Royce O'Neale Transferring To Baylor

by Rob Dauster

Details On Transfer

Baylor has lost a pair of guards to transfer in the last couple of weeks, but the Bears may have found a way to fill that void.

Royce O’Neale is expected to commit to the Bears today, according to a report from Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com. O’Neale is a 6-foot-5 wing from Killeen, TX, that averaged 11.2 points, 5.5 boards and 3.5 assists for a good Denver team last season. O’Neale’s grandfather is sick and he’s transferring home to be closer to him, and O’Neale is expected to apply for a waiver to gain immediate eligibility. 

O’Neale isn’t the only wing that Baylor has added recently, as they also signed top 100 recruit Al Freeman after Freeman backed out of his commitment to UCLA.

18 comments:

dggoddard said...

How incredibly convenient that a large D-1 school nearby his home was able to offer up a schollie.

Anonymous said...

Poached.

This will cost DU an NCAA berth next year.

Anonymous said...

Would this have happened if DU was still in a conference that played in the state of Texas multiple times per year? This has to be tremendously demoralizing for the rest of the team and the coaching staff that recruited and developed Royce.

Anonymous said...

Would this have happened if DU had a chance of ever making it to the NCAAs? The NIT just won’t cut it. Joe has to go.

dggoddard said...

DU could make the NCAA's 20 years in a row and players would still leave if any Big 12 school came a knockin'.

Welcome to big time college basketball. DU wants to swim with the sharks.

Anonymous said...

His family should have told him to finish his commitment to the Pioneers, sick Grandfather or not.

This reeks.

dggoddard said...

Sucks for DU.

Great opportunity for Royce.

Grandpa will have a miraculous recovery and will be cheering at every game.

Can't fault Royce, his family or Baylor.

NCAA makes the rules and this is obviously a massive loophole.

Anonymous said...

Sharks indeed. DU got screwed.

DU takes the full risk and recruits a kid the big boys didn't want. DU then develops the kid into an all-league level player as a sophomore, and then loses the kid to power 6 Baylor with the sick grandfather/hardship waiver and an instant scholarship eligibility. Really? Fu-k me.

Something is rotten here. No D-I player should ever have immediate transfer eligibility. Ever. The whole reason you should have sit out a year is to protect the schools from losing players to poaching.

Somehting here isn't passing the sniff test...

Anonymous said...

He was probably sick of playing Joe Scott Basketball: Playing against no-name opponents while getting screamed at constantly by a lunatic head coach in front of 35 family members, 12 students, and 2,000 elementary school children on class field trips.

Yeah, you'd leave too.

Congrats to Royce and I hope everyone in his family gets healthy enough to come watch every game at Baylor.

Anonymous said...

AHH!! The sick grandfather loophole. Congratulations N.C.A.A.
Once more you show your true colors.

Dunker said...



Royce is a big time college player. Scott has done a great job, but it cannot very pleasant playing for him. (and this is coming from a Rutgers fan, home of college basketball lunacy) I have said for years now that if someone showed they could player at a higher level then DU, they would transfer. Some kids just stay because they love being at DU, but the basketball experience has to be hard to take sometimes.
I can only assume that Royce is telling the truth about the family illness. He showed enough talent so that he could have transferred after year 1 if he wanted out that badly.

Anonymous said...

I wonder about the yelling Scott does, but at the end of the day, the players know he cares about them as both players and people and he's doing it to develop them.

If he we really that awful, more kids would have left...

Scott has been here seven years and there's only been about 2-3 transfers of guys who have actually played for DU that I can think of - Royce O'Neale (to Baylor), Sabatino Chen (DU to CU)and that kid a few years ago who went back to Nebraska (whose name escapes me).

Some programs have multiple transfers on a yearly basis as kids realize the playing time would be limited...

Anonymous said...

Royce is very visible on campus and seems to have many friends at DU, both on the team and away from it. Every time I see him, he looks like he's having a great time.

Who knows?

dggoddard said...

Serratore got fired for yelling at the players, Scott won't be.

Difference is that one coach was losing and one is winning.

DU knew what they were getting in Scott when they hired him. Its hardly a secret that he's a firey guy.

5BWest said...

Lets take him for his word. Scott is a great coach. The players like him. We were lousy team before he came and they play a great brand of ball. No threat to hockey and never will.

Great success to both!

Anonymous said...

I think it is overly simplistic to assume that a coach who is vocal and animated with his players during the game has a poor relationship with them. Nor would a more polite coach imply player support. There are examples in all sports and levels that would contradict these assumptions. Both Coach Scott and Coach Tierney are fiery on the sidelines but they also seem to demonstrate great thoughtfulness and class. If any of you caught Coach Tierney's interview after the NCAA first round game he was extremely eloquent in his praise for the high-scoring brothers on Albany and the way his seniors were recognized this year was similarly thoughtful. Joe Scott seems to have a similar touch such as in his remarks at the year-end banquet on humility. I agree with a previous poster that the number and circumstance of transfers in/out of a program is a better indication of how players feel. Improving as a player and playing for a winning team are a big part of how players feel about their experience and both Scott/Tierney seem to be on the right track in that area.

Dunker said...


TimT89

I live in Bedminster

Dunker said...


Anonymous May 16th at 5:10 PM Central: Very unfair post. For all we know, his grandfather raised him and he needs Royce's care. Killeen Texas is not Cherry Creek, Beverly Hills, or Short Hills