Huskies Will Evaluate Men's Basketball Program, Romar After The Season
With Washington two days away from likely putting to rest the worst season in its men's basketball program history, winning just two conference games and compiling a 9-21 overall record, athletics officials were instead forced to rebuff reports that Lorenzo Romar will return as coach next season.
Yahoo! Sports national basketball columnist Pat Forde reported Monday night, citing sources, that UW had decided to allow Romar to coach incoming phenom and No.1 overall prospect Michael Porter Jr., expected to be a one-and-done recruit.
Shortly after the report surfaced, a UW spokeswoman told Rivals: "Theres no confirmation to that, the story is unfounded and we are evaluating the program after the season."
The No.11 seed Huskies will face No.6 seeded USC in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas on Wednesday. To add to Romar's concerns the UW coach said point guard Markelle Fultz, expected to become the No.1 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, will be a game-time decision as he continues to fight through a knee injury.
"Don’t know, because he hasn’t been reexamined yet," Romar said during his media briefing Monday. "He’s going to be reexamined today. Then we’ll know what more we might know. But until he’s reexamined, it’s hard to say.”
Fultz has missed the past three straight games and five of the last seven, with UW losing by a combined 95 points including a 32-point loss to No.3 UCLA in Pauley Pavilion on March 1.
With the Huskies still having at least one game to play on their schedule, among other aspects weighing on UW administrators and the coaching staff when evaluating the future of Romar as head coach, a decision is unlikely this week.
Washington athletic director Jennifer Cohen will be traveling this week an not in her office on campus, a university spokesman told Rivals on Monday. With an in-person meeting unlikely this week due to Cohen's travel, and several important factors factoring into the decision including finances, the report appears premature.
If Cohen elects to uphold the reported decision and Romar remains the Huskies head coach, the 2017-18 season will feature the Michael Porter Jr. show featuring a bevy of local recruits including four-star guards Jaylen Nowell and Daejon Davis.
With the latest five-star recruit expected to continue the recent, and increasingly growing trend of one-and-done players to come through the program, former UW point guard Ryan Appleby questioned whether the recruiting style is right for Washington.
"We wouldn't have the big recruits without him," Appleby told Rivals recently, acknowledging the consistent success on the recruiting trail under Romar during his 15-year tenure. "So it's more of a decision based on, if you keep Romar, you will have a certain style of play and a lot of one and done guys.
"Or you go get a coach like the football program did and we play with more strategy than athleticism or big name players."
UW officials did not comment further on when an official announcement could come regarding Romar and his future.