Eli Boettger | @boettger_eli | 05/22/20
Welcome back to Three Things!
The intention of Three Things is simple: Keeping you informed. The offseason can be a busy time and college basketball isn’t always on everyone’s radars from April to October.
Here’s how it will work: Every morning, Monday through Friday, we will provide you with three things that you need to know from the previous day. Pretty simple, right? You’ll be amazed by your new college basketball wisdom!
Here are the three things you need to know for May 22.
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Iona starter enters portal
Iona guard Isaiah Washington won’t play for Rick Pitino after all. The former Minnesota transfer who played under Richard Pitino his first two years entered his name in the transfer portal on Thursday.
Washington averaged 11.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, four assists and 1.7 steals per game this past season, starting 23 of his 28 appearances. Washington is a top-70 recruit out of the class of 2017 and is a native of Harlem, N.Y.
Richmond star returns
With the potential for a massive ’20-21 season, Richmond guard Jacob Gilyard announced Thursday that he is withdrawing from the NBA Draft and will return to school. The 5-9 guard is one of the Atlantic 10’s top players, starting in each of his 94 appearances the past three years while averaging 13.4 points, five assists and 2.9 steals per game in his career.
With Gilyard back, the Spiders are one step closer to a promising ’20-21 campaign. Richmond won 24 games a year ago and expects to return almost its entire nucleus while several A-10 teams are set to lose key contributors.
UTEP lands Big 12 starter
UTEP continues its transfer pursuit with the news that former Oklahoma starter Jamal Bieniemy is returning to his home state to play for the Miners. Bieniemy — a native of Katy, Texas — played the past two season with the Sooners before entering the transfer portal.
Bieniemy started 47 of his 65 games in a Sooner uniform and averaged 5.2 points, four rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game this past season. After entering this past season with expectations of a big turnaround, UTEP finished 9th in the Conference USA with a 17-15 record and 8-10 mark in league play.
Eli Boettger is a college basketball writer and founder of HeatCheckCBB.com. He has previously worked for Sporting News, DAZN and USA TODAY SMG.
Boettger’s content has been featured by Bleacher Report, NBC Sports, FiveThirtyEight, Yahoo Sports, Athletic Director University, Washington Post, Illinois Law Review and Notre Dame Law Review, among other publications. Boettger is also a current USBWA member and Rockin’ 25 voter.