Don’t be surprised when Washington rolls out four guards and Matthew Bryan-Amaning for extended stretches this season. The Huskies’ frontcourt may not allow for much else.
Sophomore Tyreese Breshers -- a part-time starter last season who appeared in all 34 games - will end his basketball career due to medical concerns.
He fractured his shin during his senior year of high school after he was kicked in the leg. A rod was inserted through his patella tendon into his shin when he arrived on campus in 2008, but his recovery never progressed very well. He redshirted the 2008-09 season.
The 6-7, 255-pound forward wasn’t going to be a difference maker, but they’ll miss the depth.
“It’s a big loss as far as our team,” coach Lorenzo Romar told the Seattle Times. “He was someone that we had big plans for. It gives someone else an opportunity to step in and do well, but it’s something that we got to make up some ground on as a team to replace what we miss in him.”
That leaves junior Darnell Gant, junior college transfer Aziz N’Diaye and freshman Desmond Simmons to pick up the slack. N’Diaye will likely be assigned the Breshers’ role of the physical post player, but I’d expect to see Gant just as often, if not more.
The Huskies will again be an up-tempo, guard-heavy team, which means the quicker, more mobile their lineup is, the better. That means lots of Bryan-Amaning and Gant.
That’s a good thing for Romar’s bunch. Even if they get beat on the defensive boards slightly more than last season, it shouldn’t affect their performance. If UW makes its shots and Bryan-Amaning continues to block shots at last year’s rate, they’ll be a player.
Mike Miller’s also on Twitter @BeyndArcMMiller, usually talkin’ hoops. Click here for more.