Midway through his first season with the Quakers, freshman guard Carson Sullivan has left the men's basketball team, as you can read about in today's DP.

I gave Carson a call, and he was kind enough to talk to me about the reason for his decision to transfer.

It's pretty apparent to me that the decision was definitely motivated by personal reasons. It was clear to me that he wants to be closer to his Charlotte home.

"I think it’s a personal decision, I wanted to be closer to home, I just wanted to find a better situation for me," he said. "It had nothing to do with the coaching staff or anything like that. I wanted to be closer to home was the main thing."

That was also clear from the schools he listed as possible destinations. While he's still gauging interest, he listed Elon, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Asheville, and Furman as potential destinations. All four are located in the Carolinas.

But the decision was basketball-related as well.

(more...)

It's been weeks since my original post about Sean Mullan, a basketball recruit from Australia. I haven't heard back from Mullan since that original post, so I haven't been able to provide an update on his status... until now. Although I still haven't heard back from the man himself, a reliable source confirmed today that Mullan is officially coming to Penn.

It seems that this might have been in the books for a while at this point.  When I heard from his mother in late May she indicated that everything was just about squared away, but they hadn't received their official documents yet. Then Sean's name showed up in the Penn Directories a few weeks ago, but I still could not take that as confirmation that he was definitely coming.

With Mullan in the bag, the Quakers' 2009 recruiting class is up to five players (though two are unofficial). Mullan joins Carson Sullivan and Brian Fitzpatrick as the official recruits for 2009, while Malcolm Washington and Tommy Eggleston will also join the team as "preferred walk-ons." The distinction, as far as I know, is virtually irrelevant. Penn Athletics has not released an official list of this year's recruits, but it should come very soon. Washington and Eggleston will not be on the official list.