OUbasketball4life
6/11/2009, 06:02 PM
http://wku.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=954814
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - It didn't take long for former Oklahoma forward Juan Pattillo to find a new home.
Pattillo told InsideHilltopperSports.com that he's officially decided to transfer to Western Kentucky.
"I'm not looking anywhere else," he said. "I was, but I'm committing to Western Kentucky. I'll sign probably in a couple of days, whenever the papers get here.
"It's a good program, the coaches are well-known and they've been around to have put people in the league. That's my goal in the future, so that's where I'm going and taking that route."
Pattillo was dismissed from the Sooners last month for violating team rules. According to The Oklahoman, he was suspended for one game, believed to be in conjunction with academics.
Originally, Pattillo was going to redshirt last season, his only season at Oklahoma, but he decided just before OU played *Texas* on Jan. 13 that he wanted to play.
"It's a long story," Pattillo said. "It truly is. I don't wanna get into that. It's deeper than it needed to be. It was my decision to sit out and there's just a whole lot that was going on at OU that made me come out of the redshirt. ... I'm past that now. I can't go back and change anything like that. I've just gotta move on."
Pattillo spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at College of Southern Idaho, a junior college in Twin Falls, Idaho, before signing with Oklahoma in April of last year, over Kentucky and Oklahoma State.
In just 18 games as a junior last season at Oklahoma, he averaged 6.2 points and 3.6 rebounds.
Pattillo made an official visit to WKU this past weekend during the Toppers' Elite Camp. He toured the campus, talked with the coaches and took in the camp. He said he's been keeping in contact with assistant coaches Ray Harper and Lawrence Brenneman.
"I enjoyed myself, as in all visits, you're supposed to enjoy yourself," Pattillo said. "I got to meet some players. I think they had some younger guys in there that were maybe committing to the program in the future, got to meet them and got to play with the returning fellas and got a good feel for the program."
Pattillo has been officially released from his scholarship at Oklahoma, but he will have to sit out the 2009-10 season due to NCAA transfer rules. Pattillo said that he'd been contacted from a few schools since being released from Oklahoma and going into his visit to WKU, he still wasn't sure of a decision.
Now, he said he knows what school fits him best.
"It wasn't made up before the visit and it really wasn't made up after the visit," he said. "It's been a process. I sat down and talked to some people that's close to me. We figured out what's the best decision."
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - It didn't take long for former Oklahoma forward Juan Pattillo to find a new home.
Pattillo told InsideHilltopperSports.com that he's officially decided to transfer to Western Kentucky.
"I'm not looking anywhere else," he said. "I was, but I'm committing to Western Kentucky. I'll sign probably in a couple of days, whenever the papers get here.
"It's a good program, the coaches are well-known and they've been around to have put people in the league. That's my goal in the future, so that's where I'm going and taking that route."
Pattillo was dismissed from the Sooners last month for violating team rules. According to The Oklahoman, he was suspended for one game, believed to be in conjunction with academics.
Originally, Pattillo was going to redshirt last season, his only season at Oklahoma, but he decided just before OU played *Texas* on Jan. 13 that he wanted to play.
"It's a long story," Pattillo said. "It truly is. I don't wanna get into that. It's deeper than it needed to be. It was my decision to sit out and there's just a whole lot that was going on at OU that made me come out of the redshirt. ... I'm past that now. I can't go back and change anything like that. I've just gotta move on."
Pattillo spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at College of Southern Idaho, a junior college in Twin Falls, Idaho, before signing with Oklahoma in April of last year, over Kentucky and Oklahoma State.
In just 18 games as a junior last season at Oklahoma, he averaged 6.2 points and 3.6 rebounds.
Pattillo made an official visit to WKU this past weekend during the Toppers' Elite Camp. He toured the campus, talked with the coaches and took in the camp. He said he's been keeping in contact with assistant coaches Ray Harper and Lawrence Brenneman.
"I enjoyed myself, as in all visits, you're supposed to enjoy yourself," Pattillo said. "I got to meet some players. I think they had some younger guys in there that were maybe committing to the program in the future, got to meet them and got to play with the returning fellas and got a good feel for the program."
Pattillo has been officially released from his scholarship at Oklahoma, but he will have to sit out the 2009-10 season due to NCAA transfer rules. Pattillo said that he'd been contacted from a few schools since being released from Oklahoma and going into his visit to WKU, he still wasn't sure of a decision.
Now, he said he knows what school fits him best.
"It wasn't made up before the visit and it really wasn't made up after the visit," he said. "It's been a process. I sat down and talked to some people that's close to me. We figured out what's the best decision."