Last Year
Not as good as we thought they might be. I'm not sure if the locals are giving Mr. Sprinkle a mulligan, but injuries seemed to derail what seemed like a pretty good team. Hannes Steinbach was great as a freshman, and an array of guards made the Huskies seem like a tourney team, but Desmond Claude and Wesley Yates couldn't stay healthy. That resulted in a 16-17 year, 7-13 in the conference, and getting bounced by Wisconsin in the BTT.
Happy Trails
- Hannes Steinbach got drafted 14th overall by the Hornets. Achtung Charlotte.
- Zoom Diallo and Frank Kepnang transferred to Kentucky. Kepnang? How is that guy still in college? It's apparently Year 7 for him.
- Desmond Claude and Quimari Peterson are in the portal or out of eligibility or both or neither.
- Bryson Tucker tried to go pro but apparently no one will pay him to play basketball. Some reports have him back but as far as I can tell he isn't on the roster.
- JJ Mandaquit is headed to Arizona while Courtland Muldrew is headed to Georgia Tech.
Starters
- PG Ryan Beasley, 5'11'' Senior: Beasley headed north from San Francisco after three seasons and a lot of basketball with the Dons. He was solid if unspectacular.
- SG Wesley Yates, 6'4'' Junior: Yates is a bit weird. He was sensational at USC as a freshman but really didn't look like the same guy last season as he struggled with injuries. But if this team is going to be much of anything, it probably has to start with him getting back to sensational.
- SF LaJuan Watts, 6'6'' Senior: Watts is taking the tour of Washington, as he previously played at Washington State and Eastern Washington. A stop at Texas Tech last season didn't go all that well, perhaps heading back to the Northwest will help him out.
- PF Mady Traore, 6'10'' Senior: I'm totally guessing here. Traore is formerly of Maryland, but spent a year in JUCO to get right and was a prospect coming to Washington. However, he missed last season due to injury, so we'll see what he has coming back. At the least, he's quite large.
- C Lathan Sommerville, 6'10'' Junior: Sommerville (and stop me if you've heard this) struggled with injuries last season and didn't end up playing a ton. But there is a dearth of center shaped guys on this team, so he should get some run.
Bench
- SF Steele Venters, 6'7'' Senior: Honestly, I have no idea if he will play. But he was a freshman at Eastern Washington in 2019, so he might be telling the kids to get off his lawn.
- PG Tayshawn Comer, 6'1'' Senior: A late addition to the team, Comer comes over from Nevada and should compete with Beasley to start. His 2 point shooting was pretty bad, but hey he's a live body
- SG Parker Friedrichsen, 6'4'' Senior: Friedrichsen comes over from Davidson after two years at Wake Forest, and looks to be a three point shooter off the bench.
- SF Harun Zrno, 6'7'' Sophomore: Zrno comes over from Rutgers in some B1G crime. He is also looking to shoot off the bench.
- SF Jasir Rencher, 6'7'' Sophomore: A former four star recruit who had to call the season quits due to heart problems. He had surgery and is supposedly cleared to play, so he could add a lot if, you know, his heart is functioning.
- Four freshmen in three star forward Lattimore Ford and three Euroballs in guard Tristan Devers and forwards Wini Braga and Boris Tisma. Tisma is so old he played in Spain with Luka Doncic.
Outlook
MaximumSam: Tough to be very confident about this group. Maybe one of the Euroballers will hit? Maybe Yates regains his freshman form? Maybe Rencher develops into a real player? Maybe, maybe, maybe. But more likely is that they have a bunch of replacement level guys playing basketball in a better than average conference. Tough to get a lot of wins that way.
glass: In 2023, after going 81-43 in 4 seasons in Bozeman, Montana (with 2 trips to the NCAAs), Bobcat alum Danny Sprinkle bolted for Utah St. During his lone season in Logan he managed to catch lightning in a bottle and won 28 games (and an outright Mountain West title) with a completely turned over lineup. That performance yielded a call from Washington's AD and Sprinkle was once again promoted (to what seems to be his level of incompetence) to lead the Huskies. It has not worked out so far and the only reason Sprinkle isn't already on the hotseat is because Washington hasn't made the tournament in 13 of the last 14 seasons. Torvik says 13-16 (7-13) but he doesn't include 2 of the 3 games from Maui where they could very easily go 0-3. Definitely feeling like a 20 loss team.
BoilerUp89: Danny Sprinkle is a basketball terrorist who refuses to play Washington State, Seattle, or Gonzaga.
For the players, there are some nice pieces but a lot of questions with guys coming off of injuries. Sprinkles best teams have had a star. I don't see anyone with that much talent on the roster even if they look solid overall.
