Oh well.
GO GOPHERS!
This is a prep sports blog. It isn’t the author of this stories fault that this is on the homepage of the Strib. This blog discusses prep sports across the state and this is pretty big news in that area. That is why this has been posted. If this young man didn’t want the state to know that he was thrown out of school he shouldn’t have done whatever it was that got him expelled.
Education first!
Here’s the deal…he is our future…yikes!
I was at De game recently - they were playing B-SM and Tubby was there. White was not having a good first half. It looked like he was pressing and trying to impress Tubby. He was pulled early and started the second half, playing much better. Then there was a call he didn’t like and he slammed the ball so hard it bounced about 20 ft in the air. He was pulled from the game and didn’t return. Kudos to Coach Thorson for not being afraid to discipline a star.
Was this typical behavior? I don’t know. If it was, maybe it’s clue.
poor baby, went and got himself kicked out of school, young men, no baby yes.
who wants him now. just look at moss.
bad boy.
There are a lot of people expending a lot of time and energy on one adolescent basketball player. I agree with the first person who posted here and said “..and this is a big deal because?”
I wish society could take a fraction of the energy it puts into stuff like this and refocus it on something meaningful.
Rumor has it that he got caught cheating in school.
Who wants him you ask? The guy that stole Trevor from Sibley 2 years ago and stole Jet from Agnes this year, will take royce in a heartbeat. Rumor has it that he attended class at St. Bernards today. I see a major scandal out of this.
White will land somewhere. His potential in any other facit of life other than sports ability will be irrelevant to the program that obtains him. This of course assumes some form of conduct that warranted a dismissal. A lot of speculation involved to this point as to the basis for the separation. If the dismissal was more than warranted, one has to question any program’s integrity if it still is recruiting him. Scholarship money should at least come with some character and integrity. However, that discussion is down the road depending on what turns out to be fact and not rumor or gossip.
With all due respect to the teacher who posted earlier, this is clearly news.
He’s a high profile recruit. Should the Star Tribune, or this blog for that matter, simply ignore the fact that he’s no longer playing? Believe me, everyone that shows up at the next DeLaSalle game will clearly notice that he’s not on the floor. And if they hadn’t heard about it already, they’d probably ask the person next to him why he isn’t on the floor. Ignoring the issue or putting our collective heads in the sand will be of no benefit.
It’s offficial. He cheated on a test. It was the last draw for the school, he’s had behavioral and academic problems since he’s been at De. Same old same old. Props to De for showing a back bone when it comes to basketball players.
Kudos to br Michael and staff for showing that De La Salle is a school with integrity. De struggles more than most schools, few kids come from the suburbs or wealthy backgrounds, however, no one who has ever shown a desire to want to attend school there is turned away. Getting rid of this kid who probably thought he could get by on his talent alone just made it possible for someone to be able to go to the school they really want to. It will be interesting to watch for his name in the paper and what section it will show up in the years to come.
His Grandfather was one of the top BBall officials in the state and gave it up this year to watch him — I bet he is not to happy. Hopefully the young man can find away to turn it around.
I watched Royce as a freshman find his way with the ‘06 State Champs. You could see the potential. Talking with people on the inside (administration) I was surprised to find that many in the know found him to be a very “challenging” student-athlete. So, I’ve watched this year as De went Royceless at the beginning of the season, thinking he’d try to fit in a little more, but it wasn’t to be. With the academic challenges the school had no choice but to do what they did. I commend them for taking a stand to a clear prima donna who challenged all authority figures.
To De Grad: Nothing is “official.” From what I understand the school has not made any “official” statement about the dismissal.
IslanderFan
Why were they “Royceless at the beginning of the season”?
“His Grandfather was one of the top BBall officials in the state and gave it up this year to watch him — I bet he is not to happy. Hopefully the young man can find away to turn it around.”
His grandfather has not officiated in quite a few years. He was a very good official though.
