nick aldridge
It's a done deal. Nick Aldridge is transferring from Western Carolina to UC and is expected to be at practice next week when winter quarter begins.
"I'm coming to be a Bearcat," Aldridge said.
Why UC?
"As he showed in the Big East opener the other day against Louisville, I think Coach Cronin has got a lot of young guys buying into his system," Aldridge said. "I like they way they run and press and I think I'll fit into that pretty well. I think I'll be able to bring a little toughness to the team with there being a lot of young guys. I think Coach will look to me for a little more experience."
Aldridge, a 6-7 sophomore forward from South Webster High School in Portsmouth, will begin to sit out his transfer year immediately and is expected to be eligible at the end of fall quarter next year. He was averaging about 18 points for Western Carolina this season before he decided to transfer.
Aldridge, who originally committed to UC as part of Bob Huggins' 2006 recruiting class only to change his mind after Huggins and UC parted ways, will have to pay his own way for the remainder of this academic year, but will likely be on scholarship next year. He'll have two full seasons of eligibility remaining, plus what's left of next season after fall quarter ends.
33 Comments:
How does this transfer affect UC's recruiting for next season? And will Nick be competing as a So. or Jr. when he's eligible in 2009?
Nice skill addition but is he willing to work with Cronin/others? Will give MC the benefit of the doubt and assume there have been extensive conversations re: academics, discipline, attitude, work ethic, etc.
Would love to feel real good about this but will reserve until we see how Mr. Aldridge responds. Being an optimist I hope its all good.
Nick will be eligible when fall quarter ends around mid-December 2008, and will be playing his sophmore season for the rest of the 2008-2009 season. Seems like he could be a good get if he is a smart and tough player as I have generally seen him talked about.
Nice job covering the story and getting it right Bill.
Nice job Bill, thanks for the update.
This will be a very nice addition for next year. He has nice size and you can never have enough of that coming off the bench
5:07....you write that as if bill just read "covering UC for dummies" and just started doing this. he's been covering UC since The Big O graced campus. ok, not really, but blogging may be new to bill. however, getting leads on stories like this are not.
If aldridge is going on scholarship who do we expect for Cronin to kick off scholarship?
We need open scholarships for better future recruits.
Jerry - He will be a Junior at the start of the 2009-10 season as mentioned below.
He will be a sophmore this December (mid) when he's eligible to play in games at UC (08-09).
Obviously this will take a scholarship away from the 2008-09 class, but he's probably as worthwhile with basically 2.75 years left, as any similar freshman would be, that Mick could recruit otherwise.
Think of Alridge as a top 3 Juco with 3 years instead of 2, and smarter than the average Juco might be.
Aldridge played his Soph year THIS season.
He has 2 seasons left - most of next season and all of the following.
(Like James White)
No, he played 1.5 years. He sits out the rest of this year, the first half of next year, then he gets to play another 2.5 seasons.
Re-read the article Bearcat fan. He will enter next year as a freshman. As a result of transfer rules he has to sit out a complete year, and since he is transferring prior to winter quarter he will be eligible to play immediately after fall quater at uc is over. After the 08-09 year he will then have two years remaining, essentially meaning he has 2.75 years just as the anonymous poster at 8:08 said.
Bearcat Fan Since 1958...I thought you were smarter than that.
James White played for 3 seasons. Season #1 starting after the Fall Quarter, then 2 more. Expect the same from Alridge.
Nick's situation will be exactly like James White - why is there any debate? For once the quarter system is helping UC - it helped me as well when I transfered from a semester school to UC. If you "real fans" remember, James played his first game in November of the '03-'04 season against MTSU (first dunk against Dayton - he did that wierd dance after the put-back). Anyhow, James then played the 2004-05 season and 2005-06 year (quite possibly the hardest I have ever rooted for a team - got to love AK and that group of young men).
Mick has landed a nice transfer and I can't wait for this team to continue it's growth. It shouldn't be too long until the FAIRWEATHER fans start jumping on the bandwagon again.
Nice job Bill - you really were way out in front on this.
2.75 years?? ouchhhh. my head hurts.
OK. Kid looks like he'll fit in nicely. May turn out to be special.
May turn out to be a nice little cog in the machine.
Either way. That's cool.
Thanks for sniffing this one out, Bill. Keep up the good work.
So, essentially Nick will be in the same class as this year's Freshmen. This makes for a huge class then. Looking ahead to the 2008-09 roster...
Mike Williams (Sr.)
Branden Miller (Sr.-not on scholarship)
Deonta Vaughn (Jr.)
Nick Aldrige (So.)
Kenny Belton (So.)
Rashad Bishop (So.)
Larry Davis (So.)
