Hopkins last stand?

[D-train]

Husky men have whole new look from offensive, defensive schemes to players

By Percy Allen
Seattle Times staff reporter
Mike Hopkins is an avid Washington Husky football fan who admittedly has been influenced by its dazzling passing attack led by quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and receivers Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan and Ja’Lynn Polk.

“Everybody loves scoring,” the UW men’s basketball coach said. “It’s fun. It’s exciting. It’s what the fans want and it wins games. You see it with our football team, which is one of the best in the country.

“We want to borrow on a little bit of that. That’s where the game is going. … We have to score more points, so we’re trying to make that happen.”

In addition to fundamental changes to the offensive and defensive schemes, once again the new-look Huskies underwent a major offseason makeover and reshuffled the roster primarily via the transfer portal.

Eight players left and eight came on board to join the five holdovers from last season’s team that finished 16-16 and tied for eighth in the Pac-12 at 8-12.

It’s the third straight year in which UW has brought in at least seven newcomers and this time Hopkins thinks he’s done it right.

“There’s no question that I’ve made mistakes and I’ve learned a lot,” said Hopkins, who has had one winning season the past four years while compiling a 53-69 record, including 28-50 in the Pac-12. “I believe we’ve always had good players, but I don’t know if we’ve had the best combination of players.

“I feel like the staff has done a really good job of putting together a combination of players, guys that complement each other’s skill set and kids who have done it selflessly. It’s hard to build a culture when there’s a lot of turnover, but you can also recruit culture and kids that embody that culture. You can solve a lot of problems that way.”

The Huskies also had 10 weeks of practice this summer in preparation for their overseas trip to Paris and Barcelona, which helped jump-start the chemistry-building and team-bonding process.

Here’s a look at three questions Washington must answer before its regular-season opener against Bellarmine on Nov. 6.

2023-24 Washington Huskies
Returners Newcomers Departed
Keion Brooks Jr. Sahvir Wheeler Keyon Menifield
Braxton Meah Moses Wood Cole Bajema
Franck Kepnang Paul Mulcahy Noah Williams
Koren Johnson Wesley Yates III Jamal Bey
Samuel Ariyibi Christian King PJ Fuller
Anthon Holland Tyler Lindhardt
Nate Calmese Langston Wilson
Wilhelm Breidenbach Jackson Grant
Can the newcomers fix the offense?
Say hello to Sahvir Wheeler, Moses Wood, Paul Mulcahy and Wesley Yates III.

You should probably get to know them because they’re going to be tasked with resurrecting a dormant Husky offense that ranked in the bottom half of the Pac-12 last season in three-point field-goal percentage (31.3% — 11th), assists per game (11.5 — 10th), points per game (69.2 — eighth) and field-goal percentage (43.1% — seventh) while leading the league with 14 turnovers per game.

Wheeler, a 5-foot-9 point guard who played the past two seasons at Kentucky before two years at Georgia, will likely pair with Mulcahy, a 6-6 playmaker who spent four years at Rutgers, to comprise one of the most experienced backcourts in college basketball. Combined they’ve tallied 1,919 points, 1,112 assists and played in 220 games.

Wood, a 6-8 forward, should get the start in the frontcourt alongside all-conference returners Keion Brooks Jr. at forward and center Braxton Meah. During a five-year career that’s included stops in Portland, UNLV and Tulane, the 24-year-old Wood has shot 40.7% on three-pointers in 120 games.

“The big thing is we want to score early,” Hopkins said. “Last year, we played with the second-fastest pace in the league behind Arizona. The problem is we shot 32% from three and we had the worst assist-to-turnover ratio in the league.

“We still want to play fast and across the board, our shooting has improved dramatically and our playmaking has improved. I think that our assist-to-turnover ratio will go from 12th to top three or four. And our three-point shooting will be in the top three or four. We plan to play at a fast pace and that’s when you start scoring points.”

UW’s other newcomers include Christian King, Anthony Holland, Nate Calmese and Wilhelm Breidenbach.

To Zone or not to Zone?
After 12 weeks of practice — 10 in the summer and two since the start of training camp — the Huskies have not practiced the zone, which is somewhat extraordinary since Hopkins has been a staunch advocate of the 2-3 zone he brought to Seattle from Syracuse.

“Right now, we haven’t played one possession,” Hopkins said. “The coaches are like, ‘We need to put it in.’ But you can’t be great at everything if you want to focus on something.

