The Sports Bank’s college basketball season previews undergo a facelift this season. Rather than counting down the top 111 teams in 111 days, we will go conference-by-conference, breaking down each team beginning with the Pac-12.
Mired in mediocrity the past two seasons, it should be more of the same for the Washington Huskies who will look to replace leading scorer, C.J. Wilcox.
WASHINGTON HUSKIES
Last Season: T-8th, 9-9 in Pac-12, 17-15 overall
Predicted Pac-12 Finish: 7th
Projected Depth Chart
C: Robert Upshaw (So)/Gilles Dierickx (Jr)
PF: Shawn Kemp Jr. (Sr)/Jernard Jarreau (So)/Tristan Etienne (Fr)
G/F: Mike Anderson (Sr)/Quevyn Winters (Jr)/Donaven Dorsey (Fr)
G: Andrew Andrews (Jr)/Darin Johnson (So)
PG: Nigel Williams-Goss (So)/Jahmel Taylor (So)
Gone: SG-C.J. Wilcox, C-Perris Blackwell, PF-Desmond Simmons (transfer-St. Mary’s), SG-Hikeem Stewart (transfer-Kentucky Wesleyan)
2014-2015 Outlook:
Lorenzo Romar will rely heavily on his returning backcourt of Nigel Williams-Goss and Andrew Andrews. Williams-Goss is a versatile point guard who affects the game in a variety of ways. He needs to have a breakout sophomore season for Washington to exceed expectations. Andrews is a solid second banana but there are questions elsewhere.
The Huskies are searching for answers on the wing in hopes of filling the void left behind by leading scorer and Clippers first round pick, C.J. Wilcox. Mike Anderson and Darin Johnson were both solid role players last season and should compete for minutes with JUCO transfer Quevyn Winters. Johnson is the most talented scorer of the group but none of those guys shoot it especially well from deep so UW lacks someone with Wilcox’s ability to stroke it from downtown.
Replacing Perris Blackwell in the middle will be former top 100 recruit and Fresno State transfer, Robert Upshaw. He figures to start up-front along with Shawn Kemp Jr. which will give the Huskies a very physical frontcourt. Kemp Jr. steps into a larger role since Desmond Simmons decided to transfer for his senior campaign. Jernard Jarreau missed all of last season with a torn ACL but hopes to provide some depth up-front which will be another concern for Washington.
With only two seniors on the roster, the outlook appears optimistic for the Huskies who already have two commitments from top 60 recruits in the 2015 class, Dejounte Murray and Marquese Chriss. Hopefully Romar will still be around to coach those guys since his seat is starting to get warm at Washington.
Key Non-Conference Games:
11/27 vs. San Jose State (Wooden Legacy)
11/28 vs. Long Beach State/Western Michigan (Wooden Legacy)
11/30 vs. Xavier/San Diego/UTEP/Princeton (Wooden Legacy)
12/7 vs. San Diego State
12/20 vs. Oklahoma (in Las Vegas)
OTHER PAC-12 PREVIEWS:
David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Milwaukee to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft and the most accurate 2012 NBA Mock Draft on the internet (Yup, repeat champ… #humblebrag), and finished with the second most accurate 2013 NBA Mock Draft (nearly a three-peat.) You can follow him on Twitter at David_Kmiecik.