Aldridge

[K-Mart123]

why would alridge transfer, and then transfer again. Is there not a NCAA rule about transfering twice?

For some reason, i think aldridge will be a valuable part of this team. I see him playing the 3 and 4. He might even be the sixth man. I see him at 10pts 5 rebounds next year.

What do you think

[bearcated]

He's demonstrated at least at a mid-major level that he can score. Goodness knows we need someone other than Vaughn who can put the ball in the hole.

[BearcatCJR23]

I asked the same question in the other thread. I see him being the guy getting the most minutes at the 3 position (splitting with Bishop) with some time at the 4 vs. smaller teams, even if not on athletic scholarship.

[Lobot]

Ok here's a good question. Aldridge committed to UC and then reneged when Huggs left. Is he still bound by LOI now that he's back at UC or did we let him go at that point? I guess the real question is, is he now stuck here?

[JasonS]

Since he is not on scholarship right now has he even officially transfered? He may have waited to see what the outcome was with the last remaining scholarship. I wonder if he could transfer to another D1 school without having to worry about NCAA rules?

[bearcat1518]

He's demonstrated at least at a mid-major level that he can score. Goodness knows we need someone other than Vaughn who can put the ball in the hole.

Very true...I don't know why so many people are overlooking this kid. He averaged 18 and 7 as a true freshman in Division 1. I know he played in the Southern Conference, but still (and might I add that's where Davidson and the mighty Stephon Curry hail from).

He has some experience and more importantly, some experience scoring and being the go to guy. I think he might be a 6th man, if not very close to the first sub in the game. (What that does to Mitchell, Wilks, and company???)

[JasonS]

Very true...I don't know why so many people are overlooking this kid. He averaged 18 and 7 as a true freshman in Division 1. I know he played in the Southern Conference, but still (and might I add that's where Davidson and the mighty Stephon Curry hail from).

He has some experience and more importantly, some experience scoring and being the go to guy. I think he might be a 6th man, if not very close to the first sub in the game. (What that does to Mitchell, Wilks, and company???)

I don't know if people are necessarily overlooking the kid. I know my thinking is strictly in number of scholarships and who is the odd man out. Maybe Toyloy doesn't commit to UC and it doesn't matter. If he does, someone has to leave/pay their own way, right? Wilks isn't going anywhere. His potential is huge and just because he didn't play much this year doesn't mean he won't contribute and soon. I think it comes down to Mitchell and Aldridge. If Mick had made up his mind on Mitchell leaving, we would have known by now. I think that says Mick is leaning toward letting Mitchell back. If that is the case, Aldridge is the odd man out. He has to be.

[Lobot]

I don't know if people are necessarily overlooking the kid. I know my thinking is strictly in number of scholarships and who is the odd man out. Maybe Toyloy doesn't commit to UC and it doesn't matter. If he does, someone has to leave/pay their own way, right? Wilks isn't going anywhere. His potential is huge and just because he didn't play much this year doesn't mean he won't contribute and soon. I think it comes down to Mitchell and Aldridge. If Mick had made up his mind on Mitchell leaving, we would have known by now. I think that says Mick is leaning toward letting Mitchell back. If that is the case, Aldridge is the odd man out. He has to be.

Toyloy Verballed today according to Rivals/BCL.

[bearcat1518]

I don't know if people are necessarily overlooking the kid. I know my thinking is strictly in number of scholarships and who is the odd man out. Maybe Toyloy doesn't commit to UC and it doesn't matter. If he does, someone has to leave/pay their own way, right? Wilks isn't going anywhere. His potential is huge and just because he didn't play much this year doesn't mean he won't contribute and soon. I think it comes down to Mitchell and Aldridge. If Mick had made up his mind on Mitchell leaving, we would have known by now. I think that says Mick is leaning toward letting Mitchell back. If that is the case, Aldridge is the odd man out. He has to be.

