t But Romar seeking nothing less than ‘championship’-level talent for Huskies.
It isn’t often the West Sound produces elite-level basketball prospects.
But the men’s and women’s basketball coaches at the University of Washington both admitted they monitor the area for recruits Thursday at the 37th-annual UW Coaches Tour at McCormick Woods Golf Course.
“Whenever there’s someone we feel can help win us a championship, we’ll be right over here,” UW men’s coach Lorenzo Romar said. “We were over here quite a bit when (Bremerton’s) Marvin Williams was in school.”
Tia Jackson, who posted a 13-18 record in her first season as the Huskies women’s coach, said Northwest talent will be an emphasis for her. UW signed signed seven players in its incoming class and two, forward Charmaine Barlow (Chief Sealth High School, Seattle) and guard Kristi Kingma (Jackson High School, Mill Creek), are from Washington.
“We definitely want to take care of the local kids in the surrounding states and keep them in purple and gold,” she said.
Jackson played at the University of Iowa and in the WNBA for the Phoenix Mercury and was an assistant for successful collegiate programs at Stanford and Duke before coming to UW. She said recruiting will be the primary factor in determining how successful she is with the Huskies.
“Recruiting is always the number one thing,” Jackson said. “It doesn’t matter how good of a coach I think I am. If you don’t have the horses to run with, you aren’t going to blossom.”
Four of six freshmen signed in 2007 by former UW coach June Daughtery, who now holds the same position at rival Washington State, transferred, but Jackson said fans shouldn’t be concerned about the direction of the program.
“We feel really good about where we’re heading,” she said. “We’re building a championship program. We always want to finish in the top of the Pac-10 and we always want to be in postseason play.”
Romar, whose team finished 16-17 overall and was eighth in the Pac-10 last season, also feels good about the direction of his program.
The Huskies are a combined 15-21 in conference play the last two seasons, but he said that was a product of their inexperience.
That shouldn’t be an issue this season with three of their top four scorers returning.
The Huskies also signed four players in this class, including 5-foot-8 guard Isaiah Thomas, who played at Curtis High School in University Place before attending a prep school.
“Isaiah Thomas is a great scorer,” Romar said. “He’s small, but it doesn’t matter. He can get his shot off on anyone.”
College basketball might be at its strongest point ever in-state with the Huskies along with Gonzaga and WSU, both of which advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season. Romar said he welcomes the competition.
“I think that’s great,” he said. “The Washington State Cougars have come on over the last couple of years joining how Gonzaga has done over the last decade.”
He said the success of college basketball in Washington also is a reflection of the high schools.
“It’s no coincidence that the high schools have graduated talent that’s some of the best in the country in the state of Washington,” he said. “I think we all like that. There’s enough talent to go around for everybody.”
That also means plenty of competition for those who hope to stay in-state and play at a major program. Both Jackson and Romar said an athlete must be academically sound and driven in addition to athletic to accomplish that objective.
“You’ve got to have a passion about being the best you can be,” Romar said. “A lot of times kids have dreams, but their work ethic does not match their dreams.”