Anthony McClain (So.)
Alvin Mitchell (So.)
Darnell Wilks (So.)
Yancy Gates (Fr.)
Cashmere Wright (Fr.)
That still leaves 2 open scholarships if I'm counting correctly. So no one currently on the team needs to be kicked off or transfer as suggested by an earlier poster.
I guess depending on the verdict of William's appeal for a 6th year of eligibility, the team may run into a shortage of scholarships against available players. So perhaps Coach Cronin may hold off at least 1 scholarship for the class of 09?
Bill,
Now that the Aldridge situation is wrapped up for the time being, what's the deal with the other two scholarships available for the '08 and '09 class?... as well, any word on Ben Mauk (or Mike Williams for that matter) and if he'll get a 6th year of eligibility?
On Alan Cutler's show yesterday, when asked about the Aldridge situation, Mick was (of course) not able to comment on the situation. What he DID say was that it would be helpful, if the opportunity presented itself to sign someone who would be a JUNIOR next season to balance out the classes. It was quite obvious who he was referring to, so I take that to mean he'll be a Junior when he begins play next season.
James White never played a game as a Soph at Florida. That's why he still had eligibility as a Soph at UC.
Nope - this year counts as Soph year because he played.
James White DIDN'T play as Sop at Florida, hence 3 years left.
NCAA doesn't count 1/2 years.
Regards: "It shouldn't be too long until the FAIRWEATHER fans start jumping on the bandwagon again."
Not even close. We don't even know the schedule of the BB bandwagon yet. Maybe next year?
We follow and root for championship caliber teams. We do not watch developmental programs. Give UC BB some time.
..... The UC Bandwagon Fan
James White sat out (didn't play) his Soph year.
That's why he got a 3rd year at UC.
Aldrisge played last year and part of the year at WCU.
NCAA counts part of a year as 1 year.
College career
(James) White played his freshman year at the University of Florida in 2001-02, averaging 6.2 points per game. He transferred to the University of Cincinnati, and after sitting out in 2002-03, he became a starter for the Bearcats in his three years with them, including his senior year when he averaged 16.3 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.8 blocks.
The rule doesn't have anything to do with what he did this year at Western Carolina. It is based on what he does here at UC.
The transfer rule is you must sit out a full year before becoming eligible. That clock starts running when he enrolls at UC this quarter, and will then be complete at the end of fall quarter in December. He then becomes eligible.
He's a mid-year transfer, and the situation is not that unusual. He will resume his sophomore year of eligibility once final exams are done in fall quarter in December.
Nope, Aldrige's sophomore year of eligibilty was used up when he played the first 5 games of the season for Western Carolina. Even if he had been injured, after 5 games he would have had to apply to the NCAA for a redshirt year to get that eligibility back. As he wasn't injured, he doesn't have that option. He'll be a junior and will round out the junior class with Vaughn
Jerry, thanks for the list.
It says that there's one more bill due in the future regarding the Zimpher/Huggs fiasco....one class over-represented on the team.
When all those 7 scholarships disappear in the same year, that will provide one more season with an imbalance.
With 13 scholarships, ideally you'd want 3-4 per class on scholarship.
Are they allowed to use 1/2 and 1/4 scholarships with basketball?
Anon 1:18
Let's make that the BOT/Zimpher/Huggins fiasco. It couldn't have happened w/o the great BOT. Does anyone know how many of them are actually UC grads?
Nick is a real good player. I played against him in high school when he was a sophomore, junior and senior. He has the ability to play at that level and UC will be great for him. What happened to him going to WVU?
Not sure, but last time I checked there were a few people out there with brains that were not UC grads. They should be people with UC's best interests at heart, however. I think we can make the assumption that they all do, even if we don't agree with one of their decisions.
as far as whether Nick will be a soph or junior next year when eligible in mid-December, I dont think it matters at all that he played this year... he will still be a soph. think of Demetrius Jones situation in football. he played the first game at notre dame this year as a soph, transferred here a couple weeks later for the fall quarter, and will be eligible as a SOPHMORE at the beginning of next season. Nick will also be a sophmore in eligibility when he resumes next December.
So with another scholarship gone and Yancy and Cash coming in next year where does this leave us in terms of a shooting guard. Davis has shown potential but we desperately need a SG to break zones, stretch D etc. Think Aldrige is a good player but do not see him filling a "need" position.
Jones played as a SOPHOMORE at ND this fall.
He'll be eligible at UC because he sat out the whole school year BUT he'll be a JUNIOR.
Playing 1 second = 1 year of eligiblity, except if there is an injury.
Demetrius Jones used up his sophomore eligibility playing in that one game for Notre Dame. He'll be a junior next season.
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