Good bye Mate!

Ben Allen leaving IU basketball after 2 seasons
From Staff Reports, Indiana Daily Student
August 24, 2007

(CSTV U-WIRE) BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Junior center Ben Allen will transfer from the IU men's basketball team, coach Kelvin Sampson said in an IU Athletics Department statement.

"We appreciate Ben's efforts at Indiana, and we wish him nothing but the best in the future," Sampson said in the release.

Allen averaged 0.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 24 games last season as he struggled to adjust to playing more in the post. Allen played inside more often last season as the tallest player on the team, and even gained 36 pounds of muscle to become more of a post presence.

During his freshman season, Allen saw action in all 31 games, displaying good three-point range.

Allen's best game came early in his freshman season against Indiana State. The Melbourne, Australia, native scored 21 points on 8-10 shooting, including 5-6 from beyond the arc in a road loss to the Sycamores.

Allen missed several games last season fighting mononucleosis. He returned to action Dec. 22 against IU Purdue University Indianapolis to score four points in 11 minutes.

Incoming freshman Eli Holman, a 6-foot-9-inch center from Richmond, Calif., and transfer DeAndre Thomas, a 6-foot-8-inch forward from Florida's Chipola Junior College, are expected to play significant minutes in the Hoosiers' frontcourt.

Holman was the 80th-ranked prospect in the incoming class of 2007, according to recruiting Web site www.rivals.com.

Thomas helped lead Chipola to a runner-up finish in the NJCAA tournament last season with fellow Hoosier Jamarcus Ellis. Thomas was ranked a three-star recruit in the same class on www.rivals.com.




My take...not to surprising. With the talent IU has coming in, Allen's playing time was going to be almost non-existent. I don't want to rag on the guy...but for whatever reason (or reasons) he wasn't getting it done at IU. He had that one game against Indiana State that showed a lot of potential but in retrospect that game was just an anomaly. Granted he did bulk up and he tried to play in the post but that didn't work out to well as he normally just got into foul trouble. Maybe it will work out for him somewhere else. At the very least...he could return to his native country of Australia and slam some VB beer (since you can't buy it in the states).