Washington Basketball: The Huskies are hoping for a Sprinkle of magic dust

It’s going to take a while to get used to hearing things like Texas, Oklahoma, and SEC in the same sentence. It will also take some time to get used to hearing that four former Pac-12 schools, Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington are now members of the Big Ten. Two of those schools, USC and Washington also have new coaches, but only one of those two teams, Washington returns a likely starter. Senior center Franck Kepnang is that starter, but how he meshes with the changes, including on the bench will be key for the Huskies.

After one year at Utah State, Danny Sprinkle takes over at Washington after the school moved on from long-time coach Mike Hopkins after seven seasons. In those seven years, the Huskies reached the NCAA Tournament just once in 2018-19 and have not won more than 20 games or finished higher than 5th in the conference since that season.

Entering a much tougher basketball conference that includes the national runner-up from last season could make getting their bearings nationally and in the conference, even more difficult in their first Big Ten season. The Huskies offseason has been busy filling the roster and new staff and a look at both gives us a bit of an insight into what Sprinkle’s vision for Washington might be. Before their preseason work ramps up let’s take a look at what the Huskies could look like both on the floor and on the sideline and how the two hope to come together as a recipe for success.