Former WSU guard Cedric Coward announces he’s transferring to Duke

PULLMAN – Cedric Coward is taking his talents to a national contender.

After spending one injury-shortened season at Washington State, Coward is transferring to Duke, he announced on social media Monday afternoon. He’s also keeping his name in the NBA draft pool to test his market as a pro, he added in his post.

Coward’s finalists reportedly also included Alabama, Washington, Florida and Kansas.

Playing just six games because of a season-ending shoulder injury he suffered in a Nov. 22 practice in Pullman, the 6-foot-6 Coward averaged 17.7 points, 7 rebounds and 3.7 assists as a Cougar, scoring in double figures four times, including a 30-point outing. Last spring, he transferred to WSU from Eastern Washington, where he was a unanimous first-team all-conference selection in 2023.

Coward began his career at Division III Willamette, where he averaged 19.4 points and 12 rebounds in 26 games. In the spring of 2022, Coward transferred to EWU, becoming the Eagles’ highest-profile transfer in some time. Last spring, Coward followed coach David Riley from EWU to WSU, one of three former Eagles to do so.

Coward entered the transfer portal on April 9, a move that resonated as something of a surprise around the WSU program, which was expecting him to turn pro. Coward tested the NBA waters last year, after all. He might still do as much, but in joining the Blue Devils’ program, he’s going to a team that made this year’s Final Four under third-year coach Jon Scheyer.

The Blue Devils have made 28 of the last 29 NCAA Tournaments, including two national championships and four Final Four appearances.

Coward is the fifth former Cougar to find a new home this offseason, joining LeJuan Watts (Texas Tech), Nate Calmese (Wake Forest), Isaiah Watts (Maryland) and freshman guard Marcus Wilson, who announced on Monday he’s transferring to UC Davis. Wilson played only four games last season before going down with his own season-ending shoulder injury.

Coward was not expected to return to WSU, a move he indicated in a March 6 interview with The Spokesman-Review. He’s had his sights set on the NBA, where he would likely be a late second-round pick this spring, according to many mock drafts. But it’s also possible that in today’s college basketball ecosystem, he earned a bigger NIL payday at Duke than an NBA contract, where players drafted in last year’s late second round earned about $1-2 million annually.

To help replace the loss of Coward and the other four Cougars who have gone portaling, WSU has landed three reinforcements from the portal: Boise State transfer wing Emmanuel Ugbo, Morehead State guard Jerone Morton and High Point transfer forward Simon Hildebrandt, who announced his decision on Sunday.

WSU has five open scholarships remaining.