Out of the seven players who played major minutes for Washington in 2011-12, one is lost to graduation and the other two decided to depart Seattle early for the NBA Draft. A fourth player, also graduating, only averaged 2.8 MPG and picked up those minutes in garbage time. The two players that skipped town early were guards, but there are both young and experienced players waiting in the wings at the position who are ready to take over. Replacing a pair of senior forwards will be a slightly more difficult task, especially early on in the season when the Huskies will face Seton Hall, Saint Louis, Connecticut, and possibly Ohio State. Below we fill you in on their details in their order of importance to the program.

• Terrence Ross – Two years ago, Ross came out of Portland’s Jefferson High School (where he played alongside former Kentucky forward Terrence Jones) and immediately earned good playing time with the Huskies. He had a solid freshman season, averaging 8.0 PPG and 2.8 RPG while playing behind Isaiah Thomas. Then came last season, and with Thomas gone and guard Scott Suggs lost due to a foot injury, Ross’ production and responsibilities grew. He averaged 16.4 PPG in an average of 31.1 MPG, but his reason to leave school early lies within the increased production on the boards. Ross bulked up over the summer and became much more active in a small forward type role, averaging 6.4 RPG.

Terrence Ross Blossomed Into A Top Ten Pick After A Terrific Sophomore Season (credit: Yardbarker)

• Tony Wroten, Jr. – 16.0 PPG and 5.0 RPG were enough for Wroten to head to the NBA after just one season on Montlake. The freshman was a huge part of every game, and he knew how to perform the job that needed to be done night in and night out. Only seven points against Florida Atlantic? No problem, as he focused on dishing out four assists to the guys that were making shots. Only eight points against Utah? He made up for it on the other end of the court by getting two steals, which ended up being huge in just a four-point win. The point is, despite many of his freshman mistakes, Wroten was a do-everything type of player, and he will be sorely missed in 2012-13.
• Darnell Gant – Behind Aziz N’Diaye, Gant was the second leading scorer and rebounder among the bigs in 2011-12. Sophomore forward Desmond Simmons will get the first look at replacing Gant, while sophomore Austin Seferian-Jenkins will then take on the hole left by Simmons.
• Brandon Sherrer – Sherrer, a fan favorite in Seattle, played a total of 70 minutes in four seasons with the Huskies. He averaged 2.8 MPG in 2011-12, with his best game being a two-point, one-rebound performance against Portland back in November.

Connor Pelton (300 Posts)

I'm from Portland. College basketball and football is life.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 10th, 2012 at 6:04 pm by Connor Pelton and is filed under microsites, pac 12. Tagged: 2011-12, brandon sherrer, darnell gant, graduation, lost, major, minutes, one, players, seattle, seven, terrence ross, tony wroten, washington, washington week: players not returning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.