Fifth Pepperdine Player Transfers

The basketball Odyssey of Monte Marcaccini took another detour Wednesday, when he announced his transfer after only one season at Pepperdine.

“I have a lot of reasons that I won’t talk about,” he said. “I will say that the situation wasn’t right for me. My heart wasn’t into it. I felt that it was best for me to move on.”

Marcaccini, who has not selected a new school, is the fifth Pepperdine player to leave since January. The 6-foot-5 freshman forward started 26 of 27 games, averaging 9.9 points and 4.6 rebounds for the 8-19 Waves.

He said he told Pepperdine Coach Tony Fuller of his decision Wednesday morning.

“I don’t think he was happy,” Marcaccini said. “He tried to talk it over, but I had already made up my mind.”

Said Fuller: “We’re moving on, that’s all I’d like to say.”

Marcaccini signed with Pepperdine late last summer after playing in 1994 for Benetton United Colors, a junior-level team based in Treviso, Italy.

He had played for Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks.

Marcaccini said he was frustrated by yet another change in his basketball career. He passed up a scholarship to Indiana out of high school because his father, Giancarlo, wanted him to play in Italy.

“I’ve been all over the place,” he said. “It’s not making me too happy. I just want to play ball.”

Indicating he wants to play at a bigger school, Marcaccini said he would start making contacts this weekend.

His departure will leave Pepperdine with five returning players for next season. The Waves have seven available scholarships.

Marcaccini’s transfer follows those of four other Pepperdine players. All cited communications problems with Fuller, who took over the program last year from Tom Asbury, now the coach at Kansas State.

Sophomore Kirk Goehring, a transfer from Louisiana State, left Pepperdine in January and transferred to Union University, an NAIA school in his hometown of Jackson, Tenn. Recently, junior Joey Ramirez and freshmen Josh Merrill and Jamar Holcomb left.

Ramirez, a former Santa Paula High and Ventura College player, will play next season at UC Riverside, the NCAA Division II runner-up this season. Merrill and Holcomb have yet to decide on schools.