Well, that's the last we'll hear of Trent Plaisted. The name John Walsh comes to mind.

Rafael Arajuo is better than Plaisted and Arajuo was a bust with the #8 pick in the draft...so what is Plaisted thinking. This guy isn't even talented enough to be on a NBDL team.

The funny thing is that Plaisted right now is a project in the NBA at best as really an big man in the NBA that goes late in the first round.

The whole article by Tricky Dick Harmon focuses on the agent getting money for other players. He failed to mention that any agent has no problems screwing up a kid's college career for the posibility they could be drafted. Its more of a sign with me now so you don't sign with someone else later and Plaisted is the one who will end up paying.

Don't get me wrong Plaisted is a good player but when he matches up against players of similar size and skill he tends to be very mediocre. He may have held his own against Smith but Neville another NBA project next year tends to beat up on him pretty good.

Here's to the best of luck for Plaisted but make no mistake he is not an NBA player. He will end up in Europe or overseas making good money but hiring an agent was a bad idea no matter what Tricky Dick says.

"this is a good move for the Cougar"...you have got to be kidding.

Plaisted is taking some bad advice. Start packing your bags for overseas. Maybe you can join Araujo in Russia.

Trent ? He isn't NBA stuff , I just want to see another BYU vanity personality fall on their face. Play instead just dosn't have what it takes.

Good luck Trent. Frankly, I don't see how anyone that cannot go head-to-head against a soft Luke Neville will ever make it in the NBA. Might as well skip the NBA draft and go straight to Europe/Asia.

What is he thinking? He wasn't even the best player on his own team. He can't shoot foul shots, he constantly gets the ball knocked away from him, he can only go to his left. I'm 35 years old but I'm thinking about entering my name in the draft. If Plaisted can do it I think I can too. If anyone needs another year of college to tune his skills it is him.

Where's the inside stuff? Looks like the D-News is re-writing internet reports. Dick Harmon may bleed blue, but it's most likely becuase he's out in the cold -- on the outside looking in -- when it comes to insider info on BYU athletics. I expect more D-Snooze.

Big dreams, small talent.

He's jumping off sinking ship.

This is a good move for Plaisted. There's more up side to signing now versus returning to play another year at BYU. Worst case is he ends up in Europe which will still help his game more than returning to BYU. Good luck Trent!

You need more than a left handed move to play in the NBA. I don't think Trent has developed his game to the point of making much of an inpact in the Pro's. Sounds like he will be seeing much of Europe in the next few years. Sorry, just laying the facts Cougar Blue.

Plaisted hurts himself by entering the draft early. Staying another year with a talented cougar team would give him greater national exposure and the likes of a first round pick. Not going to happen by going early, he will be in the NBA two years at most and then enjoy playing in Europe for 5 years.

There goes next year's tournament run Cougs! Sorry.

Even though I don't think you are ready for the NBA yet, I can't fault you for chasing the Benjamins. I hope it works out for you.

My big concern is who do we have to replace you? Miles definitely isn't the answer. What other big men does BYU have in the pipeline. Lindsey Hartzogg's little brother should be back from a mission this year. I've heard good things about him. But who else is there? Do the BYU coaches have some JC center up their sleeve?

1st Round? Well, if he will learn to play like Greg Kite did, by pushing and shoving like he did against Kareem Ab Dubal(sp - whatever I care about that Laker guy). Come on, he will need to stop playing this hook shot. Free throw? He will get a lot of those chances like Shak O. been dealing in the last playoff against this SA. Oh well, moving on BYU - play w/o him.
Go Cougars!!!!

As a Utah fine, I am happy with his decision.

Harmon's unique grammatical style once again flourishes. Instead of picking one word and staying with it, Dick pulled out his trusty thesaurus to come up with, not just one, but three clever ways of describing a contract: a "six-year pact", a "3-year contract", and a "four-year deal", all in the space of one sentence. Plus, we can enjoy his gratuitous use (or non-use) of proper punctuation in that same sentence, which includes one semicolon, one comma, and no "and" to separate the list. Brilliant writing and even better editing!

Does anyone really think he'll improve his draft stock very much by coming back for his senior year? Currently he's projected as a late first, early second round pick and I doubt another year of school moves him up much. He'll get drafted and probably stuck on an NBDL team for a year, where hopefully he will learn to shoot free-throws and how to use his right hand.

Best of luck Trent, thanks for the good years we had! He might need to brush up on his foreign language skills soon, but we'll see. Ute fans are happy because they won't have to play against him anymore.

Now its time for Miles to step up, another MWC championship is still obtainable. Go cougars!

I always want any player from BYU to go on and do as well as possible so I wish Plaisted the best.

That being said, I really wish he had listened to better advice and/or not been so impatient. His numbers this last year really weren't that great in a mediocre MWC and he didn't perform very well in the big games at the end of the season. I understand not wanting to risk getting injured, but I think this decision guarantees playing in Europe. If he'd improved his numbers and skills another year in college I think the NBA was a real possibility. I hope I'm wrong.

