Nick King and Pookie Powell will transfer from the University of Memphis men’s basketball program, coach Josh Pastner announced Wednesday morning.
“I have nothing against the program,” King said. “I just felt like I needed to make the best decision for me. I’m not being selfish or anything. I love the coaches. I love the team, but I just had to do what was best for myself.”
Both players came to the U of M with high expectations. King, a four-star prospect out of East High School in Memphis, was rated as high as no. 37 in ESPN’s Top 100 for the 2013 recruiting class. Powell, also a four-star prospect from Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Florida, was the 95th overall prospect by ESPN, in the same class.
The two never lived up to expectations though, in their time at Memphis.
As a freshman during the 2013-14 season, King showed flashes of brilliance. In the first three games of his collegiate career, he managed to score at least 12 points and five rebounds in each outing—including a 23-point, 8-rebound performance against Oklahoma State. After the first three games of his freshman year though, his numbers dropped off exponentially due to less playing time. He only scored in double digits two more times the remainder of the season and finished the year averaging 4.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
His sophomore season was supposed to be different though. The Memphis native was expected to have a breakout year, but the results were similar to his freshman campaign. King averaged 18.9 minutes per game and struggled to stay on the floor. He was what analysts called a “tweener,” because he was not athletic enough to guard the small forward position, but too small to play power forward. He was a great rebounder, but often a liability on the defensive end and too inconsistent on offense to stay on the floor for long stretches. He finished the year averaging 7.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
King said he enjoyed his time at Memphis and is appreciative of everything he learned while he was here.
“I loved it here,” King said. “Memphis taught me a lot, this is my hometown. In my time here, I just tried to do my best for myself and for the city. I had fun while I was here. It was the best couple of years of my life.”
When asked about what the future holds, King said he hasn’t focused too much on the matter and is taking everything one step at a time.
“I haven’t thought too much on that,” King said. “I’ve just been trying to take it day-by-day. It was just released today so I haven’t really been thinking too much about it.”
Powell’s time at Memphis was even shorter than King’s. He didn’t get to play in his freshman season last year due to not qualifying academically. He spent the 2013-14 year at Memphis, but was unable to participate in games, practices or even team activities.
Today’s announcement shouldn’t be much of a shock to Memphis fans though. This wasn’t the first time Powell had been involved in transfer talk. Last summer, Powell was very close to transferring, but after talking with Powell and his father, Pastner convinced him to stay on board with the Tigers.
His second year at Memphis was Powell’s time to shine. The team was without a starting point guard or even a point guard who had played the previous season at the Division 1 level. Kedren Johnson, the transfer from Vanderbilt, had high expectations after leading the Commodores in scoring and assists in 2012-13, but he sat the entire 2013-14 season, and was out of shape once arriving in Memphis. D’Marnier Cunningham not only was a junior college transfer, but he was unable to play until mid-season because of academic issues.
Powell had as much chance as anyone to take the starting point guard spot, but he saw his minutes diminish drastically over the course of the season because of inconsistency, turnovers and an emergence of Kedren Johnson. Powell averaged only 4.3 points and 2.7 assists per game in his only year in a Memphis jersey.
Powell and King are the latest two players from Pastner’s highly touted 2013 recruiting class to transfer from the program. The class consisted of Austin Nichols, Kuran Iverson (dismissed this season for a violation of team rules and officially transferred to Rhode Island), Dominic Woodson (transferred to Tennessee before the 2014-15 season), Markel Crawford, King and Powell. Only two players from that class, Nichols and Crawford, remain with the Tigers. The class was rated no. 3 overall by ESPN.
“Nick King and Pookie Powell are fine young men and in good academic standing at the University,” Pastner said in a press release. “We support both players and wish them all the best.”
Nick King grabbing a rebound in a game earlier this season. Photo by David Minkin.
