Big Ten Basketball: Ranking all 18 programs after adding Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington

14. Washington

In a perfect world, Washington would be staying in the Pac-12 and be competing for league titles for years to come. However, neither of these things is true now or in recent years in Seattle. While the Huskies are certainly elated to have their future spot in the Big Ten, adding their basketball program into this new league isn’t exactly scaring any of the current members.

Back in the early 2000’s, Washington was making more regular appearances to the NCAA Tournament under Lorenzo Romar, but the program has come very inconsistent since the start of the 2010’s. Romar was replaced by longtime Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins in 2017 after failing to win games with a future lottery pick on the roster. Suffice to say, Hopkins hasn’t exactly been getting the job done either.

In his second season, Washington won 27 games, claimed the Pac-12 regular season title, and knocked out Utah State to advance to the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Since then, there’s been nothing happening for the Huskies, who even finished dead last in the Pac-12 in the following season. The Huskies are right there in Seattle and have had success in their recent history, but really have struggled over the last half decade.

Consider that Washington is just 28-50 in conference play since that regular season title in 2019. Now consider what that record might have looked like had they been playing a Big Ten schedule, a league that’s been significantly better as a whole than the Pac-12 for a long time. There’s absolutely the opportunity for Washington grow and regain its standing as a solid basketball program, but throwing this school into the Big Ten in its current shape could be ugly.