Ernie Kent reportedly lifts restriction on Valentine Izundu to transfer to San Diego State

Washington State coach Ernie Kent has lifted his restriction on transferring center Valentine Izundu and will allow him to visit San Diego State, per a source.

The source said Izundu will also visit Fresno State and UNLV.

Kent initially included SDSU on a list of schools Izundu was restricted from contacting on the grounds that he believed improper contact was made between the two parties during a Spring Break trip Izundu took to San Diego. Izundu maintained that the trip was simply for pleasure, and that he never had any contact with the SDSU coaching staff, even though he and former WSU teammate Que Johnson attended an Aztecs NIT basketball game.

While flight purchase records and text messages appeared to validate Izundu’s story, showing that the trip was scheduled before SDSU was left out of the NCAA tournament, a three-person WSU faculty committee upheld the restriction on contacting SDSU.

A student-athlete’s rights organization did lobby WSU on Izundu’s behalf. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Student-Athletes Human Rights Project (SAHRP) sent letters to WSU President Kirk Schulz and National Association of Basketball Coaches Executive Director Jim Haney.