After suspense had built around the Buffalo area for over a month, former Nichols star Will Regan officially signed a letter of intent to transfer to UB on Tuesday.
Regan, the biggest recruit to come out of Buffalo in recent memory, graduated in 2010 and committed to the University of Virginia. He played in a Cavalier uniform for a year, but ultimately, Regan decided to come back to the place he loves.
"I'm excited to play with the name Buffalo on my jersey," Regan said. "As you can see, I have a Buffalo Bills jersey on [right now]. I love the area."
Regan is a towering 6-foot-8 forward. Last year, he appeared in 20 games for Virginia, in which he totaled 25 points and 18 rebounds.
The move wasn't just a basketball decision. He said Virginia wasn't a good fit overall, but he plans on using the experience as a learning tool for his basketball career.
"If you don't learn from your experiences then you're not going to get better," Regan said. "I learned a lot of things this year. I learned a lot from the coaching staff in Virginia. I'm going to take that and take a great leap forward, though it's going to be a different leap forward."
That leap will almost certainly be made easier by Buffalo's current players.
"Everyone on the team has welcomed me and said ‘welcome to the family,'" Regan said. "They're happy to have a new addition to the team, and it'll be great this year because I'm not going to be playing, but I will be pushing them in practice. The team has great players now, so they'll also be pushing me. It'll be good, healthy competition."
The local celebrity has been known in the Buffalo area since he was in middle school. Bulls head coach Reggie Witherspoon offered Regan a scholarship in the summer between his eighth and ninth grade years.
Regan was familiar with the team before he decided to come back to Buffalo. He went to UB's basketball camp when he was in fifth grade and he has followed the Bulls since he was a kid.
"I just signed today but it's been unofficial since last week, so I've gotten to know some of the guys," Regan said. "Not just [Javon McCrea], but also the older guys and the younger guys. It was weird because I knew most of the guys' names. I didn't have a relationship with them, but I knew them. I was able to start building a relationship quicker."
Though his family lives in Amherst, less than ten minutes from North Campus, Regan will live on campus with a fellow transfer student.
The standout will be forced to sit out the 2011-2012 season due to NCAA eligibility requirements, but he will join budding stars McCrea and Jarod Oldham when he hits the court.
"I think without me being on the team, they had the talent to [win the MAC championship], and we have the opportunity to, but that doesn't really mean anything," Regan said. "It all depends on how hard we work these next couple years and push ourselves and how much we improve, because everyone improves and all that matters is who improves the most."'
Though Regan is known as an intelligent player on the court, his brains don't end there. The forward shows his intelligence in the classroom, too. Regan posted a 3.4 GPA at Virginia and he made the 2011 All-Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Team.
Regan led Nichols to a New York State Federation championship during his senior season. He also broke the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association's scoring record with 2,008 points. Additionally, Regan made the All-Western New York first team three times while at Nichols.
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