The Long Beach State athletics department released the 2013-14 men’s basketball team roster, and, as expected, it was missing some familiar names.
Keala King, Tony Freeland, Deng Deng and Kyle Richardson will not suit up for The Beach anymore, as their scholarships have not been renewed for 2013-14. West Coast Hoops Report and the Daily 49er reported earlier in the month that they were expected to be dismissed.
LBSU head coach Dan Monson confirmed the roster changes but declined to give a reason for his decision.
“There is no specific reason we’re giving for that,” he said. “We didn’t renew their scholarships because every year we put the best team forward to represent the university.”
Monson refused to say anything more about the players, saying that he wasn’t “going to talk about players that aren’t on the team anymore.”
However, he did say that losing so many players, including James Ennis and Peter Pappageorge to graduation, would be a challenge for the 49ers to overcome.
“Through graduation and departures, we lost a great deal from last year’s team,” Monson said. “Nobody’s going to replace James Ennis individually. James Ennis is one of the more talented players ever to put on a Beach uniform. Keala King and Tony Freeland were starters last year, and Deng was an integral part, and Peter Pappageorge had a huge senior year for us.”
Despite the departures, Monson said he “really [likes] the character and the talent” of next year’s team, which will include five new recruits: forward Christian Griggs-Williams, shooting guard Travis Hammonds, point guard Desmond Ross, power forward David Samuels and guard A.J. Spencer. Ross is the only recruit coming to The Beach straight out of high school.
Meanwhile, King, Freeland, Deng and Richardson will have to continue their athletics careers away from LBSU.
Deng has announced via Twitter that he will attend Cal State Bakersfield in the fall. Richardson, who redshirted one year while at LBSU, has graduated and will pursue a master’s degree at a different school, according to Monson.
The future plans of King and Freeland remain unknown at this point.