In huge news for the Husky men’s basketball team, Naz Carter has been suspended for a violation of the “Intercollegiate Athletics Code of Conduct”. We have been given no further specifics and apparently the school isn’t saying anything more on the matter. Presumably, this means his career at the University of Washington is over, but again, we have no idea.

Given what he tweeted out (as noted HERE), I’ll go ahead and speculate by saying he likely received a gift of some kind – maybe from a famous/rich uncle/hip hop superstar – that was determined to be beyond the bounds of college athletics decency. But, you know, I’m willing to be wrong here.

This obviously has a pretty huge impact on the 2020/2021 Huskies (whenever their season starts), because Naz Carter was the third-leading scorer last year, and the TOP returning scorer (with Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels leaving to go pro). Behind Carter, we have Quade Green (who was suspended for the back-half of last season for academic reasons, but should be back in good standing going forward) who averaged 11.6 points per game. Everyone else averaged less than 10 points.

So. Yeah.

This will be an interesting year! Considering the Huskies finished dead last a season ago, I’ll be curious to see who steps up. There are a lot of holdovers who got their feet wet, which is a plus. But, there appears to be a void in leadership. Who will step up in crunch time? That man likely would’ve been Carter, and I would’ve loved to have seen if he was up to the task. Now? I think it’s probably Quade Green, which is fine. But, I also think we’re going to have to rely on him to do A LOT to make this team function.

Before this suspension, I liked our chances to be a team that shares the burden pretty evenly (rather than relying on 5-star one-and-doners). I think that’s still a possibility – at least, that’s the best-case scenario for this season – but at some point you also need talented basketball players. And, I just don’t know.

It’s more important than ever for the Huskies to get their transfers up to speed (and for the NCAA to allow them to play right away, vs. having to wait a year), so fingers crossed on that end. Really, this has the potential to be a fun and exciting group! We have no idea how it’s going to look, so at least at first the newness will be a bonus.

But, there’s a legitimate likelihood that the Huskies will stink, which is a shame. I think we all have a high opinion of the job Coach Hop has done in his short time here. Well, he’s really going to earn his stripes with this group. He’s proven himself to be a pretty adept recruiter. His zone defensive scheme has worked wonders. But, as a head coach, how good is he? Is he able to get the most out of his players? Out of an inferior (on paper) squad? That’ll really tell the tale and set the stage for the rest of his career. Is he one of the greats? If so, then he should be able to make some chicken salad come 2021.

If we’re stuck with chicken shit, that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily a BAD head coach. But, it’ll be disappointing nevertheless.