Marshall Henderson latest Runnin' Ute to transfer

It was announced today that Utah Runnin' Utes guard Marshall Henderson, the team's second leading scorer in his just-completed freshman season, will transfer. Henderson is the fifth underclassmen to leave the program this offseason, joining leading scorer Carlon Brown along with Matt Read, Chris Hines and Jordan Cyphers. Henderson said he wants to be closer to home and that the decision wasn't about basketball, but also said "Coach Boylen's program also has certain rules and restrictions that I respect, but I don't feel they fit with my individualism." The loss of Henderson really hurts as it now means that the Utes' two leading scorers from this past season will not return. I expected Henderson to carry a lot of the scoring load this upcoming season with his silky smooth three-point shot and he leaves an even bigger void now present on the offensive end of the floor for the Utes who were abysmal offensively last season. With Luka Drca and Kim Tillie graduating, there will be a total of seven players gone from this year's team. Some may say this is a good thing as the team was terrible offensively and clearly had some chemistry issues. However, it is going to be difficult to lose the substantial offensive firepower that Brown and Henderson brought to the table and still be successful. Key contributors expected to return at this point are Jace Tavita, Shawn Glover, David Foster, Jay Watkins and Jason Washburn. I realize I may be stretching a bit with the word contributors as now of the aforementioned players were consistent offensively last season. All five showed flashes of being productive on offense, most notably Watkins in the loss at BYU. However, I am wondering where the 3-point shooting is going to come from. Glover was probably the biggest threat of the bunch from beyond the arc, but I never knew quite what to expect from him. Hopefully he'll get better as he moves into his sophomore season. I hope all those players work on their offense this summer. Additionally, this whole situation puts more pressure on Utah coach Jim Boylen to bring in a successful recruiting class, particularly with some good shooters. The fact that five underclassmen have left the program also puts more pressure on next year's team to succeed. It doesn't reflect well on a coaching staff when five underclassmen transfer after one season; it causes me to wonder what is going on with the basketball program. Even Boylen's much-maligned predecessor as head coach Ray Giacoletti never had that happen. I'm not very optimistic about the Runnin' Utes next season, but I'll continue to cheer for them and hope for the best.