Remembering the Utah Transfers...

Just seven years ago, Utah Valley State College was a two-year junior college program and a feeder of transfers into the Cornell Basketball program. Now UVSC is a full-fledged member of the Great West Conference in Division I.

UVSC produced two former transfers to Cornell during a two-year span in Cornell Coach Steve Donahue's tenure-- Ryan Cheesman ('02) and Greg Barratt ('01). Cheesman played one year with the Big Red during the '00-'01 season. He appeared in 14 games and averaged 1.4 points and .7 rebounds per game.

Barratt, a former member of the University of Utah '98 Final Four team before enrolling at UVSC, as sophomore played his junior and senior seasons for Cornell during the '99-'00 and '00-'01 campaigns. He had a Cornell career average of a steady 8.0 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.

Barratt was particularly instrumental in Donahue's first win as a Division I head coach. On November 29, 2000, Barratt recorded 17 points and 13 rebounds against West Point as Cornell earned the 91-81 victory over Army. The Cadets were paced by 20 points from Chris Spatola, who notably is now the son-in-law of Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and functions as the current Director of Basketball Operations for the Blue Devils.

Below we post excerpts from some news articles detailing the intriguing recruitment of Barratt out of UVSC for Cornell's entering '99-'00 recruiting class.

Ex Utah Forward Visits Vanderbilt

The Tennessean
April 18, 1999

New Vanderbilt men's basketball Coach Kevin Stallings is close to landing his second prospect since taking the job earlier this month. Greg Barratt, a 6-foot-9,230-pound forward who played one year at Utah and spent this past season at Utah Valley State Community College, is on the Vanderbilt campus for an official visit. He is expected to return to Utah today and could decide between Vanderbilt and Cornell later this week.

Stallings' first commitment came from Scott County's Rick Jones, who was named Kentucky's Mr. Basketball and signed with the Commodores on Friday. Barratt has two years of eligibility remaining. "He's already been at the next level, it's nothing new for him," Utah Valley State Coach Jeff Reinert said. "He played on a team that went to the Final Four and played in the national championship game against Kentucky two years ago." If Barratt signs with Vanderbilt it will leave the Commodores with just one scholarship to offer for the incoming class. Stallings isn't allowed to comment on prospects before they have signed, and Barratt could not be reached for comment. Barratt averaged 7.1 minutes per game at Utah, but found himself playing behind Ute star Hanno Mottola and decided to transfer to Utah Valley State. Barratt averaged 1.8 points and 1.9 rebounds at Utah.

"It was a good parting. There was nothing bad about it, he just wanted to play more," Reinert said. "He was not going to play much behind Hanno and he felt like it would be better to go to another situation." Barratt found the playing time he wanted at Utah Valley State where he averaged 14.5 points and nearly nine rebounds a game while helping the team to a 24-8 record, which included a 15-1 start and a No. 3 national ranking at one point. Barratt pulled down 18 rebounds in a game against Indian Hills, which won the junior college national championship.

Barratt visited Denver University in the fall, Arizona State early in the spring and UC-Santa Barbara last weekend. "He really likes the academic part and that's the reason he's down to Cornell and Vanderbilt," Reinert said. Barratt turned 22 last month. He spent one season redshirted and has already done a Latter Day Saints foreign mission.

Barratt has been interested in Vanderbilt for nearly a year. The former staff started recruiting him because Gib Arnold, an assistant on Jan van Breda Kolff's staff, was aware of Barratt after spending time on the Utah Valley State staff three years ago. Stallings wasted no time checking video tape of Barratt in action soon after he took over and decided to continue Vanderbilt's pursuit.

Barratt Leaning Towards Vandy

The Tennessean
April 20, 1999

Vanderbilt bounced into the lead yesterday in the race to land Greg Barratt, a basketball transfer from Utah Valley State Community College. Barratt, who also spent a year on the national powerhouse team at the University of Utah, narrowed his choice to Vanderbilt and Cornell last month and says a visit to Vanderbilt's campus over the weekend brought him closer to picking the Commodores. The 6-foot-9, 230-pound Barratt said he will make a decision later this week.

