UW Huskies men’s basketball must answer these 3 questions quickly

SEATTLE – Literally, Danny Sprinkle wasted little time putting as much distance as possible between him and his first season as coach of the Washington men’s basketball team.

Shortly after last Sunday’s 80-73 overtime loss against rival Oregon in the season finale, Sprinkle and his staff were on flights to destinations around the world in search of future Huskies.

Before departing, Sprinkle spoke candidly about the frustrations stemming from a disappointing 13-18 season that ended with a six-game losing streak and resulted in a last-place finish in the Big Ten at 4-16.

“When I took this job, I knew what I was taking,” said Sprinkle who compiled an 80-25 record in the past three seasons while taking Utah State to the NCAA Tournament last year and making two Big Dance trips with Montana State. “I knew what I was in for. I knew, Year 1 was going to be hard. There was only so many Big Ten-level players that were going to be able to come to Seattle in April and May.

“You hit on some recruits and you miss on some recruits. We just needed more consistent play across the board.”

Unlike last year when the Huskies hired Sprinkle on March 25, he’ll have an extra two weeks to get started on a roster overhaul that includes the loss of at least four seniors including star forward Great Osobor, who led UW in points, rebounds, assists and steals per game.

Here are three questions the Huskies must answer before the NCAA men’s basketball transfer portal opens March 24.

Who stays and who goes?

This question used to be a lot simpler when player movement was nearly nonexistent because of restrictive transfer rules.

Recently, players with remaining eligibility gained quite a bit of leverage while deciding if they were going to return to their current team, enter the transfer portal or turn pro.

Nowadays, it’s more complicated than ever as coaches subtly and, in some cases, boldly encourage nonproductive performers to transfer.

“That’s where we’re at in the landscape of college athletics now and we can’t hold it against the kids. You can’t hold it against the coaches or the fan bases,” Sprinkle said. “It is what it is. It’s not the kid’s fault. It’s really not. We’ve allowed it to become what it is now and if kids take advantage of it, good for them. Why wouldn’t they until there is some guard rails on it.”

As many as 10 Huskies could return, including center Franck Kepnang and forward Wilhelm Breidenbach, both of whom participated in a Senior Day ceremony.

When asked who’s coming back, Sprinkle said: “I have no idea, to be honest. I’ve had conversations with some and they say the right things. They say they love being a Husky. So, we’ll see.”

After Sunday’s loss, Sprinkle briefly met with Zoom Diallo, which indicates a mutual desire to bring back the freshman guard who averaged 11.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists while starting 22 of 31 games.

“I’m going to give some time to reflect a little bit,” Diallo said. “I’m happy how this year turned out for me in the a way of just being a freshman with opportunity. There’s more room for me to grow.”

It’s believed the Huskies would like to retain sophomore guard Tyler Harris, junior guard Mekhi Mason, Kepnang and freshman walk-on forward Dominique Diomande, who joined the team in December but did not play.

It’s unclear how freshman guard Jase Butler, redshirt sophomore forward Christian King, junior center KC Ibekwe and senior forward Chris Conway will fit in UW’s future plans.

And it’s uncertain if Breidenbach, who played 10 games as a freshman at Nebraska before suffering a leg injury, will petition for a medical redshirt and a fifth season.

What’s the recruiting plan?

Sprinkle brought in eight transfers last year and all of them, including Osobor, underperformed at Washington when compared to their previous season.

Year 2 figures to be better considering the Huskies have a greater understanding of what it takes to win in the Big Ten.

“We’ve got to continue to recruit size and we got to get talent,” Sprinkle said. “We got to get a lot more fast twitch. We got to get a lot more athletic and longer. That’s where we kind of got exposed a lot and it got hard for us to get to get stops.”

According to 247 Sports, Washington is bringing in the second-highest rated freshman class in the Big Ten highlighted by McDonald’s All-American forward Niko Bundalo and four-star guards JJ Mandaquit and Courtland Muldrew.

The Huskies also signed junior college forward Mady Traore.

Sprinkle said he expects to add at least three transfers and will seemingly target a veteran point guard and low-post players to fill out a thin frontcourt.

What’s the budget?

The 2025-26 season figures to be transformative due to the House v. NCAA settlement that’s poised to revolutionize college athletics.

If formally approved, each athletic department will be able to directly pay athletes from a pool of at least $20.5 million annually for NIL revenue-sharing compensation. The final hearing is April 7.

It’s impossible to know with certainty, but a programs like Husky men’s basketball is expected to have a budget between $2 and $4 million to fill out a 15-man roster, which is two additional players from previous years.

The expanded roster potentially spells the end for walk-ons and will force coaches to spend wisely.

Last summer, Sprinkle received sage and sobering advice from former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi, who spoke to the UW coaching staff.

“Nowadays, you can never fall in love with any player,” Lombardi said. “They could be the best kid, the best player. Their parents could have been Huskies. It doesn’t matter. It’s transactional now.”

Last year, 1,962 Division I players entered the transfer portal and the Huskies reportedly spent $2 million on Osobor’s record-setting NIL deal.

When the transfer portal opens in a few weeks, Sprinkle will need to be much more prudent in how he allocates UW’s NIL budget among incoming players.