Washington Huskies Basketball: Losing Moser Is A Major Blow

December 6, 2012; Berkeley, CA, USA; UNLV Runnin’ Rebels forward Mike Moser (43) drives toward the basket against the California Golden Bears during the first half at Haas Pavilion. UNLV won 76-75. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

Alex Kline from The Recruit Scoop was the first to report that Mike Moser has made his official decision and is transferring to the University of Oregon. This comes as a surprise to many, as on April 5, Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports seemed convinced Moser’s choice would be UW.

For a couple weeks, this seemed to be the popular opinion, partially because no other schools had been named, and partially because of Goodman’s article, in which he said, “It’s almost done that he’s going to transfer and play at Washington.”

A couple weeks later, it came out that Moser was going to visit Oregon and Gonzaga. Until the news came out of his visit to Oregon, not only had I been optimistic, but excited. In a previous article of mine, I wrote about how Moser could have been the player to put the Huskies over the top this season and potentially make them one of the favorites in the Pac-12.

All my hopes and dreams came crashing down just a short while ago however, when the report came out that Moser has decided on Oregon.

Although I was a bit surprised by this news, it makes sense, considering Moser is from Portland and had great success in his time there. Moser was a two-sport star in high school, being a four-year letterman in both basketball and track. In basketball he earned first team All-6A Portland League and all-city honors each of his four years and was an all-state player his last three years. During his time at Grant High School, his teams posted a record of 76-32 (.704) and won the league title each of his last three seasons. The postseason success resulted in him winning the state title in 2008.

Moser’s high school numbers were terrific, including 28.3 points and 13 rebounds per game as a senior which resulted in him being ranked very highly coming out of school. Some rankings even had him as high as the No. 39 player and No. 7 small forward in the country.

He didn’t play much his freshman year at UCLA and afterwards transferred to UNLV. His first eligible season at UNLV was 2011-2012 and really broke out as a star, earning a spot on the All-Mountain West Conference team and being named an honorable mention for the AP All-America team. This past year, however, he struggled with injuries and his numbers were way down. Some suspect that another reason for his struggles was homesickness.

That is the reason given by Moser as to why he has chosen to transfer back to the Pacific Northwest. Because of this, it really isn’t much of a shock that Moser chose Oregon over UW. Although his hometown of Portland isn’t more than a few hours drive from UW, it is still over an hour farther away, and in a different state than the University of Oregon.

Obviously, this news is a bit disheartening for Husky fans. But I still think next year has a chance to be a great one, with lots of depth in the backcourt and the frontcourt.

For more details on how the team looks for next year, check out my article on C.J. Wilcox’s choice to return to school.