“The kids enjoy the man-to-man and how we’re playing it and how we’re playing the ball screen. We’re as disruptive as we were in the zone. Guys are moving. I think our intelligence and our experience helps us through that. We’re going to have to play against zones so we’ll do it, but we haven’t done it yet. I’m trying to keep us focused on how fast we can play and how smart on the defensive end. How connected we can be in our rotations and still be disruptive.”

To be certain, Hopkins has done this before.

Huskies probably depth chart
1st team 2nd team 3rd team
G — Sahvir Wheeler Koren Johnson Nate Calmese
G — Paul Mulcahy Wesley Yates III Anthony Holland
F — Keion Brooks Jr. Christian King
F — Moses Wood Wilhelm Breidenbach Samuel Ariyibi
C — Braxton Meah Franck Kepnang
Led by prized freshmen Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels, the Huskies began the 2019-20 season playing an inordinate amount of man by Hopkins’ standards before reverting back to the zone.

However, this year could be different.

Hopkins sought the influence of Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown, who spent 10 weeks in Seattle working with the Huskies. The 83-year-old Brown will continue to assist UW either as an assistant or an adviser.

Either way, Hopkins is learning Brown’s expertise and they believe the roster is best constructed to run a man-to-man defense.

“We all have to evolve and grow,” Hopkins said.

What’s next for Brooks and Meah?
Brooks is the first Husky to receive All-Pac-12 honors — he was a second-team choice — and return the next year since Noah Dickerson, who garnered first-team honors as a junior after the 2017-18 season.

In addition, Meah is the first Husky voted to the league’s all-defensive team to return since Dickerson’s teammate Matisse Thybulle did it five years ago.

Brooks, who averaged career-highs 17.7 points and 6.7 rebounds last season, is poised to make a run at the Pac-12 Player of the Year award if he leads the Huskies to a top-three finish in the conference race.

Meanwhile, Meah, a 7-1 junior, is considered UW’s top pro prospect due to his defensive prowess. Last season he averaged 1.6 blocks, 7.2 rebounds and 8.8 points on 70.6% shooting from the field.

An uptick in production from Brooks and Meah would bode well for Washington, which made retaining them an offseason priority.

Notes
Hopkins, Brooks and Wheeler will represent Washington at the Pac-12 men’s basketball media day Wednesday.
Husky coach Tina Langley, Dalayah Daniels and Lauren Schwartz will attend the Pac-12 women’s basketball media day Tuesday.

[D-train]

Exhibition game vs. St. Martin's last night. St. Martins is a Division II team that was 24-7 last season. At least it seems we can score a few points.

Would be nice to have something to be into in between the end of the Hawks season and start of complaining how the M's botched another off season. lol

First real game is vs. Bellermine (I assume not Bellermine prep lol) a week from today on the 6th.

By Percy Allen
Seattle Times staff reporter
If Sunday’s exhibition is any indication, then Washington men’s basketball coach Mike Hopkins is going to have a big problem this season: How will he find enough minutes to keep everyone happy?

The Huskies will certainly face stiffer competition than NCAA Division II Saint Martin’s, but as dress rehearsals go, Sunday’s 103-58 exhibition win couldn’t have gone any better for Hopkins.

“It was a great game for us,” Hopkins said. “I thought we’d really be tested. They’re very good offensive team. They have a history of winning, and I thought we came out at the beginning and imposed our will. That’s what we want to do in every game that we play. Our guys were locked in. And that’s what was exciting.”

While the Saints missed their first 10 shots, UW gave a sparse crowd at Alaska Airlines Arena a preview of its new high-octane offense and stingy man-to-man defense.

Portland transfer Moses Wood got things going for the Huskies with a three-pointer in the corner and Sahvir Wheeler, who transferred from Kentucky, was fouled on a layup before converting the ensuing free throw for a three-point play.

Keion Brooks Jr. scored the next couple of baskets on a spinning layup and an alley-oop dunk off an assist from Wheeler to go up 10-0.

“We came out with a mentality to respect our opponent,” Brooks said. “They’re a good team with good players and they’re well coached. So, we didn’t want to take them lightly. We did a good job of, you know, going out there and playing to our standard.”

Saint Martin’s, which scored its first basket with 15:36 left in the first half, had difficulty producing points against a Husky defense that held the Saints to 24.1% shooting, including 3 of 29 on three-pointers.

Over the next six minutes, Washington used a 21-4 run to essentially put the game away. Brooks ended the spurt with a couple of jumpers that gave UW a 31-6 lead with 9:35 left before halftime.

The Huskies led 56-26 at the break and were never challenged in the second half while building a 46-point lead.

