We knew the Washington State basketball team needed one more free scholarship, but didn't know exactly where it would come from until this Friday afternoon. According to a tweet from Vince Grippi, Dre Winston Jr. will transfer, freeing a scholarship and allowing the soon-to-be sophomore guard to pursue other options. Winston played sparingly in his freshman year while struggling to grasp the system and perform at the level expect in major-conference basketball.
Ken Bone wished Winston well and sent him on his way in a press release sent out by WSU on Friday.
"Dré is a great young man and we appreciate the contributions he made to the team this past year," Bone said. "We wish him the best in his basketball career and will help him in any way we can."
To be clear, I don't see this as a huge loss. Winston's ceiling seemed to be a role-player using only a marginal amount of minutes, though he didn't get much time to shine in his freshman campaign. When he was on the floor, though, he was next-to-invisible and struggled. It could've changed, of course, but when a player is in over their heads from the start, they face an uphill battle.
With Winston out, Reggie Moore is your point guard and Marcus Capers is your backup point guard. In the long run, luckily backup point guards do grow on trees, and the Cougs should be fine. DaVonte Lacy can probably spend spot-time filling in as a ball-handler as well.