UW Basketball Limps Into Arizona Series With No Buzz or Clear Direction
The call came within 24 hours following the University of Washington basketball team's 74-49 loss to UCLA on New Year's Day, a disturbing performance at home.
A three-decade Husky donor and season-ticket holder was on the other end. He sounded frustrated if not angry.
The man was certain he had just witnessed the worst UW performance during his involvement, though time has a way of making people lose sight of previous disasters. He swore he was at the breaking point of not caring, not coming to games anymore, no longer offering financial support.
Last Saturday in Salt Lake City, the Huskies dropped another one by 25 points to Utah, hardly offering any opposition in an equally inept 86-61 showing.
This UW basketball aftermath, however, was more disconcerting this time, not for the booster noise but for the total silence.
There was no follow-up phone call, no cry of despair, nothing.
On Thursday night at Alaska Airlines Arena, as the Huskies (12-9 overall, 4-6) prepare to host the Arizona State Sun Devils (15-5, 6-3), they're flirting with apathy while playing out the string once more for Mike Hopkins, who could be in his final days as coach after six seasons.
Things have begun to come unraveled as they have before when a Husky basketball coaching change appears imminent. The previous five coaches before Hopkins were fired and everyone saw it coming. This seems no different.
Hopkins looks worn out and hardly the playful and wise-cracking, personality that has enabled him to last maybe two years longer in Montlake than he should have. Or has everyone forgotten the 5-21 season? He has 10 games and the Pac-12 tournament remaining on this schedule..
With an 8 p.m. tipoff and no momentum of any kind, the UW basketball team could be in danger of being outdrawn in attendance by the Husky gymnastics squad, which opened its season last week with a record-breaking 5,432 crowd.
Hopkins, who has a UW coaching record of 97-84, has talent on this team, it's just begging for more direction. Kentucky transfer Keion Brooks can play, but he's not always great at creating his own shot. Freshman guards Keyon Menifield and Koren Johnson are exciting, but need to be reined in at times. Fresno State transfer Braxton Meah stands to develop a soft hook and become a bigger part of the offense.
To the coach's credit, he's taken the difficult step of decreasing the roles and the minutes for seniors Jamal Bey and PJ Fuller, former starters who haven't produced such as they did previously, and just let the freshmen take over.
Media members in attendance, who are dwindling in numbers with the lack of buzz around this team, ask Hopkins about the knee injuries that have cost him center Frank Kepnang for.the rest of the season and guard Noah Williams for a large part of it early on. They ask him about uneven energy levels. They ask him about moral victories.
They ask Hopkins about everything except Hopkins. All of us should be asking him can he coach better? Will he survive the season? Is he worried about potentially losing his job? Is he the problem?
Meanwhile, that longtime UW booster hasn't called back. He's not sharing any grievances right now. He might even have found something else to take up his time. His seat may or may not be empty for the Sun Devils game, where it's always been filled. All of which are huge distress signals for Husky basketball.
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