Aside from three turnovers, it was a stellar performance from Brooks who finished with a game-high 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting and five rebounds in 14 minutes.

“Our coaching staff has done a great job working with him and getting his confidence (up) and he’s a guy who came back,” Hopkins said about Brooks, who garnered second-team All-Pac-12 recognition last season. “So, you have another guy that that knows us. His shot is so much better. He gets to the foul line. He’s making better decisions. He’s gonna have a great year.”

Brooks started alongside four newcomers, including Wheeler (nine points and seven assists), Wood, Rutgers transfer Paul Mulcahy (five points and five assists) and Nebraska transfer Wilhelm Breidenbach, who finished with 11 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks while replacing injured center Braxton Meah (ankle).

Freshman Wesley Yates III also did not play because of an undisclosed injury.

Conceivably, Meah, who received All-Pac-12 defensive team honors last year, and Yates, a four-star recruit and top-55 prospect, will factor into UW’s rotation.

However, finding minutes for everyone won’t be easy judging from the Huskies’ superlative performance in which they had 24 assists on 42 baskets, shot 48.8% and sank 13 of 38 three-pointers.

“You know what, with this depth and the way that we’re playing, I’m gonna have to go nine or 10,” Hopkins said when asked about the rotation. “I think I did play 10 In the first half and I felt comfortable doing it. Again, it’s something that I’m trying to learn and grow into.

“I’m an eight-guy rotation guy, but when you have depth like this and they’re playing their heart and soul out … that’s how you can play 10 guys.”

At times, sophomore guard Koren Johnson was the best player for the Huskies while scoring 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting in 22 minutes off the bench.

Lamar transfer Nate Calmese, another UW sophomore guard, poured in 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting and dished out four assists.

It was a relatively stress-free night for Hopkins, who used just one timeout to empty his bench midway in the second half and watched intently while standing on the sideline with his arms folded.

Still, it wasn’t a perfect outing.

Washington committed 14 turnovers and had difficulty keeping Saint Martin’s off the foul line. The Saints attempted 23 free throws compared to UW’s nine.

“I wanted to see how well we shared a ball,” Brooks said. “You know, in practice, we pass the ball to each other very well every day. But you know, sometimes when the game comes on, it doesn’t always translate, and I thought that translated very well.

“We wanted to take them off the three-point line, because they’re a really good three-point shooting team. … So, I think all in all, there’s some things we got to clean up.”

The Huskies tip off the regular season Nov. 6 against Bellarmine, which starts a three-game homestand that includes nonconference matchups against Northern Kentucky and Nevada.

[D-train]

Can't believe we don't have an St. Martins fans on the Forum commenting on this thread.

[Michael K.]

College basketball is so hard for me to follow now. Between early entires to the pros and the transfer portal every team is like 75% different every year.

[D-train]

College basketball is so hard for me to follow now. Between early entires to the pros and the transfer portal every team is like 75% different every year.

Football is pretty much the same. Only think going in worst time of the sports calendar in the dark Dead of winter and I probably have shot hoops 150 times this year so there is a connection for me. And I have followed Huskies since Harshman and Detlef, Fortier, Welp and Clay Damon.

[Michael K.]

Yeah, I watched the Det and Welp teams too. And used to love basketball. But the roster turnover in basketball is way worse than in Football, IMO. Every team in hoops is like the Colorado Coach Primes in football.

Hell, in my younger days I took the Thursday and Friday of March Madness off! Now? I couldn’t tell you who won the last three or four Hoops Ships.

[D-train]

Landed a 4 star from Minnesota. Mentions he wants to come back and beat the Gophers. 1st dividends of move to the BIG 10?

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw- ... 024-class/

[D-train]

Call me a Cockeyed Optimist but I think we are going to feed off of our Football success and finally have a good season. Calling an NCAA tourney berth.

By Percy Allen
Seattle Times staff reporter
Last March, Mike Hopkins received a reprieve when former Washington athletic director Jen Cohen brought him back to coach the Husky men’s basketball team.

While describing last season’s 16-16 campaign and eighth-place tie in the Pac-12, Cohen used the word “disappointed” three times in the first paragraph of a statement to The Seattle Times.

“After completing a postseason review of the program and after several in-depth discussions with Coach Hopkins, I am hopeful that next season will once again see the Huskies competing for a Pac-12 championship and back in the NCAA tournament,” she said. “Coach Hopkins understands our expectations and is committed to make any and all necessary changes to get us there.”

Many Husky fans believe Cohen’s commitment to Hopkins was financially motivated by her unwillingness or the inability of the Husky athletic department to fire Hopkins and pay him the remaining two years and $6.3 million on his contract.

