Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Matt Humphrey transferring to West Virginia

Boston College Eagles guard Matt Humphrey works to shoot against North Carolina State Wolfpack defenders during their ACC college basketball tournament game in Atlanta

Boston College Eagles guard Matt Humphrey (14) works to shoot against North Carolina State Wolfpack defenders during their ACC college basketball tournament game in Atlanta, Georgia March 8, 2012. REUTERS/Chris Keane (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASKETBALL)

REUTERS

One trend that we are starting to see with the number of transfer waivers that are being granted is that it is no longer a rarity when a player logs minutes with three different programs in their career.

The latest in that long line is Matt Humphrey.

The 6-foot-5 wing began his career at Oregon, where he averaged 5.4 points as a sophomore before transferring out of the program when Dana Altman took over. After sitting out the 2010-2011 season due to the NCAA’s transfer rules, Humphrey became Boston College’s second-leading scorer last season, averaging 10.3 ppg.

On Tuesday, it was officially announced that Humphrey would be leaving BC after a single season and enrolling at another Big East refugee in West Virginia.

“Matt will give us much needed experience on the front line,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said in a statement. “In having played in the Pac-12 and ACC, his familiarity with multiple offensive and defensive schemes will help us at both ends of the floor. His size and length will definitely make us a better defensive team on the perimeter and should help us create matchup problems for opposing defenses. He will give us another 3-point threat, which will enable us to stretch defenses and open up the posts for our inside guys.”

Humphrey should be a welcome addition to the Mountaineers. With both Kevin Jones and Truck Bryant graduating, Huggy Bear was looking at having a roster that included Deniz Kilicli, Dominique Rutledge, and a slew of freshmen and sophomores. And as productive as Kilicli can be, he’s also proven to drive Huggins as crazy as any player on his team.

In other words, adding a big wing that has been around for a few years is a good thing.

The question that needs to be asked, however, is just how good Humphrey is and just how valuable his experience is. Humphrey’s best season as a collegian came in 2009-2010, when he was a member of the Oregon team that went 16-16 overall and finished tied for eighth in the Pac-10. As a freshman, he was a member of an 8-23 Oregon team. As a junior, he played on a 9-22 BC team. He’s not exactly been a part of winning traditions.

Humphrey also is a bit of a gunner. As BC Interruption explains:

And while that’s true, his 10.3 points per game were second only to Ryan Anderson’s 11.2 points per game, he wasn’t exactly efficient. Humphrey shot just 35% from the field and 31.3% from behind the arc. He also led the team in shot attempts.

It’s pretty clear that this BC basketball team is in it’s infant stages of a rebuilding process and for all the talent that Humphrey possesses, he simply wasn’t right for this team. A bunch of freshman and sophomores don’t need a veteran guard simply chucking shots and making questionable basketball decisions. Naturally, we wish Matt the best with the rest of his basketball career but I don’t want people to get the wrong idea about this transfer. This isn’t players leaving the program because of Coach Donahue’s ability or the direction of the organization. This was simply a player that didn’t fit with the needs of our team and would be better suited in a different environment.


West Virginia needs bodies. Humphrey provides that. But he’s not going to be WVU’s savior.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.