Old-school Cole Bajema Gives the Huskies a Little More Hope

The sophomore forward from little Lynden, Washington, suddenly has upped his game.

As a basketball player, Cole Bajema resembles someone from the Hollywood film "Hoosiers." He's small town, tousle-haired, another Jimmy Chitwood silent type with a penchant for sinking shots from long range, clearly a guy from a different era.

The University of Washington guard last week shot through a basketball time warp, going from almost invisible over 11 prior games to scoring 15 points against Utah and 18 more against Colorado — all coming from 3-point range, with both totals representing career highs.

The TV broadcasters covering the action were beside themselves on the air, asking who was this Cole Bajema, a miniscule 2.4-point scorer coming in? And why hadn't they seen him put the ball in the basket like this before?

"I'm just really happy for him," Husky coach Mike Hopkins said on Monday. "We knew he was a great shooter. He knew he was a great shooter. It was just a matter of time."

A 6-foot-7 sophomore from Lynden, Washington, likewise a wholesome little farming community lost in time, Bajema emerged from Lynden Christian High School as the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,876 points and a local legend.

Cole Bajema gets in the way of Utah's Both Gach :: Jeffrey Swinger/USA TODAY Sports

Spotted at his best in a California AAU tournament, he initially took a basketball step that might have been just a little too big for him.

Bajema accepted a scholarship from the University of Michigan. 

However, before he arrived in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines switched coaches, from John Bellein to Juwan Howard. Then COVID hit, he played in just 10 games for the Big Ten team and he retreated home.

For the UW last year, Bajema played in 24 games off the bench and averaged 3.1 points an outing. He found himself playing for one of the worst teams in school history, suffering through a 5-21 season, one in which the players didn't share the ball much at all.

He was left to hoist the occasional 3-pointer but more often he drove to the basket and offered up some sort of off-balance field-goal attempt that never seemed to drop.

Cole Bajema has earned himself more playing time for the Huskies :: Jeffrey Swinger/USA TODAY Sports

Now Bajema appears to have found himself as a productive college player, relying on his basketball strength. Standing behind the 3-point line, he carefully sets his feet, goes up with perfect form and launches an overly accurate shot. He drilled 5 of 8 treys against Utah and 6 of 7 against Colorado.

He gives the Huskies, caught up in yet another dreary season (6-7 overall, 1-2 Pac-12), a much-needed outside threat for a guard-heavy squad that's been sorely lacking one.

.@colebajema22’s gone 11-15 from beyond the arc in our last two games, setting back-to-back career-highs for made threes in a single game

Stay confident and put in the work ☑️#TougherTogether pic.twitter.com/s2aC42ABhf

— Washington Men's Basketball (@UW_MBB) January 11, 2022

As a coach, one of Hopkins' shortcomings is he tends to use underperforming players over and over — see current center Nate Roberts and former forward Hameir Wright.

However, Bajema's sudden emergence has forced his coach to change things up a bit, which is a good thing, produced at least one victory that wouldn't have happened otherwise and given the Huskies their own Hoosiers story line.

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