A little Husky history might sway son's college decision

Jay Bond won't tell his son where to go to college.

"It's his decision, not Dad's. He has to live with it," Bond said.

Erik Bond will visit Virginia this weekend. Then he'll go to Oregon. Coaches from Stanford and Cal were in the Bond home this week trying to curry a visit. Washington waits.

But Jay Bond can impart a little history to his son, talk about a time when he played basketball at Washington, came in with a half-dozen other in-state kids, four of whom became starters the first chance they got, and as seniors played on a team ranked No. 9 in the country.

Jay Bond from Spokane. Two Seattle kids, Rafael Stone from Garfield and Dave West from Roosevelt. And George Irvine from Ballard, later to be joined by Steve Hawes from Mercer Island.

"We were all going to Washington," Bond said.

Now, a generation later, they're staying home again. In what is one of the biggest if not best senior classes in the state's history, five players have already made commitments to Bob Bender's program:

Mike Jensen, a 6-9 forward from Kentwood High; Anthony Washington, a 6-9 center from Garfield; Jeffrey Day, a 6-9 forward from Seattle Prep; Josh Williams, a 6-6 forward from Yakima; and Erroll Knight, a 6-6 guard from West Seattle.

Jensen turned down Kentucky; Knight, Kansas. Williams is coming on a football scholarship: He weighs 300 pounds but has basketball quickness. The class, with or without Bond, has been called one of the country's best by two authorities on such subjects.

Bond, who led Seattle Prep to the state title last year, is the shooter, ranked No. 3 in the West at small forward.

One of his brothers, Jason, went to Washington when Lynn Nance was the coach, and subsequently transferred to Gonzaga. Another brother, Jesse, went to St. Mary's in California, where Ernie Kent was the coach before he took the job at Oregon.

"We want Erik to go through the whole process, to look at some different schools," his father said. "At the same time, we'll wait with our fingers crossed hoping he stays around here."

In so many ways, this seems like the start of Chapter II for Bob Bender at Washington, the first one highlighted by two trips to the NCAA tournament and lowlighted by last season's 10-20 record and the defection of point guard Senque Carey.

It might be as simple to say that the new era began with the renovation of Edmundson Pavilion, which will open its doors Nov. 24 when the Washington women play Connecticut.

"That is very important to Washington," Jay Bond said. "The building was a barn when I played in it (1968-70), the worst in the league. To me, it represents a real commitment by the U to basketball."

There are reasons Bender was able to recruit the big home-grown class. First of all, there was big home-grown talent, not like two years ago when the Huskies hung their hat on recruiting Redmond's Curtis Borchardt, only to have him opt for Stanford.

Coinciding with the big class was Washington's need for big men and the scholarships available to get them.

Carey offered one scholarship when he left. The others are those presently used by seniors Thalo Green, Michael Johnson, Will Perkins, Greg Clark and Bryan Brown.

A year ago, the Huskies went after in-state guards, getting C.J. Massingale and Curtis Allen of Tacoma while losing Luke Ridnour to Oregon and Brian Morrison to North Carolina.

Before this year, in-state recruiting has been an iffy proposition for Bender. He had a commitment from Jason Terry before he changed his mind.

He had Doug Wrenn before he went to Connecticut and then decided to come back. He would have had Jamal Crawford had Crawford had better grades and would have had Borchardt if Borchardt had had lesser grades.

The players who have given Washington an oral commitment this fall have all qualified for school. Williams, the nephew of former UW player Shag Williams, will redshirt as a football player next fall and join the basketball team in November.

Wrenn, an explosive talent but also an explosive personality, will also be eligible then.

"I like Bob Bender," Jay Bond said. "He's a great guy and a good coach. He's so energetic and so positive. Not all the things that have gone against him could be helped."

Maybe the recent success is nothing more than a need meeting an opportunity. Maybe it has to do with the building of a new arena, signaling that Washington can do well at basketball as well as football.

Maybe Jupiter was aligned with Mars.

In may come to pass that Erik Bond simply wants to go to school somewhere else. Then again, he might want to do what his dad did when they all went to Washington.