By Rick Anderson
For the Grays Harbor News Group
There’s little doubt that second-year head coach Mike Hopkins has turned around Washington’s men’s basketball program.
Inheriting a 9-22 team from predecessor Lorenzo Romar, Hopkins has guided the Huskies to the brink of their first Pac-12 Conference championship in seven years.
Wary Husky fans, however, have reason to wonder how long the prosperity will last. More specifically, how soon will Hopkins be confronted with what might be dubbed the Steve Sarkisian Dilemma?
Former Washington football coach Sarkisian has undergone his share of adversity since leaving the UW for USC in 2013. His reputation was sullied by alcohol abuse that cost him the USC job and he has bounced around to various professional and college assistant coaching jobs since. As it turned out, he was succeeded at Washington by a superior coach in Chris Petersen.
At the time, however, many UW boosters were upset over Sarkisian’s departure. Sark had lifted the Huskies from the Pac-12 cellar to four minor bowls in his five-year stint. In addition, he was abandoning Washington for a conference rival.
I believed, then and now, that critics of Sarkisian’s decision were naive.
A Southern California native who had been a Trojan assistant under future Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, Sarkisian always was going to be prominent on USC’s radar. Given his roots and lack of ties to the Northwest, it was logical that he would fly south as soon as it became feasible.
Hopkins could be faced with a similar dilemma — possibly sooner than later.
Almost certain to receive his second Pac-12 Coach of the Year award in as many seasons, Hopkins has already attracted national attention.The presumption is that his loyalty to the UW program would prevent him from filling potential openings at schools such as Pittsburgh or Penn State, for example.
That might not be the case if Syracuse comes calling.
A Syracuse alum and former assistant under longtime head coach Jim Boeheim, Hopkins was once formally designated by the school as Boeheim’s successor once the latter retired.
When Boeheim decided to continue coaching longer than anticipated, Hopkins made himself available to Washington.
But Boeheim is 74 and can’t last forever. He also seemingly has been shaken by his non-criminal role in a recent fatal traffic accident.
When Boeheim eventually steps down, Hopkins presumably would vault to the top of Syracuse’s wish list. Particularly since Syracuse’s national basketball profile is far greater than Washington’s, it is hard to believe that Hopkins would reject such an offer.
As Hopkins has acknowledged, the UW turnaround has been accomplished with a senior-dominated team largely recruited by Romar.
Nevertheless, having seen an unusually high quota of televised Husky games this season (thanks to a mid-January mishap that has left me essentially housebound), I’m struck by the significant stylistic differences between Hopkins’ UW teams and Romar’s.
Now in his second tour of duty at Pepperdine, Romar traditionally has coached entertaining, up-tempo teams that produced a lot of points, steals and blocked shots. He once acquired the reputation as a defensive genius — particularly from those who ignored the minor detail that his teams regularly gave up more than 90 points in a game.
This Husky team lacks the bells and whistles that accompanied Romar’s best teams. But playing the 2-3 zone that has long been a Syracuse staple, these Dawgs are legitimately outstanding defensively. They’ve also been solid during crunch time — another contrast from the Romar era.
Because of the Pac-12’s woeful national reputation and a shortage of quality non-conference wins (although, to be fair, they did play a tough non-conference schedule), the Huskies aren’t necessarily a lock for an NCAA tournament bid despite their league record. They might need to win at least three of their final four conference games and perform respectably in the Pac-12 tournament to ensure an invitation to the Big Dance.
If they do make it to the NCAA tourney, it is hard to imagine the Huskies lasting more than a round or two.
Turnover-prone and not a particularly strong rebounding team, Washington frankly could use a dash of Romaresque scoring punch.
The last 10 minutes of last Saturday’s Washington-Colorado game, in which the Dawgs held the Buffaloes scoreless for about four minutes but barely increased their lead, resembled a poorly played high school junior varsity contest.
It reminded me a classic quote from Willapa Valley High School coach John Peterson. Although mindful of the necessity for strong defense, Peterson always has considered putting the ball in the basket to be his teams’ top priority.
“Score 90 points. That’s usually good enough,” Peterson once said.
Assuming he sticks around for a while, Hopkins’ next challenge will be in matching or exceeding this season’s record with his own recruits.
That’s a tougher assignment than it sounds. Former UW football coach Rick Neuheisel won a Rose Bowl with a team composed largely of Jim Lambright’s recruits, but never made it back to Pasadena with his own.
Early indications, however, are that Hopkins is a keeper. If UW officials agree, they might do well to disable cell phone service from Syracuse.
