UW Basketball Team Staggers into UCLA Without Much Hope
Eleven games into the schedule, with probably no more than 14 left to play, the University of Washington basketball team takes on UCLA at storied Pauley Pavilion, wondering if it will ever win again.
On Saturday afternoon, the last-place Huskies (1-10 overall, 0-5 Pac-12), weighted down by a seven-game losing streak and 23 losses in their past 28 games over two seasons, will mix it up with the first-place Bruins (10-2, 6-0).
This won't be pretty.
Mike Hopkins' UW program is in such disarray, his employers back in Montlake have to be more than a little mildly concerned about this disconcerting state of hardwood affairs.
While upper campus easily could give these guys a pass because of the pandemic and call the season a wash, there are much deeper issues involved here that won't readily disappear when the virus does.
The Huskies are disturbingly low on talent.
They might have fewer difference-making players than at any time since Bob Bender's 5-22 disaster of a 1993-94 campaign.
They also have zero chemistry.
They don't play hard or with any focus either, which are necessary substitutes when you lack talent.
Their front line absolutely scares no one.
In the offseason, Hopkins lost 6-foot-9 Isaiah Stewart and 6-9 Jaden McDaniels to the NBA draft, 6-11 Sam Timmons to graduation and 7-foot Bryan Penn-Johnson to the transfer portal.
The coach was left with only 6-11 sophomore Nate Roberts, who is not an offensive player at all, and 7-4 sophomore walk-on Riley Sorn, who has a nice reach but little strength or stamina.
"We have enough players," the coach said when pressed about this before the season.
No, he didn't.
His win-loss record doesn't lie.
Last season, Hopkins was helpless to right his team once it lost point guard Quade Green to academic ineligibility and it went into irreversible freefall, which raised eyebrows.
The Huskies lost 13 of 15 games at one point last winer. Combine that with 10 setbacks in 11 outings now, and most of his players can barely remember what winning feels like.
Following Thursday's 95-68 blowout at USC, a clearly downcast Hopkins began blaming inexperience for some of his team's failures, which he offers in the video.
He pointed out how Roberts has been a starter for just 11 games, how Green played just a half season last year and how Wichita State transfer Erik Stevenson, maybe the team's best player now, has been with the UW for a partial season.
What's wrong with this argument is Roberts is in his third year in the program and simply has no ability to score other than on dunks or by put-back.
Green played parts of two seasons at Kentucky and tends to take a lot of poor shots rather than direct the floor, which is what cost him a starting job and nearly all of his rotation time with the SEC powerhouse.
Stevenson played two seasons for nationally ranked Wichita State and was used to having his teammates look for him, whereas at Washington he really has to work for his shot on his own.
Don't be surprised if a lot of people transfer out following this wasted season. Player development is sorely lacking. Sophomore RaeQuan Battle has considerable skill, but he plays way out of control. He looks poorly coached.
Sophomore Marcus Tsohonis scored 24 against Stanford and two games later he didn't play at all against USC. His patience with scatter-brained moves must be wearing thin.
Junior-college transfer Nate Pryor showed promise and started early on, then lost whatever he'd earned and didn't even make this road trip to L.A. Hopkins said he stayed home for personal reasons. Hopefully, that's not code for COVID-19.
Either way, as the losses continue to pile up, Pryor isn't missing much.
Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven
