Dot Dot Dawg: Tough Break in Tempe

The Seattle Times — 3 impressions from Washington’s first defeat in nearly two months: Where do the Huskies go from here?

In breaking down the Washington Huskies men’s basketball team’s first loss since Dec. 15, Percy Allen attempts to deduce what factors allowed the Sun Devils to snap UW’s 12-game winning streak. Among his key factors are Zylan Cheatham’s excellent play, Noah Dickerson’s continued healing process, and subpar performances by David Crisp, Jaylen Nowell, Matisse Thybulle and Nahziah Carter.

The Seattle Times — The wait is over. Four-star wide receiver Puka Nacua breaks silence and commits to Washington

New wide receivers coach Junior Adams reeled in his first big fish at Washington yesterday when blue-chip wide receiver Puka Nacua added his name to the hat of 2019 commits. The 247Sports composite rates Nacua as the nation’s No. 22 wide receiver, and the No. 1 player from the state of Utah. Check out our discussion of Nacua’s commitment here.

The Athletic — Five recruits who could define the 2020 recruiting class for Washington

Christian Caple takes an early stab at identifying Chris Petersen’s biggest targets for next year’s recruiting class, with three local prospects (Sam Adams II, Geirean Hatchett and Sav’ell Smalls) rounding out his top five.

The Athletic — Hoop Thoughts: No Coachspeak allowed! Let’s go behind enemy lines to hear the truth on the top teams

Seth Davis granted anonymity to two coaches from the Pac-12 in exchange for frank evaluations of the league’s teams; with regard to Washington, the anonymous coach calls them “the most consistent team in the league.” Davis also drops the Huskies one spot in his AP poll ballot, to No. 20.

Dots

• As expected, the Huskies made the cut for 2020 five-star linebacker Sav’ell Smalls’ list of his top 12 schools.

• SB Nation’s Bill Connelly has the Huskies at No. 15 (representing the best mark in the Pac-12) in his first preseason S&P+ rankings for the 2019 campaign.
• In his latest column, Stewart Mandel examines the case of Justin Fields, the former Georgia quarterback who was allowed to transfer to Ohio State without sitting out a season due in part to his experience of having a racial slur directed toward him at a game in September.
• Clemson just became the first college football program to field three assistant coaches with salaries of at least $1 million.
• The Huskies softball team earned a pair of victories Saturday, one apiece over Liberty and No. 16 Baylor.
• The No. 15 Washington gymnastics team lost narrowly to No. 3 UCLA Sunday before a crowd in excess of 7,200 at Alaska Airlines Arena.