Inside The Huskies

Diomande Still Not Expected to Make UW Debut Any Time Soon

The French newcomer continues to get acclimated to Husky basketball.
Dan Raley|
Dominique Diomande warms up before the Nebraska game.
Dominique Diomande warms up before the Nebraska game. | Skylar Lin Visuals

The University of Washington basketball team ran through a Monday morning practice, climbed aboard a chartered bus parked behind Alaska Airlines Arena and headed to an airport where a chartered jet was waiting that would take these guys cross country to a Wednesday night game at Ohio State.

Dominique Diomande, the 6-foot-8 freshman and midseason newcomer from France, was involved in every step of the process for the Huskies, but likely it stops right there for him.

With the UW (12-11 overall, 3-9 Big Ten) down to eight regular-season games and no more than that if they can't qualify for the 15-team conference tournament -- the Huskies currently are 17th -- the chances of seeing Diomande make his season debut probably aren't high.

"I probably wouldn't expect much if I'm you guys," coach Danny Sprinkle told a media gathering before leaving. "You can ask me about him, but it's not going to change. Like I said, we've had a lot of guys practicing since June and, unless he really surpasses somebody, it's hard to put somebody in that spot. It's hard for me to put him in that spot."

Diomande arrived from Europe in January, well into the season, and has been limited to practice only for the last month.

Sprinkle is doing everything to make sure a player who has appeared in French pro leagues and with the U16 Ivory Coast international team is ready for the rigors and the physicality of Big Ten basketball and not thrown in and embarrassed right away.

Dominique Diomande lets fly with a shot in pregame warm-ups before the UW faced Nebraska.
Dominique Diomande lets fly with a shot in pregame warm-ups before the UW faced Nebraska. | Skylar Lin Visuals

In fact, the only way Diomande was going to contribute right away was if he somehow was unusually advanced for a 19-year-old kid moving to a new country and able to pick up everything the Huskies do on offense and otherwise.

"It wouldn't be fair for me to throw him in there at Ohio State in a Big Ten game for your first action," Sprinkle said. "I know everyone wants to see him and all that, but I've got to be fair to him and fair to the team, too. At the end of the day, he's got to earn it. I don't care who it is. I don't care if LeBron James is here. Come and earn it, and you're going to play."

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

Published | Modified
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

Home/Basketball