Tarwater transfers, and with him more answers and questions
There were more answers for a Cal basketball team with just nine available scholarship players on Tuesday, but plenty more questions, too.
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Former Cornell forward Dwight Tarwater officially announced he'll transfer to Cal and be immediately available to the Bears -- this coming more than a month after giving Cuonzo Martin the nod, and on the exact same day he received his graduate school acceptance.
"When the season ended I was mentally physically exhausted after four years," Tarwater told GoldenBearReport yesterday. "In talking it over with my family, I decided I was hungry for another year -- I just decided I was gonna try to do it. So I started to pursue a fifth year, and the right opportunity came about. In my mind it was a home run."
A senior co-captain at Cornell last season, Tarwater -- after playing sparingly during his first three years -- averaged career highs in points (7.1 per game) and rebounds (5.5 per game) while playing for one of the worst programs in the country -- the Big Red finished the season 2-26 overall and 1-13 in the Ivy League.
The Bears will bring Tarwater in as a stretch four to help offset the loss of ACL-torn Kameron Rooks, but just how far he can stretch remains to be seen -- the 6'6", 230-pounder averaged 36.9% from three last season, and 39.3% from distance as a sophomore, the only other season he averaged more than 10 minutes a game.
"I just want to do anything Coach Martin wants me to do," Tarwater said. "That's something I bring to the table -- I'll do anything for my teammates and coaches. I'm a selfless player, I just wanna win some games."
Tarwater joins a 2014 class that now includes English big man Kingsley Okoroh, mono-recoveree Brandon Chauca, and Georgetown transfer Stephen Domingo (who will sit a year) -- a foursome that will have plenty to prove, and very little time to do so.
Tarwater doesn't know when he'll join his teammates, but he does know his head coach would like it to be soon.
"I talked to Coach Martin today and he said ASAP," Tarwater said with a chuckle.
Whenever he does, it'll signify a series of firsts for the former Cornell big.
It will be his first time in Berkeley.
It will be his first time meeting the Cal staff -- including Martin.
And it will be his first time meeting his teammates.
"We've never officially met," he said of Martin. "We've known of each other -- I worked out with one of the GAs at Tennessee when I was a sophomore, so I was around, but I'd never officially spoken to him."
"Initially I first heard from coach (Yanni) Hufnagel -- he coached at Harvard, we knew of each other, but we had never met either. He took the lead on the whole thing, then coach Martin took from there… I'm extremely excited and blessed to have the opportunity to play for Coach Martin. I have so much respect for him, I followed him closely while he was at Tennessee. I just told coach that I've heard too many great things about (Berkeley), even though I'd never seen it I had no doubts -- if he wanted me there I'd come in a heart beat. I can't wait to see everything."
Cal will be happy just to see a healthy warm body -- Tarwater will fill into a front court that will include the always-reliable David Kravish, true freshman Okoroh, and oft-injured Christian Behrens.
Tarwater said he doesn't expect the transition to the Pac-12 to be a big one.
"I think I have a pretty good idea, it's probably a little more physical, quicker, but we had an extremely tough schedule. We played at Syracuse, at Notre Dame, at Louisville, I think I have a good idea."
"I'm just gonna do whatever they need me to do -- I'm definitely all in."