Expected to boast one of the most talented guard trios in the state this season, the Tremper boys basketball team has a hole to fill in the backcourt when practice starts on Nov. 16.

Darell Longstreet, who helped the Trojans advance to the WIAA Division-1 sectional as a sophomore, has transferred to Bradford.

“I can’t really comment on it right now,” Bradford coach Damon James said, deferring all questions to athletic director Steve Knecht. “From what I’ve heard, he is enrolled at Bradford. That’s all I can say.”

Knecht could not be reached for comment on Monday.

The 6-foot-1 Longstreet is currently ranked No. 11 among state prospects in the class of 2011 by Wishoops.net and No. 116 nationally in his class by Rivals.com.

After attending St. Joseph as a freshman, Longstreet transferred to Tremper and averaged 17.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.2 steals per game as a sophomore for the Trojans (15-8).

He was a first-team All-Southeast Conference and All-County performer and has received recruiting interest from a number of NCAA Division-1 programs including Wisconsin, UW-Milwaukee and UW-Green Bay.

According to Wishoops.net editor Mark Miller, Longstreet left Tremper over the summer due to a family move. His eligibility status at Bradford remains cloudy at best because of his lack of earned credits and WIAA transfer rules, which state students who transfer schools after completing four consecutive semesters must sit out at least one academic year before gaining eligibility. Longstreet could possibly avoid sitting out due to WIAA transfer rules if his family can prove their move across town was a “legitimate family move.”

Tremper coach John Wilhelmson said that even if Longstreet still attended Tremper, he would not have been eligible to play this season.

“He won’t play in Kenosha this year,” Wilhelmson said, pointing out Longstreet’s academic troubles and truancies. “There’s just no way.”

Wilhelmson said that Longstreet’s academic troubles intensified once the season ended with a sectional semifinal loss to Beloit.

“He did OK during the season,” the Tremper coach said. “His grades were OK. I thought he was buying into it.

“We thought we had him honed in. We thought he got it. We had him isolated in our Bridges program. It wasn’t like he was missing a Friday here and there for AAU tournaments. He was missing all the time. We’d call him and he’d have every excuse in the book.”

While sitting at his desk in his office on Monday, Wilhelmson was going through letters from Tennessee, Oregon and Iowa State among others expressing interest in Longstreet.

“It’s unfortunate,” Wilhelmson said. “He’s in his own world. The light has to come on sometime. Unfortunately, it hasn’t come on yet.

“It’s a terrible waste of talent right now is what it is. I don’t know if he’ll get his act together to be able to play for his senior year. He’s a likeable kid, but he thinks everything is just going to go away. He knows how we feel about things. We gave him every chance we could.”

With senior guards Sam Savaglio and Ruben Williams returning, the Trojans should still be more-than-competitive in the 2009-10 season.

“We’ll be fine,” Wilhelmson said. “We have Ruben and Sam coming back for their third year. We thought we had all the pieces to the puzzle to make a serious run, but I think we’ll be all right.”