Dot Dot Dawg: Examining Mike Hopkins’ Road to the Final Four

The Athletic — Rules changes, hot seat considerations, and the ACC title chase: Eamonn Brennan’s college hoops mailbag, Part III

In his latest mailbag, Brennan fields a question from a reader who wonders what UW’s ceiling might be under Mike Hopkins. Brennan notes that being the best team in the Pac-12 has historically meant being a consistent threat to make it to the Final Four and says that if “Hopkins keeps improving things at the current pace, there’s no real reason UW can’t get there soon enough.”

The Athletic — Inside the Washington football program’s academic ascension, from the 3.0 Board to ‘Commitment Time’

Christian Caple tells the story of how Chris Petersen has elevated the football program’s academic achievements to some of the highest levels in the nation, including something called “Commitment Time”:

Missed academic appointments are treated the same as missed practices or workouts, and are punishable by something Petersen calls “CT.” That stands for “Commitment Time.” If a player misses a class or a tutoring session or any other academic commitment, he must report to the football offices at 10 p.m. on Saturday night, and study, under the supervision of an assistant coach, until 2 a.m. The message, Durand said: “If you don’t handle business during the week, you don’t deserve to have a Saturday night out with friends or family or whatever.”

Dots

• Plenty of recruiting posts related to the football program’s official visits last weekend:

• Very cool and classy move by Dejounte Murray to honor his little brother’s high school accomplishments.

• At Sports Illustrated, Caleb Friedman compiles a list of the 117 college football players he says could conceivably win this year’s Heisman Trophy; among them is but a single Washington Husky, presumed starting quarterback quarterback Jacob Eason.
• ESPN identifies a sophomore breakout candidate for each preseason top 25 team; for the No. 15 Huskies, Edward Aschoff chooses linebacker Ariel Ngata:

When you lose just about all 11 starters from your defense, you’re looking for any and everybody to step up. Right now, Ngata could help the Huskies in a couple different ways. He moved to inside linebacker this spring and was one of the stars, especially after racking up three tackles for loss, including two sacks, in the spring game. He’s a tweener at linebacker, and he’ll also be able to help out on the outside this fall.

• Laken Litman (also at SI) says that the story of freshman five-star wide receiver Bru McCoy (enrolled at USC, transferred to Texas, then transferred back to USC — all before playing in a single college football game) is “the craziest story of this college football offseason”:

McCoy’s story is the only one of its kind: a five-star recruit who has entered the NCAA transfer portal twice in six months, enrolling at USC in January only to leave for Texas 17 days later, then changing his mind again after spring practice. Though we’re not there yet, McCoy’s case may become an interesting conundrum for the NCAA when he submits a waiver. Depending on the end result—whether or not he’ll be eligible to play this fall as a true freshman—his recruiting journey serves as a warning and a lesson for other indecisive players.

• Jacob Eason falls in the “five also just missing out“ category on Paul Myerberg’s list of the 10 best college quarterbacks for the 2019 season.
• Former USC athletic director Pat Haden could be headed toward some legal hot water related to the college admissions scandal.