Insider: Howard Washington Jr. wants to help Butler immediately

Coach Chris Holtmann is mixing an old formula with a new recruiting outreach for Butler basketball.

Howard Washington Jr., a 6-2 point guard from Buffalo, N.Y., announced Tuesday that he has picked the Bulldogs.

He said the opportunity of "playing a lot, playing right away" influenced him to become a Bulldog. He said he also considered Wake Forest, Xavier and Vanderbilt.

Before last season, Washington transferred from Canisius High School to Monteverde Academy (Fla.). Montverde was 31-1 and ended No. 1 in the USA Today Super 25 rankings. In 28 games, Washington averaged 6.6 points and 2.7 assists.

For 2016-17, the Bulldogs could potentially play Washington and Tyler Lewis, a former McDonald's All American point guard, in the same backcourt.

Several of Butler's top teams effectively featured two point guards simultaneously: Thomas Jackson/Brandon Miller, 2000-01 and '01-02; Mike Green/A.J. Graves, 2006-07 and '07-08; Shelvin Mack/Ronald Nored, '08-09 and '09-10, and Mack/Shawn Vanzant, '10-11.

What's new about Butler's 2016 recruiting class is that Washington (83rd) and Southport's 6-10 Joey Brunk (138th) are both nationally ranked by Rivals. When in the Horizon League, the only year in which Butler brought in two Top 150 recruits was 2010: Khyle Marshall (118th) and Chrishawn Hopkins (124th).

Howard took his only official visit last weekend to Butler. He made unofficial visits to Miami (Fla.), Dayton and Central Florida.

"Just knowing the history of Butler, the Final Fours … coach (Brad) Stevens is still affiliated with," Washington told the Buffalo News. "Just the name 'Butler.' The Big East. They were at the top of the order."

He referred to Hinkle Fieldhouse as an "old gym" and called it "cool." He said he liked Butler's campus and the city of Indianapolis.

ESPN recruiting analyst Jeff Borzello posted on Twitter that Washington has played impressively on the AAU circuit this spring for the Albany City Rocks. In Nike's Elite Youth Basketball League, Washington averaged 10.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and shot 40 percent on 3-pointers.

As a sophomore, he averaged 15 points and 5.5 assists for a team that was 23-3.

At Montverde, he was a teammate of LSU-bound Ben Simmons, who is ranked No. 2 in the 2015 class. A 2014 Montverde graduate, D'Angelo Russell, was the No. 2 selection of the recent NBA draft.

Washington has dual citizenship because his mother is Canadian, and he represented Canada in last year's under-17 World Championship in Dubai. Canada was 4-3 in the tournament and finished sixth.

Washington averaged 8.0 points in 17.6 minutes per game, and his 41.4 percent shooting on 3-pointers (12-of-29) ranked fourth among all players. He scored 18 points in Canada's 85-74 victory over Australia.

Call Star reporter David Woods at (317) 444-6195. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.