Washington Huskies Bring Back Mike Hopkins: 7 Players Leave
Despite four straight disapointing seasons and heavy turnover, basketball coach Mike Hopkins remains with the Washington Huskies.
Herb Nightengale
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Despite four straight disappointing seasons and heavy player turnover, basketball coach Mike Hopkins remains with the Washington Huskies.
Washington Huskies athletic director Jennifer Cohen announced in early March that Mike Hopkins would remain as UW’s men’s head basketball coach. This happened after the Huskies were eliminated from the Pac-12 tournament in an opening-round loss to Colorado.
Despite a terrible season, Hopkins returns to Montlake. He has two years remaining on his contract for $6M. Many thought Hopkins would be fired after the fourth consecutive season of not making the NCAA tournament. Especially since he has a conference record of 28-50 (.359 winning percentage) and 53-69 overall (.417).
Buying him out would put an extra financial strain on the athletic department, even more so after Cohen bought out former football coach Jimmy Lake and extended the new one Kalen DeBoer.
After announcing Hopkins’ return, Cohen didn’t expect a mass exodus of Washington Huskies to the transfer portal. Maybe she should rethink her position on Hopkins.
Defections Galore
Seven players from last season’s 16-16 team entered the transfer portal. It began with senior forward/ center Langston Wilson on March 12. The former JUCO transfer announced his departure on March 12.
Three days later, sophomore center Jackson Grant from Olympia and senior PJ Fuller entered the portal. This is Fuller’s second transfer. Two years ago, he came from TCU to play for his hometown college.
Meanwhile, Grant and Wilson had the opportunity to play when backup center Franck Kepnang was lost for the season with an injury in the Pac-12 season opener.
Unfortunately, neither player played well enough when the Huskies needed to give starters Braxton Meah or Keion Brooks a rest. Hopkins often went with four guards when either Meah or Brooks were out of the game.
Grant was a McDonald’s High School All-American and highly touted. In two years, he didn’t develop as well as expected. Whether that was him or Hopkins and his staff will be found out when he plays with his new team.
On March 24, senior Cole Bajema and freshman Tyler Linhardt announced they were also leaving. Both players are local, with Bajema from Lynden and Linhardt from Seattle.
Bajema started all season and likely would have next season. He played well until he was suspended for a game by the Pac-12 for a flagrant foul against UCLA on February 2. After that, Bajema wasn’t the same player.
Next up was freshman Keyon Menifield on April 4. A week earlier said he was coming back. Now he’s part of the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Menifield became a starter early on when fellow guard Noah Williams was injured. He was one of two Washington Huskies players that averaged double-digit points per game (10.0).
Unlike Menifield and fellow freshman Koren Johnson, Tyler Linhardt didn’t get much playing time. He probably didn’t see much of a future for himself at UW.
As of now, the rumor is that Fuller hasn’t turned in his transfer paperwork. He could still come back.
Last season Fuller came off the bench due to Menifield’s development and Williams’s return from injury in late December.
The final straw (hopefully) was Williams days later. Before last season, Williams came over from Wazzu. But the injury he sustained limited him to only 14 games.
Some Good News
It looks like leading scorer Keion Brooks Jr is coming back. Not only that, his former Kentucky teammate point guard Sahvir Wheeler is joining via the portal.
Even with Wheeler and fellow transfers Anthony Holland (Fresno State) and Moses Wood (University of Portland), the Washington Huskies are losing the numbers game. They have two incoming freshmen, but only guard Wesley Yates is ranked.
One thing is for sure, Hopkins will be on a very short leash from here on out.