WSU basketball prepares for complete overhaul of roster

Jan 11, 2025; Spokane, Washington, USA; Washington State Cougars head coach David Riley reacts after a play against the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the first half at McCarthey Athletic Center. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-Imagn Images | James Snook-Imagn Images

As of the morning of April 8th, just two days after Michigan was crowned the national championship, Washington State has nine players in the transfer portal. The three remaining players on the WSU roster contributed a combined seven minutes. Those seven minutes all came from Dio Blakely across five games. Zero remaining players are even listed on KenPom as contributers. Pending a change of heart from any of the nine players in the portal, WSU will have a completely new roster next year.

Jerone Morton joined Ace Glass, ND Okafor, Tomas Thrastarson, Eemeli Yalaho, Rihards Vavers, Emmanuel Ugbo, Parker Gerrits, Kase Wynott and Brunel Mazdou as Cougs in the transfer portal last night. It’s extremely likely WSU will carry near zero minutes of continuity from the 2025-26 season to the 2026-27 season.

Now not having the minutes continuity doesn’t automatically equal a “rebuild” season. Two teams that carried a 0.0-minute continuity score on KenPom made the tournament, Miami (FL) and UCF. Now Miami was led by first-year head coach Jai Lucas, which would explain the complete overhaul of the roster. However, at UCF, Johnny Dawkins entered year 10 and took a completely new roster to the Knights’ first tournament since the 2018-19 season.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, though, teams who kept their rosters together were much more successful. Northern Iowa carried over the third most minutes from last season and made the tournament as a 12-seed. Purude, as a two-seed, carried the fifth most. The story of the early stages of the tournament was the Miami (OH) Redhawks, who went undefeated in the regular season. They carried the seventh most minutes over. To be fair, it’s not like they kept their entire roster together. Despite having the seventh most minutes continuity, Miami (OH) had a minutes continuity score of 59.5. Which goes to show you the state of college basketball. A decade ago, the seventh most minutes of continuity was 80.2.

For WSU, whether this is players trying to escape a sinking ship or David Riley’s decision to completely change the way he constructed his roster, we may never know. But this is a pivotal year for WSU basketball, and something needs to change.

Under Riley, the program was looking to build a solid foundation they could take into the new Pac-12 and had a great opportunity to do so. In the WCC, WSU was expected to be amongst the top five teams rather easily. While Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s were going to continue to have a stranglehold on the top two spots in the WCC, WSU is historically a better program than Pacific, San Diego, Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, Portland, and Seattle. Not to say these teams can’t or didn’t improve in WSU’s two years in the WCC, but these are programs that WSU expects to beat annually. Stacking those wins against the bottom half of the WCC and remaining competitive amongst the top-tier teams was the expectation that would help build confidence in the program and Riley.

In the two years, WSU went 0-4 against Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s. That’s fine. Those are two very good teams. The problem was WSU’s record against the bottom half of the WCC. Two losses against a bad Pacific team in 2025 and a handful of duds against San Diego, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, and Portland in 2026. Those are the losses that break the foundation you were supposed to have set for this coming offseason.

This puts David Riley squarely on the hot seat. He has to nail this complete roster overhaul ahead.

Expectations are different in the new Pac-12 for WSU. They expect to be amongst the top across all sports based purely on resources available and historical success compared to their counterparts. Failing to be competitive is not an option. If Riley is going to stay on payroll at WSU, he has to change the way he constructs a roster and coaches.

The defensive struggles under Riley aren’t a secret. Ernie Kent and Paul Graham are the company Riley is keeping as far as defensive metrics, and the offense isn’t quite elite enough to remotely make up for it.

For WSU to compete in 2026-27, they obviously need to get better defensively, and that likely doesn’t change by just adding a player or two from the portal who are great on-ball defenders. That’s likely going to have to be a shift in philosophy and coaching style that Riley and company will need to address. What they can control from a roster-building standpoint is attacking some of their more evident weaknesses. If they are truly going to change the way they do things to be competitive, they have to adapt from a roster-building standpoint.

Last year was a major stepback in offensive rebounding. They went from a modest 144th in offensive rebounding percentage to 221st. Okafor did a lot to carry that rank, being by far the best in that category. With him in the portal, WSU will need to go get themselves somebody who can really clean the glass. Turnovers have also been a big issue, and that starts at the head of the offense, at point guard. Riley tried to shore up that position with Nate Calmese in 2025 and Adria Rodriguez in 2026. Both didn’t really work out. Rodriguez showed flashes of the potential he could have as a point guard towards the end of the season, but it was far too little and far too late. While neither was the worst on the team at holding on to the ball, they were still far from the solution. These are just two examples of positions Riley and his staff will need to attack aggressively in the transfer portal.

Having to completely reset your roster does suck. Riley and his staff will have to invest a lot of time early in the season teaching a whole new set of players without the help of some veteran players who have been around. Even when Riley first came over from Eastern Washington, he had players like Dane Erikstrup, Cedric Coward, Ethan Price and LeJuan Watts who already knew his system he was bringing over with him.

However, this is a prime opportunity for Riley to change the trajectory of his time at WSU. He can spend all of these roster spots on exactly the guys he wants and needs to turn this program around. The portal is now open and Riley is on the clock.