Washington Huskies: Pac-12 Contender or Pretender?

The Washington Huskies did not make the dance last year and the same could be the case in the 2013-14 college basketball season. Still, are they contenders or pretenders in the Pac-12?

I am going to say that Washington will surprise us in two ways. One, they will make the 2014 NCAA Tournament. Two, they will be contenders in the Pac-12.

Leading scorer C.J. Wilcox will be back and the team will be gaining a five-star recruit.

Wilcox averaged 16.8 points per game last season and he may need to average a little more since the team will be losing some talent. Still, the talent coming in could help replace the players who are no longer on the team and the returning players could easily step up. I am looking at you Andrew Andrews, Nigel Williams-Goss and Perris Blackwell.

Andrews put up decent numbers last season, but not great. He averaged 7.8 points per game, three rebounds per game and 2.3 assists per game. Blackwell averaged 12.7 points per game for San Francisco in the 2011-12 season and it will be interesting to see how he does against tougher competition. Williams-Goss is the No. 19 ranked recruit in the 2013 class.

As you can see, this team will have plenty of talent. It is not getting that high of expectations, though. That is probably because the conference will be very competitive and Arizona is ranked No. 5 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

Still, Washington is going to surprise us all and it is going to contend in the conference. The Huskies could also find themselves in the Big Dance.

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