Jordan Holm
Staff Writer
The cream of the 2005 recruiting class is no longer playing for the Pepperdine men’s basketball team. Sophmores Michael Gerrity and Chris Oakes are off the team, officially, citing personal reasons for their departure.
The loss could not come at a worse time for the already undermanned Waves. On Friday, fifth-year senior Jason Walberg, who is the son of Head Coach Vance Walberg, injured his knee and will miss the rest of the season. Walberg tore his ACL, meniscus and also suffered a micro fracture in his knee.
“The doctor basically said it was like a bomb went off in his knee,” said Coach Walberg, adding that “it has been a tough week here.”
Gerrity’s and Oakes’ sudden flight came with no prior knowledge or clues, according to the coaching staff. “It happened totally out of the blue,” Walberg said.
Neither of the two players, when contacted by the Graphic, would comment about their reasons for leaving. Both players were recruited to Pepperdine by former coach Paul Westphal, who resigned in the spring.
Gerrity and Oakes are expected to transfer after this semester. NCAA rules would force them to sit out a year.
The loss leaves the team stretching for bodies to fill up the court.
“We are basically running with eight guys right now,” Walberg said. Willie Galick and Greg Barlow, who are both battling injuries, cut the amount of healthy bodies down to an even smaller number.
“It’s tough man, it’s really tough,” said Galick, a sophomore. “Everyone is going to need to step up and play even harder.”
Coach Walberg has stressed to the team that it is times like this where the strength of a true family is shown.
“We find out during these times the guys who are truly with us,” Walberg said.
Senior Chase Griffin, who will be asked to shoulder a lot of the extra load, echoed his coach’s feelings, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”
The departure of Gerrity and Oakes also leaves the team with a shortage of scholarship money that could have been offered to other players. “We had a number of guys we wanted to bring out here this year,” Walberg said, “but we were unable to offer them scholarship money.”
With Oakes and Gerrity leaving during the middle of the season, the money seemingly goes to waste.
Gerrity was selected to the WCC All-Freshmen team after the past season averaging 14.1 points and 3.4 assists a game. He was poised to be a cornerstone for the Waves this season, but was unhappy with the up-tempo style of play that Walberg brought to the team.
Oakes is from Oakland, Calif., and started all six games for the Waves this year, averaging 5.7 points and 2.8 rebounds a game.
12-02-2006