Inside The Huskies

Challenge for Jase Butler Is to Play Right Away for Huskies

The Northern California guard gives the UW its lone lefty in the backcourt.
Dan Raley|
Jase Butler was committed to Illinois before switching to the UW.
Jase Butler was committed to Illinois before switching to the UW. | Illinois

Danny Sprinkle has brought in guards with a wide range of skills to remake the backcourt of the University of Washington basketball team, a half dozen in all, most of them veteran players.

He has a pure shooter in DJ Davis, a pair of determined drivers to the basket in Luis Kortright and Tyree Ichenacho and an extra-long playmaker in Mekhi Mason. All except Mason are seniors, so most of them are program short-timers, here to win right away and then move on.

Add to that collection of talent the incoming freshmen: Zoom Diallo and Jase Butler. Will either one be so talented he leapfrogs some or all of the vets to get on the floor for big minutes and maybe even become an immediate starter? They represent the future, but could have an instant impact.

Certainly Butler and Diallo were more heavily recruited at the outset of their college careers than the four older guys, drawing Big Ten offers right away whereas the others began in the Big West, MACC, Summit and Conference USA.

In fact, the 6-foot-4 Butler from The Brandon School in Point Reyes Station, California, was signed by Illinois before he opted out in April and went looking for another school, signing with the UW in May.

"He is an excellent shooter and strong-bodied guard who is going to develop into a great Big Ten player," Sprinkle said. "He can play both guard positions and provides versatility to our team."

Of these half-dozen Husky guards, Butler is the only left-hander. Overall, he shares the southpaw trait with 6-foot-10, 287-pound big man KC Ibekwe, the Oregon State transfer who is Montlake bound.

It's not clear why he changed his mind on Illinois. There was no coaching change. The Illini went 29-9 and appeared in the NCAA Tournament. Websites that cover the team surmised he might have become disenchanted with the staff continuing to look for veteran guard help in the transfer portal, though he has not addressed the situation publicly. Besides, that's what Sprinkle did in signing six new Husky guards.

As a senior in Northern California, Butler averaged 20.6 rebounds, 7 rebounds and 4 assists per game for a 23-8 team. He chose Illinois over Stanford, San Francisco and UC Santa Barbara, and then saw his basketball rankings jump, making him a 4-star recruit and a top 100 player, according to 247Sports. He was named the Bay Area Player of the Year. He reportedly picked the UW after considering Utah and California.

Butler plays with great body control and a certain amount of toughness, which bodes well for his introduction to college basketball and early advancement.

“Jase will be a great addition to our team next season,” Sprinkle said. “He is a winner who impacts the game in so many ways."

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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