He was offered an invite to try for the 1972 Olympic basketball team after the season, but did not make the squad. Washington was one of the best players in the country going into his senior season. He marveled at newspaper reports in the Washington Post that mentioned "coaches of opposing teams and how they were planning to stop Kermit Washington." He led the nation in rebounding again in his senior season. He was a second team All-American, and helped American into the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). In the last game of his college career, Washington needed to score 39 points to average 20 points and 20 rebounds a game for his career in college. He became extremely nervous before the game and could neither eat nor sleep. The game set American University attendance records, and Washington felt light on his feet when he was introduced before the raucous crowd. He managed to score 40 points and in so doing, became just the seventh player to reach the 20/20 mark. He was thrown a party, and there was a campus wide celebration after the game. He graduated with a 3.37 GPA and a degree in sociology. Washington was a two-time Academic All-American, who taught courses in social sciences his senior year. Professional career Los Angeles Lakers (1973–1977) Washington was drafted fifth overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1973 NBA draft. A week before the team began training camp, Pat and Kermit were married. They invited neither of their families; they just drove together to LA's city hall for the ceremony. He had a difficult time making the transition from college center to NBA power forward. Washington also had played in a primarily zone defense system in college and was not versed in man-to-man defense, which is more common in the NBA. He arrived on a team which had legend Jerry West, who was in the waning stages of a career that would result in him becoming the silhouette seen on the NBA's logo. Washington admits that he was terrified of West, and felt anxiety every time he made a mistake in front of him. Though healthy, he played in only 45 games and averaged 8.9 minutes a game his rookie season. He hurt his back that year but kept quiet about it, fearing he would be "labeled soft." The injury would bother him the rest of his career.