The WSU Men’s Basketball team has another long road ahead of them. With their three highest scoring players from the 2024-2025 season entering the transfer portal, Head Coach David Riley, has a lot of questions to answer before next season.
LeJuan Watts, Isaiah Watts and Nate Calmese have entered the transfer portal. Isaiah Watts scored the game-winning three-pointer in the first round of the NCAA tournament to beat Drake in March, 2024. Nate Calmese was a transfer from the University of Washington where he led the Cougars in scoring in 2024-25.
This is nothing new for WSU, as the school has dealt with plenty of stinging losses to the transfer portal and big NIL money. Some prominent names that have left over the last several years include Cam Ward, Myles Rice and John Mateer.
This year’s team had to overcome the challenges of getting an entire new roster, with only two returning players and one returning coach from the 2023-2024 season. Every year, it seems like the Cougs build themselves back up just to lose their top players.
“It’s just kind of the world we live in now,” said David Riley in an interview with 4 News Now. “Each of those guys did a lot for this program. It’s a new day and age of college basketball.”
In addition to losing Watts, Watts and Calmese to the portal, the team is losing four other players as well. Senior Cedric Coward and freshman Marcus Wilson, both of whom did not make it past December due to season-ending injuries, are in the portal as well. Seniors Dane Erikstrup and Ethan Price can not return due to graduation. For the second year in a row, WSU will need to replace it’s entire starting five.
Still with the team includes young guards Parker Gerrits and Kase Wynott, Icelandic forward Tomas Thrastarson, sharpshooter Rihards Vavers and junior forward ND Okafor. The five returners have limited experience in starting roles, with Thrastarson filling in as a starter for about a month, and Vavers starting just the last game of the season.
While Thrastarson likely figures to be a lock to start next year, the rest of the spots are up for grabs. Gerrits and Wynott could compete for a spot at guard, but neither have shown enough consistency at this point. Vavers has flashed potential, but may be better-suited as a weapon off the bench, being something of a one-trick pony.
While the Cougs have a good base for next year, they’re going to need to continue recruiting top players over the next several years, as WSU will have six new teams in their conference starting in 2026.
The Cougs played against the Georgetown Hoyas last night in an attempt to win the College Basketball Crown which is a new basketball invitational that features a 16-team, single-elimination tournament. The Hoyas outscored the Cougs 85-82, officially eliminating them from postseason play.
Last year, Riley pulled together a solid team, but was able to do so by bringing with him players he coached at Eastern. This year, he will not be able to just take four starters from his previous school, making it a tougher task.
