NCAA Basketball: Top 10 takeaways from first week of 2022 offseason
7. San Diego State lands Seattle U star Darrion Trammell
The Aztecs made the NCAA Tournament this past season on the strength of their defense, which was ranked in the top-5 in all of NCAA Basketball. They had a star scorer on the team in Matt Bradley (16.9 ppg) but no one else averaged double figures overall, which limited their ceiling.
The backcourt of Adam Seiko and Trey Pulliam was great defensively but lack the scoring capabilities to have the team make a run in the Big Dance. Seiko has announced his return but Pulliam is gone after leading the team with 3.4 apg, leaving a hole at the point guard position.
#DWMTM pic.twitter.com/2W2Fnnbi1v
— Darrion Trammell (@dtrammell__) April 5, 2022
The good news is that it was filled this past week, with the pickup of Darrion Trammell of Seattle U. The 5’10 guard averaged 20.5 ppg and 5.3 apg in 2020-21 in 23 games played and this past year, led the Redhawks to 23 wins for the first time in over 60 years and was tied for first in the WAC standings.
Trammell averaged 17.3 ppg, 5.0 apg, and 2.5 steals per game and was named both All-WAC and All-Defense in the league too. He can be a lethal scorer overall, including 39 points against Abilene Christian in the WAC Tournament. He has some similarities to Malachi Flynn, an elite scorer from Washington State who transferred over to San Diego State a couple of years ago and led them to a top-5 overall ranking and a projected No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament before the pandemic shut things down.
Will Trammell have the same kind of winning impact that Flynn did? That’s hard to replicate. But he’s arguably the best mid-major transfer the Aztecs would’ve reasonably gotten this offseason and on paper, is a home-run pickup. Maybe Colorado State won’t be the favorite to win the Mountain West next year.