With 4 Spots to Fill, Husky Hoop Team Badly Needs Point Guard

The UW needs a playmaker to set up all those other offensive-minded players and big men.

The Final Four means different things to different people these days.

In Houston, it's the NCAA Tournament without any No. 1 seeds, a rearranged competitive landscape likely the result of transfer portal freedoms, Florida Atlantic and San Diego State, are you kidding me?

At the University of Washington, the final four is an abundance of open roster spots following the Friday departures of Cole Bajema and Tyler Linhardt, preceded by the exits of Jackson Grant, Langston Wilson and presumably PJ Fuller.

For those keeping score at home, the players who've left plus the graduating Jamal Bey created six scholarship openings for the Huskies.

Signed freshmen in 6-foot-4 guard Wesley Yates III from Beaumont, Texas, and 6-foot-6 forward Christian King from Seattle have dibs on two of those paid-for spots.

That leaves a final four to add to the UW roster. So who and what do the Huskies pursue at this point?

A veteran point guard would seem to be the highest priority.

The UW has plenty of offensive-minded guards in Keyon Menifield, Koren Johnson, Noah Williams should he return and the incoming Yates, but none of them profess to be pass-first players. 

Husky coach Mike Hopkins desperately needs someone who can set up the floor in a determined fashion and emphatically run things.

He either finds that guy in the portal or he does what Lorenzo Romar did 20 years ago — assigns this responsibility to someone on the team, no matter how much initial pushback he receives, and makes it happen internally.

Preparing for the 2003-2004 season, Romar informed Will Conroy that he would have to become his new point guard, a plan of action that took everyone some time getting used to. Especially Conroy.

The veteran guard and current UW assistant coach initially wasn't pleased at all that he was assigned to floor-leader duties — he envisioned himself as a scorer and had a 32-point game at Gonzaga the previous season to show what he could do.

Finally, Conroy gave in, passed the Huskies to a couple of NCAA Tournament appearances, including a No. 1 seed and Sweet 16 showing, and became the school's all-time assist leader.

If Hopkins were to assign this chore to someone on the roster, Koren Johnson would seem to be the best fit. Yet similar to Conroy, he likely prefers to show he can score in bunches.

The Husky coach has four spots available and the portal should offer up something. 

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