Lauren Kirschman
The News Tribune
There is a legacy on the line for Washington’s senior class.
Last year, they were the leaders of head coach Mike Hopkins’ first team. They turned the program around, going 21-13 and advancing to the NIT a year after finishing 9-22.
There were no expectations, said senior guard David Crisp, so they always played with a chip on their shoulder.
“We were just hungry,” Crisp said. “We were looking at what’s the next game, what’s the next game ahead. That’s the same approach we’re taking this year. Guys are hungry.”
Crisp admitted it feels a little different entering Tuesday’s regular season opener against Western Kentucky (7:30 p.m. , ESPNU) ranked as the No. 25 team in the country, but the Huskies aren’t giving it too much attention. They have their eyes on a bigger prize: The NCAA Tournament.
For senior guard Matisse Thybulle, that’s where the idea of a legacy comes in. UW hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2011. Thybulle doesn’t want to move on without getting the Huskies back there.
“I think just to be able to leave on that note, knowing that it’s just going to carry on for all the guys coming after me,” he said. “I would want it any other way.”
Thybulle, too, talked about a hunger, a feeling that something was left on the table last season. For all the steps UW took, for everything it accomplished in just one season under Hopkins, the Huskies didn’t feel satisfied when the year ended.
They were immediately ready to get back on the court and pick up where they left off. It’s exciting, Thybulle said, to look back at where the program stood at the beginning of his career and see how much things have changed.
When his time at UW ends, he wants to know there’s more to come, that the trajectory the seniors set will continue beyond this season.
“We try to have the veterans teach the younger guys,” said senior forward Dominic Green. “We try to set an example for them.”
It takes time to change the culture of a program, Hopkins said. Last season was about getting the players to believe. That was the first step. This year, it’s time to elevate the standards.
“We have to practice harder,” Hopkins said. “We like to use the quote, ‘How you do anything is how you do everything.’ Off the court. In the community. We’re trying to upgrade in all areas.
“We have guys that have really bought into what we’re doing. To do that, what I know is raise the bar. Never be happy. Always be moving forward. Those are the similar words that we used.”
Senior forward Noah Dickerson has little interest in talking about this season’s expectations. He doesn’t have any, and he doesn’t believe the Huskies have earned them yet, either.
Dickerson just comes out and plays. That’s what he can control. Everything else is up in the air.
“For me, we haven’t proved nothing to nobody,” he said. “We haven’t done anything. We haven’t even made the tournament yet. To me, I haven’t been to the tournament in my three years here.”
For a player that’s won at every other level, that’s all Dickerson wants now: To make the NCAA Tournament and have a chance to win it all.
“That’s why you work so hard in the offseason,” Dickerson said.
Hopkins wants his team to function at 72 degrees: Not too high, not too low. That was true last year, when the Huskies were a surprise. It remains true this season.
At some point in 2017-18, Hopkins said, UW stopped sneaking up on teams. After the victory over Kansas, for example, everyone knew the Huskies were good.
Being overlooked isn’t what put the chip on their shoulder.
“The chip is we’re not where we want to be,” Hopkins said. “That’s the next step. that’s the next challenge. Now, it’s up to them. Can we do it? It’s up to the coaching staff to give them the road map. More together. More assists. Rebound the ball. Those things we were sub-par at last year. That’s where we need to see improvement.”
The Huskies’ exhibition schedule also taught them a simple but important lesson. In beating Nevada, UW learned it can beat the country’s top teams. But the 70-61 win over Division II Seattle Pacific — a game the Huskies trailed a the half — showed they can lose to any team, too.
That’s what happens, Hopkins said, if the Huskies don’t execute. And they’ll be put to an early test against Conference USA favorite Western Kentucky.
“You see what happens when you don’t come out and focus,” Crisp said. “Anybody can come out and play with you. Just seeing that was good for us. Everybody can open their eyes and see you can lose to anybody if you don’t bring it.”
Washington’s Sam Timmins (33) and the Huskies leave the floor having failed to improve their tournament hopes, losing the regular season finale to Oregon, 72-64, on Saturday, March 3, 2018, at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle. (Dean Rutz/Seattle Times/TNS)
