FIRST:
You ignore that it was clearly never in the grand plan for Davis to start, nor to get even 20+ minutes. Think through the math in March of 2024:
1) Known players: Harper (30-32 mpg), Bailey (30-32 mpg), Williams (24-28 mpg, the Center position combo of Ogbole/Sommerville (30-35 mpg) Those known players would be expected to combine for 114 to 127 mpg out of 200 mpg. And Davis was certainly staying also - unknow minutes at the time.
2) In particular, there was expected to be just 20-26 mpg at the PG/2G position, and 8-10 mpg at the WF position (maybe some more if Bailey played some minutes at the "4").
3) It was KNOWN by Pikiell that he intended to bring in a Stretch 4 (ended up being Martini - who I think was a very, very early target), PLUS a Guard with deep shooting abilities, PLUS a "3 and D" Wing ... that was the minimum. We also are pretty sure Pikiell tried to keep Griffiths (for his shooting potential) - that may or may not have been known to Simpson.
4) So the MATH says that there would be MAXIMUM of 26 minutes at the Guard slots, and maybe 10-15 more minutes at the "3" position (which could be part of a 3-guard line-up). So MAXIMUM, 40 minutes of playing time available for reserves at the Wing/Guard slots, for Davis, a pure "3' shooter transfer, a "3 and D" transfer ... and Simpson and/or Griffiths. There was NO WAY Pikiell could truthfully communicate to Simpson his expected playing time could be more than 15-18 mpg.
FYI, we still are not sure what Davis' minutes are going to be. In the 4 games he has started (the last 4 games), his minutes have been:19, 19, 25, 29, in that order. And his 29 minute game vs Columbia was a game where he was HITTING HIS SHOTS). His other 20+ minute games were each in the 1st 3 games of the season, two of which RU was down 2 players - well, Acuff was nominally available, but was not fully ready to play.
Davis mainly will get 20+ minutes going forward if: 1) His defense remains stellar like it has been the last 4 games; 2) he begins ot hit some shots more consistently, AND 3) Derkack/Acuff/Hayes and Martini do not improve their play to take minutes away from Davis = less so Derkack, I guess.
SECOND
There IS a drop off from a P5 program and team to the A10 - period. Its not even debatable, really. That is not to say high mid-majors (like better teams in the 10, the Mountain West, the AAC, for example) do not have real talent, nor that they are not very good teams, often better than lower level P5 teams - they do and are. But the depth on the rosters, and the depth of the leagues are significantly different.
THIRD
You have no idea whether Simpson was sent out of town, encouraged to leave, driven out, etc. No idea. There was some cryptic post from a poster who I think is in the know (though I could be wrong about that) that part of the "team" problem last season included Simpson (though I would have thought Mag and Griffiths were issues, for sure - I have no idea about Simpson). What we DO know is that Pikiell vowed (publicly no less) that he would operate differently than the prior off-season, and WOULD force players to make quick decisions on transferring or not, so that Pikiell could replace transferring players from the portal before many of the portal players signed elsewhere ... i.e. avoid the problem of losing Spencer in MAY and Mulcahy in JUNE. So ... if you say that Simpson was "encouraged" to leave because he was told the PLAN was for him to be a reserve, and have to fight for 15-18 minutes per game, then that is probably true ... meaning that was what he was told by Pikiell, at a minimum. Is it possible Pikiell actually encouraged Simpson to leave? Maybe. But at a minimum Pikiell probably told him if he would not be satisfied with 15-18 mpg he should see if he could find a program where he could start ... because no way would a coach want a player on his team that he knows will be unhappy.