I hear you. Not to disagree, because I certainly hope Wilks turns out to be a great player...but everyone keeps saying his potential is huge? What is this based on? I've seen his videos. I know he's got the body and the athleticism. But couldn't you say the same thing for Biggie? Alvin? Belton? All of them have huge potential and you could simply say they have the right bodies or athleticism. Everyone keeps saying that Wilks is the next James White or better, and like I said...I hope he is...but where's the merit in those claims?

He only averaged 17 in HS. Did he tear it up in practice this year? On the AAU circuit last summer? Just trying to get the scoop (no harm intended)...

I would think that UC needs to start winning now. I see Alridge as being one of the guys that can help with this immediate need. Guys like Wilks, Belton...maybe a year or 2 away still.

[bearcat1518]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Alridge (if he plays) will be Junior with 2 years of eligibility remaining (this year and next year).

I swear I remember James White playing a full season at Florida as a freshman, and a few games as a sophmore before transferring to UC and sitting out. Then he played 4 seasons for UC (after sitting Nov/Dec of his sophmore year).

Didn't Alridge do the same...play his frosh year...a couple games his sophmore year ( and transferred before the holiday break)? Why does he only get 2 years if James got 3?

[Kindog202]

We had a big discussion on Aldridge's status a couple months back when he first committed and it was shown that because Aldridge played a few games this year as a soph at Western Carolina and then transfered, he used up 1 year of eligibility playing in those games. If he wanted to, he could sit out next year entirely and play for 2 more full seasons starting the year after. As it stands now, he will play in December next year as a junior and then be a senior with Vaughn.
**
The excitement about Wilkes centers around his potential. He has point guard skills with tons of of athleticism and potential in a 6'8 frame. He was a late bloomer and riser who Mick got in on early and I think part of the reason why they got him on campus last year was to make sure he didn't change his mind if he blew up even bigger in his last year of high school ball resulting in some other big name programs jumping in on him. He is from Tenn. and looks like a type of player that would go to Tenn. or Memphis.

[bearcat1518]

We had a big discussion on Aldridge's status a couple months back when he first committed and it was shown that because Aldridge played a few games this year as a soph at Western Carolina and then transfered, he used up 1 year of eligibility playing in those games. If he wanted to, he could sit out next year entirely and play for 2 more full seasons starting the year after. As it stands now, he will play in December next year as a junior and then be a senior with Vaughn.
**
The excitement about Wilkes centers around his potential. He has point guard skills with tons of of athleticism and potential in a 6'8 frame. He was a late bloomer and riser who Mick got in on early and I think part of the reason why they got him on campus last year was to make sure he didn't change his mind if he blew up even bigger in his last year of high school ball resulting in some other big name programs jumping in on him. He is from Tenn. and looks like a type of player that would go to Tenn. or Memphis.

Kindog, I hear you regarding Wilks...but OTHER than his athleticism and frame what do we have to claim he's going to be great? Dominance in practice? AAU?

Also, didn't White play a few games his soph year at Florida before transferring? I could be wrong, but I swore he did.

[bearcated]

I know lots of folks are enamored with Mitchell. Supposedly he has talent, scoring ability etc. All I know is I sat and watched Aldridge have a single better scoring game against UC than Mitchell seemingly had all season. I would rather hold onto the guy that may not be as talented, but has demonstrated an ability to perform against D1 competition. Over the past few years UC has had a parade of talented, but immature guys who never panned out. Mitchell may just be another one of those.

We need guys ready to perform now. Next season starts in 6 months. Mick won't give me a vote, but if I had one I'd say keep Aldridge and give him the scholarship.

[Kindog202]

I know lots of folks are enamored with Mitchell. Supposedly he has talent, scoring ability etc. All I know is I sat and watched Aldridge have a single better scoring game against UC than Mitchell seemingly had all season. I would rather hold onto the guy that may not be as talented, but has demonstrated an ability to perform against D1 competition. Over the past few years UC has had a parade of talented, but immature guys who never panned out. Mitchell may just be another one of those.

We need guys ready to perform now. Next season starts in 6 months. Mick won't give me a vote, but if I had one I'd say keep Aldridge and give him the scholarship.

