[pirateforlife]

Nobody other than Darryl McCoy himself actually thought this team had any chance of making any noise in the region this year. Well maybe him and some parents.
The truth is that these kids just have no sense of how to play man to man defense or rebound. That’s including the Rash kid. Is it prior coaching, development in the youth program, lack of athleticism, etc?  Maybe a little of all of it. But defense and rebounding can be improved greatly with an increase in attitude and effort. Maybe not to the point of being great at it but at least being efficient. Throw in a little coaching with some effort and you could see a huge improvement.
As for the Rash kid leaving. Let him go. IMO it looks bad on a kid when they jump ship and leave. No dedication to the program or the kids that worked hard in the off season. It’s the new attitude with kids. I’ll just leave when things don’t go my way. Granted I feel it looks worse on his dad more so than him because it’s very clear this wasn’t all on the kid.
So let him go. Belfry will still struggle and now you’ve gotten rid of a kid that was all in for himself. Zade has talent, it’s clear. But let’s be honest here. He was never going to be the stud that people were making him out to be. He’s slow, he’s not a leaper, he’s a liability on defense like the rest of the team and it’s not like he’s going to be a 6’3” guard that can lead a team to a regional championship on his own. 
Belfry should be looking for kids that want to be there, kids not looking to just get their numbers, kids that want to be part of bringing the program back to respectability and kids that don’t listen to daddy when things get a little tough.
A lot of talent still on pond creek and losing one “me above the team” player isn’t going to make or break the next 3 years as they strive to bring the program back.

Agree with most of what you said. Dean and Clarke a few years ago were probably the best backcourt in the region. You couldn’t press Belfry with those 2. Belfry doesn’t have that right now. And those 2 played their tails off. They competed. Little is Belfry’s best player and was before Rash left. Rash didn’t seem to have that dawg mentality that all the great players have. Good player but he won’t make Phelps a region contender. I also think it looks bad on Brett leaving the team mid season looks bad. Makes it look like he was there just for one player. I’m sure he was forced to do that though