University of Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats said on Thursday that new NCAA guideline recommendations regarding the issuance of transfer waivers could make an appeal by Crimson Tide guard Jahvon Quinerly “more difficult,” but added that Quinerly, who transferred from Villanova and is seeking a waiver related to false accusations that arose in the Federal fraud trial of former Arizona assistant coach Book Richardson, “has a great case.”
Oats was speaking on the SEC’s summer basketball teleconference along with the league’s other 13 coaches.
“I’m guessing it will make it more difficult,” Oats said when asked about the guidelines, which are designed to bring more standardization to the unpredictable waiver process. “I don’t really know. It seems like they fluctuate every couple of years. They say they’re going to get more strict, and they get more strict for a year or two and then all of a sudden, they start granting a lot more waivers and then they get back to being more strict. So, I’m hoping we just caught the bad end of the pendulum swing with that.”
Quinerly, a 2018 McDonald’s All-American, is currently enrolled at UA and going through skills work with the Crimson Tide team. He would need an NCAA waiver in order to be eligible for the 2019-2020 season.
“I do think he’s got a really good case,” Oats said. “Our compliance office thinks he has a great case with just being accused of being put under the spotlight of that FBI when their family had nothing to do with that. It’s (unfortunate) that somebody else lied about him and he was put in a precarious situation that affected his freshman year in a real negative light.
“He needs a fresh start. It’s not one of those deals, though, where he’s going back close to home, so I don’t know how it will affect it. I’m going to let our compliance handle that. I think Jahvon’s in a great place. Hopefully, we’ll get him to play. If not, he’s going to be working hard, and we’re going to get him a lot better if he’s not able to play this year. So, either way, we’ll be alright.”
Oats also commented on another transfer guard, Beetle Bolden of West Virginia, who arrived on campus last weekend.
“Beetle was held out of the first workout just as they were getting some stuff from West Virginia stating he had graduated,” Oats said. “He’s actually coming off some injuries at West Virginia, so he’s held him out of some of the live stuff just to ease him back into everything. But he doesn’t miss much. In all the shooting drills, he’s immediately one of the best shooters on the team, which that’s the biggest reason we brought him in — because we needed shooting.
“He’s also a leader. He’s our only senior on the team, and he’s vocal. Even when he’s not in the drills, he’s been pretty vocal. His freshman and sophomore years, they won a lot of games at West Virginia, so he knows how to win. Hopefully, we can get him healthy, he can bring us some shooting and some leadership and help us win a lot of games next year.”
Oats continues to express optimism about the upcoming season.
“Obviously, we’ve got a somewhat new roster,” he said. “I think seven out our 13 guys will be new (with) six returning guys. I like our talent. It’s great that Kira Lewis is playing on the USA U19 Team (in the FIBA U-19 World Cup in Greece beginning on Saturday.) That will give him some great experience. He’s one of the better point guards in the country, so it’s nice to walk in your first year and have a really talented point guard, especially with the way that we play and how fast we play, and he’s one of the better transition point guards in the country.
“We’ve got four juniors (John Petty, Herb Jones, Alex Reese and Galin Smith) and I think those guys came in as a pretty heralded class — they came in with Collin Sexton, and he’s been in the NBA. So, hopefully, these four will play with a little bit more of a chip on their shoulder. They’ve got something to prove.”
Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil@tidesports.com or on Twitter @cecilhurt
