Photo credit: Seattle Times - Cliff DesPeaux

In an interview this morning with KJR-AM radio host Dave Mahler, Elston Turner (above) talked about why he's leaving Washington.

(Are you really leaving?) "Yeah, man I had to."

(Why?) "I've been thinking about it for a couple of months now and me and my dad we've been talking back and forth. We just came to the conclusion that me as an individual being here is slowing up my development in showing everybody my overall game, not just my shooting game. We felt like being here, the situation I'm in I couldn't really get into a groove to show my all-around game."

(Slowing your development, what does that mean?) "The past few years, I've been labeled as a shooter and all through high school and up until college I've been an all-around scorer. I've played point some, I've played the three and being in situations where I can do more things than just being a spot-up shooter. Somewhere else I feel like can be the type of player that can be an in-game scorer, a versatile scorer. Just being here, no disrespect to the coaches or the players or anybody, they're all family to me, but just to get where I want to go and to be the best I can be, I had to move on."

(Is there enough shots to go around at UW and do you need to go to a place where you'll be more of a priority?) "No I wouldn't say that. Like you said we do have a lot of scorers and lot of people who can put the ball in the bucket, but I just see it as something that I need to do in order for me to get better. I feel like the last two years, certain aspects of my game, which I'd like to get better at, I really haven't. It's hard. They're all family to me. They've been like my brothers for the past two years and it's just something I have to do as an individual for me and my family."

(Are you unhappy with the coaching?) "No the coaches have done all they could. They work harder than anybody I know. Coach (Lorenzo) Romar is like a father to me. He's always going to be part of what I do and I'm going to take a lot of things from him. Just as me as an individual I just got to go somewhere else and expand my game and so I can have other people see what I can do."

(Where are you going?)

"Right now I have no idea. No schools have contacted me yet. It should be starting in a couple of hours or a couple of days. We'll see. If can get closer to my family, I'll try that."

(Closer to Houston?) "Yeah."

(Do you need to go to a Division I school?) "Sitting out for one year is not that big of a deal. It gives you time to develop as a player. You can work on your individual game and give you can still practice with the team. By doing that, you already have a leg up when you're able to play as well as you have that year to get accustomed to the school to how the classes are working and stuff like that. It can be an important year to get used to all of the new stuff that's going on."

(What school would you like to play for?) "I know a lot of people who played at Texas A&M and I'd love to get a chance to go somewhere around there to Texas or Texas A&M. That part. It's only a couple of hours away from Houston. I'm not going to put just staying close to home as my top priority because I do want to go where it's best for me and not just because it's close. We'll have to see and weigh it out and hopefully me and my family can come up with the best decision."

(What was Lorenzo Romar's reaction?) "I told him two days ago. He didn't try to convince me to stay. He sent his best regards. He said that nothing is going to change between us. We're still going to keep in touch. He said nothing is going to change between him and my family because we've been very close since he started recruiting me. For that I appreciate him for it. For not trying to change my decision. He said he's going to be behind me 100 percent and I appreciate that."

(How are you doing in the classroom?) "Academically I was doing as all people can do. They can do a little better academically. I was doing fairly well for the most part. Things got kind of hectic during the basketball season, but that's typical. But for the most part, I was doing fairly well."

(So not qualifying, that's not why you're leaving?) "No."