San Jose State hoops standout to transfer to UH

Few things are permanent in the ever-changing landscape of college basketball.

That much is true in the case of Keith Shamburger, the former San Jose State point guard who plans to transfer to play at Hawaii, sources confirmed on Friday.

The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Shamburger averaged 13.1 points and 5.2 assists per game as a Spartans sophomore. He must sit out the 2012-13 season, then will have two years of eligibility left starting in 2013-14.

Should his admittance into UH play out as expected within the next two weeks, Shamburger will have effectively taken a mulligan on a decision he made two years ago.

Shamburger passed up on UH in favor of fellow Western Athletic Conference school SJSU in the spring of 2010, when Gib Arnold was assembling his first recruiting class as coach of the Rainbow Warriors. That was despite SJSU’s low hoops pedigree; Shamburger, a league co-player of the year out of Serra High, said at the time he chose SJSU from a desire to be closer to his family in Southern California.

Initially, it was hard to argue with that decision; Shamburger was an instant-impact player for the Spartans, averaging 12.4 points and 2.4 assists per game as a true freshman, helping SJSU to a 17-16 record — including a first-round upset of the ‘Bows in the first round of 2011 WAC tournament. He had the highest scoring average for an SJSU freshman going back to 1972.

SJSU struggled in 2011-12, though, despite Shamburger upping his averages to 13.1 points and 5.2 assists — the latter number was second in the league, behind only UH’s Miah Ostrowski. The Spartans finished 9-22, including last (1-13) in the WAC. Shamburger had a tougher time from the field — he shot 33.7 percent, down from 41 percent as a freshman — but his assist-to-turnover ratio was still a sublime 2.5.

At that point, apparently, he desired a do-over.

On March 22, Shamburger tweeted, “It’s official I’m transferring from San Jose. Thanks to the coaches, fans and staff for their support over the last 2 years.”

Arnold declined comment on Shamburger, and Shamburger wasn’t available for comment.

Yet indications are that the guard favors the move, in part, because UH is joining the California-centric Big West Conference next season. Because UH will no longer be in the same league as SJSU, Shamburger avoids the additional-year penalty for transferring within the same conference.

The news of his likely transfer to UH, first reported by the website Parsing the WAC, came on the heels of UH’s announcement Wednesday night that backup point guard Bobby Miles was transferring off the team to be closer to home.

Once he’s eligible in 2013, it’s possible that Shamburger could play simultaneously in the UH backcourt with Shaquille Stokes, UH’s incumbent point guard who would also be a junior.

Shamburger must still go through the admittance process to UH, but his grades at SJSU were apparently solid.

It’s believed UH has two other scholarships to offer for the upcoming spring signing period, which begins on Wednesday.