The ’09-’10 Washington Huskies hoops program should be boasting one of the most potent line-ups in the Pac-10 and possibly the entire NCAA this season if they could only have kept their 4 man heralded freshman class intact from 4 years ago. While it has been well chronicled how the Pac-10 is in a down year because of a defection of younger players to the NBA, Washington may have it the worst.
Washington was coming off a very successful ’05-’06 season which saw them win 26 games and make their 3rd straight NCAA Tournament appearance. With Pac-10 Player of the Year Brandon Roy off to the NBA, the Huskies secured one of the top recruiting classes in the country led by Spencer Hawes, Quincy Pondexter, Adrian Oliver, and Phil Nelson.
The Huskies are currently struggling in the middle of the pack, with a .500 conference record, and clinging to any hopes of attaining an NCAA Tournament berth. While time is running out on this season, leading scorer Quincy Pondexter(20.7 ppg) is probably a bit miffed that the University of Washington was unable to keep his 2010 graduating class of talented hoop stars together that arrived on campus more than 3 seasons ago.
Talented big man, Spencer Hawes, a former McDonalds All American in high school, played only one season alongside Pondexter and provided a dominant front-court presence for the Huskies by putting up 15 points and 7 rebounds a night. Fortunately for Hawes, but unfortunately for the Huskies, he was selected as the #10 pick by the Sacramento Kings in the ’07 NBA Draft.
Also in 2007, another talented freshman, Adrian Oliver transfered to San Jose State and is currently leading the WAC Conference in scoring by averaging more than 22ppg, and was recently named NCAA Player of the Week. Oliver started more than a dozen games as a freshman, but clashed with coach Lorenzo Romar in in sophmore season over a lack of playing time upon returning from a number of injuries. Rumor has it that Oliver was a bit bothered by Washington’s recruitment of big time scorer Isaiah Thomas, who is currently a sophomore and the Huskies starting point guard.
Phil Nelson also decided to transfer away from the program after his freshman season which saw him contribute 5 points and 2 rebounds in only 15 minutes per game. After sitting out the ’07-’08 season to transfer, he averaged double figures in points for the Portland State Vikings. He was putting up 13 ppg as a junior this season before a leg injury on January 23rd has forced him to the sidelines for the rest of the season.
In a situation of woulda, shoulda, behind this once heralded recruiting class, the Huskies should be the unquestioned class of the Pac-10 this season. Could the mass exodus of players from the program have been avoided? Is coach Lorenzo Romar to blame? While the reasons can be questioned, Washington has done a decent job replacing those players with Thomas(17.1 ppg), Scott Suggs, and freshman phenom Abdul Gaddy for the foreseeable future. But do they have enough to challenge for a Pac-10 crown this season?
Check out some footage of Adrian Oliver at San Jose State:
Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, UpperDeckblog.com, and his own site, Hoops Haven.
