SEATTLE — During the first few weeks of men’s basketball practice at the University of Washington, coach Lorenzo Romar has continually praised the willingness of his veterans to help bring the freshmen up to speed.
The Huskies’ motivation is quite clear. They’re going to need the youngsters if UW is going to go back to some familiar places.
Due to a combination of injuries, transfers and a high-profile NBA defection, the Huskies will go into the 2011-12 season as dependant upon freshmen as they’ve been in a long time. The UW roster has more freshmen (eight, including 2010-11 redshirt Desmond Simmons) than it does veterans (seven), and it appears likely that as many as five or six of the newcomers will see significant minutes this season.
“All of us are good players. There are a lot of expectations,” said freshman Tony Wroten Jr., a freshman point guard and local phenom since his freshman year at Seattle’s Garfield High School. “We’ve all been doing good this year, and we’ve got a big class. All of us are working hard, and we can’t wait for the season.”
Wroten is the obvious centerpiece of this year’s class, and there is a chance that at some point this season he will become the face of the 2011-12 Huskies.
But the former Garfield star is surrounded by intriguing prospects — and not just because the group has big names (Shawn Kemp Jr. is the son of the former Seattle Sonics star), familiar geographical ties (Germany native Martin Breunig comes from the same country that produced all-time Husky great Detlef Schrempf) and superstar likenesses (6-foot-10 Louisiana native Jernard Jarreau bears a remarkable resemblance to NBA All-Star Kevin Durant).
The Huskies are in particular need at the frontcourt positions, where graduated seniors Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Justin Holiday patrolled last season. Romar brings in plenty of added size in Jarreau, the 6-9 Kemp, the 6-8 Breunig and the 6-7 Simmons. He also has one of his more unique talents in the 6-5 Wroten, a natural point guard who could end up playing alongside Abdul Gaddy to form a backcourt made up of two bigger point guards.
There is so much intrigue surrounding how this group will fit in that Romar spent most of the first 12 minutes of his Tuesday press conference last week answering questions about the first-year players.
One thing the Huskies’ coach says the group has in common is a willingness to learn. UW’s defensive scheme is particularly complex, and recent ballyhooed recruits like Gaddy and Terrence Ross took almost their full freshman seasons to become consistent contributors.
“A lot of times freshmen, they haven’t been in a situation where they’re forced to, every pass, not let up,” Romar said. “Not every possession, every pass. In our defense, if you don’t react to one pass, it can burn us. It’s such a team defensive concept that your teammates have to have your back.”
Senior Darnell Gant, a fifth-year player who redshirted as a freshman, said the UW veterans are doing their best to bring the new kids up to speed in a hurry.
“I think the freshmen outnumber the upperclassmen now, so practices are a little slowed-down, just for learning purposes,” he said. “They have to learn the system, and it’s not easy to learn this system. But it’s something they can get through.”
Jarreau said his head was spinning in the first few practices but that he’s starting to get a feel for things.
“Right now, I’m starting to get the hang of it,” he said last week. “But the first two weeks, in preseason and training camp, it was kind of tough for me. It was basically all seven of us, we had trouble getting the defense. The older guys really helped us out a lot.”
On paper, the most important players when the season begins appear to be Wroten, Simmons and Jarreau. Wroten is the undisputed star of the group, but Simmons has the advantage of experience after practicing with the team last season. The wiry Jarreau has the kind of length that could make him an immediate impact player on defense.
“He’s going to be a guy defensively to do what we call putting out fires,” Romar said. “… I wasn’t anticipating him being as good a defender that he will be — all over the floor. That’s been a pleasant surprise.”
The freshmen could be even more important after a preseason marred by surgeries.
Senior Scott Suggs will be out six more weeks following foot surgery, leaving the Huskies without one of their few experienced veterans for most of the non-conference schedule.
Wroten underwent a more minor surgery, and he’s expected to be available for the Nov. 12 season opener, but his absence in practices opened the door for freshmen like Hikeem Stewart and probable redshirt Andrew Andrews to play bigger roles.
This might not be Romar’s most talented group, and it might not have big names on the recruiting circuit. But the Class of 2011 has both numbers and opportunity, and that means the success of this year’s Huskies might own a lot to their development.
“We depend on them a lot,” Gant said. “We’re a team; we’re all in this together. We need one guy just as much as we need another. No person is bigger than the whole group.”
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