Mark McLaughlin is on the move again, this time deciding to leave the Washington program to pursue other opportunities the school announced on Friday.
A 6-6 guard who led the nation in scoring last year at Tacoma CC, McLaughlin was expected by many to be an immediate contributor with Terrence Ross and Tony Wroten Jr. moving on to the NBA.
But after a short stint in Seattle, the Bothell, Washington native apparently decided that it was best for him to move on.
“Mark McLaughlin has decided to leave the University of Washington to pursue other opportunities,” said head coach Lorenzo Romar in a school release.
“Although he was only here for a short time, we enjoyed working with Mark and wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
McLaughlin committed to Washington in early April, shortly after Ross and Wroten declared for the NBA Draft, and Washington is the fourth program that he’s been a member of.
McLaughlin was at first a commitment to Washington State before signing with Nevada, who released him from his Letter of Intent after Mark Fox took the job at Georgia.
From there he made stops at Baylor and Seattle University before enrolling at Tacoma CC.
With the number of unknowns for the Huskies on the offensive end of the floor, McLaughlin’s arrival definitely could have benefited Washington on that end of the floor.
But with this move, Washington’s upcoming trip to Europe and Senegal (they won’t be playing games in Senegal) becomes even more important for a C.J. Wilcox (who’s the primary scorer at this point) or Andrew Andrews (redshirted last season).
Washington can definitely fight for an NCAA tournament bid, but this news (that isn’t entirely surprising given McLaughlin’s path) doesn’t help in that quest.
Raphielle is also the assistant editor at CollegeHoops.net and can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.