Inside The Huskies

Yates Makes It Official with UW, Conjures Up Visions of Him and Menifield

The Huskies will have two high-scoring guards beginning next season.

Dan Raley

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The University of Washington basketball team is off to a 3-0 start with some talented newcomers, both injured and healthy, with plenty of season left to play. Yet it's time to take a moment to envision the future.

That's because on Wednesday, 4-star Texas shooting guard Wesley Yates III signed his national letter of intent and delivered it to the Huskies and coach Mike Hopkins.

"Wesley is an elite scorer and dynamic playmaker, whose skillset makes him one of the most talented guards in the nation," Hopkins said in a statement. "As a two-time state champion, he's a proven winner with an unrelenting work ethic. Wesley comes from an incredible family, embodies our core values, and fits exactly into what we are building here at Washington."

Now picture current Husky true freshman guard Keyon Menifield -- who's scored 26 and 21 points to lead his team in scoring in three outings -- paired in a backcourt next season and beyond with Yates, a 26-point scorer at Beaumont United High School.

That's a lot of potential offensive firepower all at once, plus both are highly capable floor leaders, now pegged as teammates for Montlake and Hopkins' program a year from now.

Yates is a 6-foot-4 offensive-minded player ranked as the No. 37 prospect on ESPN's Top 100 and he chose the UW over offers from Gonzaga, Auburn, Baylor and Memphis, among several others. He's a cousin for Husky assistant coach and former Montlake standout Quincy Pondexter.

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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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