Most Husky basketball fans know the story of Quincy Pondexter. The small forward came to Washington as the nation's 27th overall player in the 2006 recruiting class and put together a stellar career.
During his senior year, Pondexter averaged 19.3 points per game and was named to the All-Pac-10 first team. He also earned an All-American honorable mention from the Associated Press while leading the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament before being selected 26th overall in the 2010 NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
After a nine-year NBA career that saw him play for four organizations, Pondexter returned to Washington as an assistant coach before the 2021-22 season. Since joining the staff, Pondexter has been able to help secure a commitment from his cousin, five-star guard Wesley Yates.
However, one conversation with Fresno State head coach Steve Cleveland in 2006 could have erased all of that.
During an interview with ESPN Radio in his hometown of Fresno, California, Pondexter admitted he didn't want to go too far from home. He held offers from UConn and Washington coming out of high school but didn't want to stray too far from home and he was ready to surprise Fresno State's coaching staff with a commitment before his senior year.
"I didn't want to go to UConn, I thought Washington was even too far," Pondexter said. "I went into the meeting and Coach Cleveland told me he had never seen me play basketball and he just heard I was good and he was going to recruit me just because the local media would kill him if they said I never got recruited by him. And so that was his recruiting pitch in the first two minutes of the meeting and my dad said, 'Well, I guess this is over with.'"
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