The Ballad of Boz: Arizona Basketball's Kylan Boswell to enter the transfer portal
By Mason Duhon
Five-star freshman
Boswell had a promising freshman season coming off the bench in 2022-23. He averaged 4.6 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 0.7 steals while playing in 15.2 minutes per game. Though he didn't start a single game, he played in all 35 of them and shot well: 45% from the field and 39% from distance.
The flashes in his freshman year were most apparent in the game against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, where he only logged 8 points in a season-high 26 minutes but balanced it out with seven rebounds and eight assists. His efforts earned him a Pac-12 All-Freshman team honorable mention.
His efficiency and production in limited minutes led to Kriisa, who was the starting point guard at the time, transferring to West Virginia. Kriisa was coming off a down season, and both the coaching staff and fanbase had faith that Boswell would blossom into a star in his sophomore year. However, that ended up not being the case.
Sophomore slump
Things started off looking really good at the beginning of his first year at the helm. He posted double-digit points in each of the first five games and shot at (or near) 60% in each of them. The first sign of trouble came against No. 21 Michigan State, where he still logged 12 points but shot a measly 33% from the field. For the rest of the season, he reached the 50% clip seven more times and only surpassed it twice.
Infamously, he finished two games with zero points and goose-egged all across the board against Washington State the first time around: 25 minutes, 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0-5 from the field, and 0-2 from the free throw line. The only stats he recorded were his two fouls and one turnover.
No stretch of games encapsulated his up-and-down season better than the NCAA Tournament. He started off by posting a career-high 20 points against Long Beach State while shooting 4-9 (44%) from range. Over the next two games, he went a combined 1-7 (14%) from distance and scored 5 total points. It all spelled doom for his future in red and blue.