Inside The Huskies

UW Freshmen Basketball Guards Are Big Ten Big Deal

Zoom Diallo and Jase Butler draw some preseason conference attention.

Dan Raley

Zoom Diallo could be one of the Big Ten's top freshmen basketball players.
Zoom Diallo could be one of the Big Ten's top freshmen basketball players. / UW

In recent seasons, the University of Washington basketball program never seemed to be building much for the future. Its touted freshmen players either didn't stay long in Montlake, didn't play much for whatever reason or simply didn't pan out. For the most part, the Huskies started over each year counting on a bunch of portal transfers.

Wesley Yates III now is at USC after never getting into a UW game because of a foot injury. Tyler Linhardt took a handful of shots two years ago and transferred to Idaho. Jackson Grant, a McDonald's All-America pick, was unable make inroads for either former Husky coach Mike Hopkins or new coach Danny Sprinkle when the latter was at Utah state and appears out of basketball.

However, the UW has a pair of first-year guards who are drumming up interest elsewhere, with Sports Illustrated's Indiana Hoosiers site ranking the Big Ten's top 25 freshmen basketball players and finding room for new Husky guards Zoom Diallo and Jase Butler.

The 6-foot-4 Diallo from Tacoma, Washington, is slotted 13th on this list while the 6-foot-4 Butler from San Anselmo, California, turns up at No. 21 among the best newcomers the conference has to offer..

The Huskies are one of eight schools with more than one freshman feted here, with Illinois leading the way with three selections -- and it would have been four had the UW's Butler not de-committed from the Illini and headed for Seattle.

Interestingly, Rutgers has the No. 1-2 entries in this frosh grouping in 6-foot-10 Ace Butler and 6-foot-7 Dylan Harper, reportedly the two highest graded players in program history.

Jase Butler is a former Illinois commit who signed with the UW.
Jase Butler is a former Illinois commit who signed with the UW. / UW

Diallo, a McDonald's All-American, is considered so skilled in advance he's bound to draw a lot of attention for the Huskies, who've brought in plenty of portal transfer guards to fill up the roster, but should rely heavily on this local Northwest product who hails from Isaiah Thomas' Curtis High School.

"He should have a chance to start right away," the SI Indiana site concluded of Diallo.

Butler similarly was named Bay Area Player of the Year and could be ready to play significant minutes right way.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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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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