Published: Thursday, April 15, 2010
UW's Turner to transfer
SEATTLE -- University of Washington men's basketball coach Lorenzo Romar announced this morning that sophomore Elston Turner Jr. plans on transferring.
Turner, who averaged 5.5 points per game as a reserve last season and was pivotal to UW's run to the Sweet 16, told KJR radio that he was transferring to "expand my game."
The 6-foot-5 Turner played in 36 games last season, starting only three, and was projected as a possible starter in 2010-11. But he conferred with his father, a former NBA player, and decided to go to another school.
"To get to where I want to be," he told KJR, "I felt I had to move on."
He added that his role as an outside shooter was limiting his prospects as a potential pro player down the line.
Turner led UW in 3-point percentage (38.0) last season. The addition of redshirt freshman C.J. Wilcox and the emergence of fellow reserve Scott Suggs could lessen the blow for the Huskies.
Turner said he has yet to be contacted by other schools, but he named Texas and Texas A&M as possible destinations because they're close to his hometown of Houston.
In the statement announcing the decision, Romar said: "Elston Turner has done a nice job for us. We will miss him but we certainly wish him well and support him in whatever he decides to do."
UW currently has two players in its incoming freshman class: swingman Desmond Simmons and 7-footer Aziz N'diaye. But the Huskies could potentially fill Turner's scholarship with another recruit. The most highly-regarded is Portland big man Terrence Jones, who has yet to pick a school and lists UW. UCLA and Kentucky among his finalists.
Turner, who averaged 5.5 points per game as a reserve last season and was pivotal to UW's run to the Sweet 16, told KJR radio that he was transferring to "expand my game."
The 6-foot-5 Turner played in 36 games last season, starting only three, and was projected as a possible starter in 2010-11. But he conferred with his father, a former NBA player, and decided to go to another school.
"To get to where I want to be," he told KJR, "I felt I had to move on."
He added that his role as an outside shooter was limiting his prospects as a potential pro player down the line.
Turner led UW in 3-point percentage (38.0) last season. The addition of redshirt freshman C.J. Wilcox and the emergence of fellow reserve Scott Suggs could lessen the blow for the Huskies.
Turner said he has yet to be contacted by other schools, but he named Texas and Texas A&M as possible destinations because they're close to his hometown of Houston.
In the statement announcing the decision, Romar said: "Elston Turner has done a nice job for us. We will miss him but we certainly wish him well and support him in whatever he decides to do."
UW currently has two players in its incoming freshman class: swingman Desmond Simmons and 7-footer Aziz N'diaye. But the Huskies could potentially fill Turner's scholarship with another recruit. The most highly-regarded is Portland big man Terrence Jones, who has yet to pick a school and lists UW. UCLA and Kentucky among his finalists.
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