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Gaston makes move with future in mind

With one year of college eligibility remaining, RaShid Gaston wanted to make the most of it.

Gaston, a former Warren G. Harding standout, played at Norfolk State University the last three seasons. With his future on the line, a player with NBA aspirations said he had to make the most of his final year of college basketball.

The 6-foot-9 forward decided he would be best suited to do that at Xavier University.

“When I was at Norfolk,” he explained, “realizing the conference I was in, the respect that the conference got around the country, going to the NCAA tournament was something that, to reach my ultimate goal, which is to play professionally, we pretty much had to go to get that recognition, to get that exposure, publicity and all that type of stuff,” Gaston said. “I honestly feel like that’s what got former Norfolk State, NBA player Kyle O’Quinn over the top. When they went to the tournament, beat Missouri, became that little Cinderella team for a couple weeks, and his face was all over TV, I feel like that helped him a lot.

“Me personally, I just didn’t want to risk my last year because I have a lot invested into the game of basketball. I love it. It’s what I want to do with my life. I just felt like moving would be my best situation.”

Gaston is coming off a season in which he averaged 15.5 points and 9.6 rebounds for Norfolk State, which plays in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. When he announced his intention to transfer, several schools including Kent State, South Florida, Cincinnati, Iowa State, Kansas State and DePaul, showed interest.

But Gaston said Xavier was the perfect fit. The Musketeers qualified for the NCAA Tournament 11 of the past 13 seasons. They’ve sent numerous players to the NBA (including David West, Jordan Crawford, James Posey and Tyrone Hill). They play in the Big East Conference and are one of the nation’s premier basketball schools.

That was only part of the equation for Gaston though. He’s looking forward to going up against players like Jalen Reynolds and James Farr every day in practice.

“I wanted to try to push myself at a bigger school, being surrounded by – I’m not trying to down-talk my teammates (at Norfolk) – but better teammates on a daily basis,” he said. “They kind of have the same goals and ambitions that I do (at Xavier), so we can push each other. I just wanted to be able to put my talent against some of the best in one of the bigger leagues and hopefully increase my chances of going to the NCAA Tournament.”

Xavier, located in Cincinnati, is also closer to home than Norfolk, Virginia, but the main selling point to Gaston is that Xavier gives him an opportunity to better his future, in more ways than one.

“The coaching staff, they talked about motivating me and pushing me on and off the court,” said Gaston, a mass communication major. “They talked to me about life after basketball and helping me make sure I’d be OK. One day when the ball stops dribbling, I’ve got to get a job.”

Gaston will have to sit out this year as part of NCAA regulations, but he will be eligible as a senior in 2016-17. That’s a tough pill to swallow, but he said he’ll spend the time working on his footwork and his outside jump shot.

“I like how they (the coaches) said they were going to use me and just developing my game these next two years,” he said. “I already knew what I was going to have to do, pretty much, so I’ll be ready for it (sitting out), but I’m sure it’ s going to affect me way more when I’m actually in that situation.”

Gaston is in Warren for the next few weeks. He’ll leave for Xavier in late July to start summer classes.

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