Men's College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: Washington Huskies

The Pac-12 doesn’t get a whole lot of respect in college basketball lately, but that’s the conference’s own fault, as it’s been a fairly pathetic conference over the last couple of seasons. Many of the teams took advantage of the largest transfer portal ever, and we will see a lot of new faces this season. There will be plenty of hype surrounding the UCLA Bruins after their unlikely final four run last year while teams like Oregon, Arizona and USC try to gain relevance once more. There is plenty of excitement surrounding the WSU Cougars and their juicy roster, but the amount of projected bottom feeders could lead to another disappointing season for the Pac-12.

Nevertheless, there will be firepower on each of these rosters and Pac-12 Thursday DFS slates tend to be some of the most chaotic of the week. Let’s break down each team and identify the players to watch for this upcoming season.

In this one, Washington.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

Washington Huskies 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 5-21 (4-16 Pac-12), 11th in Pac-12
Postseason: None

Key Departures | Washington Huskies

Quade Green (playing professionally)
Erik Stevenson (transferred to South Carolina)
Marcus Tsohonis (transferred to VCU)
RaeQuan Battle (transferred to Montana State)
Hameir Wright (transferred to North Texas)
Nate Pryor (transferred to NM State)
J’Raan Brooks (transferred to San Diego)

Key Additions | Washington Huskies

Terrell Brown Jr. (transferred from Arizona)
Daejon Davis (transferred from Stanford)
Emmitt Matthews (transferred from West Virginia)
PJ Fuller (transferred from TCU)
Langston Wilson (JUCO transfer)
Jackson Grant (top 75 recruit)
Samuel Ariyibi (3 star recruit)

Returners | Washington Huskies

Jamal Bey (10.3 PPG/3.7 RPG)
Nate Roberts (5.2 PPG/5.7 RPG)
Cole Bajema (3.1 PPG)
Riley Sorn (3.1 PPG/2.5 RPG)

Washington Huskies Outlook for 2021-2022

Coach Mike Hopkins’ seat is getting warmer after wasting the last two seasons despite having extremely talented rosters. He was the Pac-12 Coach of the Year when he first got here, but it’s been downhill progressively since. He flipped the roster on its head in the offseason and brought in local flavor with three transfers having ties to the Seattle area and one down south from Tacoma.

Terrell Brown was a high-usage scorer during his time at Seattle U but took a bit of a backseat while at Arizona last season, which tends to happen when you play with a guy like James Akinjo. If Brown can return to his Seattle U form, when he was a double-digit scorer, the Dawgs could be more competitive than people think. PJ Fuller has loads of potential and will get his shot after not panning out at TCU. Fuller averaged around 6 PPG last season but he is much better than his stats have shown in my opinion.

Emmitt Matthews was a regular starter during his time at West Virginia and is a really strong defender that should thrive in Hopkins’ system. Daejon Davis was a Husky killer during his time at Stanford and now the local kid gets his chance to shine for his hometown team. Davis has always been a strong scorer but has struggled with consistency at times as well as various injuries. If he can stay healthy, he makes one sneaky good backcourt with Brown.

Langston Wilson was one of the top Juco players in the country last season and is a walking highlight reel. There is a lot of excitement about his upside, and he could bump Nate Roberts out of the starting lineup eventually. Jackson Grant is a name to file away for later as the 4-star recruit has a sweet shooting stroke and can also do damage down low. He will need time to develop but will be a key part of this rotation for years to come. Jamal Bey and Cole Bajema will be invaluable pieces to the rotation yet again as they’ve already been a part of this system for a couple seasons now. Bey is a strong shooter and an even better on ball defender while Bajema will be looking to assert himself more this year.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

There is excitement in Seattle, and I just hope they can capitalize on it. Mike Hopkins simply can’t afford another letdown season if he wants to keep his job. A lot of these guys played together on the AAU circuit or in high school so the roster should gel immediately, which is huge for continuity.