#Woof: Washington Basketball Picks Up JUCO Center Commitment

Washington has been able to land commitments from a quartet of four-star guards so far during Danny Sprinkle’s tenure. Today, the Dawgs added both Sprinkle’s first big man commitment out of the gate and their first addition 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 17.6 pts, 10.4 reb and 3.6 blk per game. game of 60.3% 2pt, 31.3% 3pt, 88.2% FT shooting for Frank Phillips College through 7 games. He took an official visit to Washington the weekend of Nov. 2, but announced his 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 an undisclosed scandal. He appeared in only 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 and made half of his 2-point shots, but missed all 5 attempts from deep. This past offseason, Traore re-entered the portal, but was unable to find a home, and so went the JUCO route. He had a very strong performance this summer at the Oklahoma Jamboree, looking like a legit stretch 5, showing guard skills and shot-blocking ability.

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

Washington’s center position for next season is very much up in the air. Great Osobor will be ineligible, but theoretically everyone else can return. Opening Day starter Franck Kepnang could apply for a medical redshirt, but has missed the last 2 games with another knee injury and at this point is impossible to count on for minutes. In his place, Wilhelm Breidenbach has started and could potentially apply for a medical redshirt from his freshman year to gain another year of eligibility.

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

This season’s start has at 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 who can do that. Whether he can do more than check those boxes at the JUCO level is something we will discover next season.

Welcome, Maddy!