SEATTLE – The University of Washington men’s basketball team has lost Nate Robinson and Martell Webster to the NBA Draft in the past month, but if things go well this weekend, the sting of those losses could be less.
Two sources confirmed that Louisville transfer Lorrenzo Wade will visit Washington this weekend, the third stop the 6-foot-6 guard reportedly will have made.
Wade reportedly has narrowed his choices to New Mexico State, Nevada, Oklahoma and Washington. He has visited New Mexico State and Nevada.
Under NCAA rules, Washington coach Lorenzo Romar can’t comment on recruitable athletes.
Wade played in 35 games for Louisville as a true freshman last season, averaging just under 10 minutes, 3.9 points and 1.7 rebounds. He played just a minute in the Cardinals’ Sweet 16 victory over Washington in the NCAA Tournament and a total of 12 minutes in five games as Louisville reached the Final Four.
There are reasons why Wade could choose any of the four schools that interest him. Washington and Oklahoma are among the top programs in the country. Nevada, located in Reno, has made the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons and is not far from Wade’s hometown of Las Vegas. And New Mexico State recently hired former Louisville assistant Reggie Theus as head coach.
It’s reasonable to assume that Wade will be looking for a successful program, as his teams the past four seasons have gone a combined 119-12. After reaching back-to-back large-school state title games at Las Vegas’ Cheyenne High School (winning as a senior), Wade spent a year at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., averaging 14.3 points on the top-ranked prep school team in the country.
One question to be answered is if Washington has enough scholarships available to offer Wade. While the Huskies lost Tre Simmons, Will Conroy and Hakeem Rollins (along with Robinson and Webster), Washington has six incoming freshmen (including Snohomish star Jon Brockman) to go with seven returning scholarship players. There was some early speculation that center Hans Gasser would lose his scholarship but Romar said recently that would not be the case.
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