According to the OregonLive blog and KOIN, LSU point guard and Siuslaw High School grad Ben Voogd is transferring to Oregon. Interesting to note that neither the Register-Guard, GoDucks.com, nor the LSU basketball website have anything to say about it. It looks from the article that UO hasn't made it official yet, and that KOIN is going on Voogd's word. Apparently, he has been offered at least two years of scholarship. Per transfer rules, he has to sit out this year and will be eligible in 2008-09 with two years remaining.
I can't for the life of me figure this out. I'd say that the SEC is comparable to the Pac-10, and Voogd has averaged about one point and one assist in ten minutes a game at LSU. We didn't recruit him out of high school, so why would we offer him now that he has proven to be mediocre at best? And, the more important issue, is that Champ Oguchi's scholarship was the only one UO had to offer. Does this mean that he has officially decided not to come back?
Obviously, I hope that Ben does well at UO. And you know that I always like to see local kids play here. But I can't for the life of me figure this one out. Hopefully, Kent knows something that I don't.
Ben Voogd's stats
Ben Voogd's Rivals profile
GO DUCKS!!!
--Dave