Full Ride

By Jack Ferdon

Ethan Rohde, a sophomore shooting guard who made the team as a walk-on but broke into the starting lineup this past season, was given a full scholarship for his two remaining years at Santa Clara, the athletic department announced Wednesday.

In the same press release, the school made official the rumored plans to transfer by sophomore point guard Bakari Altheimer.

"I feel like it's something I've worked hard for," said Rohde, who emerged as one of the basketball team's top perimeter shooters during the 2002-2003 season, when he shot .412 from three-point range (best on the team) and averaged 9.3 points per game (good enough to rank fourth on the team).

The scholarship is a validation of sorts for Rohde, who would have had been offered full rides from a number of Division I schools had it not been for an injury he suffered during his senior year at Sammamish High School in Seattle.

"After I got injured in high school, schools stopped recruiting me," said Rohde. "I couldn't go to any summer camps, and that's where you usually get scholarships."

Perhaps the only people more elated by the news than Ethan are his parents, who suddenly don't need to worry about those $30,000 tuition bills they have been paying the past two years.

"I'm very lucky in that my parents have been saving all their lives for me and brother to go to college," said Rohde. "I was very lucky to go here."

The lack of scholarship offers never deterred Rohde and his dreams of playing college ball. And this influenced his decision to go to Santa Clara and try to play for the Broncos and Head Coach Dick Davey, who was impressed by his play in high school.

"Santa Clara was one of the schools that showed interest in me during my sophomore year of high school," said Rohde.

Ethan's teammates were pleased by the news.

"He definitely deserved [the scholarship]," said junior swingman J.R. Patrick. "I've only been here a year, but from what I've seen on tape he's improved a lot. That's why he won the Most Improved Player award [at last week's team banquet]."

The news concerning Rohde was tempered by the school's acknowledgement that Altheimer would not be returning to the Bronco squad next season. Altheimer proved to be more than a serviceable and, at times, highly productive point guard while he filled in for the injured Kyle Bailey during the past year.

Altheimer averaged over 10 points per game over the season, including a 21-point performance against Gonzaga and a 17-point showing in a win - one of Santa Clara's few victories last season - over Saint Mary's.

But his success with the Broncos must have had Altheimer looking towards greener pastures - or, at least, pastures that had an opening at the one position. According to a source close to the team, his decision to transfer was based in large part on the imminent return of junior Kyle Bailey to the role of starting point guard for Santa Clara for the next two seasons. (Bailey was an injury redshirt this past year and so has two seasons of eligibility remaining.)

It is not known to which school Altheimer will transfer. He would not comment for this article.

"[Losing Bakari] is tough on us," said Patrick. "It's a big loss at the point guard spot. And he's just a great guy to have on our team."

Rohde added, "We're going to miss him."

The athletic department also announced Wednesday the signing of 6-foot-2-inch guard and Alaska native Doron Perkins, a transfer from Southwestern Oregon Community College. This closes out the signing season for Davey, who earlier in the year locked up 6-foot-10-inch Sean Denison, who will be a freshman next year and, like Davey's most famous recruit, Steve Nash, played his high school ball in British Colombia. Neither recruit was highly rated.

Despite the recruiting mother lode he struck with Nash back in the early nineties, enticing talented players to come to Santa Clara has not been Davey's strong suit in recent years. And his efforts in these areas can only be suffering given the current uncertainty over his future with Santa Clara.

An article in the Mercury News last month addressed speculation that Santa Clara might fire Davey, who has two years remaining on his contract. The article included a statement issued by Director of Athletics and Recreation Cheryl Levick that indicated that Davey had the full support of the school.

But in the same article, Davey gave signs that his days as the Broncos' head basketball coach - a position he has held for eleven years - might be numbered.

"People make decisions on the basis of what they think is right," he said. "If they feel there's a need for a change, I wouldn't feel good about this. But I'm not the boss."

Davey did not return a call seeking comment for this article.