Isaiah Thomas: Where's the Buzz?

Anybody remember Isaiah Thomas? Once considered the top player in the state of Washington and originally scheduled to join the Huskies for this season, it seems as though Thomas has been lost in the shuffle. After his junior season in which Thomas was named the Seattle Times 4A State Player of the Year, he transfered to South Kent School in Connecticut to get his academics in order. At the time Thomas planned on spending only his senior season at South Kent and then joining the Huskies this past fall, but still had work left to do to become eligible and will now enroll at UW next fall. South Kent is a prep school, which allow students to play basketball post high school and still maintain all of their NCAA eligibility. Other Husky players who have come from prep schools are Justin Dentmon, Joel Smith, Joe Wolfinger and Matthew Bryan-Amaning.

Thomas has already drawn the obvious Nate Robinson comparisons, because of his height (he is listed at 5-8) and his leaping ability, but Thomas is actually a better shooter and more natural scorer than Robinson was coming out of high school. Thomas is probably best remembered for scoring a tournament record 51 points in a loss to Franklin in the 4A state semi-final game in his junior season. Thomas also sent the total tournament scoring mark with 129 points in just three games.

If Thomas were still playing ball in the Seattle area he might have been one of the more highly anticipated recruits in recent memory. He should have a major impact nonetheless and his outside shooting ability could no doubt be used with Ryan Appleby graduating. The Huskies 2008 recruiting class is ranked #13 by Rivals.com.