SEATTLE (AP) — Danny Sprinkle has enjoyed plenty of success at his previous coaching stops.
He won at Utah State. He won at Montana State. In his first year at Washington, however, such couldn't have been further from the case.
Sprinkle, who was hired to coach Washington in 2024 after guiding Utah State to a Mountain West regular-season title, has a completely overhauled roster and is optimistic the Huskies will get back on track in 2025-26. Washington went 13-18 in the regular season and 4-16 in its first basketball season in the Big Ten.
“It wasn’t easy. We struggled,” Sprinkle told The Associated Press. “We had some close games, but we just weren’t tough enough and disciplined enough, and I didn’t do a good enough job just getting our group over the hump to win a couple of those close games.
“But, I think we learned a lot about the league. Our staff and a couple of our returning players learned what it takes, really, in the Big Ten.”
What Sprinkle learned is that for Washington to become a more competitive program in Big Ten play, roster changes were needed. The Huskies lost four of their top six leading scorers from last year’s team, as well as 12 players total via graduation or the transfer portal.
That made ample room for the 13 new players Sprinkle brought in, including impact transfer portal pickups like guards Desmond Claude and Wesley Yates III, both of whom previously played at USC. They were the Trojans’ two leading scorers in 2024-25, and averaged a combined 29.9 points per game.
“They’ve produced at the high, major level,” Sprinkle said.
There’s also freshman forward Hannes Steinbach, who has the potential to elevate the program in a big way. Steinbach helped Germany reach the final of the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup and averaged 17.4 points and 13 rebounds per game.
“His skill level is tremendous,” Sprinkle said. “He’s a de facto point guard at the four spot. He loves passing the basketball. One of his gifts is really rebounding the basketball. But he’s one of those guys that makes his teammates better.”
Outside of those three headliners, the Huskies got plenty deeper. Washington added five more players via the transfer portal: guard Quimari Peterson (East Tennessee State); forwards Christian Nitu (Florida State), Bryson Tucker (Indiana) and Jacob Ognacevic (Lipscomb); and center Lathan Sommerville (Rutgers).
Considering how severely impacted Washington was by injuries — nine different players started for the Huskies as they shuffled through 12 different starting lineups — having a healthy roster from the outset would go a long way. Unfortunately for Sprinkle and company, Washington is once again dealing with a rash of injuries.
Forward Mady Traore, a top junior college transfer, is out for the season with a foot injury. Claude sprained an ankle, Peterson’s hamstring is giving him problems and guard Zoom Diallo has a concussion.
“The problem is,” Sprinkle said, “we haven’t really been able to play 5-on-5 in practice for the last 2 ½ weeks.”
Whenever this group returns to full strength, though, or close to it, Sprinkle’s expectation is for the Huskies to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. Washington’s 30-game regular season schedule will provide ample opportunities for Sprinkle’s squad to assert itself as one on the upswing, or one that requires more seasoning before it is taken seriously in the Big Ten.
“I feel like we have the talent to get there,” Sprinkle said. “Now, do we have the toughness and the togetherness and the ability to fight through adversity when tough times come? That’s yet to be seen.”
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