Grading the 2017-18 Washington Basketball team
By Cody Tyo
Offense: C
Washington averaged just under 75 points per game this past season — down from 76.4 points per game in Romar’s final year.
The loss of future first overall pick Markelle Fultz left a hole in the offense that was tough to fill. Without an offensive star, the Huskies relied on a combination of role players to create offense.
Junior forward Noah Dickerson continued the upward trend of his collegiate career. He averaged 15.5 points per game as the focal point of the UW offensive attack. In his freshman year, Dickerson scored just 7.5 per game before improving to 12.5 ppg in his sophomore season.
Good in paint, perilous perimeter
Dickerson is the kind of old school paint threat that tends to wreak havoc on Pac-12 defenses (see Stanford’s Reid Travis). With Dickerson commanding the paint, the UW guards were free to roam the perimeter.
The perimeter, however, is where Washington saw some problems. Jaylen Nowell made huge contributions in his freshman season, starting nearly every game and leading the UW scorers with 16 points per game.
Junior guards Matisse Thybulle and David Crisp rounded out the usual starting backcourt that was plagued with inconsistency. The Huskies shot just 34.6 percent from three point range — good for 192nd in the nation. Struggling outside shooting was amplified by poor ball movement (262nd in the country in assists) and ball security (260th in the country in turnovers).