'Suitcase Charlie' Moore and 3 Transfers from Pac-12 Reach Sweet 16
Eleven players who played for Pac-12 schools last season participated in this year’s NCAA tournament for different teams after transferring, but only three of those transfers have made it to the Sweet 16.
Then there is the case of Charlie Moore, who started his nomadic journey at Cal six years ago and now finds himself in the Sweet 16 playing for his fourth Division I school. But we'll talk more about Moore's many stops on his circuitous college basketball journey later in this story. For now let’s focus on the 11 who transferred from the Pac-12 last season, and the three who are still alive in the NCAA tournament. This group does not include Pelle Larsson, who transferred within the Pac-12, from Utah to Arizona.
The Three Survivors:
Remy Martin, Kansas (formerly Arizona State) – Martin has been limited for much of the 2021-22 season because of bone bruise to his knee. But he seems fine now and played a vital role in Kansas’ victories in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Now coming off the bench after being a starter before his injury, Martin had 15 points and four assists in 21 minutes in the first-round game against Texas Southern, and he was even better in the second-round win over Creighton, collecting a team-high 20 points along with seven rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes. Martin played three seasons at Arizona State and was a first-team all-Pac-12 selection last season.
Aljaz Kunc, Iowa State (formerly Washington State) – Kunc is not a starter for the 11th-seeded Cyclones these days, but he played a major role in their second-round upset of Big Ten co-champion Wisconsin, making several critical plays down the stretch. A starter in the game against the Badgers, Kunc finished that game with just seven points and six rebounds, but all seven of his points, three of his rebounds and one of his two blocked shots came in the final six minutes. Kunc played his three previous seasons at Washington State, starting 26 games for the Cougars.
Daniel Batcho, Texas Tech (formerly Arizona) – The 6-foot-11 Frenchman does not get a lot of court time as a redshirt freshman for the Red Raiders, but he did play in both of the Red Raiders’ NCAA tournament games. He played 15 minutes against Montana State and five minutes in the win over Notre Dame. He did not score or even take a shot in either game, and has totaled just two points in his past seven games combined. He did not play at all for Arizona last season, when he redshirted.
The Eight Who Were Eliminated
James Akinjo, Baylor (formerly Arizona) – A first team all-Big 12 selection, Akinjo led a furious second-half comeback for top-seeded Baylor after the Bears fell behind North Carolina by 25 points and forced overtime, only to lose in the extra period in a second-round game. Akinjo finished the game with 20 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals. Fifteen of his points came after halftime, including five in the final two minutes of regulation time. His three-point play with 15 seconds left tied the game and sent it to overtime. Akinjo played just one season for Arizona last year after transferring from Georgetown, and he was named to the 10-man all-Pac-12 team a year ago.
Timmy Allen, Texas (formerly Utah) – Allen was a second-team all-Big 12 choice, but he had a disappointing performance in the second round, which was part of the reason the Longhorns lost to Purdue. He led Texas in scoring (12.1) and rebounding (6.4) and had a typical game in the Longhorns’ first-round win over a hot Virginia Tech team, collecting 14 points and six rebounds. But in the second-round loss to Purdue, Allen was limited to 18 minutes because of foul trouble and eventually fouled out after scoring just two points on 1-for-6 shooting and two rebounds. He played three years at Utah and averaged better than 17 points in each of his final two seasons with the Utes.
Matt Bradley, San Diego State (formerly Cal) – Bradley transferred to San Diego State just to give himself a chance to play in the NCAA tournament, but in the Aztecs’ first-round loss to Creighton things did not go well for him or his team. He scored 16 points, but was 6-for-19 from the field and 0-for-5 on three-point attempts. The worst part was that he missed the first free throw in a one-and-one situation with 6.4 seconds left in regulation time and the score tied. Bradley, a first-team all-Mountain West selection, then fumbled the ball away when attempting a shot with two seconds left in overtime and San Diego State down by two points. He played his first three seasons at Cal, averaging better than 16 points each season.
