Huskies head coach Mike Hopkins continues to add talent to the Washington Basketball team. The latest 2018 commitment comes from point guard Elijah Hardy
The Washington Basketball team was overdue for a news update. The challenge until now has been what to focus on to write about. Fortunately, head coach Mike Hopkins has helped out in that area. Well, he helped. You see, Coach Hopkins has once more surprised me in securing another commitment out of the blue. This time from Oakland California point guard Elijah Hardy.
Good news travels quickly, and the news hit social media almost immediately afterwards.
2018 point guard Elijah Hardy just verbally committed to Washington. Ranked as the No. 132 player in the @247Sports Composite Rankings.
— Evan Daniels (@EvanDaniels) September 10, 2017
Hardy is solid add to team
Hardy is a solid pickup. In fact, he has piqued the interest of 14 major college basketball programs, including a June 2017 offer from rival USC. He is a guard who can direct the floor, score, and play defense. In the new scheme of things, Hardy brings a new boost of talent to the team
The commitment follows on the heels of his September 8, 2017 visit to the school. As I researched this young man, I am immediately impressed with his speed bursts from a dead stop to instant acceleration. And beyond that, he can pivot on a dime and change direction with great ease and fluidity.
His shooting his natural, and he has a sweet motion from three-point distance.
Hardy fills the void of former recruit point guard Spencer Freedman. Whlle Freedman never committed to Washington, there was great hope he would do so as the first offer extended by the new coaching staff. Freedman committed to Harvard instead.
Next: Former Washington Huskies forward Chantel Osahor paying it forward
Hardy joins power forward Ed Chang in the class of 2018. With the graduation of both Dave Kingma and Sam Bowman, this could fill the ranks for the 2018 recruiting class. I continue to be impressed with the nearly instant success this coaching staff has enjoyed with their recruiting program. And as the true strength in the hiring of Coach Hopkins was his ability to develop playing skills in his team, this could turn out to be a very good season.