Washington Huskies NCAA Basketball Betting
The Washington Huskies basketball program has never been much. UW went to its only Final Four in 1953 and last made the Elite Eight in 1963. They did make the Sweet Sixteen in 2005, 2006, and 2010 but that was the exception rather than the rule. Washington is not far removed from its best era in history when it went to the NCAA Tournament six times between 2004 and 2011 under head coach Lorenzo Romar. But after Romar failed to make the Big Dance in his final
six seasons, the Huskies decided to make a change. Mike Hopkins was hired for the 2017-18 season and has produced one Big Dance bid (2018). Since that time, Hopkins has seen his program take on water. This year was an utter catastrophe that has fans calling for his head.
The 2020-21 Washington Huskies finished the season with a record of 5-21 straight up, 11-14 against the spread, and 13-12 over the total. Washington finished 11th in the Pac-12 Conference. The Huskies had offensive metrics 283rd out of 350 teams for scoring, 279th for field goal percentage, 219th for 3-point field goal percentage, 193rd for free throw percentage, and 320th for offensive rebounds. Defensively the Huskies ranked 304th for points allowed, 248th for field goal percentage against, 204th for 3-point field goal percentage against, and 316th for defensive rebounding. Washington was a dreadful 4-16 in conference games, with the fifth-worst winning percentage in Pac 12 history.
The Washington Huskies season began with three straight pandemic cancelations and was all downhill from there. When play commenced, they opened with an 86-52 loss to the Baylor Bears. It was a portent of things to come. Washington lost its first three games and 11 of their first 12. They never came close to digging out.
Coach Mike Hopkins offered no specifics on what went wrong. Instead, he offered empty platitudes about the season being a disappointment and that he is working through improvements, whatever that means. The most specific that Hopkins would get is that he said he shouldn’t have scheduled so many tough opponents early on. Hopkins said that his team lost confidence early in the year, and it became impossible to turn the tide on that issue as the season progressed.
The defense was an utter debacle in 2020-21, and Hopkins bears much of the blame. He prefers the 2-3 zone that he learned while playing for his alma mater, Syracuse, and its coach Jim Boeheim, who is the architect of the scheme. As the disaster of this season wore on, Hopkins cracked and went with a matchup zone defense instead. But the matchup zone is complicated and requires patience. It was too late for the matchup zone to be employed effectively by that point in the season.
Hopkins has also done a poor job developing the talent he brings in. Naturally, the pandemic was used as an excuse. But every team in the nation had to deal with that problem.
Hopkins has blown many recruiting efforts and has relied far too heavily on transfers as for the talent itself. There has been no consistency with Hopkins’ approach to bringing in talent. Hopkins set expectations too high with a 2019 class that was ranked in the nation’s top ten. But that class failed to pan out, and the top picks left the program. Hopkins was unable to recruit good size and front line depth.
Senior guard Quade Green is the one bright spot to an otherwise woeful program. Green led Washington with 15.4 points per game. It was the best season of his career. Green scored in double digits in 11 of his final 14 games. In the season-ending Pac-12 Conference Tournament loss to Utah, he scored 31 points.
Sophomore guard Marcus Tsohonis added 10.4 points per game. Tsohonis scored in double digits in five of his last eight games.
Junior guard Jamal Bey averaged 10.3 points per game in his first campaign as a regular. Bey scored in double digits for his final five games of the campaign.
Washington does not have a solid history. But Hopkins hasn’t come close to matching Romar’s era of success at UW.
Washington Huskies Seasons (2000)
| SEASON |
RECORD |
NCAA TOURNAMENT RESULT |
| 2020-21 |
5-21 |
- |
| 2019-20 |
15-17 |
Tournament Cancelled |
| 2018-19 |
27-9 |
Second Round |
| 2017-18 |
21-13 |
- |
| 2016-17 |
9-22 |
- |
| 2015-16 |
19-15 |
- |
| 2014-15 |
16-15 |
- |
| 2013-14 |
17-15 |
- |
| 2012-13 |
18-16 |
- |
| 2011-12 |
24-11 |
- |
| 2010-11 |
24-11 |
Second Round |
| 2009-10 |
26-10 |
Regional Semifinal |
| 2008-09 |
26-9 |
First Round |
| 2007-08 |
16-17 |
- |
| 2006-07 |
19-13 |
- |
| 2005-06 |
26-7 |
Regional Semifinal |
| 2004-05 |
29-6 |
Regional Semifinal |
| 2003-04 |
19-12 |
- |
| 2002-03 |
10-17 |
- |
| 2001-02 |
11-18 |
- |
| 2000-01 |
10-20 |
- |
NCAA Basketball Teams
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