Breaking News: Baylor F Quincy Miller Is Going Pro

Baylor coach Scott Drew has confirmed that Quincy Miller is leaving for NBA. "Thought it was best for him and his family."

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) April 24, 2012

Here is the story from the mothership about Quincy's decision, and if you click on the link in the tweet to the left, it will take you to a short quote from Miller saying that he is sorry if he excited too many people at Baylor with his previous announcement and that he is only doing what is best for him. This looks to be a done deal, and Quincy is expected to hire Dwon Clifton as his agent for the Draft process.

I'm not going to get into a lot of hand-wringing over Quincy's decision and I'm certainly not going to fault him for the way things went down at the announcement itself. To the former, it's his call and his alone, and he deserves the latitude to do what he believes is in his best interest. If he has been told that he'll be drafted in the first round this year and get a guaranteed contract, I can see how it makes sense for him to go. To the latter, there's not a lot we can do and anger at the player isn't going to solve anything. Badmouthing the kid on twitter, here, or anywhere else isn't going to change the decision that he has made, and it certainly won't be in keeping with the near unanimous message our fanbase sent him when he was trying to decide that we would support him no matter what he did. Quincy Miller didn't stop being a Baylor Bear today.

I will say, however, that this is truly awful news for Baylor Basketball. Baylor now loses a player it probably expected to be a major catalyst on offense next season and the starter at the 3, and the chances of replacing that player effectively at this stage in the game are slim to none. There are no transfers left that I know of who would be able to come in and play immediately, and several of the higher-profile recruits we may have targeted had Quincy not announced he was coming back have signed with other programs in the interim. Our roster has a Quincy Miller-shaped hole in it now at the small forward position. Maybe this means more playing time earlier for Ricardo Gathers, or maybe we count on Deuce Bello to step up in Quincy's absence. I don't know. I'll feel around for a bit and see what people more "in the know" than I am think we do from here. We have a scholarship open now for next season that I'm sure we'll try to use somehow.