Elijah Hardy Enters Transfer Portal After Huskies Add Pair of Guards
As the University of Washington basketball roster continues to churn, sophomore point guard Elijah Hardy announced on Wednesday that he has entered the NCAA transfer portal.
In explaining his decision to leave the program, Hardy told the Seattle Times he was looking for the best opportunity to play and succeed.
"The fit is really important," he said. "I want to be around good people, a good culture and a good team, and just continue my success."
In this case, Hardy likely is better suited competing for a lower-level school. This past season, he proved to be one of the Huskies' more disappointing players.
There's a good chance Hardy felt inclined to leave after the Huskies in a week's time added a pair of guards to the roster for next season.
One of the newcomers, Wichita State transfer Erik Stevenson, even posted a photoshopped image of himself last week on social media wearing Washington jersey No. 10.
The suggestion wasn't very subtle -- Hardy's number was 10.
Once starting sophomore point guard Quade Green became academically ineligible, Hardy was given every opportunity to replace him. The little left-hander from Oakland started the first game that Green missed but couldn't retain the job.
Hardy appeared in 29 games, but shot just 29.2 percent from the floor (19 of 65) and connected on a miserable 15.2 percent of his three-pointers (5 of 33).
He wasn't much of a playmaker either, averaging a mere 1.1 assists per game.
Hardy, shown in a black tank top going through pre-game drills in the video, pulled 9 minutes of playing time per game and often looked overmatched on the Pac-12 level.
His coach Mike Hopkins said he tended to get too revved up "like a Ferrari."
And now he's down the road.
