NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of Washington of last decade

5. Jaylen Nowell – Washington

We’re looking next at another player who stayed in his home state, as Nowell stayed in his very hometown to play for the Huskies. A 6’4 guard from Seattle, he was a four-star prospect and one of the top guards in the class of 2017. He arrived at Washington at the same time as new coach Mike Hopkins, becoming an important part of the beginning of the new head coach’s tenure.

Nowell’s freshman year saw him emerge by averaging 16.0 points and 4.0 rebounds a game, becoming the leading scorer for Huskies right off the bat. He even scored a career-high 32 points against Belmont in his first career game. Sophomore year was even more impressive, both for Nowell and his team. He averaged 16.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game while leading Washington to a Pac-12 regular season title. He then scored 19 points in a first-round NCAA Tournament win before his career came to an end in the second round.

One of the best freshmen in the conference during that first season, he was named Pac-12 Player of the Year as a sophomore for that marvelous performance, leading Washington a pretty spectacular season. He was among the league’s top offensive players across a myriad of statistics. After that standout season, he declared for the NBA draft and was taken in the middle of the second round by the Minnesota Timberwolves.