Iowa Guard CJ Fredrick To Enter Transfer Portal
There were many good reasons that Iowa basketball fans yearned for a longer NCAA run by this past season's Iowa men's team. One being that fans know just how fast things can change. Senior Luka Garza has moved on. His replacement at center, Jack Nunge, has transferred closer to home, at Xavier. Joe Wieskamp is once again testing the NBA waters. Now another Hawkeye is planning to change zip codes.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette is reporting, along with Hawkeye Nation, and the Des Moines Register, the Iowa guard CJ Fredrick will enter the NCAA transfer portal and leave the University of Iowa. The redshirt sophomore has started 52 games over his career at Iowa. He averaged just over 7 points per game this past season, but was plagued by injuries. The previous year he averaged over 10 per game for Iowa. He was a good on ball defender, and he made over 46% of his threes, according to the Gazette.
This is a potentially big blow to this Iowa program. Fredrick was going to be counted on as a scorer and a leader for the Hawkeyes going forward. Along with his three point shooting, Fredrick rarely turned the ball over. He had only 10 turnovers in over 660 minutes played last season.
So where will Fredrick end up? Well, he is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. He played high school ball across the Ohio River at Covington Catholic. He won a Kentucky one-A state title there. Could the Kentucky Wildcats be a landing spot? One thing is for certain. Iowa needs to start landing a few players via the transfer portal instead of losing them. And soon. Very soon.