EDIT NUSS: This has not yet been officially confirmed, although previous reports did indicate that Watson has had academic challenges. Make of it what you will.

EDIT NUSS 2: Grippi has now officially confirmed.

First, still a rookie to this board, so not sure what distinguishes a "fanpost" vs "fanshot" but this one's easier. : )

Heard today that James Watson will not be eligible this fall and therefore will be transfering to a community college closer to home. It's a tough blow to the program, but the fact of the matter is he would not be academically eligible until January, and he has struggled to make the transition to a major university. This is a good move for HIM, personally, and will allow him to get at least a AA degree, while also working on his offensive game. And once done, he'll be able to play D1 without sitting out a year, and will still have 2 full years of eligibility (2 for 2).

Now's it's on Charlie, Steven, Abe, Motum & Simon to really work hard & provide Casto the inside help we need! And on the brightside, this frees up more minutes for Charlie & Steven inside, which should help them develop faster. This will definitely hurt us early, and definitely a setback, but by the end of the year we may have developed a quality inside post player (& Steven is a good shooter who just lacks footwork & confidence right now) who's going to pay big dividends in the future. Although I still wish Steven would have redshirted last year, we need to remember Baynes looked bad in practice early, and started to jell near the end of his soph year.

I'm sure the staff is and has been looking for bigs, but at this late date it's rare to pick up someone, although we didn't add Bjornstad until the summer last year.

Best wishes to James' and his future. Once a Coug, always a Coug!

New to this, so apologize if I'm not handling this correctly, but as the "official" LOI day has come and gone, and the "ugly" story of Jones breaking the hearts of many on Montlake (good decision), I thought it only fitting to comment on where WSU stands in filling out the roster.

I hear that nothing is a done deal right now. WSU is still waiting to see how thing shake up among the available big men, as things are evolving daily (e.g. Noreen getting UNC offer, etc.). But they haven't closed the door on ANYONE. Unfortunately, given all the recent transfers (e.g. Wear twins, etc.) & players committed to the NBA draft EVERY school is going hard after bigs, so it's a tough, tough battle. Coach Bone & crew just need to find the best fit, and that's still TBD. There is NO timeline, and it's my understanding if the right big does come available or expresses interest, then the staff will do all they can to make it happen.

If push comes to shove it's not the end of the world if we save the scholarship. However, I noticed this little tidbit on Yahoo today about a kid - Roburt Sallie, who is graduating from Memphis & has another year of eligibility left. He's not a big, but instead a 6'5" SG/SF who is a sharpshooter, hitting 41% from 3-Pt line while averaging 11, 4 & 2. Set a record with 10 3-pointers in the NCAA tourney back in '09 (yes, 35 total points in a NCAA tourney game off the bench on a team featuring Tyreke Evans & Dozier!). He followed that up with 3 for 4 & 13 pts in 23 minutes to help beat Maryland and get to the S16.

He wants to be "closer to Sacramento" (well, we are closer than Memphis aren't we?), and wouldn't have to sit out a year. So we could gain senior leadership, while adding another scorer off the bench and insurance at guard. He seems to flourish against lesser comp, but hey, we're basically talking about insurance here, not stardom. My guess is he'll end up at a St. Mary's or even a smaller school where he can get lots of PT, but you never know? And I do know we have a relationship with him. A link to the Yahoo story is provided below (hope it works - haven't posted links here).

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=ap-memphis-sallie

Obviously there are 2 arguments to this suggestion (maybe more, but these two come to mind): 1) it doesn't add a big, but who's to say any are really available to us who won't provide more than Bjornstad, Motum & Simon already do; and 2) he may be redundant with Aden. Plus, I'm not sure how he fits the Bone mold of "quick", but he did play on a Memphis team which tends to run with the best of them. And can you ever, ever have too many shooters? Can you imagine how many open looks he'd get with Klay on the opposite side of the court against a zone? The skip pass could be our best friend. And if he bombs, his scholarship is open for recruiting next year.