6 minute read
Full Circle
With seven new players on the roster, UW men take the floor with homegrown transfer portal talent
BY BOB SHERWIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Heading into his fifth campaign as the Washington Men’s Head Basketball Coach, Mike Hopkins has the rather unique and discordant task of replacing players who used to play here with players who used to play here.
For those who haven’t kept track of the whirling transfer portal, it goes like this. The Huskies’ roster was depleted from last season’s 5-21 team when six players entered the transfer portal last spring. They’re gone, off to other schools. Taking their place on the court and bench will be four players who grew up and played basketball in the Seattle area. They’re coming back home to a familiar setting, surrounded by encouraging faces.
They are: 6-3 guard Terrell Brown, from Garfield High School then Arizona and Seattle University; 6-3 guard Daejon Davis, another Garfield Bulldog and a graduate transfer from Stanford; 6-4 guard P.J. Fuller, a third Garfield grad who spent two years at Texas Christian University; and 6-7 forward Emmitt Matthews, who played at Tacoma’s Wilson High School followed by three seasons at West Virginia.
“These four guys are elite defensive players and have elite toughness,” Hopkins said.
The departed include: guard Erik Stevenson to South Carolina; guard Marcus Tsohonis to Virginia Commonwealth; guard Nate Pryor to New Mexico State; guard RaeQuan Battle to Montana State; forward Hameir Wright to North Texas State; and forward J’Raan Brooks to UC San Diego.
The Huskies also have three other newcomers, another local, incoming 6-11 freshman Jackson Grant from Olympia High School; 6-11 junior forward Langston Wilson, the No. 2 junior college transfer in the country; and a freshman forward from a world away, 6-8 Samuel Ariyibi, from NBA Africa Academy, Nigeria. Seven new faces added to the UW roster in what amounts to a restructured Husky core. If nothing else, the four Seattle transfers give the team instant experience, as the transfer portal — and the NCAA’s decision to permit college athletes to have one extra (COVID) season — have reshaped the UW roster as well as collegiate sports.
Junior Nate Roberts
Senior Emmitt Matthews Jr.
Grad Daejon Davis
Junior Cole Bajema
Brown and Davis, who are first cousins, are in their sixth and fifth years, respectively. Matthews has three seasons done with two to go while Fuller also has finished two seasons with potentially three remaining.
“It’s unbelievable. Our program really benefits from it,” Hopkins said. “We lost some guys but were able to get some really good players. They have experience playing college basketball. They have experience being college athletes. That’s a huge advantage. That experience can play dividends.”
They come back to Seattle bearing various gifts. Brown, who Hopkins said, “is the toughest man in the building,” likely will be among the better scorers on the team. He averaged 20.7 points for Seattle U. in 2020, finishing 20th in the nation.
Brown, who helped Garfield win back-to-back state championships (2014-15), also finished second in the nation last season in assist-to-turnover ratio, 90 assists to 23 turnovers.
Davis finished his Stanford career sixth among the school’s all-time assists leaders. He started 97 of 104 games during his four years, scoring 1,064 points and collecting 369 rebounds. “He’s our floor general,” said Hopkins. “A guy who can make everyone around him better.”
Hopkins said Fuller is a player who can do many things well. Move the ball, share the ball, shoot the ball and “is very disruptive on the defensive end.” He added that Matthews’ main strength is on defense. “His potential,’’ he said, “is limitless in terms of ceiling.”
Of all the locals, the most intriguing is Grant, a recruiting coup who was a McDonald’s All-American and one of the top 35 prep players in the country. He’s young, a bit thin, a bit raw, but already on course. “He’s a really good offensive player. He’s just scratching the surface of what he can be,” Hopkins said. “Midway through the season, he’s going to have a major impact on the program.”
The newbies join three returning Huskies who made significant contributions last season: 6-6 senior guard Jamal Bey, the highest returning starter at 10.3 points per game with 25 (of 26) starts; 6-11 junior forward Nate Roberts, who averaged a team-high 5.7 rebounds per game; and 6-7 junior Cole Bajema, who transferred from Michigan last season and played in 24 games. He is from Lynden Christian High School.
Senior Jamal Bey
Junior P.J. Fuller
Grad Terrell Brown Jr.
Hopkins and his staff are using the non-conference season to pull together various skill sets from various players coming from divergent places into an efficient team. The most logical players to bind the bunch would be those returning players, Bey, Roberts and Bajema. Bey and Roberts started 51 of 52 games while all three played in 76 out of a possible 78 games.
Bey is the only remaining Husky who played on the 2019 team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Roberts, at 6-11, 265 pounds, may show his less experienced inside teammates how to operate under the hoop. “Cole is probably our most improved player during the preseason,” Hopkins said. “He improved his game and his body. He’s probably our best shooter. He’s going to help a lot.”
Hopkins hopes his team’s hallmarks this season will be two elements not readily apparent in the stat sheet – toughness and defense. New players such as Matthews and Brown on the wings come with gritty reputations, as do Langston Wilson and Roberts inside. Ariyibi, the young developing talent from Nigeria with a 6-foot-11 wingspan, could be effective everywhere else. The team will press more and weave man defense more into the mix.
“That’s how you become a better team,’’ Hopkins said. “At the end of day, it’s about developing them and putting them in a system that works, which we have (in 2019). It means believing in each other.”
