Huskies Keep Zoom Diallo From Leaving, Focused on Becoming Hometown Hero

The highly regarded Tacoma point guard reaffirmed he will play for the UW.

It was the ultimate Zoom meeting -- the highly rated schoolboy point guard set the agenda and then informed new University of Washington basketball leader Danny Sprinkle that, even with the coaching change, he will play for the Huskies.

On Thursday, the 6-foot-4 Vazoumana "Zoom" Diallo, originally from Tacoma but known everywhere for his nickname and playmaking skill set, reaffirmed he will stick with the national letter of intent he signed with Mike Hopkins' coaching staff before Hopkins was fired in March.

Diallo gives the Huskies a consensus Top 15 player, someone labeled in some circles as the nation's top playmaker for his class and a Northwest-produced player from a talent-rich area who has chosen to stay home rather than go to an enticing program such as Arizona, Gonzaga, Kentucky or Texas, all of which recruited him.

He becomes the third player this week, and fourth overall, to join Sprinkle's fast-evolving UW basketball roster that now includes 6-foot-1 senior guard DJ Davis, formerly of Butler; 6-foot-4 freshman guard Jase Butler, briefly signed with Illinois before requesting his scholarship release; and 6-foot-5 junior guard Mehki Mason, formerly of Rice.

They'll join holdover players in 6-foot-11 senior center Franck Kepnang, coming off two season-ending injuries; 6-foot-10 senior big man Wilhelm Breidenbach, who started 9 games this past season; 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman Christian King, son of former Seattle Sonics center Rich King; and 6-foot-8 junior Samuel Ariyibi, whose injury-filled career has permitted him to play in just 5 games over three seasons.

Enter Diallo, who led Tacoma's Curtis High School -- Isaiah Thomas' alma mater -- to 4A state championships in 2022 and 2023 before finishing up this year as a senior for Prolific Prep school in Napa, California.

As a junior, he averaged 20.2 points, 5.5 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game for Curtis. This past season, he averaged 21.8 points for Prolific Prep.

While relocating temporarily to the Bay Area, Diallo professes to be a hometown player and told ESPN in December and 247Sports again on Thursday how that factored into his decision to play for the Huskies.

"Family is big to me," Diallo told ESPN when he signed. "Having the community behind me that I've been around my whole life, that was pretty important to me. Going to Washington, I feel I can be the guy to make an impact my freshman year."

Whether it's answering to Hopkins or Sprinkle, that still holds true.

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