Immediate Impact of the Departure of Mark McLaughlin

Mark McLaughlin decided to leave the University of Washington to “pursue other opportunities” and sources are indicating that it may be paid opportunities overseas.

However, in light of his departure there is a hole that needs to be filled. This is not indicative of the hole that was left in the 2012 recruiting class that now has zero recruits listed in it. The hole that needs to be filled is his spot in and on the rotation. He was going to play a big role in it.

There were some that even thought he could start over one of the other guards because of his ability to score. He was the leading point scorer in the country last season on all collegiate levels at over 26 points a game. His ability to find a seam in the defense, shoot from deep, and take it to the hole would have fit extremely well in the Husky system.

Now, Lorenzo Romar and the Huskies are left with just a few pure shooting guards.

There are two shooting guards on the roster in Scott Suggs and CJ Wilcox. There is also Hikeem Stewart who we have yet to determine how he fits best in the rotation (point guard or shooting guard). Then the Dawgs have a couple point guards in Abdul Gaddy and Andrew Andrews.

This may leave the Huskies with some of the least amount of guards they have had in years. There is now no room to red-shirt anyone, especially with two transfers already on the bench.

Possible help in the rotation:

• Gaddy and Andrews may need to play alongside each other a little more. This would most likely push Gaddy into the main role while they look for Andrews along the perimeter. He is known for his deep three-point shot.
• Stewart will need to find his rhythm and get fully adjusted to the college game. Husky fans saw glimpses of what ‘could be’ last season and a few times of a young basketball player nervous on the floor. Stewart will be the guy off the bench to help Wilcox and Suggs.
• Suggs and Wilcox will have a lot more minutes between the two of them. They will need to get in condition for this extra work-load. Similar to the run Isaiah Thomas had to have when Gaddy went down two seasons ago.
• There is also Martin Breunig, that in high school played more of a perimeter big-man role anyways. He can shoot from outside and was fairly inconsistent inside last season. They may find him feeling more natural outside.

This shouldn’t completely hurt the Huskies because Suggs and Wilcox are very talented. But this does hamper much depth. If Stewart takes a big step forward this year, then there won’t be much missing of McLaughlin. However, if an injury happens, this could be a tight situation for the Huskies.