6 Worst Teams in UW Hoops History — Will There be a Reshuffle?

The first game, a blowout loss to Baylor, could have been an anomaly.

Falling to UC Riverside a few days later simply might have been more early residue, a continuing hangover per se.

The stumble to Utah on the road wasn't the end of the world either.

Yet a 1-6 start for the current University of Washington basketball team — with bad losses of 34, 15, 14 and 23 points generously sprinkled in — is a fairly significant body of work to digest and sends up red flags.

In fact, bright crimson banners.

If things continue down this unresponsive pathway, these Huskies could be headed for one of the school's all-time worst seasons.

Unless Mike Hopkins can pull off one of the all-time genius coaching jobs, this 2020-21 team could find itself hanging with miserable company.

Over seven decades, UW basketball generally has been upbeat — just 28 losing seasons in seven decades of play — but there have been some potholes.

Hopkins' Huskies don't want to join this bunch.

Here are the six worst teams in program history, for now:

1993-94 — 5-22, .185

Bob Bender replaced Lynn Nance, fired as Husky coach after four seasons without posting a winning record, and all of the previous ineptitude came crashing down on the new guy in his first season at the helm.

Bender's inaugural UW team began 1-6, which matched the current woes, and at one point lost nine consecutive games and dropped 15 of 18 conference games.

Hopkins' Huskies recently lost in embarrassing fashion to Montana by 8; Bender's first team in '94 fell to the Grizzlies by 7 in overtime.

2016-17 — 9-22, .290

This season seemed so promising at the outset, built around the NBA's eventual No. 1 overall pick in freshman guard Markelle Fultz. It began modestly at 4-3. It ended in an abrupt coaching change and the ouster of Lorenzo Romar.

Fultz got hurt and didn't finish the season. The Huskies dropped their final 13 games in an utterly helpless fashion.

Romar's guys won just two conference games, against Oregon State and Colorado. No one opposed the firing of the 15-season Husky coach when it was time.

1953-54 — 8-18, .307

The season following the UW's only Final Four appearance produced 20 fewer victories and 15 more defeats.

The Huskies had five new starters. They weren't very good. They lost their first nine games of the season, and 14 of their first 15, beating only WSU 54-44 in Pullman.

Tippy Dye's team, playing only Northwest opponents, regrouped somewhat by going 7-9 in conference play.

1957-58 — 8-18, .307

These Huskies went from being one of the nation's tallest teams with 6-foot-9 Bruno Boin and 6-7 Doug Smart the season before to a one-man team built around Smart once Boin graduated. While Smart averaged 20.3 points and 13.4 rebounds per game, no one else stepped up to help him.

This team likewise began the season 1-6, losing to Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas 77-59 early on. Dye's next-to-last Huskies also lost six of their final seven games.

The only reprieve for these guys was a 71-69 upset of eighth-ranked Michigan State at Edmundson Pavilion at the end of December.

1999-00 — 10-20, .333

Following consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, Bender lost 7-footers Todd MacCulloch and Patrick Femerling to graduation and an early departure. Their absence was noticeable.

The next Huskies were greatly undersized, starting no player over 6-7. The team was built around a pair of guards, 15.1-point scorer Deon Luton and 10.4-point scorer Senque Carey, with the latter transferring once the sorry season ended.

These Huskies opened 3-4 and closed 4-13. The season ended with 19- and 26-point losses on the road to USC and UCLA.

2000-01 — 10-20, .333

Bender's next-to-last team started 4-3 before things unraveled, resulting in a second consecutive 10-20 season. The UW's highest scorer was forward Will Perkins at just 12.8 per game.

The Huskies dropped 13 of the final 15 games. They went into the season finale with an eight-game losing struck but somehow rose up and upset 13th-ranked UCLA 96-94 at home.

Bender would suffer through a lackluster 11-18 record the following season, making him 31-58 over three years, and he got fired after nine years on the job.