Life-changing decision helping former ASU star on, off the court

Family always comes first.

Trent Lockett had to make that difficult decision last summer when he decided to leave the Arizona State basketball program after three years and transfer to Marquette to be closer to his mother who lives in Minnesota and is battling cancer.

Now life is beginning to balance out on and off the floor for the Golden Eagles senior forward as his team marches on in the NCAA tournament and mother’s health continues to improve.

“She’s doing well,” Lockett told Brad Cesmat Monday on ‘Big Guy on Sports.’ “We continue to make visits to the Mayo [Clinic] and continue to monitor her health…it’s been great to be closer to her this year. I underestimated the difference it makes spending [this] amount of time with her.”

Lockett, who graduated from ASU last year with his bachelor’s degree in business communications, was given an NCAA waiver to transfer and play immediately because he had already received his degree.

The 6’5 guard has started 32 of 33 games this season and leads the team in rebounding (4.9) and is fifth in scoring (7.2). Through it all he says he harbors no hard-feelings towards the Sun Devils and appreciates them understanding the situation.

“Those three years [at ASU] I grew so much,” he explained to Cesmat. “I learned from teammates, coaches, the athletic department. Coach [Herb] Sendek and my teammates where very supportive of my decision and they understood that it was more of a life decision than a basketball decision.”

Lockett led the Sun Devils in scoring (13.0) and rebounding (5.8) last season. He was named second team All-Pac-10 as a sophomore and was a member of the Pac-10 All-Freshman team his first year in Tempe.

The third-seeded Golden Eagles will face two-seed Miami in the Sweet 16 Thursday night in Washington, D.C. He said March Madness has been a great ride to this point.

“It’s really been more than I could have ever asked for. These last two games have been full of many different emotions, but I’m thankful we’ve been able to come out on top.

More importantly it sounds like his mother’s health is determined to come out on top as well.