Taran Buie’s college career has been checkered, to say the least. As the half-brother of Talor Battle, he was welcomed into the Penn State family with open arms as a freshman. Following an off-campus fight and a suspension for violation of team rules, Buie was released from his PSU scholarship, leaving the Nittany Lions and heading to Hofstra.
Things didn’t get much better there. Buie was suspended by Mo Cassara as well, and is now in search of yet another program willing to take a chance on him.
According to the Albany Times-Union, Buie has signaled his intent to transfer to Siena next season. Ignoring the incongruity of Buie applying to play for a team nicknamed the Saints, there are other issues standing in his way right now.Buie, a 6-foot-2 shooting guard, would have two years of eligibility left. It’s unclear whether he would have to sit out a season or might receive an NCAA hardship waiver for family reasons.
Siena has one scholarship left to give Buie, assuming that recruit Maurice White doesn’t come. He is still trying to reach the necessary test scores to be eligible, according to a source.
We’ll have to assume that new Siena head coach Jimmy Patsos - a bit of a live wire himself - has a plan for how he’d deal with Buie if he does make it to the Siena campus. Buie’s latent potential - he averaged 12.4 ppg (yay!) on 31 percent shooting (ouch!) for Hofstra - may make him worth the risk for a program that has fallen by the wayside in the MAAC race since Fran McCaffery left to take the helm at Iowa.
Eric Angevine is the editor of Storming the Floor. He tweets @stfhoops.
