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Mar. 30—How different things look in the six days since Washington State played its last men’s basketball game in the NCAA tournament.
Since the Cougars fell to Iowa State in the Round of 32 last Saturday, coach Kyle Smith departed for Stanford and seven players have entered their names in the NCAA transfer portal, including star point guard Myles Rice.
Oh, and athletic director Pat Chun is headed to archrival Washington.
The Washington State athletic department looks much different than it did just a week ago.
The two biggest names to enter the transfer portal are a pair of starters: freshman point guard Rice and senior forward Andrej Jakimovski.
The others to enter the portal so far are freshman center Rueben Chinyelu, sophomore guard Kymany Houinsou, senior forward Jabe Mullins, sophomore guard Dylan Darling and walk-on AJ LeBeau.
Players who enter the portal can opt to return to the program.
Rice puts name in portal, earns All-American honor
There might not be a cooler story from the 2023-24 basketball season than Rice’s tale.
After beating Hodgkin’s lymphoma and not playing for two years, Rice went on to have an All-American season for the Cougs.
Rice averaged 14.8 points, 3.8 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game en route to being named a freshman All-American by College Insider, Inc., on Friday.
Rice, the Pac-12 freshman of the year, was the first Cougar to earn All-America honors since Klay Thompson in 2009.
“After reflecting on the changes in the Washington State men’s basketball program, I have made the difficult decision to enter my name in the transfer portal,” Rice said on social media. “To my teammates, we shared a special brotherhood, amazing moments and life stories that I will cherish forever.”
Rice went on to also thank doctors and nurses at Cancer Care Northwest in Moscow and Pullman Regional Hospital.
Jakimovski could return
Jakimovski was a rare constant on Cougar rosters that saw constant turnover during Smith’s five years in Pullman.
The senior from North Macedonia…
[ad_2]Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/washington-states-myles-rice-andrej-121600241.html
Author : Lewiston Tribune, Idaho
Publish date : 2024-03-30 12:16:00
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