Husky Roster Review: Steinbach Expected To Be One-and-Done Deal

Seated in front of Seattle media members 11 days ago for a postgame inquisition, Hannes Steinbach was asked if there was any scenario in which he could see himself playing another season for the University of Washington basketball team.

The 6-foot-11 freshman forward first looked down, broke into a smile as he lifted his head while answering and nodded a few times.

"Yeah, maybe," Steinbach said about unconvincingly as he could.

What about NIL money keeping him in Montlake, some Husky fans ask?

Projected to be from the 20th pick overall to as high as No. 10 in June's NBA Draft, Steinbach stands to earn $4 million to $6 million per year in a rookie deal guaranteed for two seasons, with the option for two more.

Yeah, maybe?

Yeah, right.

The next Dirk Nowitzki needs a better 3-point shot for sure, but he's such an elite rebounder and is so fundamentally sound in most other facets of the game, the NBA in its right mind will never let this guy play another college season.

In 30 games for the Huskies, he just turned in the finest freshman season as a big man at Washington, and it wasn't even close. He's the only first-year player in Montlake to average a double-double with 18.5 points and 11.8 rebounds a game.

He finished with 22 double-double games, falling just short with 9 rebounds in three other outings.

Steinbach scored in double figures every he played and reached 20 points or more on 16 occasions.

He had a high of 29 points against UCLA and 24 rebounds against USC.

Yeah, maybe.

HANNES STEINBACH SEEING DOUBLE
Denver	16 points, 13 rebounds
at Baylor	10 points, 15 rebounds
at Washington State	14 points, 13 rebounds
UCLA	29 points, 10 rebounds
at USC	24 points, 16 rebounds
at Seattle U	15 points, 12 rebounds
San Diego	21 points, 14 rebounds
Utah	20 points, 11 rebounds
Indiana	20 points, 10 rebounds
Michigan	11 points, 14 rebounds
at Nebraska	21 points, 12 rebounds
Oregon	10 points, 13 rebounds
at Illinois	15 points, 12 rebounds
at Northwestern	22 points, 14 rebounds
Iowa	20 points, 12 rebounds
Penn State	19 points, 14 rebounds
at Rutgers	24 points, 16 rebounds
Wisconsin	22 points, 11 rebounds
USC	22 points, 24 rebounds
at Oregon	26 points, 13 rebounds
USC	10 points, 11 rebounds
Wisconsin	22 points, 11 rebounds

Among elite Husky big men, 6-foot-9 Steve Hawes wasn't permitted to play on the UW varsity as a freshman because of the rules of the day.

Seven-footer James Edwards became a freshman starter who averaged 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds a game.

Of fellow Germans turned Huskies, the 6-foot-9 Detlef Schrempf provided 10.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while 7-foot Christian Welp supplied 10.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, as first-year players.

More recently, the 6-foot-8 Isaiah Stewart put up 17 points and 8.8 rebounds per outing numbers.

All of those guys were eventual NBA players.

Steinbach, based on his draft projections of No. 10 to 20, actually is in an ideal draft situation because he likely won't have to join an NBA franchise having to do a total rebuild.

"He's going to be a tremendous pro for a long time," UW coach Danny Sprinkle said.

Anybody else think Steinbach is coming back to the UW next season?

Yeah, maybe.