Washington Basketball’s Coach Hopkins is on-two something!

The Washington Basketball team has jumped out to a 2-0 start. This time the team relied upon Noah Dickerson‘s 28 point 22 rebound performance. So far, it appears that head coach Hopkins is on-two something

Two games and two wins. That is the status of Washington Basketball‘s season so far.  Two wins is certainly impressive from a team with a brand new head coach and brand new scheme.  Compounding that is the fact that the team ended last season with a 13 game losing streak.   So Coach Hopkins gets a round of applause for turning things around.

But there is more to the story than two wins, but rather the way the team won those two games. Last season, the statistics read “Markelle Fultz” and “all others” at the end of each game. And with that setting, too many players sat back and waited for Fultz to deliver a win.

All for one and one for all

This season, everyone is contributing so far.  On one hand, in game one the team was led by Jaylen Nowell, but landed David Crisp, Matisse Thybulle, and Carlos Johnson in double digits. On the other hand, in game two the same team was led by Noah Dickerson, but boasted David Crisp, Matisse Thybulle, and Jaylen Nowell in double digits.

In short, the Huskies’ success is rooted in the team, and not by an individual contributor.

Jaylen Nowell played lights out in game one.  Noah Dickerson played lights out in game two. But if you ask Coach Hopkins, he talks about his team.

Individual success means team success

And to players, that means everything. But it doesn’t eliminate the significance of the individual achievements on this team.  In fact, a team is defined as a group of individuals who are so confident in their own contribution that they are able to compliment the efforts of others.

Right now, the Washington Basketball team is growing in confidence. And that confidence will be needed as the team next faces the Providence Friars on Thursday night, November 16, 2017. In fact, this team will also compete against Kansas and Gonzaga before entering the Pac-12 conference segment of the schedule on December 29 against USC.

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Thin on bigs

So far, Washington appears to be light on big players, a point which complicated the season opener with Belmont.  In that contest, Noah Dickerson played just 19 minutes before fouling out. That seemed to set a change in the game to the hot handed Nowell, who scored 25 of his total 32 points in the second half.

How Dickerson handled his second game is very telling about the team mentality. He was a scoring dynamo, including hitting on 10 of 14 free throws.  That is exactly how Hopkins envisions the 2-3 with his current personnel. Noah Dickerson played his role to near perfection.

Next: Washington Basketball win their first? Nowell, Jaylen Nowell.

This team will not run the table. But nobody should expect them to do so. A great season this year will be a finish of .500.  Winning two games out of the gates doesn’t change that. But it does place this team in a much better position to do so this season.  In the end, I think the Washington Basketball program is already taking huge strides forward.