Super Bowl Update

By Kshell

The Washington Huskies(4-3,0-0) announced that senior captain shooting guard Scott Suggs will redshirt this season. Suggs who has yet to play in a game decided when meeting with head coach Lorenzo Romar that it would be best for him to redshirt. For the Huskies this season this is quite the blow as Suggs provided veteran leadership which this team is lacking and would provide another shooter to help defeat the zone defense. For Suggs he decided to redshirt so he can have a full senior season and remember this was Suggs decision so don't read too much into this. As is next year with Terrence Ross and Tony Wroten being so talented there could be a chance both players leave after this season so having Suggs back next year would be nice.

For this season well Suggs redshirting hurts in a lot of ways. The Huskies will now have just one senior on their roster in Darnell Gant. The guard play this year has been fine but the Huskies are only have four consistent scorers a game. Typically of the big four of Abdul Gaddy, Terrence Ross, C.J. Wilcox and Tony Wroten one player is having a night off as well. Suggs redshirting will help next season out as on paper the Huskies are only losing Gant this season but for this season this is a huge blow to the Huskies who are looking to make the NCAA tournament for the fourth straight year first time in program history.

What the Huskies lose in Suggs is a hard worker who has improved each season. After not playing much as a freshman he cracked the rotation on the sweet 16 team as a sophomore. During that season Suggs 4.7 PPG in 13.7 minutes. He shot 38.3% from the field while making 37.4% of his three pointers which he made 1.1 three pointers a game. His junior year he became more stable as he averaged 7.4 PPG in 18.3 minutes. He also started for the first time in his career during his junior year starting in 10 games. He shot 48.5% from the field and shot an incredible 45.0% from three pointers making 1.6 three's a game. Suggs last year played well in the Pac-10 tournament averaging 6.0 PPG while shooting 37.5% from the field and making one three pointer a game while shooting 37.5% from three point range. In the NCAA tournament Suggs stepped his game up averaging 9.0 PPG while shooting 53.8% from the field and making two three pointers a game shooting 44.4% from three point range. The Huskies this season are going to miss that postseason experience that Suggs has provided in the last couple of seasons.

In conclusion, this is a big setback for this season for Lorenzo Romar and the Washington Huskies. For next season though if Ross and Wroten were to return this should make the Huskies the league favorites to win the Pac-12. The Huskies are going to miss Suggs who rarely makes dumb mistakes and one of their better free throw shooters the past two seasons. Suggs is automatic from three point range and having another shooter would have been nice. It's a shame to see one of the hardest workers in the Romar era go down to injury like this. At least this was in the preseason so Suggs can have another crack at his senior year next year. Today is bittersweet day for Suggs and the Huskies program as the Huskies take a major step back this year while next year appears even more bright.