Koren Johnson Has 5 Choices, a Possible Washington Return Among Them

Danny Sprinkle, when introduced this past week as the new University of Washington basketball coach, said one of his mandates would be to keep the best local players home.

Koren Johnson will be his first test case.

The 6-foot-2 guard is Seattle through and through, moving from Garfield High School and a prep school stop to a pair of seasons with the Huskies and into the transfer portal once the UW fired Mike Hopkins.

"I know how good the local kids are," Sprinkle said. "We have to surround this place from a recruiting standpoint. We have to get the best. You look at those days when Isaiah Thomas and Will [Conroy] and all these guys were playing, Brandon Roy; like the local kids carried it."

With a sterling closing month of the season -- in which he averaged 18 points per game and shot 50 percent from the field and 3-point range -- Johnson was going to have plenty of suitors, regardless of whether Hopkins was let go or not.

It didn't take him long to field a bunch of offers and let it be known he will play next season for Florida, Indiana, Oregon, UCLA or back at Washington.

Broken down, the competition consists of a Florida team that went 24-12, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament and getting eliminated by Colorado; Indiana, which finished 19-14 and didn't go beyond the Big Ten Tournament; Oregon, which went 24-12 and two games into the NCAAs; and UCLA, which had an offseason at 16-17 and no postseason play past the Pac-12 Tournament.

The Huskies finished 17-14, yet underachieved with a lot of veteran players on the roster and missed the NCAAs for the 12th time in 13 seasons.

"it's close," Sprinkle said if the UW program. "Honestly, the last couple of years here it's been a couple of close wins away from being back in the tournament. We've got to establish a culture of toughness and accountability. It's a player-driven program; that's how I've run it everywhere. The players have to take ownership."

Guys with local addresses, such as Koren Johnson.

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