A Starting Lineup If UW Hoop Team Had To Play Today

Two returnees would blend with three transfer portal additions.

An injured Mady Traore leaves the floor with Quimari Peterson after the Seattle U loss. | Dave Sizer photo

To be sure, Danny Sprinkle and his University of Washington basketball coaching staff still have a lot of work to do in finding 15 scholarship players to build a team around for next season.

Currently, Sprinkle has five returnees from a 16-17 team that finished 12th in the Big Ten standings, four picked up through the transfer portal, one signed as a high school recruit and another added as an international player.

To be sure, the Huskies are scrambling to put together a team competitive enough to get out of the lower half of the conference, which might be asking a lot.

The Huskies went from last place in 2024 to six slots higher last winter with a team decimated by injuries.

If they had to play a game today, here's what a starting lineup might look like, with everyone seemingly dragging around some sort of baggage:

Wesley Yates III drives to the basket against Oregon. | Dave Sizer photo

WESLEY YATES III, G

The 6-foot-4 junior averaged 12.7 points per game for the UW and should be the team's best player. However, he had a nightmarish finish to this past season, with his troubles first emerging with a 1-for-17 shooting performance against Wisconsin.

The slump hung with him over the final six games, with Yates connecting on just 25.7 percent of his shots (18 for 70) over that time and a more tepid 16.6 percent (6 for 36) from behind the 3-point line.

It didn't help him that he broke his wrist in December and missed six games.

Injuries have crippled this UW team, with Jacob Ognacevic and Mady Traore, right, outfitted in protective boots. | Dave Sizer photo

MADY TRAORE, C

This 6-foot-11, 200-pound big man missed the entire 2026 season for the UW after injuring a foot in practice and having surgery, so he'll be a little rusty.

He last played for a Texas junior college called Frank Phillips and averaged 13.2 points and 8.4 rebounds for a 25-9 team.

Traore comes with Big Ten experience after spending the 2024 season with Maryland, playing in 12 games and starting four times before suffering a season-ending knee injury.

His top performance with the Terrapins was an 8-point, 6-rebound showing against Ohio State, one in which he hit 4 of 6 shots.

Texas Tech forward LeJuan Watts (3) clears Akron's Sharron Young out of the way in their NCAA Tournament game. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

LEJUAN WATTS, F

Watts, the older brother of UW defensive tackle DeSean Watts, comes to the UW from Texas Tech to play for his fourth team in four seasons. He was an integral part of a 23-11 Red Raiders outfit that made it through two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. He started 28 of 33 games played and averaged 11.8 points and 6 rebounds per outing. He had a season-best 36-point game against Northern Colorado, hitting 11 of 13 shots.

He's not new to the state. Watts previously played for Eastern Washington and Washington State, which meant he played against the Huskies twice. In 2023, he provided 9 points and 11 rebounds for Eastern in a 73-66 loss at Alaska Airlines Arena. A year later, Watts provided 15 points and 8 rebounds for the Cougars in an 89-73 loss in Seattle

Wake Forest guard Parker Friedrichsen (7) is guarded by Syracuse guard Jaquan Carlos. | Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

PARKER FRIEDRICHSEN, G

Deperately in need of 3-point shooting help, the Huskies picked up the 6-foot-4 Friedrichsen from Davidson and previously Wake Forest.

Originally from Oklahoma, Friedrichsen comes to the Huskies after starting 33 times for a 20-14 NIT team and averaging 10.8 points per game. More importantly, he shot 40.3 percent (68 of 168) from 3-point range, with his best performance a 27-point outing against Loyola of Chicago in which he drained 6 of 8 from behind the line.

Ryan Beasley (0) controls the ball against the Gonzaga Bulldogs. | James Snook-Imagn Images

RYAN BEASLEY, PG

The Huskies will entrust the playmaking responsibilities to this 5-foot-11 San Francisco transfer and a second-team All-WCC selection. He comes to Montlake after starting 31 games for a 17-16 team and averaging 13.5 points and 4 assists per game.

Beasley often played in bursts, scoring 20 points or more in seven outings, with 32- and 30-point showings, both against Loyola Marymount. He had an 11-assist performance against Pacific.

THE BENCH

The Huskies will have the following roster returnees available to crack the lineup in 6-foot-5 sophomore forward Jasir Rencher, who played in eight games but had his season end because of heart issues; 6-foot-10 forward Lathan Sommerville, who started 7 of 22 games this past season; and 6-10 forward Niko Dzepina, who appeared in 14 games.

Other newcomers are 6-foot-9 forward Wini Silva-Braga from Brazil, where he played in a pro league; 6-foot-7 forward Steele Venters, who enters his eighth college season after previously playing for four at Eastern and three at Gonzaga; and 6-foot-7 forward Lattimore Ford, a Mount Si High School signee coming off a knee injury that limited him to a half season in each of the past two.