Shoulda stayed in school. He has too much work to do before he can see success in the NBA.

Go for the money while it's there, good move, not that he'll actually make a team but hey if he gets drafted he'll end up in Europe.

And my mom still shoots better free throws.

Come on dude, you were a good player in a ok league.

Wow. Nobody could talk some sense into him before he hired an agent, huh? You give up a chance to win a game or two in the NCAA Tourney, an event that has the attention of the whole country, to go play in Europe, which is all that's going to happen. It would be great if he were to shock us all, but I don't see it at all.

Leave the guy alone. How do all of you know what is best for him. Where are the compliments for what he has done for BYU?

Trent Plaisted is overrated.

... big mistake. Unless your dream is playing overseas. Trent, you got some bad, BAD advice from somewhere. But hey, at least you'll have some cash in your pocket, man.

Love the Cougars, even like Plaisted as a person, but hate this decision. Trent played better as a freshman and sophomore than this past season. He really needed another year to get some consistency and learn to hit more than half of his free throws.

Ah, well. Next up in the good-but-not-ready-for-prime-time-yet-being-lured-by-greedy-agents-anyway sweepstakes: Lee Cummard.

On the bright side, maybe someone else can take a turn next year playing UNLV on their home court with an NCAA tourney berth on the line. Come to think of it, I don't think I'd come back for our joke of a MWC tournament, either. See you in anywhere BUT Vegas next March, folks.

Best wishes anyway, Trent.

Trent Plaisted is not making a mistake. Even if he does not make it in the NBA, he will have a fine career in Europe. Staying in school one more year will not improve his draft status. Is he significantly better this year than he was last year? No. So why not get paid to improve your skills. Go make the money that you can. There is no reason to stay. If Nevill was smart he would leave too.

anybody else wonder if Plaisted was actaully going to be eligible next year.

There have countless borderline NBA prospects declare for the draft when they realize they screwed around in school too much and weren't going to be on the team next year anyway.

i'm just speculating because I don't know if that's the case or not. But it's one of the only logical reasons I can think for a college athlete to toss aside a college education for a longshot risky bet to be drafted.

Okay, I am a firm believer (and have been for the last two seasons) that Plaisted is not an NBA caliber player. That being said, this is a good move for him. Here's why. He's shown that in three years he can improve his defense, but not his shooting. He's one-dimensional on offense, and still can't shoot free throws. So he will not play in the NBA. So, what is the benefit of staying in school? He won't be any better prepared for the NBA than if he was making $200,000 per year in Europe working on his development. He already has a degree (or will soon), he's married, it's time to make money while his earning potential is highest. How many of us would have taken a job selling pest control door-to-door if it paid us $200k per year out of college? Take the jump, make the bank while you can, SAVE it, then in a few years join the rest of the work force with a "real job" that pays $50,000 per year. Good luck Trent. Can't wait to see what Chris Miles does now, look for big things from Chris!

What a bunch of morons. If you had a sibling, child, etc. in college (and a junior at that) who had the chance to earn a very large amount of money over the next few years, whether in the NBA or Europe, you would be crazy to tell them to finish school! Take a look at the average salary of an MBA student coming out of BYU-64k a year. Weak. Take the average pay of American players in Europe this year, 378k. It doesn't take said MBA to figure that one out. He can always finish school and he wasn't going to develop into an NBA first rounder playing another year against the stellar MWC. I say good for you Trent, and if the basketball doesn't work out, come back to Utah and be a pharma rep. like the rest of the former BYU athletes.

This will hurt BYU more than Plaisted. He will make money somewhere, probably not in the NBA but can do it overseas. As for BYU, they are losing their depth at center with Miles the only one remaining with game experience. Utes should be happy and I know my Aggies dont mind him gone. Should be a fun matchup with or without him at ESA this year.
Good luck to BYU and Plaisted, except of course when they play the true blue team from Logan. :)

Is there an agent that Dick Harmon can sign with to go write sports articles in Europe???

Maybe Trent's game will improve when pro coaches get hold of him and teach him what height is for. Never seen a tall player shoot from such a low position before. That won't do in the NBA. Point guards will be blocking his shots.

Best of luck, Trent.

Trent will make a whole lot more than I will ever make, especially if he can make a European league or the NBA. His priority might be to provide for his family. Remember, Trent is a husband and father. Not being able to work a good job while in college makes it extremely tough to survive. Good for you, Plaisted! I wish you the best.

If making his decision was based on the possiblity of winning a game or two in the NCAA tourny next year, then clearly made the right decision.

