Thursday, October 21, 1999
McGhee not returning to UC
Ex-Bearcat, now in junior college, chooses Oklahoma
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Former Cincinnati Bearcats forward Aaron McGhee will not be a future Cincinnati Bearcats forward.
McGhee, who transferred to Vincennes College in Indiana after last season, committed to continue his basketball career next season at Oklahoma.
A 6-foot-7, 240-pound product of East High in Aurora, Ill., McGhee visited Oklahoma last weekend for Midnight Madness and, after returning to junior college, informed Sooners coach Kelvin Sampson of his intent to attend Oklahoma. The Sooners began recruiting him early this fall; interest in McGhee inten sified after he averaged 29 points in a two-game junior-college showcase event last month.
McGhee had left UC with an understanding he would be welcome to return after a year in junior college, but he found the playing time available with the Sooners to be more attractive. They lose star power forward Eduardo Najera and centers Renzi Stone and Victor Avila after this season and have no available replacements. UC returns 6-11 centers Donald Little and B.J. Grove and 6-7 forward Eugene Land.
As a sophomore at UC, McGhee averaged 2.8 points and 1.9 rebounds in 8.1 minutes a game, shooting .385 from the floor and .767 from the line. He is considered to be a promising scorer, though, based on his 15-point, seven-rebound effort in a narrow victory at Southern Mississippi last season.
McGhee agreed to leave UC last spring and transfer to junior college. The Bearcats at the time needed a scholarship to add McDonald's All-American guard DerMarr Johnson to their roster.
McGhee faced another playing time crunch if he remained at UC because of the presence of veterans Kenyon Martin, Ryan Fletcher and Jermaine Tate. It would have been difficult to redshirt McGhee because he already had sat out one year as an ineligible freshman. Attending junior college and then transferring back to Division I was the only way McGhee could play four seasons of basketball.
UC recruited McGhee this fall, but he was not among the Bearcats' primary targets. With guards Field Williams of Houston and Jerome Harper of Columbia, S.C., already committed, UC remains interested in landing 6-7 forward Antwan Jones of Tallahassee Community College in Florida.
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