March 23, 2013; San Jose, CA, USA; Saint Louis Billikens guard Kwamain Mitchell (3) talks with forward Cory Remekun (32) against the Oregon Ducks during the second half of the third round of the NCAA basketball tournament at HP Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
I wasn’t very pleased with Ken Bone’s decision to pull Tanner Lancona’s scholarship. Nobody is a fan of coaches doing this, especially when they are a very promising player. I was looking forward to watching Lancona’s career at Washington State, unfortunately that isn’t the case. Luckily, for his case he was able to land on his feet and has signed with Saint Louis, which is a very good basketball program.
Former #Wazzu PF commit Tanner Lancona has committed to St. Louis. Best of luck in the future Tanner! @tjlancona
— Braulio Perez (@BraulioEPerez) May 4, 2013
Lancona averaged 19 points and 11 rebounds for Tesoro High last season. Lancona had declined comment beyond a Twitter message that it was a “mutual agreement” for him not to attend WSU. However, Lancona was clearly not very happy about the decision as he repeatedly expressed great enthusiasm about joining the Cougars, and Lancona’s father was severely critical of Bone’s handling of the matter. His father even went lengths to going on Cougfan.com and CougCenter to discuss his anger at Coach Bone.
When Ken Bone decided to pull his scholarship, numerous schools began calling Lancona. It’s been rumored that there were at least 20 schools that came calling, and the most notable ones were Kansas State, BYU, and Colorado State.
Tanner Lancona was one of the keys to Ken Bone’s solid recruiting class alongside Ike Iroegbu who’s brother was a former walk-on at Washington State under Ken Bone.
Ken Bone has been on the hot seat for quite some time, and this may indeed be the final year for him. It’ll be interesting to see how next season pans out for him as they try and improve on their 13-19 record from last season.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter : @LundgaardK