Fast forward eight months and once again Hopkins is sitting on the proverbial hot seat as he enters his seventh season at the helm of UW basketball, which begins at 8:30 p.m. Monday with a nonconference matchup against Bellarmine at Alaska Airlines Arena.

RELATED
Reunited at UW, Keion Brooks Jr. and Sahvir Wheeler are poised to turn Huskies around
Husky men preview new high-octane offense in exhibition win vs. Saint Martin’s
UW men’s basketball lands four-star recruit, first of 2024 class

Cohen, who hired Hopkins in 2017 and gave him a six-year, $17.5 million contract extension in 2019, moved to Los Angeles to take the AD job at Pac-12 rival USC.

Hopkins has yet to have any substantial talks about the UW men’s basketball program or his future with new Husky AD Troy Dannen since he took over last month.

Seemingly, it’s an NCAA tournament-or-bust ultimatum for Hopkins, who made his only Big Dance appearance with the Huskies in 2019.

“You know what? Every year you’re being judged and every year could be your last,” said Hopkins, who has a 53-69 record the past four seasons after compiling a 48-22 record in the first two seasons. “I understand the business we’re in. I really do. It just goes back to what, control what you can control. Just gotta do the best you can.

“I love the fact that they believed in me enough to bring us back and we got a group of guys. We think we’ve put together a great team and a great combination of players. The standard is to win the Pac-12 and to be in the NCAA tournament. That’s the only way you have a chance to get a national championship. You gotta get in that tournament. That’s our goal and that’s our goal every year. We’ve been obviously short, but believe we got a chance.”

Theoretically, Hopkins has assembled his best team since guiding the Huskies to the 2018-19 Pac-12 regular-season title and advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

For the third straight year, Washington has revamped the roster with at least seven newcomers. This time Hopkins believes he was more intentional about how the eight newcomers will fit with the five holdovers.

Hopkins also made sure to bolster the depth with veterans — an oversight that hurt the injury-riddled Huskies last season when they were forced to rely heavily on first-year players.

If last week’s 103-58 exhibition win over Division II Saint Martin’s is any indication, Washington appears to have two experienced playmakers (Sahvir Wheeler and Paul Mulcahy), two potentially high-scoring wings (Keion Brooks Jr. and Moses Wood) and two returning big men (Braxton Meah and Franck Kepnang) with promise.


The Huskies also have two potent and young scoring options off the bench (Koren Johnson and Nate Calmese), two experienced and defensive-minded reserves (Wilhelm Breidenbach and Anthony Holland) and two high-profile freshmen (Wesley Yates III and Christian King).

“Kinda, a little bit like Noah and his ark,” Hopkins joked. “Look, here’s the thing. In the six years that we’ve been here, there’s been a lot of lessons learned. … We’ve had really good teams, but I don’t necessarily think we’ve had the right combination of players from shooting and skill and all those different things.

“For instance, we came away from last season and knew we needed better ball handling. So, let’s go find some true point guards rather than making some guards that aren’t your point guards into point guards. Those are lessons learned that I think we capitalized on. We built this team rather than put together a collection of talent.”

At 54, Hopkins is still the energetic and eternal optimist who impressed Cohen by doing pushups during their initial interview. However, he admits the past few years have been challenging.

“I’ve always been very present and focused on the process,” he said. “But more than anything, I think I’ve learned to delegate more.”

Case in point, Hopkins ditched his cherished 2-3 zone defense that followed him from Syracuse and brought in Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown for eight weeks this summer to teach the Huskies his trademark man-to-man defensive schemes.

The 83-year-old Brown considered joining UW’s staff, but will serve as a consultant this season.

“It’s never been about me and it’s always what’s best for this team and how can we win games,” Hopkins said. “So, am I willing to change? Heck yeah. I’ve changed. You’re constantly evolving and adapting. You have to, especially as we try to navigate this new world (of college basketball) with NIL and the portal and now (conference) realignment.

“I’ve lost more hair and got a few less states on the map. … Other than that, as a person, I am who I am. I’ve never tried to be somebody I’m not. I love people. I love coaching. I love representing the University of Washington and being their coach. I take a lot of pride in trying to get it right and giving Husky fans something to really cheer about and be proud of.”

[Seattle or Bust]

I’m at the game.

They look terrible.

[Seattle or Bust]

First 12 minutes are some of the worst basketball I’ve ever watched.

They have a combined 80 feet in height on this team and there’s been one bucket scored inside by a big.