New Washington coach Mike Hopkins continues to draw from his former stomping grounds in Upstate New York to usher in a new era at the University of Washington.
Hameir Wright, a 6-7 wing forward from The Albany (NY) Academy and the Albany City Rocks AAU program, committed to Washington on Saturday during his visit.
Syracuse, Maryland, UCLA, Michigan State and Notre had been among those recruiting Wright.
?UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON? #GODAWGS @UW_MBB @Coach_Hopkins pic.twitter.com/Epo4B6SWnQ
— Shwammy (@Hameir_Wright) June 25, 2017
Albany City Rocks coach Jimmy Hart said Washington is getting a winner.
“Hameir is the back-to-back MVP of the New York State Federation championship so in big games, Washington is looking to get people who win and win championships,” Hart said. “Hameir’s won back-to-back State championships with Albany Academy, so he’s someone who knows what it’s like to finish the season winning your last game.”
On June 10, Hopkins, the former Syracuse associate head coach, also added 6-6 wing Nahziah Carter, Jay-Z’s nephew, who was also being courted by Georgetown, Indiana and Boston College, among others.
Carter and Wright are also familiar with each other.
“They are two kids who competed on the highest level in the EYBL the last two years,” Hart said. “They’ve been teammates since they were 15 so they have some familiarity with each other.”
Hopkins has now landed two players who considered attending prep school in 2017-18 but instead will be two highly athletic and skilled players in a new era at Washington.
“I could say each one of them were not a definite going into the last period,” Hart said. “There were schools sitting in stronger position than Washington and [Hopkins] ended up getting them so obviously for Hameir he had a lot of high-level offers over the last year and a half, but he had a great familiarity with Coach Hopkins from Syracuse Elite Camps and Hop having recruited him pretty hard at Syracuse for the last two years.
“So with Hameir, he definitely had that familiarity and trust with Coach Hopkins.”
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