Lucas Gebhart
Sports Editor
I learned in my ethics class this semester about the trait of publicity, which means if you find the best ethical theory, you should publicize it to the world so everybody can follow that particular theory.
But, if you are an ethical egoist, which means, you believe that everything should be done for your own benefit, you should not publicize that theory because if everybody were an ethical egoist, then everybody would be doing things for their own benefit, thus rendering your ability to benefit off of other people’s good fortunes.
If I were an ethical egoist, I ought not, to use correct philosophical language, publicize how crucial Brandon Boyd is to the future of ISU basketball.
Here is my reasoning.
Ethan Telfair, who is well down to the path of being an NBA draftee, is in his senior season, Boyd is a redshirt freshman.
ISU is 1-7 this season, not ideal, but it is early and Telfair missed three of the eight games because of an incident in Logan during a road game at Utah State. Right now, this is Telfair’s team, he is the vocal and skilled leader of a team that has an outside chance at winning the Big Sky Conference this season.
During the Cancun Challenge, ISU played two schools, Eastern Kentucky and New Jersey Institute of Technology. On the way back from Mexico, the Bengals hit up Texas Tech.
The Bengals got blown out by Texas Tech, something that probably would have happened even if Telfair was in the lineup, but the Eastern Kentucky and NJIT games were two games I think the team could have won with Telfair in the lineup.
ISU lost 91-82 in overtime to Eastern Kentucky and 71-67 to NJIT.
But what I saw in those two games was not, “this team can’t win without Telfair,” it was, “this team can still win after the Telfair era,” because of Boyd.
Telfair is averaging 19.3 points per game.
Boyd started in place of Telfair when he was suspended. During those three games, Boyd averaged 19 points per game and I know what you’re thinking, “well, Telfair has started more games than Boyd, so how can you say that will continue?”
To that, I say, with the three games Telfair has missed, he has only started six games, only three more than Boyd.
Another reason I think this will continue, is in ISU’s home opener, Telfair’s first game back, Boyd clocked 27 minutes off of the bench and scored 12 points. What that tells me is head coach Bill Evans thinks the kid can play.
He is giving a redshirt freshmen 27 minutes off of the bench and he is proving that he can step up to the challenge.
Boyd is a natural shooter, he loves to have the ball in his hand and his one-step quickness is something that is very difficult to guard and he is arguably one of the best ball handlers the Bengals have.
I’m not saying that Boyd will be the next Telfair. Telfair is a one-of-a-kind player that ISU probably won’t see for another generation.
But what I am saying, is this team will be fine after Telfair graduates.
ISU will still win games, it may not contend for a conference championship, but the Bengals will certainly not be the bottom-feeder of the conference.
Boyd probably won’t start as long as Telfair and Geno Luzcando are healthy, but I am willing to bet the farm in Vegas that he will start next season and he will surprise a lot of people around the Big Sky.
Until that day comes, I can only speculate before I say, “I told you so.”
