Inside The Huskies

Husky Basketball Gets a Boost with Brooks Declaring He's Returning

The UW's leading scorer will play a second season for the UW.

Dan Raley

In this story:

Five weeks ago, Keion Brooks participated in Senior Day activities for the University of Washington basketball team, getting warmly saluted by the fans and accepting a framed jersey from coach Mike Hopkins. 

It was just a formality and hardly a parting gift.

On Monday, the Huskies' leading scorer from last winter and one-time transfer from Kentucky revealed he, indeed, will return for another season — with his decision going a long way to offsetting the mass exodus of seven teammates to the transfer portal.

Brooks, who averaged 17.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game, was the one player the UW had to have if it harbored any serious intentions of improving on its 16-16 record and, for that matter, saving Hopkins' job.

After spending three seasons at Kentucky, two as a starter, the 6-foot-7 forward joined the UW looking for a more prominent role, which came his way.

He led the Huskies in scoring on 20 occasions, reached 20 points or more 13 times and was named second-team All-Pac-12. 

Once the season ended, seven Huskies turned to the transfer portal. Yet only freshman guard Keyon Menifield was considered a significant loss, ending up at Arkansas.

Since then, Hopkins has added a pair of transfers in 6-foot-8 Moses Wood from Portland and 6-foot-5 Anthony Holland from Fresno State, players who are considered support pieces rather than game-changers.

The latter describes Brooks, who finished as the Pac-12's third-leading scorer and might have an NBA career awaiting him if he can vastly improve his 3-point shooting percentage (28.6).

At least now he has another season in Montlake to work on it.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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