blank

Saddi Washington

Position: Assistant Coach Experience: 6th Season Alma Mater: Western Michigan, 1998

Saddi Washington enters his sixth season as assistant coach on the men's basketball staff at Oakland. Washington primarily works with the guards for the Golden Grizzlies.

During his first five seasons, Washington watched as Johnathon Jones developed in to one of the finest point guards in Summit League history, setting a new all-time league record with 819 assists. Jones became the first OU player to lead the NCAA in a statistical category, finishing with an NCAA-best 8.1 assists per game in 2008-09. He finished as a two-time Mid-Major All-American and All-Summit League first team selection.

Erik Kangas ranked fourth in the country with 3.9 treys per game, earning all-league honors for the second time during his senior campaign in 2008-09, setting a new league record with 135 3-pointers made. The sharp shooter guided the Grizzlies to the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, reaching the quarterfinals.

Reggie Hamilton is the next great point guard under Washington's tutelage. Hamilton transferred to OU from UMKC and went on to garner All-Summit League first team honors in 2010-11 and led the Grizzlies to a second straight NCAA tournament appearance after winning The Summit League regular season and tournament championships. He finished second in the league with 5.3 assists per game and ranked sixth with 17.6 points per game. He was also a two-time Summit League Player of the Week honoree this past season.

Travis Bader also had a breakout season for the Golden Grizzlies after redshirting in 2009-10. Bader drained 94 3-pointers as a rookie, fourth-most in single-season school history. He led The Summit League with 2.7 3-pointers made per game and finished No. 9 in the country by shooting 44 percent from beyond the arc. Bader was named to the 2011 Summit League All-Newcomer Team.

Washington brings plenty of playing experience to the Golden Grizzly staff, with seven years of professional competition under his belt. He was the No. 1 overall draft pick in the Continental Basketball Association in 1998 by the Grand Rapids Hoops and has played overseas in Italy, France, Greece and Israel. In 2001 he was a member of the Detroit Dogs of the ABA that won the leagues inaugural title. He has also been at NBA preseason camps with a number of teams, including the Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks.

A 1998 graduate of Western Michigan University with a degree in business/marketing, Washington was inducted into his alma mater's Hall of Fame in the fall 2010. In 1994 he was named to the Mid-American Conference all-freshman team after averaging 14.0 points per game. A two-time All-MAC selection, he was a first team pick after his senior season in 1998 after scoring 626 points, averaging 21.6 per game. He helped lead the Broncos to the NCAA tournament that season where they upset Clemson in the first round.

A native of Lansing, Mich., Washington attended Sexton High School where he was a four-year letterwinner in basketball and track, receiving all-state recognition in both sports in 1993. He and his wife Channon reside in Waterford with their six-year-old daughter Sidney and two-year-old son Caleb.