Washington head basketball coach Lorenzo Romar lost control of his program from 2011-14 and allowed the culture to become toxic to the extent the Huskies missed the NCAA tournament for four consecutive seasons. Romar had built his program about being a team – no one player was above anyone.

The climate of the culture problem came last season when the team was built around center Robert Upshaw, a transfer from Fresno State in 2013, and point guard Nigel Williams-Goss, who had never been on a losing team his entire life.

After the 2013-14 season in which Washington finished 17-15 overall and .500 in the Pac-12, the Williams-Goss family expressed concern with the direction of the program. Yet, at the same time the future appeared bright with Upshaw being eligible for the 2014-15 season and forward Jernard Jarreau being health.

“We feel that this upcoming year is fragile, but with the possibilities of potential upside,” Virgil Williams-Goss, Nigel’s father, told 247Sports in an interview on June 4, 2014 about the direction of the UW program.

From the week of December 8, when Washington was 7-0, ‘til the week of December 29, when UW was 11-1, the Huskies were ranked in both the Associated Press and USA Today Top 25 poll. Almost one month later UW dismissed the troubled Upshaw for a violation of team rules.

With the loss up Upshaw, Williams-Goss was looked upon to carry the load. Instead Washington finished 16-15 and 5-13 against conference opponents and the Huskies hit an all-time low. Once the program had fallen flat on the ground it was time to completely revamp the program.

On April 10, the University of Washington announced that sophomore guard Darin Johnson, junior center Gilles Dierickx and Williams-Goss would be leaving the program. That raised the number of transfers, dismissals and retirements to eight, including Jernard Jarreau, Desmond Simmons, Jahmel Taylor, Tristian Etienne and Upshaw.

Of the eight defections, none were from the Seattle-area coming out of high school. That was the problem. When Washington basketball had success it was because the players believed in Romar’s philosophy of the team and having pride for local basketball, especially without a professional team in the city.

Nate Robinson, Isaiah Thomas, Brandon Roy, Spencer Hawes, Jon Brockman, and the list goes on and on. Every Sweet 16 tea during Romar’s 13-year tenure at Washington has been built on and around signing the top local talent.

Coincidentally the downfall of UW basketball coincided with a dry spell of elite talent coming out of the Seattle area. Luckily for Romar and Co. the rise of elite talent came back in 2014, just when the program needed to be remodeled.

Rainier Beach point guard David Crisp began the process of returning local prep talent to UW when he made his verbal commitment on January 12, 2014, right when the program in its current state began to fall apart. But his intentions were clear: We will bring Washington basketball back to its elite level.

“I’m a little surprised because I felt they played well enough to be in something,” Crisp told 247Sports on March 16, after finding out UW wasn’t going to play in any post-season tournament. “But when I get there I know we are going to the big dance for sure.”

The next day UW landed a verbal commitment from four-star Elk Creek (Elk Creek, Calif.) power forward Marquese Chriss. Former assistant T.J. Otzelberger sold Chriss on the same belief of a team and being that key out-of-state piece that would get UW over the top.

From there, the remaining local prospects with UW offers followed suit. DeJounte Murray, a four-star shooting guard out of Rainier Beach committed on June 3. Matisse Thybulle, a four-star forward/guard announced his decision September 27 and at that point appeared to bring an end to their pursuit of local prospects. It appeared that Malik Dime, a four-star junior college post prospect would be their last addition for the class of 2015 when he announced for Washington on October 20.

But for all the years of suffering, both on the court and in recruiting, lighting struck twice in a three week period this spring.

Dominic Green, a three-star guard from Hazen High School in (city, Wash.), was granted his release from Arizona State on April 16 after Herb Sendek was fired on March 24. Green committed to the Sun Devils back in November and became instantly sought after by the Huskies coaching staff.

After taking a visit to Washington the follow week after being release, Green announced he would sign with the Huskies on April 26. That gave Romar another strong shooter on the perimeter, but there was still two more scholarships open.

Then, lightning struck again.

Noah Dickerson, a 6-8, 245-pound post prospect was granted his release from the University of Florida on May 14 after Billy Donovan left Gainsville to replace Scott Brooks as Head Coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Dickerson had Washington as a finalist twice before, once when choosing Georgetown and again when he picked Florida. Washington had two scholarships available, one with Dickerson’s name already on it.

Raphael Chillious, who had built up a strong relationship with Dickerson over the previous two years, was the first to call him following his release. Dickerson had an early list of Cal, LSU, Texas and Washington with Texas being his first official visit.

After a few days Dickerson and both LSU and Texas parted ways, making it a battle of Pac-12 schools for his signature. Cal did not have a scholarship available to offer Dickerson, Washington did. But that was not the pitch presented to Dickerson on his visit.

Washington sold him on the direction of the program and the opportunity to be a key cog in the return of UW basketball. All the pieces were in place around Dickerson in the puzzle, with one spot left in the middle.

During his official visit on June 4, Dickerson made the decision to complete the puzzle and committed to Washington. He became the eight signee for the 2015 class and completed the cleansing of the program, a process that took just under seventeen months – from January 12, 2014 until June 4, 2015.

It took that long for Romar and his staff to rid themselves of several headaches and bring in a group that was devoted to a higher entity and use the chip on their shoulder, missing the NCAA tournament four consecutive seasons, to their advantage.

“They need to come in and be like we were, with a chip on our shoulder,” former UW guard and nine year NBA veteran Nate Robinson told 247Sports recently, while pointing at fellow Husky alum Isaiah Thomas.

Thomas, who was the last point guard to lead Washington to the NCAA tournament, noted as much and added that the “elite” players that UW had signed recently were not program changers, mentioning Nigel Williams-Goss specifically.

“He’s good, but he’s not going to change your program or turn it around,” Thomas said.

Washington basketball has gone back to the roots they found success on. It’s now time to let them grow and blossom.