Washington Huskies: Early Look at UW’s 2023-24 Basketball Roster
Herb Nightengale
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Mike Hopkins will be back in 2023. Once again, the Washington Huskies roster faces a huge turnover.
The Washington Huskies men’s basketball team had a mass exit shortly after athletic director Jennifer Cohen announced head coach Mike Hopkins would return for 2023-24.
Last year UW went 16-16, including 8-12 in the conference. Despite another disappointing season, he has two years remaining on his contract.
Cohen made the announcement shortly after Washington’s season ended. She felt that the Huskies could compete for the Pac-12 championship in the upcoming season.
How much did his return have to do with eight players entering the transfer portal, including four who played major roles on the team?
Transfers Out
The four players who played significant roles that decided to go through the transfer portal will be hard to replace.
Cole Bajema (31 games, 8.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 0.5 assists per game) is now at Pac-12 rival Utah. He was expected to be Hopkins’ key reserve off the bench; however, he ended up starting most of the season for the Huskies.
Noah Williams (14 games, 8.7, 3.1, 1.9) played only one season with the Huskies after transferring from Washington State. Unfortunately, injuries limited him last year.
TCU transfer PJ Fuller (26 games, 6.2, 2.0, 2.5) played two seasons for UW. Fuller was a starter at the beginning of the season but eventually returned to coming off the bench as he did the previous season.
Keyon Menifield (32 games, 10.0, 2.9, 3.1), a transfer from Arkansas, was an All-Pac-12 freshman selection. He and fellow freshman Koren Johnson were expected to be the faces of the Washington Huskies backcourt over the next two or three seasons.
His departure was a big surprise since Menifield announced he was returning to Washington a week before entering the transfer portal.
Staying
Not everyone left the program after last season.
Keion Brooks Jr, the Washington Huskies leading scorer last season and transfer from Kentucky, announced he would return to Washington instead of applying to the NBA. Expect Brooks to lead UW again next season. His return was important for the Huskies to succeed in the 2023-24 season.
Starting center Braxton Meah (31 games, 8.8, 7.2, 0.6) transferred from Fresno State before last season.
Franck Kepnang (8 games, 9.0, 6.3, 0.3, 1.9 blocks), another transfer center (Oregon), missed most of the season after getting hurt early on.
Rising sophomore guard Koren Johnson (19 games, 6.2, 1.8, 1.2) played 19.4 minutes per game last year. He should see even more playing time in 2023-24.
They also have guard Anthony Iglesia and small forward Samuel Ariyibi returning as well. Neither played any minutes last season. In fact, Ariyibi was out for the season with an ankle injury.
Transfers In
In April, the Washington Huskies picked up a transfer from Brooks’s former teammate at Kentucky, guard Sahvir Wheeler. At UK, he averaged 7.7 points a game and was one of the top point guards in the country with 5.6 assists last season in 28.5 minutes a game. He will likely be in the starting lineup with Keion Brooks Jr.
Moses Wood could be a Washington Huskies starter since he started for the University of Portland last year and was All-WCC. The power forward averaged 15.3 points a game, leading the Pilots with 6.3 boards per game. So he will be valuable either starting or coming off the bench.
Shooting guard Anthony Holland was Meah’s teammate at Fresno State. The senior should be a valuable contributor off the bench but might find his way into the starting lineup.
Recruits
The Huskies have two incoming freshmen. They are four-star recruit shooting guard Wesley Yates out of Beaumont, Texas, and Chris King, a three-star recruit from Seattle Prep, the son of former Seattle Supersonics center Rich King.
Currently, Hopkins has a small roster; unless he can add more players during the summer, the Washington Huskies will probably use a 7-man rotation, depending on the freshmen.
Hopkins will need his best coaching in the upcoming season to return. Another losing season will most likely mean he’ll be out of work. Go Dawgs!