Aldridge on board

Western Carolina transfer Nick Aldridge, UC's newest player, was not at practice today, but is enrolled in school, which means that Mick Cronin is now allowed to talk about him.

"He can score the ball," Cronin said. "He's a big, strong guy. I don’t have to tell him how to score. He can put points on the board. He’s rough and tough around the rim. He likes to use his body and mix it up. He could be a nice addition for us. He understands here it's going to be more of a team concept than when he was at Western Carolina and he was a big scorer, but we're not going to discourage anybody from scoring."

Cronin said that Aldridge, a 6-7 forward who has two years of eligibility remaining, probably will not practice with the team until next week.

"I'll probably have him get in shape first," he said. "He's got to get his legs back, get some running in. I don't want to throw him out there before he's ready because I don't want him to get hurt."