Two former B1G players announced where they were headed next on Tuesday. Minnesota transfer Chip Armelin tweeted that he had officially signed to play at Southern Mississippi out of Conference USA. Around the same time, former Ohio State Buckeye JD Weatherspoon announced that he would transfer within the state to a MAC school, Toledo.
Chip Armelin is originally from Louisiana and signed with the Gophers out of high school. Tubby Smith was the only power conference coach to offer Armelin, who chose Minnesota over Louisiana Tech and North Texas. In his two seasons as a Gopher, Armelin averaged 4.8 points and 1.8 rebounds in 12.5 minutes. He saw his minutes go up his sophomore year but decided to leave the program in early April. Giving up his scholarship actually cleared room for Gophers’ star Trevor Mbakwe, who was granted a 6th year of eligibility after missing a majority of the last season to an ACL tear.
The Golden Eagles of Southern Miss enter next season with a new coach, former Morehead State coach Donnie Tyndall. In his six seasons at MSU, Tyndall won two OVC tournament titles that translated to two NCAA tournament appearances. The highlight of his tenure may have been the Eagles’ first round upset of 4th seed Louisville in the 2011 Tournament, led by senior sensation Kenneth Faried (now with the Denver Nuggets).
Back on April 16, Buckeyes JD Weatherspoon and Jordan Sibert announced their intentions to leave the program. Both are Ohio-natives that came to OSU as nationally-ranked high school prospects. Weatherspoon is actually from Columbus, playing alongside Buckeye star Jared Sullinger at Northland HS. He was a late addition to Thad Matta’s impressive 2010 recruiting class, which was headlined by Sullinger and DeShaun Thomas, but he struggled to find his place in the Buckeye rotation. He averaged just 2.7 points in 6.0 minutes last season, appearing in just 10 games before being ruled academically ineligible for the rest of the year.
Last week, it was announced that Sibert was headed to the Dayton Flyers out of the Atlantic 10. Weatherspoon will also remain in the Buckeye state, heading to the up-and-coming Toledo Rockets. In just his second season, head coach Tod Kowlczyk was able to turn a 4-28 team into a 19-17 squad that finished 2nd in the MAC West. Last season was capped off by an appearance in the CIT, where the Rockets advanced to the second round. Toledo has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 1980 but have made several NIT appearances since then.
