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After securing his release from Arizona State, guard Trent Lockett has decided to transfer to Marquette, as he himself tweeted today.
The decision to leave ASU was driven by Lockett's desire to be closer to his mother in Minnesota as she is currently battling cancer. Marquetts's campus in Milwaukee is 327 miles from Lockett's hometown of Golden Valley, Minnesota, a six hour drive.
As Lockett, an honors student, is scheduled to graduate this summer, he would be eligible to play for the Golden Eagles immediately, provided he enrolls into a program at that ASU does not offer.
Over his three years as a Sun Devil, Lockett has developed into an all-conference caliber player and become the face of the Sun Devil program. He earned All Pac-10 second team honors in 2010-2011 when he averaged 13.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
This past year, he battled injuries that kept him out of six games, but still managed to contribute 13.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. He also saw time at point guard due to the midseason release of Keala King. Lockett's improved shooting, excellent rebounding from the guard spot and top-notch leadership abilities will be sorely missed.
He joins a Marquette team that went 27-8 this season and made another successful NCAA Tournament run. They knocked off BYU and Murray State, before losing to Florida in the Sweet 16. The Golden Eagles lose their top two scorers from a year ago--Darius Johnson-Odom and Jae Crowder--leaving Lockett a chance to make a major impact immediately.
As has been noted many times, Lockett is the 12th scholarship player to leave the ASU program over the last four years. Since January, the Sun Devils have lost King, Chanse Creekmur and Kyle Cain. However, none of those players will leave as big a hole as the dynamic Lockett, both on and off the court.
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