Kentucky guard CJ Fredrick commits to Cincinnati

Former Kentucky guard CJ Fredrick has committed to play for Cincinnati via the transfer portal.

Fredrick, a native of Alexandria, Kentucky just down the road from Cincy, shared the news himself on social media earlier today. It was a quick turnaround too as he entered the portal just a few days ago.

Excited for this next step in my journey! I’m all in! Go Bearcats❤️🖤 pic.twitter.com/ZODS7U5iu0

— Cj Fredrick (@cj_fredrick) April 24, 2023

Fredrick will be spending his fifth collegiate season with the Bearcats. This comes after spending two in Iowa City with the Iowa Hawkeyes and the last two in Lexington with UK.

In total, Fredrick has averaged 7.8 points per game over 80 career games. He comes with a reputation, though, with one part as a positive and one as an unfortunate negative. On the good side, he has proven to be an elite three-point shooter as he shot 46.6% from deep while at Iowa. On the flip side, he has had issues maintaining his health as he has missed several games in his career including his entire junior season in ’21-’22.

Fredrick played high school basketball at Covington Catholic, which is just a short drive from where Cincinnati plays their home games. He was a three-star recruit there in 2018 and rated a top-three prospect in the state of Kentucky per On3’s Industry Ranking.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.

Transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay? The school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.