It’s been a one-of-a-kind college basketball career for CJ Fredrick, who has let the world know it was time to say good-bye to the game he loves so much.
Since he left Covington Catholic after being named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Kentucky in 2018 after leading the Colonels to a state championship, his seven years of college basketball from Iowa to Kentucky to Cincinnati may mark a career no one else may ever approach.
And now it’s over, at least the playing part of it, Fredrick said in a Facebook post this week.
“Man, what a ride. This game has given more to me than I could ever have imagined. I’ve truly been blessed to play this game and go places I have dreamed of as a kid. Even at its lowest points, it was all worth it. I will forever love the game of basketball and the relationships it’s allowed me to have for the rest of my life. To all my teammates, coaches, trainers and anyone I have met along the way, thank you for letting me be a small part of your life. I hope to give back to the game that gave me everything. Thank you.” cj_fredrick5.
There were some remarkable highs, like scoring 111 points in four Rupp Arena Sweet 16 games (a 27.8 average) to lead CovCath to that state title as a renowned three-point specialist who first landed at Iowa in the Big Ten for three years.
After a redshirt freshman season in Iowa City where he averaged 10.2 points a game and was named to the All-Big Ten Freshmen team while shooting 47.4 percent from long range when he became the only major conference player dating back to 1993 with 65 or more assists, 32 or fewer turnovers while shooting 46.1 percent from three-point range.
But those “lowest points” started hitting CJ after his transfer back to Kentucky when preseason surgery on his left hamstring made him miss that entire season after already having had to have a screw and rod surgically inserted after previous injuries. Still, the next season CJ managed to start 15 games for the Wildcats, averaging 6.1 points a game while shooting 42.6 percent from long range despite missing three games with a hand injury and four with a rib injury.
Then after his transfer two seasons ago to UC, CJ injured his other hamstring. Thanks to NCAA athletes awarded an extra season of eligibility and his freshman season sitting out – and then his injury redshirt season – CJ had a rare seven-year college career, finishing the final two as a grad student.
“It’s 100 percent frustrating,” Fredrick said last season at UC, “frustrating but not discouraging.” At UC this past season, before a season-ending February back injury, the Bearcats won all six games when CJ scored.
“First of all, he’s a wonderful young man,” said UC basketball trainer, Bob Mangine, formerly of Beechwood and CovCath high schools here.
NKU men sign 3 college veterans
NKU basketball coach Darrin Horn will have three one-and-done transfer portal replacements – two of them graduate students — for the Norse for next season. In announcing the three signings, NKU is obviously opting for experience and not the uncertainties or the waiting involved with recruiting high school prospects.
The first is Division II player Kael Robinson, a Hamilton, New Zealand native by way of Montana State (Billings) where the 6-foot-7 player with “a tremendous basketball IQ,” according to Horn, is “a great fit” at his position for NKU. Robinson averaged 17.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists with 35 blocks (1.1 average) as a senior.
Two big guards add to the NKU backcourt with Miami, Fla. Native Shawn Nelson, out of North Carolina’s Barton College, bringing “tremendous perimeter versatility because of his skill, size and length,” Horn said of the 6-4 Nelson, who averaged 18.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and more than a steal per game with a near 2-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Nelson shot 50.1% from the field, 41 percent from three-point range with 179 free throws in 30 games (5.9 a game) where he was No. 6 in Div. II in free throw attempts with 244.
The second big guard is 6-5 Louisville native Tae Dozier, who comes to NKU after four seasons at NAIA Georgetown (Ky.) College, where he averaged 11.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.5 blocks as a redshirt junior and third-team NAIA All-American for the 29-5 Tigers. “Long, athletic, multi-dimensional,” is how Horn describes Dozier, “efficient, plays every perimeter position and has a unique impact defensively.”
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.