COLLEGE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Brendan Sherrer

Published 11:50 pm Thursday, November 5, 2009

Sophomore | UW | Basketball

Hometown: Monroe

High school: Archbishop Murphy

What he did: The 6-foot-9 forward beat out 11 other candidates for the lone walk-on position on the UW men’s basketball team.

What’s next: Sherrer and the Huskies officially open their season a week from Saturday against Wright State.

The two-minute drill

So how did you find out that you’d made the team, and what was that like for you?

Coach (Lorenzo) Romar told me (Monday afternoon), just out on the court. He congratulated me. And then we re-did the team picture. It’s a dream-come-true. Everything happened so fast. I still can’t wrap my head around it. Playing basketball in college, for a Division I program, that’s what every high school player wants to do.

Did you have any offers out of high school?

Yeah, mostly junior colleges. And Whitworth. I can’t remember the others. I had to choose between playing basketball and getting a good education. I wanted to get into pre-dentistry, and U-Dub has a real good program. So coming to U-Dub was really what I wanted to do.

What were you doing this time last year?

I was part of the group who used to paint our chests and sit in the front row of The Dawg Pack. There’s actually a pretty cool picture out there of me sitting in the background and Jon Brockman dunking in front of all of us.

When you were sitting in the Dawg Pack watching, did you ever let yourself imagine what it would be like to be out there in a UW uniform?

I never really thought that maybe one day I’d be playing there. But I thought about what it might be like for someone to play at this level.

How would you describe your role?

My job is to make the other players better. I’m a role player, and I do whatever the coach tells me to do.

Which Husky do you feel like you’re going to be tired of banging against by the time the postseason begins?

Probably MBA (Matthew Bryan-Amaning) or Darnell (Gant). They’re both big guys.

Are you kind of relieved that you don’t have to bang against Jon Brockman every day?

I’d love to play with Brockman. That would’ve been great.

— Scott M. Johnson, Herald Writer