Looking at choices made

Two former Bay Area preps cast their respective lots with Pac-12 teams a couple of years ago -- so how are they doing?

* Junior (Bishop O'Dowd High) Longrus has enjoyed two starts this season at Washington State and is playing 17.5 minutes per game. He is scoring 3.2 points an outing alongside 3.7 rebounds (18 of his 37 rebounds are from the offensive end). Longrus is shooting 50% and 2-6 from the foul line (zero long distance attempts. Last season, he averaged 10.2 minutes, 1 point and 2 rebounds while shooting .412 from the field. He is planning on majoring in Business.

* Langston Morris-Walker went with Oregon State. To date in the 2013-14 season, he is averaging 1.8 points in 2.2 minutes per contest. His shooting numbers are sharp if minimal: 4-5, 2-3 and 1-1. As a freshman, he went for 1.8 points, 0.8 rebounds, 0.2 assists and 0.2 steals in 9.7 minutes a game. He is majoring in Human Development and Family Science.

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So Longrus is emerging in his second year and it will be interesting to watch his development as an upperclassman.

Morris-Walker is struggling right now but also with two more seasons ahead of him.

But rather than slice and dice/splatter and scatter as is the custom on too many message boards, it's important to acknowledge that multiple other factors can be significant before someone screams 'looks like a transfer is coming up' or anyone is written off as a dud.

What if a student-athlete happens to really like the school he is at? Or has a fine relationship with the coaching staff despite minimal court time? In Morris-Walker's bio, he details his reasons for heading to Corvallis: "Chose Oregon State because “the high character people, my teammates that I will play with, the small college town and Coach Robinson as a role model and mentor.”

How about looking at who is ahead in the rotation and seeing if that player or players be completing their athletic eligibility after this season, therefore opening up playing time?

Plus, some players have a slower development process.

The bottomline is there is so much as fans that we don't know and don't care about not knowing before offering our obviously superlative insights and opinions. But that doesn't stop us.

Anyone coming out of college with a degree is a winner, period.