Steele Venters Is Coming Home to Washington, and the Huskies Just Got a Whole Lot Deeper
Danny Sprinkle and the Washington Huskies just made a savvy move in the transfer portal. Gonzaga forward Steele Venters committed to the program Wednesday night, giving the Dawgs their second transfer addition and filling out a roster that's still got room to work.
Who Is Steele Venters?
The 6-foot-7 forward from Ellensburg is no stranger to the Pacific Northwest, and that matters. This past season at Gonzaga, Venters put up 5.0 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 1.1 assists across 15.0 minutes per game while starting 10 of 27 contests. He shot 38.6% from the field and 36.7% from deep. Those numbers might look modest on the surface, but context is everything here.
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The Player He Used to Be, and What He Could Become
Three years ago, this kid was a legitimate NBA prospect. Playing for Eastern Washington as a redshirt junior in 2022-23, Venters won the Big Sky most valuable player award while averaging 15.3 points on 45.7% shooting from the field and 37.1% from three. The year before that as a redshirt sophomore, he put up 16.7 points with splits of 45.6% from the floor and a career high 43.4% on threes.
The injuries derailed that trajectory, but at 25 years old, he's expected to receive an NCAA medical waiver to play a fifth year. If he can shake off the rust and rediscover that form, the Huskies just added serious scoring punch.
Building the Roster
Venters is the second transfer to commit since Sunday when Davidson's Parker Friedrichsen joined the program. Washington now has seven scholarship players on the roster including Wesley Yates III, Lathan Sommerville, Jasir Rencher, Nikola Dzepina, and Mady Traore. NCAA Division I teams can carry 15 players, so the Huskies still have room to maneuver. The transfer portal closes Tuesday.
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