Hopefully, we can keep both with Aldridge walking on. I agree, Aldridge is the better player now. But if Alvin gets his mind right and buys into Mick and the system, his potential and ceiling is higher than Aldridge's. I'd just hate to see him go somewhere else and tear it up.

[Bearcat Jeff]

I believe Aldridge is undervalued on this site. He is tough and proven with D1 experience. What I see Mick doing is adding scoring options off the bench and trying to make this a more balanced team. I really like our depth and the toughness factor being added by recruiting Aldridge, Ward, Dixon, and Toyloy. It will be interesting to see the progress Larry Davis makes over the off season. Remember, due to a knee injury last season was his first competitive one in two years. We needed Toyloy because we don't know how Williams and McClain will respond to surgery and Belton needs to improve his conditioning. The backcourt is young but deep with options. This team will press and push the ball.

[ralph1950]

Somewhere 1958 "Aldridge will be on scholarship" is eating a lot of crow.

[shaunsimpson]

I am not going to pretend to know what is best for the program...I leave that up to Mick and others who know way more about the sport than I do.

But here is my question. Aldridge came to UC with no guarentee of a scholorship. If Aldridge is THAT good couldn't he have gone somewhere else in a high level school to get a scholorship? Or is there something about UC that he is addicted to.

That being said.....he is not forced to be at UC. He is a transfer so doesn't sign a LOI. This year counted as his transfer year, but also a elgibility year (this I am pretty sure, but not 100% sure about).

Also, how good is his defense? We saw that Mick will sit a good scorer if they get lost on defense (a la Davis).

[bearcated]

But here is my question. Aldridge came to UC with no guarentee of a scholorship. If Aldridge is THAT good couldn't he have gone somewhere else in a high level school to get a scholorship? Or is there something about UC that he is addicted to.

I don't think we know what his options were or what other schools may or may not have contatcted him. I'm not saying he's Kevin Love. It would just be nice to have a guy thats shown an ability to score at a D1 level. Who knows why guys pick schools?


That being said.....he is not forced to be at UC. He is a transfer so doesn't sign a LOI. This year counted as his transfer year, but also a elgibility year (this I am pretty sure, but not 100% sure about).

My understanding is you get 5 years for 4 years of eligibility. Can he just pull up stakes and go somewhere else and be eligible at the same time as he was here? I don't know. If someone does I would like to hear them comment.


Also, how good is his defense? We saw that Mick will sit a good scorer if they get lost on defense (a la Davis).
I only saw him the one game, and against UCs juggernaut offense it was hard to gauge. I look at it this way. Other than Vaughn UC lost virtually all their offense to graduation. Williams averaged around 3 PPG in 2 years at Texas. I expect better than that at UC, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect him to score huge numbers. So who's going to score? Can you count on freshman (Gates and Wright) to carry your offense with Vaughn? You can't beat people 40-35, at some point you have to put the ball in the hole.

[bearcated]

Just for fun and games I looked at Aldridges stats from last year (06 -07 season). He went for 12 pts and 8 reb in his second game at Purdue. At X he went 5 and 0 (his worst game of the year). At UD 6 pts and 7 reb. At St Marys 28 and 8. Versus Rice 15 and 9. At South Carolina he went 12 and 4. At College of Charleston he scored 39 and he had another game over 30 against App State. He may not be a world beater, but these aren't bad numbers for a freshman.

[BtotheU]

I am not going to pretend to know what is best for the program...I leave that up to Mick and others who know way more about the sport than I do.

But here is my question. Aldridge came to UC with no guarentee of a scholorship. If Aldridge is THAT good couldn't he have gone somewhere else in a high level school to get a scholorship? Or is there something about UC that he is addicted to.

That being said.....he is not forced to be at UC. He is a transfer so doesn't sign a LOI. This year counted as his transfer year, but also a elgibility year (this I am pretty sure, but not 100% sure about).

Also, how good is his defense? We saw that Mick will sit a good scorer if they get lost on defense (a la Davis).

Aldridge grew up a fan of UC, as a kid from the Ohio Valley area. And let's not forget that there are many kids out there who get overlooked, yet end up having great careers on a mid-major team (i.e. Stephen Curry, AJ Graves, Kyle Korver, etc). Not all the great college players go to big-name schools.

