Jake Anderson leaves the basketball program...more to follow?

per HuskieWire

Cue the stock quote by Patton:

"We would like to thank Jake for his contributions to the NIU basketball program, and congratulate him on earning his degree from NIU," NIU coach Ricardo Patton said in a news release.  "We wish him nothing but the best of luck in his future endeavors."

I too am happy that junior guard Darion "Jake" Anderson managed to graduate with a degree in communications.  He had a lot of trouble qualifying academically for NIU, but was able to redshirt his freshman year and become eligible in 2007.

Why?  We're not going to get any specific reasons for this happening from the Patton camp, so let's speculate.

It's really a lot more simple than you might think.  I suspect he's been here for 4 years already and just wants to move on with everything.  He's older than me (he'll be 23 April 8th) and I graduated last year.

Last year he decided to declare himself for the NBA draft on some crazy whim and then pulled out at the last moment, so it really shouldn't be a shocker at this point that he was leaving the team.  There were some other indicators as well like his suspension during the 08-09 season as Sahly alluded to.

His offensive numbers were significantly down from last year (16.9 ppg to 10.6 ppg), but he led the team in assists (3.5 apg) and was second in rebounds (6.0 rpg).  This is due to the addition to Xavier Silas in the offense.  The two players could never mesh and that left it turned out to be a big mess on the court.

When Jake was on, boy was he on.  But when he was off, he was just about as cold as the Convo gets.  One thing was consistent though: He was one hell of a rebounder.  Our big men should be ashamed about how a 6'2" shooting guard could absolutely own every single one of you on the boards (sans Super K).  Like Patton always says, he's a warrior out there.

Jake always had the ability to take over games.  Here's what he did: He drives the ball to the basket, puts up a shot and tries to get fouled.  When Jake isn't hot, it seems like the entire team fizzles along with him.  Sometimes Anderson just looked lackadaisical or pouty out on the floor.

Maybe it just was the coaching.  Jake Anderson was recruited by Rob Judson.  He wasn't recruited for the type of offense Patton likes to run.  With Jake gone, that's 1 more scholarship available for the 2010 class or we're now up to 5 for 2011 if nobody is signed.

Is this just the tip of the iceberg?  Are other players on their way out?  Kyree Jones was promised the starting point guard position for next year...