Washington State’s newest men’s basketball player hails from the program’s main foe.
According to various sources, the Cougars received a commitment from former Washington guard Nate Calmese on Friday, bringing in a former three-star prospect who played sparingly for the Huskies in one season.
During his true freshman year at Lamar, the 6-foot-2 Calmese scored 17.6 points per game and shot 37% from outside the arc, including 40% in Southland Conference action. He also collected 1.2 steals per game and shot an efficient 55% inside the arc.
He transferred to the University of Washington, where his playing time dried up. Last season, he appeared in 16 games and scored 4.1 points for the 17-15 Huskies, who defeated WSU in the regular season finale in Pullman.
Calmese did not play in that game, and he only played 8 minutes in the Cougars’ previous rivalry game in Seattle, which they won in overtime.
Calmese, a Phoenix native, had offers from Nevada, UC Santa Barbara, and Lamar after graduating from high school. He chose the Cardinals. He joined the transfer portal shortly after the season concluded and ended up at UW.
Calmese is expected to compete for the starting point guard position at WSU, which is now open after former guard Myles Rice left for Indiana. Guard Parker Gerrits, one of the two Cougars who remained on the squad last season, is also expected to be in the mix. Gerrits took a redshirt last year, his true freshman year.
Calmese’s promise offers incoming WSU coach David Riley eight offseason additions, including Iceland guard Tomas Thrastaron, who pledged on Tuesday. The remaining six are Eastern Washington transfers LeJuan Watts, Ethan Price, and Dane Erikstrup; Cal transfer ND Okafor; Quinnipiac transfer Rihard Vavers; and Lapwai (Idaho) High guard Kase Wynott, who transferred from Utah State.
Riley is using those additions to help fill the void left by the 12 former Cougs who have entered the portal, including Rice (Indiana), wing Andrej Jakimovski (Colorado), centers Oscar Cluff (South Dakota State), Rueben Chinyelu (Florida), and walk-on AJ LaBeau (Cornell), guards Jabe Mullins (Montana State), Dylan Darling (Idaho State), and Joseph Yesufu (West Virginia), and wing Kymany Houinsou (Loyola Chicago).
The only Cougars still in the portal are forwards AJ Rohosy and Spencer Mahoney, the latter of whom has announced offers from UCF and California. Senior wing Jaylen Wells is also in the portal, but with a berth at the present NBA draft combine, he appears to be committed to the draft process.
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