Marshall’s Jarrod West enters NCAA transfer portal

After making an indelible mark on the Marshall basketball program over the last four seasons, point guard Jarrod West has entered the NCAA transfer portal.

West, a senior, will look to use his extra year of eligibility while playing at another school.

“It was nothing bad about Marshall, nothing wrong with Marshall,” West said. “I’ve played at Marshall for four years and given them everything I’ve had and done as much as I can for this program and this team. I felt like I had a real opportunity and a real chance to get my name out there. At the end of the day, I want to compete with and against players and teams at the highest level.”

In his fourth and final season at Marshall, West averaged 12.5 points, six assists and 2.5 steals. He became the school’s all-time steals leader and shot a career-best 45.8 percent from the field, including 40.8 percent on three-pointers. 

Since Marshall’s season ended March 10, West said he spent the last two weeks pondering what to do with his final year of eligibility.

“I told coach (Dan D’Antoni) last night about it and he was really nice about it and had good things to say,” West said. “I just made the decision recently and a lot of thinking and conversation is what led to it.”

West reached the 1,000-point mark at MU as a senior and finishes his Thundering Herd career with 1,204 points. West will be immediately eligible to play next season and joins a transfer portal growing by the hour.

“I recognize a lot of names and it’s become more common every single year,” he said. “I wanted to get my name in there and get the process started.”

The 5-foot-11 point guard also averaged at least two steals each of his last three seasons at Marshall. West’s 254 career steals ranks second all-time in Conference USA.

On a day when West Virginia guard Jordan McCabe also entered the transfer portal and fellow guard Sean McNeil announced he’s testing the waters at the next level, social media was abuzz trying to connect the dots about West joining the Mountaineers.

West, a Clarksburg native whose father Jarrod West was a point guard at WVU from 1995-1998, downplayed the possibility. 

“That’s highly unlikely,” he said. “I doubt it.”

Although West said he doesn’t have a specific time frame on choosing his next school, he has already begun discussions.

“Not from WVU, but I’ve talked to other schools and talked to some schools today,” West said. “Them kind of reaching out to me, giving me their pitch and showing their interest level, talking about the system fit and everything like that. That’s kind of where I’m at right now.”

West compiled an 80-47 record at Marshall and helped the Thundering Herd win the 2018 C-USA Tournament en route to the school’s first victory in the NCAA Tournament — an upset over Wichita State. Marshall lost to West Virginia in the next round.

West was a standout at Notre Dame High School while playing for his father, who remains the coach there today. As a senior at NDHS, West garnered the Bill Evans Award as West Virginia’s top prep player and led the Fighting Irish to a Class A state championship. 

West’s younger brother, Jaidyn West, is one of the state’s top high school prospects in the class of 2022.

Coming from a tight-knit and basketball-oriented family, West was grateful to be relatively close to home at Marshall, though location may not play as much of a role in choosing a school this time.

“It still plays somewhat of a role because obviously I’d like for them to be able to come watch me play and be able to come home to see Jaidyn play or see the family,” West said. “But I would say it’s less of a factor now than it was when I was coming out of high school, because it’s only a one-year thing.” 





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