Demarquise Johnson on His UW Visit: ‘I Liked It A Lot’

I spoke with Demarquise Johnson after his trip to UW and he was really impressed with the entire trip. He said his favorite part was the open gym in which not only did he get to play with current Husky Basketball players but also with some local NBA stars. Jamal Crawford, Spencer Hawes, Will Conroy, Isaiah Thomas, Quincy Pondexter, and others were all in attendance. There was even a Brandon Roy sighting, though Roy did not play in this open gym.

Johnson said that he really liked Jamal Crawford even though he isn’t a former UW player like most of the others that were there. He was excited to be able to play with these stars and he was even able to score a few points.

While his favorite part was the open gym, he also said that he was able to tailgate at the UW football game, then attend the game, and later he had dinner with Lorenzo Romar. He identified Abdul Gaddy as the player on the basketball team that he connected with the best. But that all the other players were cool too.

What stood out to him on the trip:

• The players on the team were just ‘really down to earth’. He really liked that.
• The UW basketball has a lot of respect around the campus.
• While he said it wasn’t fair to compare the fan-bases of his other visits (because Gonzaga doesn’t have a football team), he was impressed with both WSU and UW’s fan-bases. Their passion for their sports.

I asked him to rank the visit on a scale of 1 to 10 and he said, “8”. What could have made it a “10”? He answered without hesitation, “more time.”

As for his timeline for his decision?

He still plans to keep with the same timeline he decided before taking any of the trips, to go on 4 visits and then decide. He has taken 3 of the 4; WSU, Gonzaga, UW, and he will be visiting UNLV on Oct. 8. Then he will eliminate and he will use his 5th and final visit to ‘visit his future school’.

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