Utah State basketball: David Collette is transferring

Utah State's basketball season is set to get underway this Friday but on Wednesday the Aggies team took a big hit as David Collette is transferring from the school, as first reported by The Salt Lake Tribune. The reason for Collette transferring is unknown as his is location, and he told head coach Tim Duryea this morning of his intent to leave Logan.

The move came out of nowhere as Collette was to be a big piece under the Tim Duryea era at Utah State. Collette was recovering from a foot injury but was practicing through the injury in the preseason, and he was expected to be ready to go when the season begins this Friday against Weber State.

"I was shocked when he came into my office today and said he was going to quit," Duryea said. "I think there were a lot of factors in play that, unfortunately, have become a trend in college basketball of schools poaching other schools' players. I don't feel good and don't like how things transpired, but we will move on and get ready for our opener on Friday."

Last year, he averaged 12.8 points and five rebonds per game, but he will be mostly missed on the defensive side of the ball. Since Collette already redshirted he will not be able to use that when he sits out the mandatory one-year for changing schools, that is if he stays at the Division I leave. He will have two years left of eligibility once he is eligible next fall.

Utah State was bringing back nearly every key piece from last year's team which surprised the Mountain West by winning 18 games. The loss will not hurt as bad if it were to happen to the same squad last year which was very inexperienced, but with so many returning contributors for this upcoming season the Aggies should be able to weather the ship without Collette.

Players who will benefit from Collette transferring are Tulsa transfer Lew Evans, Quinn Taylor who is coming off of a two-year LDS mission, Grayson Moore who transfers in from Northwest Nazarene and returnee Elston Jones.