After the smoke started to clear on the #FIREMIKEMILLER era of Eastern basketball, it was time to look ahead to the future.

Whoever the new coach was going to be was surely going to have his work cut out for him, but he wasn’t completely stranded. Sure, losing Jeremy Granger, LC Doss and Zavier Sanders all to graduation was going to be tough, but there still were some quality players on the roster. James Hollowell, Taylor Jones and Austin Akers had all shown that they had potential, but no player on the Eastern team had more potential than Alfonzo McKinnie.

McKinnie truly was a diamond in the rough on a team that struggled to stay alive in a conference that’s probably never been tougher than it is right now.

I was really excited to see what McKinnie could do under a new coach and teamed up with former UConn player Darius Smith, who will join the team this season.

As a writer, I was excited for the McKinnie-Smith show to bring some excitement to a team that, quite frankly, hasn’t been that exciting. As a fan of basketball, I was just really excited to see two great athletes do great things on the floor.

On Tuesday’s public interview with potential Miller replacement Jay Spoonhour, he talked about wanting to build a team that people wanted to go see, about filling the seats. McKinnie is the type of player that people want to see. If you went to an Eastern game at Lantz, you were almost guaranteed to see a thunderous McKinnie dunk. There’s no question the kid could dunk. I remember thinking about next season. Smith, McKinnie and Hollowell all potentially starting.

People would have wanted to see that. I know I did.

But, we’ve all heard the story by now. McKinnie isn’t coming back. He’s headed up north to wear green and gold at Wisconsin-Green Bay. He’s going to join an old Eastern assistant and an old high school teammate. Say it aint so, Al.

McKinnie had the potential to be a star. He’s definitely on his way, and I don’t doubt that he won’t find success at Wisconsin-Green Bay. I just really wish he would have stayed and been a star here.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7942 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.