Leading scorer Travis transfers to Kentucky
Unless the Stanford men’s basketball team surprises many and earns an NCAA Tournament berth next March, the Cardinal may have to watch one of their former starters making a possible national title run with Kentucky.
Reid Travis, who led the Cardinal in scoring and rebounding last season, announced Wednesday he’ll play for the Wildcats as a graduate transfer.
The 6-foot-8, 245-pound forward was a two-time firstteam All-Pac-12 selection and will give the Wildcats a huge lift as they pursue the school’s ninth NCAA championship. With Travis, they become one of the favorites, along with Villanova (which Travis had reportedly also considered), Kansas and Duke.
“I want to thank everyone who has helped me with this process of taking the next step to pursue my dreams,” Travis said via Twitter. “I couldn’t be more excited for the future!”
He averaged a team-high 19.5 points and 8.7 rebounds last season as Stanford (19-16 overall) posted its best conference record (11-7) in a decade.
Travis was granted a medical hardship redshirt in 2015-16 because he missed the last 22 games with a leg injury. That allowed him a fifth season.
He announced in April that he was putting his name into consideration for the NBA draft but not hiring an agent. On May 30, he said he was withdrawing from the draft and that he would transfer.
Travis graduated from Stanford on Sunday. He has not explained publicly why he is transferring, merely saying via Twitter that he wanted to go to another school “that will continue to align with my academic and athletic interests.”
A Stanford spokesman said the university would have no comment.
Had he decided to return, the Cardinal might have contended for the Pac-12 title. They’ll return starters Daejon Davis and KZ Okpala, along with seven other letter winners from a team that tied for third in the conference. But in Travis and the graduated Michael Humphrey, they have lost their top two rebounders.
In a videotaped message that was sent via Twitter, Travis said, “The relationships and connections I made at Stanford will last a lifetime. I’m extremely proud to say I’m a Stanford alum.”
He thanked the Stanford coaches, teammates and administrators, among others, for helping him “become the man that I am.”
He said he was “looking forward to a fresh start.” After visiting the Kentucky campus on Monday and Tuesday, he said, “It became clear to me that there was no better place to continue this next step in the journey.’’ He said he’ll give everything he can “so we can compete for a national championship.”
He’ll join a loaded team that also features forward PJ Washington, who also withdrew from the NBA draft, and one of the nation’s top recruiting classes for head coach John Calipari.