Stanford Basketball To Welcome Lacrosse All-American Cole Kastner To Team

Kevin Borba | Apr 25, 2024

Feb 10, 2024; Stanford, California, USA; The Stanford Cardinal logo at center court before the game / Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports

Stanford's new head basketball coach Kyle Smith has officially landed his first transfer as the coach of the Cardinal.

The kicker? The transfer he landed is taking an unconventional route to the court, as he has spent the past four seasons shining on the lacrosse field for Virginia. The 6-foot-7 All-American defenseman took to the app formerly known as Twitter on Wednesday evening to reveal that he would be transferring to Stanford for his final year, and would be playing basketball.

@StanfordMBB ‘25
Very grateful for the past 4 years at UVA and really excited to get back to hoops. Go Card🌲 pic.twitter.com/MUSDvlQ1ml

— Cole Kastner (@ckast_) April 24, 2024

While he hasn't played basketball in college, he was reportedly recruited for basketball by Pac-12 programs and Ivy League programas during high school. The Palo Alto Native averaged 16.7 points and 9.8 rebounds per game during his senior season at Menlo School.

Not bad for a lacrosse player #11out pic.twitter.com/JzU5nhEE6C

— Cole Kastner (@ckast_) March 24, 2020

During his lacrosse career, Kastner helped the Cavaliers win a title in 2021, and was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year in 2022. He was also an All-American and All-ACC selection in both 2022 and 2023.

We have seen the lacrosse to basketball transition work recently, as current Golden State Warrior Pat Spencer was a star at Loyola before transferring to Northwestern for his final year of college eligibility.