UW Won't Deserve Menifield If It Doesn't Make NCAAs Next Year

The Huskies have a player to build around and reward in Keyon Menifield.

Dan Raley | Mar 17, 2023

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Washington Huskies

Amid all the University of Washington basketball negatives — 16 losses, key injuries, coach Mike Hopkins receiving an ultimatum rather than a firing — Keyon Menifield Jr. provided hope, a certain amount of flair, reason to keep watching.

Unlike a lot of recent UW newcomers, among them Jackson Grant, Langston Wilson, Tyler Linhardt and Samuel Ariyibi, the 6-foot-1, 150-pound guard from Flint, Michigan, came in ready to play big minutes, averaging 28.6 per outing.

Menifield was the only player on the roster to appear in all 32 games this past season, starting 21 of them.

One national broadcaster described him as the fastest guard in college basketball.

Whether or not that was true, Menifield certainly was one of the most fearless and entertaining.

Should veteran forward and leading scorer Keion Brooks choose not to return, the Huskies need to build this team around this ultra-quick, extra-skinny guard from the upper Midwest.

With or without Brooks beside him, and this guard's fully expected learning-on-the-job, turnover-filled freshman year behind him, Menifield has every opportunity now to run the floor in his vision and be great.

PUT ME IN, COACH :: Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

Husky freshman guard Keyon Menifield and coach Mike Hopkins confer during a break in the action.

Koren Johnson and Keyon Menifield were freshman guards together and each named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week during the season.

HIGH BOUNCE :: Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

Keyon Menifield had all sorts of moves, dribbles and passes to highly his first season with the University of Washington basketball team.

The ever flexible Keyon Menifield drives to the basket against Stanford, leaning back on this shot.

Veteran guard Noah Williams lets Keyon Menifield know he appreciates him during this past Husky basketball season.

WOODEN SHIPS :: Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports

Keyon Menifield, shown in the Wooden Classic against St. Mary's, finished as the Huskies' second-leading scorer at 10 points per game.

Franck Kepnang comes out of his seat in anticipation of Keyon Menifield's jumper at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Keyon Menifield was the only Husky to play in all 32 games this past season, starting 21 of them.

Keyon Menifield took a visit to the UW near the end of the 2021-22 season as a high school player from Flint, Michigan.

While a 10-point scorer to begin, this kid who wears Michael Jordan's number will take a decided step back if he doesn't add five more points to his scoring average, plus get everyone on the floor involved at all times.

Menifield probably is reason enough to give Hopkins and his staff another basketball season to see if they can build something more sound and successful in Montlake.

Hopkins, specifically Husky assistant coach Will Conroy, saw something special in this particular kid when no one else did.

Think Michigan or Michigan State wouldn't want Menifield running the floor for them in Ann Arbor or East Lansing right now? This is a Tom Izzo type of player.

Yet Menifield is a West Coast guy now. Last we heard, his hometown had serious water issues. You don't want to drink it if you don't have to.

For all of Hopkins' noted shortcomings, such as too many recruiting mistakes, lingering game-management issues and general player development, Menifield is one of his triumphs.

The coach and the player need each other to put Husky basketball back on the map, maybe back in the NCAA Tournament.

It always seem so unfair when March Madness takes over and the UW has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Menifield, with all of the entertainment value he brings to the college game, belongs in the Big Dance. If he and his Husky teammates don't get there next year, and everything isn't done to make this happen, maybe coaching heads should roll and transfer portal papers be filed.

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Published Mar 17, 2023

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.