Lots of dribs and drabs coming in lately, so let’s talk about it.
In Least-Shocking News In The Entire Universe … News: Isaiah Stewart has declared he’s leaving college and entering the NBA Draft. Much like the last time we had a big man of his calibre one-and-done it for the Huskies – Spencer Hawes – the team struggled mightily in spite of the tremendous play of the recruit. Here’s to hoping Stewart has a better pro career than Hawes (who I think kept suffering freak injuries?).
Next up on this Leaving For The NBA list: Jaden McDaniels.
In Somewhat-Surprising News: Quade Green is apparently set to return to the Huskies. You’ll remember he became academically ineligible midway through the season. Did that TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY derail our season? Look, I’m not throwing that idea out of bed for drunkenly urinating everywhere in its sleep, but obviously this was a more-flawed team than any of us realized, and I don’t think ANY one player – even someone of Green’s potential – could’ve single-handedly kept this season on track.
This’ll be big, because word just came down that Elijah Hardy is entering the Transfer Portal (which I assume is some alternate dimension where those whom you once wished well disappear from the face of the Earth, never to be seen nor heard from ever again). Not to pile onto an undergrad, but Hardy kind of sucked for the Huskies in his two seasons here. It’s hard (!) to see a significant boost in his production coming; odds are a change of scenery would do everyone some good in this situation.
On the flipside, Nate Pryor is set to transfer TO the Huskies, from Junior College. If the name sounds familiar, it apparently should, as he was originally set to sign here a couple years ago, but didn’t have the grades or something. I don’t know if anyone thought too highly of Pryor when he was originally supposed to be here, but he’s been a nice little shooting guard for North Idaho College, so that’s cool.
Probably the biggest development was the transfer of Erik Stevenson, from Wichita State. He’s another shooting guard, and as a Sophomore last year, had a decent season (for what appears to be a dysfunctional team who gave up on their head coach for reasons I’ve yet to really want to explore). So, if nothing else, the backcourt for the Huskies figures to be a lot better than it was this past season.
It’s obviously WAY too early to speculate on how good or bad the Huskies will be. If nothing else, we just have to hope that the younger guys who got their feet wet in our lost 2019/2020 are able to parlay that into bigger success in the coming years.