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A few weeks ago, we talked about who was going to replace Jacob Evans for the 2018-19 Cincinnati Bearcats. While Jarron Cumberland is the correct answer, there are other guys who could take on the mantle as well. Among them is Rashawn Fredericks. That’s a rare thing to say about an incoming recruit, but Fredericks isn’t any other recruit. While he’s not a five-star blue chipper by any means, he is an experienced player who will be quickly worked into the rotation.
A transfer from Motlow State Community College in Tennessee, Fredericks is a 6’5” scoring wing who has proven he knows what it takes to win. He won state championships with Motlow and earned his fair share of NJCAA hardware, including First-Team All-American honors last season. He can score, rebound and block shots, posting a double-double stat line on the year in 2017-18 (17.7 points, 10.3 rebounds per game), while shooting 46.7 percent from the floor. He has some range and can shoot from beyond the arc and is aggressive inn attacking the offensive glass.
Fredericks got some starting minutes during UC’s summer exhibition games and his scoring touch was on full display. He had 10 points and six rebounds on 4-of-8 shooting against Ottawa and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field (2-for-2 from three) for 12 points against McGill. One possible weakness in his game is foul shooting, as he went 4-for-9 from the line in those exhibitions, but that’s an extremely small sample size.
As I wrote back when Fredericks committed, the Bearcats are going to be a team that relies on scoring from its wing players more than ever this season. Fredericks is an excellent addition to a team transitioning to such a strategy. He’ll still need to show he can defend at the collegiate level and improve his efficiency to a degree, but adding a guy of his skill will go a long way in helping the Bearcats maintain its recent run of success.