Inside The Huskies

Basketball Shouldn't Be an Afterthought at UW or in Seattle

The city has all the resources to bring the game back, but they go unused.

Dan Raley

In this story:

Basketball is big in Seattle, you just wouldn't know it at times.

A number of current University of Washington players will be involved this weekend in Jamal Crawford's Crawsover Pro-Am at Seattle Pacific University, an annual summertime pilgrimage that typically draws a nice crowd.

Former Husky standouts Isaiah Stewart and Dejounte Murray just signed four-year NBA contract extensions worth $64 million and $120 million, respectively. 

Yes, the UW's legendary Brandon Roy — one of the best basketball players on the planet just over a decade ago — still lives and coaches in the city and had everyone excited when he got involved in the recent NBA draft ... on behalf of Portland.

Yet the game otherwise continues to limp along in Seattle, neglected by people who could make a difference and restore the sport to some sort of prominence on the edge of Puget Sound and in the shadows of the Space Needle.

No one needs to be reminded how the NBA rudely deserted Seattle 15 years ago for that most unlikely hoops destination of Oklahoma City and how UW basketball has been mediocre for much of that time.

However, the core of Seattle basketball excellence hasn't gone away.

Murray, who played one showcase season for the Huskies in 2016 before becoming one of pro basketball's headliners, recently explained that he re-signed with Atlanta because of his deep-rooted Northwest relationship with Hawks coach Quin Snyder.

Dejounte Murray and Quin Snyder have formed a tight bond in Atlanta.
Dejounte Murray and Quin Snyder are "Seattle guys" trying to make NBA inroads :: Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports

If you recall, the UW tried and failed to sign Snyder, when he lived and played just a few miles away as a clever point guard for Mercer Island High School. 

The Huskies once again tried and failed to bring Snyder home and hire him as the coach to replace Bob Bender. 

Yet three time zones away, the homegrown connection between Murray and Snyder remains unbreakable. Consider this recent interview that Murray offered up during an NBA summer league game while seated next to Snyder. 

“With Quin he's passionate,” Murray said. “Not only does he want to win, he wants to put everybody in situations to be successful as men and obviously basketball players. And even his coaching staff, you just go on and on. He's a Seattle guy, it's only right we connect.”

Husky basketball, which has floundered for four consecutive seasons under Mike Hopkins, may finally hold out some hope for winning at a reasonable rate again and returning to the NCAA Tournament — where, embarrassingly so, it has showed up just once in a dozen seasons.

Hopkins' capable staff headed up by former Huskies Will Conroy and Quincy Pondexter has brought in two former Kentucky starters in the past two seasons, an incredible development actually, and a host of other interesting players from around the country. There appears to be hope in Montlake.

If Hopkins can't win with this crew, it will be time to get really creative and turn the program over to a bunch of Seattle guys, say any combination of Roy, Conroy, Pondexter and even Crawford — depending on college degrees, which would be mandatory for them — to see if they can stir up some long overdue college basketball excitement. Maybe make the Paolo Bancheros of the city do their one-and-done stints in Montlake. 

The resources are in town, they just haven't been utilized properly. It's all about Seattle guys. It's time to fix the Huskies, then maybe work on getting the NBA back here, too.

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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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