Two pick Huskies in early signing period

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, November 8, 2006

SEATTLE – Washington coach Lorenzo Romar added to his stash of talent on Wednesday, the first day of letter of intent signings.

Romar announced that forwards Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Justin Holiday have both signed with the Huskies.

Curtis High School point guard Isaiah Thomas – who has given a verbal commitment to Washington – did not sign a letter of intent, though he is expected to sign in the late signing period, which runs April 11 to May 16.

Romar said both Holiday and Bryan-Amaning fit well with the program in their ability to play uptempo and pressure defense.

“It’s an exciting day for us,” Romar said. “We didn’t have a whole lot of guys to sign, but we did sign two. We feel we have two quality signees, two quality future Huskies.”

Bryan-Amaning is a 6-foot-9 power forward with a 7-3 wing span and is originally from Surrey, England, but is playing at South Kent prep school in Connectituct. Last season, he averaged 14 points and nine rebounds and is the No. 10 rated power forward in the nation according to Rivals.com, which also ranks him as the No. 44 prospect overall.

Romar said he’s impressed with Bryan-Amaning’s ball handling and ability to run the floor.

“He is quick for his size,” Romar said. “He’s able to out-maneuver the defender a lot of times. He has nice, long arms, a nice jump hook and yet he’s very explosive around the basket.”

Romar said he expects Bryan-Amaning to improve his jump shot and to slow down a bit offensively.

“He has an array of moves and sometimes he tries to do them all in one possession,” Romar said.

The 6-6 Holiday averaged 20 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.3 blocks for Campbell High School in North Hollywood, Calif. Rivals ranks him as the No. 17 prospect in California. He’s been compared to former Husky Bobby Jones.

“Bobby had some strengths that are a little different than Justin, and vice versa,” Romar said. “Justin is a little better ball handler and shooter than Bobby was coming out of high school. … They have many similarities.”

Romar said what most impressed him about Holiday is that “he’s always in the mix,” and gets his hands on the ball a lot. Holiday is also quick and needs to put on more strength.

The early signing period runs through Nov. 15 but Romar said he doesn’t believe that any other signings are imminent.