St. Mary's Brad Waldow

St. Mary's signed Brad Waldow out of Ponderosa High a couple of years back and Waldow redshirted last season in Moraga. At 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds, the year away from game competition allowed him a period of adjustment time to both college but also college hoops. It seemed like a wise move and one that Coach Randy Bennett could afford.

So what is Waldow up to this season as a redshirt freshman?

In 15 games so far (seven starts), he is averaging 7 points and 3.5 rebounds a game in just under 14 minutes a contest. Waldow is shooting 67% from the floor and has blocked 13 shots. His free throw shooting is below 50% but that's correctable.

The reason for this post? Because it was such a wise move to give Waldow a year of acclimatization, thus allowing him four more seasons of athletic eligibility. He came from a small school with very limited exposure against other similarly sized bigs so any additional time was going to be a basketball plus.

What I don't know is who else was pursuing Waldow and what were their plans for him? Would he have played right away elsewhere (in D-1)? It's impossible to determine but probably so.

I have no idea how Waldow's St. Mary's tenure will work out -- it's pretty promising so far -- but it sure seems like this one is a story where the needs of both the school and student-athlete, and the plan of action, has proven mutually beneficial.