#Woof: Washington Basketball Picks Up JUCO Center Commitment

Washington has been able to get commitments from a quartet of four-star guards so far in Danny Sprinkle’s tenure. Today though the Dawgs added both Sprinkle’s first big man commitment outside the portal and their first add from the JUCO ranks as Frank Phillips College big man Mady Traore has committed to Washington.

The 6’11 native of Paris, France is averaging gaudy totals of 17.6 pts, 10.4 reb, and 3.6 blk per game on 60.3% 2pt, 31.3% 3pt, 88.2% FT shooting for Frank Phillips College through 7 games. He took an official visit to Washington over the weekend of November 2nd but made his public commitment today.

Traore started his college career at New Mexico State but missed the first half of the year due to injury and NMSU’s season was cut short a month early due to a hazing scandal. He appeared in just 6 games and scored 5 points with 1 rebound.

Still, Traore was able to transfer to Maryland where he appeared in 12 games last season making half of his 2-point shots but missing all 5 attempts from deep. This past offseason Traore re-entered the portal but wasn’t able to find a home and so went the JUCO route. He had a very strong performance this summer at the Oklahoma Jamboree looking very much like a legitimate stretch 5, showing off guard skills and shot blocking ability.

It’s always hard to tell how much weight to put into numbers at the JUCO level but it’s hard to argue that Traore has been completely dominant so far. That’s the bare minimum of what you want to see at that level in order to level up to the Big Ten. Traore played in the conference last season and didn’t see much of the court although he did play behind honorable mention all-conference center Julian Reese. The hope is that Traore has made real strides since last season but the lack of production at previous stops means that it’s hard to pencil Traore in as an immediate starter.

Washington’s center position for next season is very much up in the air. Great Osobor will be out of eligibility but theoretically everyone else could return. Opening day starter Franck Kepnang could apply for a medical redshirt but he has missed the last 2 games with another knee injury and at this point it is impossible to rely upon for any minutes. In his place, Wilhelm Breidenbach has gotten the starts and could potentially apply for a medical redshirt from his freshman year to get another year of eligibility.

Washington added Oakland transfer Chris Conway in the transfer portal but he is out indefinitely and recently had surgery that could lead him to redshirt. Oregon State transfer KC Ibekwe has yet to appear in a game this season and also appears headed for a redshirt.

This season’s start has at the very least shown Coach Sprinkle how important it is to find a center that can potentially offer both outside shooting and shot blocking and Traore projects as a player that can do that. Whether he can do more than check those boxes at the JUCO level is something that we’ll discover next season.

Welcome, Mady!