Barratt said he liked Nashville, he liked Vanderbilt's strong academic standards and most of all he liked new Coach Kevin Stallings' plan to work him into the starting lineup very soon. Barratt spent one year redshirted at Utah and the 1998 season as a reserve when the Utes made it to the national championship game, where they lost to Ken tucky. He transferred to Utah Valley State last season and averaged 14 points and almost nine rebounds per game. That leaves Barratt with just two years of eligibility remaining and he said the opportunity to step into a situation where he can play early is very important.

Stallings spelled out a plan where senior Dan Langhi would move to small forward, leaving Barratt with the chance to jump into the starting lineup at power forward. "The plan if I do decide to come there is to move Langhi to the three position and I could step in at the four," Barratt said. "We'd start out there and see how it would go from there in practice and games and everything." The only player Vanderbilt lost from last year's team is Vince Ford, who backed up Langhi at the power forward position. Standing 6-foot-5, however, Ford wasn't tall enough to play that position on a consistent basis and Langhi was unable to move to small forward.

Stallings isn't allowed to comment on prospects before they've signed a letter-of-intent. Barratt spoke with Stallings yesterday by phone after the Cornell coach left. "I told Coach Stallings I wanted to make sure that Vanderbilt's a good fit for me to finish up my career and that I would be happy there," Barratt said. "I asked a few more questions and got some other details I had been wondering about."

Irish Could Determine Chance for Utah Transfer

The Tennessean
April 22, 1999

Vanderbilt is still the likely choice for Greg Barratt, a 6-foot-9 junior college basketball player from Utah, but it may not be the slam dunk deal it appeared to be earlier in the week. Barratt's coach at Utah Valley State Community College, Jeff Reinert, is expected to be hired as an assistant at Notre Dame, where his close friend Matt Doherty is the new head coach. If Reinert ends up there it is likely he will try to bring Barratt along. The Fighting Irish have five scholarships left. And the position where Notre Dame needs the most help is at forward.

Doherty is expected to move quickly to bring Reinert on board. So far Doherty has only hired one assistant -- Greg Wojcik off the Naval Academy staff -- and the two have been handling the heavy recruiting burden alone. Barratt told The Tennessean Monday that he was close to committing to Vanderbilt but still is considering Cornell. That was before the wheels started to turn with Reinert's move toward Notre Dame. Barratt said he would make his mind up by the end of the week.

Utah Standout Opts for Cornell

The Tennessean
April 28, 1999

Vanderbilt got bounced out of the picture yesterday when Greg Barratt decided to finish his college basketball career at Cornell. Barratt told The Tennessean last week that Vanderbilt was his top choice but he needed more time to make a final decision. By the end of the week, however, Barratt was wavering despite a strong push by new Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings and eventually decided to sign with the school that first recruited him.

"Cornell has kind of been there all along and they were really committed to Greg," said Barratt's father, Dale.

"Coach Stallings came in right at the end and wanted Greg and I think if Vanderbilt had been there throughout the whole thing he would have chosen Vanderbilt."

Greg Barratt could not be reached for comment because he has moved out of his apartment in Orem, Utah, and is staying with friends so he can take his final exams at Utah Valley State this week. He plans to move back to his parent's home in Provo, Utah, at the end of the week.

Dale Barratt said that his son, who averaged 14 points and nearly nine rebounds a game last season, believes his opportunity to break into the starting lineup is greater at Cornell than it would have been at Vandy, where four starters are returning. "He feels like he's going to get more playing time there," Dale Barratt said. "... And since he only has two years left in college it was important for him to go to a place where he would get to play."

Barratt, who is 6-9, visited the Vanderbilt campus last week and Stallings told him that if he joined the Commodores he would move into the strong forward position and that Dan Langhi, who started there last season, would move to small forward. Stallings, who has two scholarships left to offer, is expected to continue looking for a big player to step in at the power forward...