The University of Washington basketball team hasn’t been in the top 10 in anything for a long time. Certainly not in the Associated Press poll, where the Huskies have gone 19 seasons without a top-tier ranking, or since Brandon Roy was the college game’s best player.
Slowly, people are starting to recognize that the University of Washington is attempting a college basketball renaissance under new coach Danny Sprinkle, who just spent the last two months almost completely remaking his roster.
On Monday, 247Sports acknowledged that Sprinkle appears to be making pretty good progress in bringing basketball talent to Montlake by giving the Huskies the No. 8 spot in its rankings of the transfer portal’s top 10 teams.
Consider in this analytical breakdown, the University of Washington is behind, in order, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, St. John’s, Kentucky, West Virginia and Alabama, and ahead of Michigan and UCLA. Indeed, that’s rare company for Husky basketball.
.@UW_MBB reaches the top 10 https://t.co/ikuqvpV9FO
—Kim Grinolds (@KimGrinolds) June 10, 2024
National writer Brad Crawford evaluated the work of the Sprinkle staff this way:
“With five new player acquisitions in May, Washington enjoyed one of the biggest increases in the national transfer portal’s team rankings and now has a top 10 this cycle. The Huskies opted for forward help with star of Utah State, Great Osobor, and Tyler Harris of Portland, and solidified his defense with four-star DJ Davis of Butler and Mekhi Mason of Rice, North Dakota 6-4, Tyree Ihenacho is the latest addition, joining Luis Kortright of Rhode Island.
The Huskies have only three holdovers from last season’s 17-15 team that was coached by Mike Hopkins, who was replaced once the season ended. Only one of those players, 6-foot-11 center Franck Kepnang, appears in the race for a starting job and a regular rotation next season, although he needs to avoid injuries.
While the University of Washington has made many strides in building programs, outside experts have not ranked the team or any of the Huskies among offseason lists in any way, until this one.
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