Emmitt Matthews Jr., West Virginia Mountaineers.
Over the last two years, the Washington Huskies basketball team is a combined 20-38, including 9-29 in the Pac-12. This was after Mike Hopkins was the conference’s Coach of the Year in his first two years. Did Hopkins become a bad coach after being a good one? Most likely not. The trouble may more of not being able to blend his talented players into a cohesive unit.
UW should be among the top teams in the country and be a force in the Pac-12. Look what Mark Few accomplished at Gonzaga. Also, there is quality in-state talent on the high school level. Even if Gonzaga gets the top few players in the state each year, the Huskies could still land at least one if not two top players as well. In fact, since the Huskies play in a bigger conference, they should be able to match Gonzaga.
This means Washington doesn’t have the right coach. I am not saying Hopkins still can’t do the job, but if he doesn’t succeed next season, athletic director Jennifer Cohen will need to find a new one.
From last year’s disaster version of the Huskie, six players entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. Until this year, players couldn’t transfer to another school without sitting out a year unless there were hardship reasons. They could be involved in team practices but couldn’t play in any games. Everything has changed.
While six players moved out, the portal also brought new talent into the program. Let’s look at the comings and goings.
The Washington Huskies replaced two assistant coaches who left the program after the season. Cameron Dollar, a two-time Husky assistant, decided to leave. Right now, he isn’t pursuing another coaching position. The other assistant coach leaving was Dave Rice, He spent time at Utah State, BYU and Nevada before coming to Washington. Rice was also the head coach at UNLV. He did a good job recruiting players to Washington from Nevada, like Jamal Bay, who will be a senior this coming season.
A 23-game starter from last season, Erik Stevenson transferred to South Carolina. Last year was his only season at UW after transferring in from Wichita State. The local player from Lacey must have felt disappointed with his homecoming season. Stevenson averaged 26.5 minutes, 9.3 points, and 3.6 rebounds per game.
He left Wichita State because he didn’t have a great relationship with head coach Gregg Marshall. The same happened with UW’s Hopkins.
A three-year starter at forward for Washington, Hameir Wright decided to transfer out. His college eligibility would have run out, but the NCAA added an additional year for athletes due to COVID-19. In four seasons, Wright played in 122 games for UW, scoring 508 points with 400 boards.
On a podcast with former teammate Noah Dickerson last month, Wright said he wished he had transferred after his sophomore season. He felt Hopkins put him in a limited role, and if he turned back the clock two years, he would have left the same time as Dickerson.
Hailing from Portland, OR, Marcus Tsohonis should have redshirted his freshman season of 2019-20. Once the university suspended Quade Green for academic reasons, Tsohonis became the primary point guard. As a freshman, he scored 7.3 points and added 2.2 assists in 19 games.
Last year with Green on the team again, Tsohonis was a somewhat forgotten man early on. He rallied to average 20 minutes per game and was the Huskies’ second-leading scorer (10.4 PPG). A consistent shooter, Tsohonis hit 44.7 percent of his shots from the floor, including 37.0 behind the arc. Next season, he’ll play for Virginia Commonwealth.
Nate Pryor, another local transfer (North Idaho College), got off to a good start in purple and gold. Eventually, his shortcomings cost him playing time as the Huskies continued to lose games. He played in 16 games averaging 4.1 points on 35.7 percent shooting. Pryor heads to New Mexico State, where head coach Chris Jans says they have been big fans of his since his time at North Idaho College.
Going into last season, expectations were high for RaeQuan Battle. He was supposed to provide instant help off the bench. It never happened. In fact, Battle only played in 14 games.
A big reason for Battle’s decline in playing time had to do with his poor defense. Several times during the season, Hopkins appeared exasperated with his play. Additionally, his outside shooting was an abysmal 20.4 percent from three-point range. Battle took his basketball skills to Montana State.
J’Raan Brooks is the sixth member to transfer away from Washington and heads to UC-San Diego. Another local, Brooks, transferred to the Huskies from USC. After sitting out a season due to previous transfer rules, the goal was for him to be the primary front-court player off the bench. Instead, sophomore walk-on Riley Sorn beat him out. Brooks only played in 14 games.
Only Cole Bajema, a native of Lynden, Washington, is the only transfer (Michigan) from last year to stick around for another season.
The Huskies had five players come in via the transfer portal
Langston Wilson, a four-star junior college player in Pennsylvania, signed with the Huskies on April 30. He was 24/7’s number one power forward and number two overall coming out of junior college. Last October, he committed to Alabama, but it did work out. Instead, the 6-9 junior forward will be on Washington’s front line with Nate Roberts, Riley Sorn, and some arriving freshmen.
A standout out at Seattle University, Terrell Brown Jr. was a two-time All-WAC selection. He transferred to Arizona last season but didn’t get the minutes he was used to playing. So Brown decided to come home to play his senior year for the Huskies. The shooting guard will be a big part of Washington’s backcourt rotation.
After three years at West Virginia University, the Tacoma native comes back to his home state to finish his college career. With the Mountaineers, Emmitt Matthews improved each year. For the 2020-21 season, he had career highs in points (7.7) and rebounds (4.0).
Last week, the Washington Huskies announced the return of another player from the area. Junior guard P.J. Fuller is on the way from TCU. He averaged 5.7 and 5.8 points per game during his first two seasons.
The final member of the 2021 transfer class is Daejon Davis. He returns home to Seattle as a graduate transfer after a four-year career at Stanford. Davis averaged double-digit points in three of his four seasons with the Cardinal.
The last time he faced Washington, Stanford won 79-61, and Davis scored 12 points. It’s good to have him on the Huskies side now. He’ll team up with Brown and senior Jamal Bey to provide the Washington Huskies with a veteran backcourt.
Jackson Grant, a center out of Olympia High School, signed with the Huskies as a high school junior. With the lack of high school ball in 2021, Grant was the only in-state recruit Washington signed.
The four-star recruit was selected to the McDonald’s All-American team. According to Dan Raley of Sports Illustrated, the Huskies lack the presence of a big man on the team, and UW fans should expect playing time out of Jackson right away.
Going into the 2021-22 season, the Huskies have Nate Roberts as the only forward starter returning to the team. Roberts averaged 5.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. For experience, UW also has walk-on Riley Soren, a pleasant surprise last year, but the Huskies still need another frontcourt man to play significant minutes.
Washington’s future at point guard could be Dominiq Penn from Sunrise Christian Academy in Kansas. His father, Sconnie, is a Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach, so Dominiq comes from good basketball stock. After the graduation of Quade Green, UW is looking for a new point guard.
Samuel Ariyibi, a small forward out of Nigeria. The Huskies found Ariyibi playing in a league supported by the NBA. We will see how much he plays this coming season.
Right before Rice’s departure, in the middle of April, the Washington Huskies hired former California Golden Bears head coach Wyking Jones as an assistant. UW also brought back former Husky forward Quincy Pondexter to be part of Hopkins’ staff.
What do you think about all the turnover on the Washington Huskies basketball program? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.