Alonzo Plummer, Illinois (formerly Utah) – Plummer averaged 14.6 points while hitting 40.8% of his three-point shots this season while helping the Illini to a share of the Big Ten title. He scored 15 points and hit two critical free throws with 12 seconds left to give Illinois a one-point victory in the first round, but he was just 2-for-10 while scoring eight points in the second-round loss to Houston. Plummer played two seasons at Utah and averaged 13.6 points last season.
Brendan Wenzel, Wyoming (formerly Utah) – Wentzel played 37 minutes in Wyoming’s preliminary-round loss to Indiana and recorded five points and four rebounds, which is about what he averaged over the season. He played in just three games for Utah last year and did not score a point.
RaeQuan Battle, Montana State (formerly Washington) – Battle scored nine points in 13 minutes of court time in the 35-point loss to Texas Tech in the first round. He averaged 8.5 points off the bench for Big Sky champion Montana Stat after 4.9 points and 4.2 points in his two seasons at Washington.
Nate Pryor, New Mexico State (formerly Washington) – Pryor did not play in New Mexico State’s first-round upset of Connecticut, and he scored just two points in 15 minutes of playing time in the second-round loss to Arkansas. He averaged 2.9 points for the Aggies after averaging 4.2 points last season for Washington.
Chandler Lawson, Memphis (formerly Oregon) – Lawson played four minutes but did not score in the first-round win over Boise State, and he did not play in Memphis’ second-round loss to Gonzaga when the Tigers blew a 12-points, second-half lead. He made 20 starts in his two seasons at Oregon, averaging about four points each season.
The Charlie Moore Journey
Moore has played Division I basketball for teams on the West Coast (Cal), the Midwest (Kansas, DePaul) and the Southeast (Miami-Fla.), and he has played in four of the six so-called Power Six basketball conferences (Pac-12, Big 12, Big East and ACC).
Moore has been a standout in this year’s NCAA tournament, and he hopes to help 10th-seeded Miami Into the Elite Eight for the first time in school history when it takes on 11th-seeded Iowa State in Sweet 16 game Friday.
This past week, he had 16 points, four assists and four steals as well as the two game-winning free throws with three seconds left in the two-point win over USC, then put up the near-triple-double line of 15 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in the Hurricanes. 79-81 upset of No. 2 seed Auburn.
Postseason play is nothing new for Moore, who initially signed with Memphis out of high school but enrolled at Cal instead when Memphis coach Josh Pastner took the Georgia Tech job.
Moore started 34 games as a Cal freshman in 2016-17, and he scored a school-freshman-record 38 points in his second game and averaged 12.2 points for the season.. He helped Cal to a 21-13 overall record and 10-8 conference mark, earning the Bears a berth in the NIT. Cal lost its opening NIT game to Cal State Bakersfield and Moore went scoreless, but big things were expected of Moore in the following years at Cal.
However, coach Cuonzo Martin left after that season to take the Missouri job, and so Moore left too. It's probably no coincidence that Cal has not had a winning record or a postseason berth in the five years since Martin and Moore left.
Moore’s next stop was Kansas, and after sitting out a year as a transfer, he played in 35 games for the Jayhawks in 2018-19 and averaged 2.9 points. He played in two NCAA tournament games off the bench that season and totaled two points.
He spent the next two seasons at DePaul, which is located in his home town of Chicago, and led the team in scoring both seasons. But when coach Dave Leitao was fired, Moore was off again, this time to Miami and coach Jim Larranaga.
The Chicago Sun-Times nicknamed him “Suitcase Charlie,” but the 24-year-old Moore has been a big help to the Hurricanes.
The Greenville (S.C.) News opened a story about Moore with these two sentences:
Nobody has more fun playing basketball than Charlie Moore.
Nobody is more fun to watch.
This video is evidence:
The Greenville News added this quote from Larranaga:
“Charlie played in the Pac-12, played in the Big 12, played in the Big East and now is playing in the ACC. Is there anybody else in college basketball history that has been on that kind of journey?”
That is a question for trivia buffs: Has anyone ever traveled a similar route during his college basketball career: Five schools (including Memphis) and here he is in the Sweet 16. And if the Hurricanes keep winning, Moore's story will be told more often.
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Cover photo of Charlie Moore by Ken Ruinard, USA TODAY Network
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