[bearcated]

Remember the McGhee kid from a few years back? He was defensively challenged at UC, and UC ran out of scholarships, so he transferred to JUCO or some place and then ended up at Oklahoma. At Oklahoma he became a very effective scorer. The bottom line was UC ran off an pretty good player to keep guys that didn't contribute as much.

[CincyBeerCo]

Remember the McGhee kid from a few years back? He was defensively challenged at UC, and UC ran out of scholarships, so he transferred to JUCO or some place and then ended up at Oklahoma. At Oklahoma he became a very effective scorer. The bottom line was UC ran off an pretty good player to keep guys that didn't contribute as much.

I could be wrong, but I think Aaron McGhee was "run off" to make room for Dermarr Johnson on the 1999/2000 team. I'm not sure who from that squad (arguably the best UC team since the 1960's) didn't contribute much.

I agree however that it is not a good practice to run people off that you have already given a scholarship to, but Aldridge from my understanding has never been offered/promised a scholly. I really think he will end up finding a way to be here next year.

[Cats4Ever]

Remember the McGhee kid from a few years back? He was defensively challenged at UC, and UC ran out of scholarships, so he transferred to JUCO or some place and then ended up at Oklahoma. At Oklahoma he became a very effective scorer. The bottom line was UC ran off an pretty good player to keep guys that didn't contribute as much.

If I remember right, it was decided to keep Eugene Land over McGee. Ugh!

[Mick's Da Man]

Yeah, Huggs could have had Chris Lofton too, but chose Jihad Muhammed instead. Ugh.

[anbuc88]

If I remember right, it was decided to keep Eugene Land over McGee. Ugh!

I think BH was caught between a rock and a hard place. If he let Eugene Land go he would have hurt his relationship with local coaches, as Land went to Roger Bacon. Unfortunately he dislocated his knee in the offseason, ultimately ending a possible promising career. Aaron McGhee was POY in the Big 12 as a senior at Oklahoma, leading them to the Final Four. Muhammed over Lofton was a more egregious error.

[Eastside_J]

I have no idea about the scholarship situation with Aldridge but I do believe that Aldridge is going to be a very important guy next year.

He has the proven ability to score in lots of different ways. There are a lot of guys coming in who may be able to be productive scorers next year and still others who may be developed into highly productive scorers here. But truthfully we have ONE returning player who is a proven night in and night out scorer. Aldridge is the only other guy who has proven ability (at the d1 level) to take on the pressure and responsibility of a scorers role.

He isn't going to be the only guy a opposing team has to worry about like he was at WCU and he isn't going to have to play every damn minute like he did there either.

But in my opinion he is going to play a lot and be a guy we rely on for consistent play and production.

I hope something can be worked out between Aldridge and Mick for a scholarship now or a year from now because I can see this being an important player and relationship for Mick (and huge team and opportunity upgrade for Aldridge).

[bearcatmark]

I think BH was caught between a rock and a hard place. If he let Eugene Land go he would have hurt his relationship with local coaches, as Land went to Roger Bacon. Unfortunately he dislocated his knee in the offseason, ultimately ending a possible promising career. Aaron McGhee was POY in the Big 12 as a senior at Oklahoma, leading them to the Final Four. Muhammed over Lofton was a more egregious error.

It was one of those UC needed a PG situations and Lofton was not that highly regarded. Hindsight is always 20-20. You get some right..you get some wrong.

I agree on the land point

[MikeInClifton]

If I remember right, it was decided to keep Eugene Land over McGee. Ugh!

I thought it was DerMarr.

[Cats4Ever]

I thought it was DerMarr.

I thought to make room for DerMarr, they needed to free up a scholly, which was McGhee's (keeping Land).

If I remember right :confused:.

[Lobot]

According to Bill Koch, if you read the article about two guards and a center carefully (BCN frontpage), Aldridge is expected to be an addition to the team for next year. Either he knows something we don't or someone gave him bad info.

