Reid Travis headed to Kentucky as grad transfer
John Calipari is the proverbial father of the “one and done” in college basketball, but with Reid Travis that will take a different meaning.
Reid Travis is coming off a nice season in 2017-18 at Stanford, averaging 19.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game (both third in the Pac-12) as he shot just under 53 percent from the floor. But the two-time All Pac-12 First Team selection announced in late May he would be transferring, and on Wednesday morning Travis announced his commitment to Kentucky as a grad transfer.
Travis tested the NBA draft waters, but near the deadline to withdraw and go back to school he also announced his intention to transfer as a graduate. Kentucky emerged as the favorite immediately, and after a visit that started on Monday night, Travis is expected to enroll before the end of the week.
Injuries were a prominent story for Travis over his four seasons at Stanford. He played just eight games as a sophomore in 2015-16 and received a medical redshirt due to a stress reaction in his left leg. Travis missed a total of 35 games over his four seasons in Palo Alto. Not coincidentally, he was pretty much healthy in each of the last two seasons and earned two All Pac-12 First Team honors.
I want to thank everyone who has helped me with this process of taking the next step to pursue my dreams. I couldn’t be more excited for the future! pic.twitter.com/xIwtBfFzLr
— Reid Travis (@2ReidTravis2) June 20, 2018
I felt good about where we stood with next year’s team, but when I found out how much @2ReidTravis2 wanted to be here, I had to take a look and say, OK, can he help us? Can he help our team become even more potent and can we help him reach his dreams? The answers were absolutely. https://t.co/zv8deNfN80
— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) June 20, 2018
Calipari has secured another top recruiting class for 2018, with four five-star recruits (E.J. Montgomery, Ashton Hagans, Keldon Johnson, Immanuel Quickley) and a four-star (Tyler Herro) for good measure. The return of sophomore forward P.J. Washington (who also withdrew from the NBA draft) and sophomore center Nick Richards, to go along with that incoming recruiting class, already had Kentucky in line for a top-five ranking heading into next season. Now Travis is coming as an experienced offensive presence in the paint.
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The challenge for Calipari, as it always is with basically an entirely new team every year, will be to fit the talented pieces together as a cohesive team. But Travis is sure to know his role among all the youth around him, as a “one and done” on the other end of that typical spectrum.