Washington Basketball Recruiting: Tristan Etienne Gives Verbal Commitment

Lorenzo Romar has received the first verbal commitment of the Class of 2014, this one coming from 6’10” 210-pound forward Tristan Etienne of Abbotsford, British Columbia. There is not a ton of information available on Etienne yet, and he is not on rivals, scout, or ESPN yet, but that isn’t necessarily an indictment of his talent. It may have more to do with how early we are in the Class of 2014 recruiting cycle, along with the fact that Etienne isn’t from the US.

He has played AAU ball with DRIVE Basketball, and there’s a bit of video of him playing with them. Going off of that clip, I won’t pretend to evaluate Etienne’s game or his potential as a Husky. He’s tall and thin, but also looks fairly fluid and athletic. The Husky he reminds me of the most physically is definitely Jernard Jarreau, though I don’t know if there games are really all that similar.

I would guess that he’s a four-year type, a guy that will develop as he gets more experience and gains more weight, and a guy whose full impact probably won’t be felt until he’s a junior or senior. But even if he isn’t a super recruit, Washington fans should be happy to get the ball rolling as far as the ’14 class goes, and they should be happy to get a solid, up-tempo ready big man for the future.