FSU Basketball: What transfer of C.J. Walker means for Noles next season

FSU basketball will be down at least one underclassman from the Elite Eight team after the Indianapolis native asked for and got his transfer release.

Less than 72 hours after the FSU basketball team finished their season with just the third Elite Eight appearance in program history, the Seminoles found out they were losing an underclassman who was leaving the program – but it wasn’t because of injury or an early defection to the National Basketball Association.

Instead, guard C.J. Walker is going to be leaving the program in hopes of continuing his career at another major college program. After spending two years as a member of the Noles, Walker asked head coach Leonard Hamilton for his release from the program and his scholarship – which Hamilton granted.

Hamilton and Walker said all the right things in the post transfer statements – the player thanking FSU basketball for his time and the coach wishing his former player the best wherever he lands – but there are plenty of people wondering what this will mean for the Seminoles in the upcoming season. Here are the three key takeaways from the newest former Nole leaving.

Trent Forrest is now the bonafide point guard for the Seminoles

The writing was on the wall that Forrest was going to become the starter for FSU basketball next season. After having a monster end of the year coming off the bench and averaging over 10 more minutes a game than Walker during the NCAA Tournament despite coming off the bench, chances were that Walker wasn’t going to see a lot of court time next season.

The Noles are going back on the recruiting trail to fill another scholarship

With Walker now off the roster, the Seminoles have another spot to fill for the upcoming season with just one player currently signed at this point. A look at Rivals top 150 players for the 2018 class shows plenty of players that still haven’t signed – so expect Hamilton and company to push hard for another guard they can add to the roster soon.

Walker may be the only major loss from the FSU basketball team entering next year

At this point one year ago, the Seminoles realized they were about to lose plenty of talent when the top three scorers from the second round team – Jonathan Issac, Dwayne Bacon and Xavier Rathan Mayes – were going to be off to the NBA. This season, there is not that same kind of pro talent out there so the worry about early defections is the same.

Next: FSU Basketball: Top five moments from 2017-18 season

While the Seminoles won’t be one of the early favorites to win the ACC or make a deep playoff run next season, keeping much of the nucleus in place does mean that any potential fall from this year’s tournament run will be minimal and the Noles should keep dancing into March.