Tramaine Isabell reaffirms his commitment to WSU basketball

Tramaine Isabell, an explosive point guard from Seattle's Garfield High School, told Cougfan.com ($) tonight that new WSU basketball coach Ernie Kent has successfully re-recruited him and that he intends on coming to Pullman next year.

"I've decided to stick with it and play for Coach Kent," Isabell said. "One of my big things was I wanted to see was how hard he'd recruit me and if he really wanted me. And he recruited me hard. He showed me and my family how much... that meant a lot."

Isabell signed a National Letter of Intent with Ken Bone during the early signing period in November, so he actually didn't have a lot of options -- if he didn't want to come to WSU, he could have asked out of his letter, and if WSU wasn't inclined to do that, he'd have had to head to a prep school or junior college in order to once again become a recruitable athlete.

It's also worth noting that even Ken Bone was able to convince all of Tony Bennett's recruits to honor their letters, so it's pretty common for players who have already signed letters to stick, provided the new coach wants them. And Kent very much wants Isabell, given the slim pickings among the players left this spring.

Even given all that, this is good news. Isabell is a legitimate playmaking point guard, the best to come to WSU since Reggie Moore five years ago. He doesn't possess Moore's raw athleticism, but he's definitely a "run-the-show" kind of guy who can both get others involved and put the ball in the basket.

Check out some of his highlights from the state tournament below - he led Garfield to the 4A title.