By Davis Ramage
Following the departure of then LBSU men’s basketball head coach Dan Monson, five players who made up 70 of The Beach’s points per game in the 2023-2024 season entered the transfer portal and landed at schools around the country.
Monson accrued 272 wins in his 17 years at the helm of the program before parting ways leading up to the Big West Tournament where, against all odds, Monson and The Beach won the tournament and booked a spot in the NCAA Tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Beach were eliminated 85-65 in the first round by the Arizona Wildcats, ending the Cinderella run that no one saw coming.
Following this run came the flurry of players entering the transfer portal as the coach they were recruited by and playing for was no longer with the program.
Aboubacar Traore, University of Louisville
The then-junior forward averaged 12 points per game and 8.4 rebounds per game in his last year for The Beach. His hustle on both sides of the ball played a massive role in The Beach’s end of the season run.
At Louisville, he is averaging 5.6 points and 4.9 rebounds in limited minutes on a team that is in the midst of an NCAA Tournament push.
Lassina Traore, Xavier University
In his last season at The Beach, Traore averaged a double-double, putting up 11.9 points and 10.3 rebounds per game as the man in the middle.
While practicing at Xavier, Traore suffered a knee injury in October that turned out to be season-ending, so he has not seen the court for the Musketeers.
AJ George, Southern Methodist University
The then-sophomore guard looked to be a promising player for years to come for The Beach before transferring as he averaged 10.6 points and 4.1 rebounds last season.
George has since moved on to SMU where he has played sparingly as the deep Mustang roster finds themselves on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament.
Jadon Jones, University of Oklahoma
The sharpshooting then-junior guard played a role at The Beach since his freshman year where he averaged 8.4 points per game on 44.4% shooting from the three.
He improved his points per game to 12.1 in his last season at The Beach and was a leader in the locker room during the tough time after the Monson news came out.
He has been dealing with back injuries at Oklahoma that have kept him off the court this season for an Oklahoma team that has been hot and cold in the toughest conference in college basketball, the Southeastern Conference.
Maddux Monson, Eastern Washington University
Monson, the son of Dan Monson and then-sophomore guard didn’t get much playing time for The Beach as he only checked in the game in blowout situations.
He followed his father to Eastern Washington and has yet to see the court for the Eagles.
The Beach were forced to rebuild with current head coach Chris Acker taking over the program and have struggled to this point with a 7-20 overall record and a 3-12 conference record.
It will be a process to get the program back to the NCAA Tournament and with the state of college basketball, the transfer portal can dismantle a team at any point just like it did to LBSU.