The Scrutiny he and his wife have endured from campus and fans in my opinion had a role in the decision. His wife's altercation was even in the game program before the Utes game at Huntsman,WHY? The Cougs really needed him next year to break through and win a game or two next year when it counts in March. Coug fans are WAY too hard on college athletes.
I still remember QB John Walsh almost getting bood off the field in a game they won. The next week he goes 28-30 and sets NCAA record for completion %. It's easy to support somone when they play Great, but the scrutiny may have been too much for Trent so if he gets paid I guess that's what its about. But, since he is no longer an amateur maybe it's ok to pile on, Another season may have made him LESS marketable in the 1st round.

My personal take is Trent needs to spend his senior year at BYU learning to shoot. He has real trouble finishing. His favorite shot is a terribly low per centage effort (a hook or something). The money will still be there in a year AFTER he has increased his shooting percentage both from the field and from the stripe. He was pathetic against Neville in the Marriott Center. Grammar police it is grossly obvious you are no writer. Go back to middle school and learn to write and not criticise then give it a try AFTER you have learned what you are talking about.

Hey, why didn't he go on a Mission, wasn't so he could improve his basketball skills and possibly go pro? Well, best of luck to him and his family. One never knows what goes on in someone's home, he may have other reasons for needing to turn pro. Money and not education may be one of those?

FYI: Plaisted's more or less done with his required classes, as the DesNews reported a couple of months ago. He's not leaving school because he's "screwed around"--he's actually worked ahead.

The issue is whether playing another year would have helped him be an actual NBA prospect. Sorry to say, got to agree he should have stayed if that was where he wanted to play. The man rose to the occasion against Louisville and North Carolina, but faded in conference play against weaker opponents. He needed a much more consistent game. No sour grapes--it's the truth as I see it.

Don't hold your breath waiting for Trent Plaisted's NBA debut. But he'll do OK overseas!

Good luck Trent. You'll need it. Greg Kite shockingly played in the NBA for several years, but that was many moons ago. Part of me wants Plaisted to succeed, but another part of me thinks he's in La-La land.

Arujo's result in the NBA and Travis Hansen's will hurt Trents possibilities for a first round selection. No NBA team is going to give him guaranteed money. They for sure will want him to prove himself in summer league play and fall camp before they give him a roster spot.

Those of you that think one more year would not help him are not bright at all. He could have went to all these pre-draft camps and had coaches tell him what they want to see from him. If he comes back to BYU and improves those things then his stock goes up and is more possibly a first round pick.
Look at Milsap who led the NCAA in rebounding for three years and he went in the second round because teams thought he was small but Jazz took him because of his rebounding. What does Trent have that interests teams right now? Nothing really stands out about him. I have a hard time thinking he will even get drafted.

RE: Ernest T. Bass

I'm know you're an expert on sinking ships. You're posts are proof of that. Cougar basketball will still thrive next year. Watch and weep.

I was hoping he and Cummard would stay around and maybe win (ONE!) NCAA tourney game.

So where does this put BYU... In a hole. It's NIT or the chump barrel tourney for this coming season.

Coach Rose is a great coach, but no matter what he does, BYU basketball will always be
a quaint white guy program.

I too think he made the right move. Staying an extra year to play for a MWC championship and one and done NCAA tournament? No thanks. Take the money and run. Probably in Europe though.

By the way utes, Luke Neville is hardly an NBA star either.

anyone ever mentioned that he might not be passing school very well and this is his way out.

Go for it Trent-- you can always go to school. Plus I think his wife is sick of Provo

to On the other hand ...
I think it is a bad move because next years draft is a lot weaker at his position so even if he didn't get a whole lot better over his last year at the Y he would still have a better chance in a weaker draft. This draft is a lot stronger at the power forward center positions. Bad move by going now but good move because he probably wouldn't improve much over his last season in Provo.(of course next year's freshman could be stronger than expected but the projection is next year's big men will be a lot weaker than this year's) Staying and going are both bad decisions cause he probably won't get much better by staying but at the same time he is a low pick and will most likely be in the D League or Europe.

I graduated from BYU 13 years ago, and it took ten of those to even START to make a decent living. BYU has no obligation to provide a living for me, and Trent has no obligation to surrender the VERY GOOD living that awaits him due to a misplaced loyalty to an institution that has already made hundreds of thousands with his good name. He went to BYU with the plan to position himself for a very good career. He is now in that position. It's time for the next step. It doesn't matter if he makes his money with the LA Lakers or with the Timbuktu Intestinal Parasites, as long as the money is there, he has a good place to raise a family, and he enjoys what he does. Good luck, Trent, and thanks. Mission accomplished.

If Trent is so bad, why is he listed as one of the top 40 players in the draft? He is a great player, with great physical talent. Why did his numbers go down? Maybe it was because he never got the ball? The two best players on the team, Cummard and Plaisted, always played second fiddle at the end of the year. Maybe Trent could see he would never touch the ball next year with JT and Jimmer shooting everytime they touch the ball? Trent will make a lot of money for his family playing basketball somewhere. Thanks Trent for playing at BYU and providing so many great moments.