Lucas: Washington Has Simple Goals

By Adam Lucas

For many college basketball freshmen, it's a steep adjustment to the amount of extra attention to detail required to be a Division I basketball player. Being productive in the weight room, fixating on nutrition and water intake, keeping an eye on sleep…all minutiae that isn't necessarily critical in high school.

That hasn't been the case for Jalen Washington, who has involuntarily lived a regimented life away from the court for most of his recent basketball career. Washington, a 6-foot-10 freshman from Gary, Indiana, missed his sophomore season and his senior season of high school due to injury. That means he became intimately familiar with all the nuances required to get back…