Richard Semrau practices while reporters wait in the background.
Having watched plenty of basketball from his seat at the end of the bench, Richard Semrau has decided to do something else for a change.
He came to Ubben to get some extra shooting practice before the Illini team work out Friday afternoon. He also told reporters that he’d be doing something else next year.
Semrau has pretty much wrapped up his undergrad education. He’s already taking graduate courses in Human Resource Education. But that doesn’t mean he’s giving up on college basketball.
Theoretically Semrau could follow the Jon Beutjer route — transfer to a Division I school and petition for a sixth year hardship waiver. Semrau nearly died when a chest injury turned septic during his freshman year. But the NCAA looks favorably on student-athletes who do well in school, overcome almost insurmountable injuries, and seek to further their education at a school with a head coach who can count past eight (and recently 5.2).
Another option is to follow CJ Jackson’s lead, to transfer to a Division II and play immediately for a year.
My feeling continues to be that Semrau could have provided valuable minutes this whole time. His contributions would have been especially useful at this time of year, when fatigue sets in. Semrau has a feather-light jump shot, and disrupts on interior defense the same way Bill Cole disrupts the perimeter.
But if Richard is going to strut his stuff on a court during a game, it’s become plenty clear that he’s not going to do it here.
Meanwhile, not to let the scholarship get cold, Jerrance Howard has booked a flight to Baltimore next week. He hopes to nab a JUCO junkyard dog.