Husky Men's Basketball Blog

The last two springs, Washington fans were nervous waiting to see which of their underclassmen - or high school recruits - would leave for the greener pastures of the NBA, or decide to stay at UW.

Now, it's UW fans who can sit back and watch fans of other conference teams squirm.

Wednesday, it was Cal's Leon Powe, saying he will test the waters and go through some tryouts, though without hiring an agent:
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Today it's UCLA's Arron Afflalo and Jordan Farmar.

Arizona's Mustafa Shakur has also already decided to see where he stands, though without hiring an agent, and Roosevelt High grad Marcus Williams is still trying to make a final decision.

If I had to guess, I'd say Powe and Farmar go - I think Powe's stock won't improve much by coming back since the major negative is his size and his history of knee injuries. As for Farmar, there have been rumors about him wanting to leave since the start of the season and what he did in leading UCLA to the final game would seem to have helped his status.

If those two come back, I think UCLA and Cal are the prohibitive favorites heading into next season. If both leave, the top becomes that much more open for a team like Washington to maybe intrude upon.

OKLAHOMA INVESTIGATION TOUCHES UW
Even if it is apparently a fairly light touch.

But here's a story on the investigation into some potential NCAA violations at Oklahoma that mentions Jim Shaw, who worked at OU then and is now an assistant at Washington

Shaw will apparently have to testify in these hearings, but I've been told he is a minor player in this and that it is unlikely anything would come out of this that would impact his duties at Washington.

Shaw worked at Oklahoma from 2000-2004 before coming to UW where he has gotten lots of credit for his recruiting and work with Washington's big men. He is also in charge of rebounding for the Huskies.

And from what I understand, Shaw left Oklahoma before the investigation began there, meaning he didn't head here to get away from trouble there.