[SLMadiCat]

Or he is going based on the information that is out there which is that Aldridge joined the team. He practices with UC, goes to classes at UC and attends the other events. Why wouldn't you assume he is part of the team unless it is stated otherwise?

[Lobot]

Or he is going based on the information that is out there which is that Aldridge joined the team. He practices with UC, goes to classes at UC and attends the other events. Why wouldn't you assume he is part of the team unless it is stated otherwise?

That's a valid question. With all the discussion of him having to pay his own way or walking if he had to, I wasn't sure what to hang my hat on anymore frankly. I still don't know. I'd like to hear he's on the team from the Athletic Dept or Cronin personally. I haven't heard that yet.

[jeffto]

It was one of those UC needed a PG situations and Lofton was not that highly regarded. Hindsight is always 20-20. You get some right..you get some wrong.

I agree on the land pointLofton was shooting the lights out in high school and wanted to come to UC, but as you said you can't win them all.

[Bearcat Jeff]

Lofton was shooting the lights out in high school and wanted to come to UC, but as you said you can't win them all.
Your man Huggy Bear thought he was too slow and unathletic at the time. I'm sure looking back he would take a do over.

[Billy Don]

I thought to make room for DerMarr, they needed to free up a scholly, which was McGhee's (keeping Land).

If I remember right :confused:.

UC was supposed to have a deal with McGhee,that he would leave for a year to make room for DerMarr then come back. Well McGhee got PO'd for some reason and went to Okla. instead.

[Mick's Da Man]

It was one of those UC needed a PG situations and Lofton was not that highly regarded. Hindsight is always 20-20. You get some right..you get some wrong.

I agree on the land point


I guess I'm smarter than the former UC coaching staff then, because I argued heavily for them to take Lofton when he wanted to come here. :cool:

[SLMadiCat]

UC was supposed to have a deal with McGhee,that he would leave for a year to make room for DerMarr then come back. Well McGhee got PO'd for some reason and went to Okla. instead.

McGhee wasn't dumb enough to make that deal, no one is. If he was run off already once, why would he trust Huggins again to come back?

You sound like you are surprised McGhee was PO'd, why wouldn't he be? After all, you ripped Cronin for "running off" Crowell.

[Eastside_J]

McGhee wasn't dumb enough to make that deal, no one is. If he was run off already once, why would he trust Huggins again to come back?

You sound like you are surprised McGhee was PO'd, why wouldn't he be? After all, you ripped Cronin for "running off" Crowell.

McGhee got shafted and really proved that he had been underutilized and undeveloped here. He was a major player for Okla.

[Bp4thebest]

Ok here's a good question. Aldridge committed to UC and then reneged when Huggs left. Is he still bound by LOI now that he's back at UC or did we let him go at that point? I guess the real question is, is he now stuck here?

If we end up not giving him a scholorship does he need to sign an LOI? which at this point we probably wont sign more then one more guy if any but if Alvin stays by off change then we may not give him a scholorship...but only if we do sign someone else!

[MikeInClifton]

Your man Huggy Bear thought he was too slow and unathletic at the time. I'm sure looking back he would take a do over.

So would KY, WVU, Indiana, Dayton, FLA, Louisville, Alabama and Notre Dame - all of which were said to be recruiting him.

[shaunsimpson]

Aldridge grew up a fan of UC, as a kid from the Ohio Valley area. And let's not forget that there are many kids out there who get overlooked, yet end up having great careers on a mid-major team (i.e. Stephen Curry, AJ Graves, Kyle Korver, etc). Not all the great college players go to big-name schools.

1) I am amazed that he would rather pay his way at a big-name school (yes, I am still calling UC that) instead of a scholorship from a mid-major for that reason. He could go to a team like Davidson and play very well (assuming he left his current school due to his coach.

2) However, I did not remember him being such a UC fan. If that is the case it may be his goal to play at UC and that could explain a lot.

c) How is it that most threads get so far off topic that they end up becoming a pissing match between Huggins supporters and Huggins haters. This is supposed to be about a player in the future not decisions made by a coach who isn't here and players who are not here. Come on there are plenty of threads for that.