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Baylor freshman point guard L.J. Rose to transfer

Just one day after news broke that Baylor's roster logjam had eased with the transfer of guard Deuce Bello, highly-touted PG recruit L.J. Rose has decided to do the same, leaving Baylor after only one year in the program.

By Mark C. Moore
Cooper Neill

Jason King is all over the transfer news of the last two days, and it appears he broke the story on this one, too. L.J. Rose, of course, came to Baylor just one year ago as part of Baylor's best recruiting class ever in 2012. He didn't get to see the court as much this season as he would have liked, I'm sure, but with Pierre Jackson and A.J. Walton graduating, I can't imagine that he wouldn't have this coming year.

I have to be honest: this transfer unnerves me a bit. With the aforementioned two leaving, Baylor was already going to be thin at the point guard position in terms of actual playing experience. That just got worse. I'm not exactly sure why Rose decided he should leave now since, like I said, he'd probably be in line for a good deal of time. There were rumors of discontent of his use this past season, but I don't see how transferring and sitting out a year alleviate those issues. Sure, you can redshirt and retain three years of eligibility, but it's just more time you have to wait to get what you think (I'm guessing) you deserve. I don't get this at all. With another year of seasoning, who's to say Rose doesn't run the team in 2014 as a junior?

With Bello's transfer clearing a spot for Freeman, this actually opens one for a newcomer, perhaps Royce O'Neale or Mike Dixon. I don't have any inside information to either effect, but I highly doubt we pocket the spot, particularly with so glaring (now) a need. In fact, I'd be shocked if we didn't fill that spot relatively quickly, to be honest. Still, this one is a bit of a shocker (to me, at least).

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