A Bey of Hope Emerges During a Difficult Husky Season

Jamal Bey lost sight of himself as a basketball player. He was timid. Passive. If not exceedingly polite.

He possessed exceptional size for a college guard — all 6-foot-6 of him — and he had a cousin taken in the most recent NBA draft, indicating rich basketball bloodlines. Yet for two-plus seasons he was never a standout player for the University of Washington.

Bey became a part-time starter last year, but he was a support guy at best. He scored no more than 14 points in a game, took no more than 11 shots on any night, and even those numbers came infrequently.

When the season opened disastrously for the Huskies with nonstop losses and his team needed him most, Bey still didn't respond at a level necessary for this upperclassman to rescue them.

To his credit, he didn't give in. Didn't believe what the fans boards and websites were saying about him, which weren't all that wrong. Instead, he kept looking for a breakthrough. He felt one was coming.

"Since I got here, I haven't had the confidence I had in high school," Bey said before facing USC in Los Angeles. "I think I'm finally finding it in myself and just playing like I know how to play and getting over the hump."

Six games ago, he was straddling a fine line where he easily could have been labeled a bust once and for all when the talent came rushing out of him. It was a stirring moment of basketball self-discovery.

Bey scored 15, 18, 11, 6, 14 and 28, and three of those totals represented career highs.

"He's been using his God-given ability, getting to the rim and using his strength and athleticism," fellow guard Erik Stevenson said after these two combined for 45 against California. "He's hard to guard when he goes downhill like that."

Against Utah, Bey tossed away all of the restraints and let it all hang out — and it was an amazing thing to see.

He was a completely different Husky basketball player. He dropped in a sizzling 10 of 11 shots against Utah, including 4 of 4 from 3-point range, and he led the Huskies to a hard-earned 83-79 victory. He grabbed 5 rebounds, stole the ball 4 times and blocked a shot.

He drove hard to the basket. He forced turnovers. He was the total package.

The lesson here is that every major-college athlete matures at a different speed. It's usually never to the total satisfaction or expectation of the fans or the media. However, Bey needed extra time to resemble an elite player.

His season is fully encapsulated in the accompanying video clip, chopped up from different stages of the season. Bey goes from hopeful in the preseason to forlornly calling for the UW to hold a team meeting following a one-sided loss at USC to his moment of rebirth last Sunday.

Husky coach Mike Hopkins stubbornly hung with this player, starting him in every game but one this season, waiting and waiting for the swingman to show long-overdue results. The coach was finally rewarded.

On Monday, Bey earned Pac-12 Player of the Week honors, the first such reward for a Husky in nearly two years since Matisse Thybulle was the recipient. That was a sign of things turning successful again after a long absence.

Bey leads the conference in 3-point shooting, hitting 51.5 percent of his attempts. During his month-long revival, he's pushed his scoring average to 9.4 points per game, nearly doubling it. He's trying to be twice the player he was.

The Huskies set plays for him now, posting him up against smaller guards, counting on him to make things happen.

His team his finally winning (3-11 overall, 2-7 Pac-12) after so much misery and despair, due in large part to his basketball renaissance and that of others.

Bey looks more like the 4-star recruit who chose the UW over Arizona State, San Diego State, UNLV, USC and Utah.

While his 28 points against the Utes might very well be a career moment that won't change, Bey is a different player, confident, willing to take more of a lead role.

Jamal Bey it seems knows exactly who he is now and what he can do. The trick is to keep it coming.

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

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