Drexel's Lee leaving
Leading scorer Damion Lee will graduate at the end of the semester and with a year of eligibility left, wants to play elsewhere.
DREXEL SENIOR Damion Lee will graduate in a few months, which, in today's college basketball world, essentially makes him a free agent. Lee, who took a medical redshirt in 2013-14 after tearing an ACL in Drexel's fifth game and has 1 year of eligibility remaining, told coach Bruiser Flint over the weekend that he plans to play his final season at another school.
"What are you going to do?" Flint said. "That's what he said he wants to do, so that's what he's doing."
It is essentially what Temple's Anthony Lee did last year. He played this season at Ohio State. The graduate transfer rule has been in effect for several years now. Rather than having to sit out a year, a graduate player is immediately eligible at another school. It is what Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson did when he left North Carolina State and played immediately at Wisconsin.
Lee averaged 21.4 points last season for a team that was beset by injuries and finished 11-19. Lee missed the final three games after fracturing his right hand.
"We asked him [if he was considering transferring] before," Flint said. "He said no, he wasn't going to do it."
Lee obviously changed his mind, which is definitely his prerogative. Drexel does return everybody else but Freddie Wilson. There will, however, be no replacing Lee's scoring. He has scored 1,538 points in his career and had five 30-point games last season. He made 65 threes while shooting 38.5 percent from the arc and hit an amazing 173 free throws while shooting 88.7 percent from the foul line.
"It's a rule and he took advantage of it," Flint said philosophically. "That's what he wanted to do."
The 6-6 Lee obviously will get major interest from major programs. He is a stone scorer who has in-the-gym range and never stops moving to get open. Whoever gets him will be getting a really good player who has all kinds of game.