Here's What Sprinkle Has to Work With in Fixing UW Basketball

For the past month, Danny Sprinkle remained hopeful the Big Ten schedule would get easier for his University of Washington basketball team, that the Huskies would make up lost ground against opponents sharing the bottom half of the conference standings with them.

Never happened.

With two meaningless games remaining. the UW is about to wrap up a season as disappointing as it was supposed to be energizing when it began.

Sprinkle's first set of Huskies (13-16 overall, 4-14 league) are positioned to finish at or near the bottom of the conference's 18 teams in a campaign marked by enough unwanted blowouts to make everyone uncomfortable.

What's remarkable is Sprinkle over the weekend acknowledged that he did it wrong in putting together his original team in Montlake, that not all of his players were tough enough or committed enough to survive the obstacle course that is Big Ten basketball.

So what now?

The earnest coach similarly suggested that a second consecutive program teardown might be in order for the Huskies, that he is looking at everything in trying to catch up to the rest of Big Ten basketball.

Considering all of the work that needs to be done, here is what Sprinkle has to work with in terms of the UW's 13 scholarships once the season is complete next weekend, with the NCAA permitting a bump to 15:

Seniors out of eligibility (5): 6-foot-10 forward Wilhelm Breidenbach, 6-foot-1 guard DJ Davis, 6-foot-4 guard Tyree Ihenacho, 6-foot-3 guard Luis Kortright, 6-foot-8 forward Great Osobor.

Seniors seeking medical redshirts (2): 6-foot-9 forward Chris Conway, 6-foot-11 center Franck Kepnang.

Returning underclassmen (6): 6-foot-4 freshman guard Jase Butler, 6-foot-4 freshman guard Zoom Dialllo, 6-foot-8 sophomore forward Tyler Harris, 6-foot-10 junior center KC Ibekwe, 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman forward Christian King, 6-foot-5 junior guard Mekhi Mason.

Underclassmen awaiting financial aid (1): 6-foot-8 freshman forward Dominique Diomande.

Incoming freshman recruits (3): 6-foot-10 forward Niko Bundalo, 6-foot-1 guard JJ Mandaquit, 6-foot-3 guard Courtland Muldrew

Incoming JC transfer (1): 6-foot-11 forward Mady Traore.

Franck Kepnang will apply for a medical redshirt after the UW season ends. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Add and subtract these names, without anyone leaving for the transfer portal or urged to go elsewhere, and the Huskies will have a handful of spots open.

Five players are leaving and five are coming in to replace them, including late-arriving Frenchman Dominique Diomande, a winter enrollee who is considered a walk-on, or non-scholarship player, as he redshirts.

However, with what's happened this season, it's hard to imagine Sprinkle will sit pat and not open up multiple scholarships to bring in veteran help that can move the Huskies up the Big Ten standings and not find the conference a shock to their systems.

Not to push anyone out the door, but Ibekwe and King have been two of the least utilized Huskies this season, appearing in just 12 and 18 games, respectively, and might be hard-pressed to come back.

Christian King is a redshirt freshman forward who has appeared in 18 of the UW's 29 games. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Conway, an Oakland transfer unable to play this season because of chronic knee issues, likewise might not return or ever get started.

For that matter, Kepnang, with three knee surgeries in three seasons, is expected to apply for a medical redshirt for another UW season, but he won't pursue that eligibility avenue until the season ends.

Either way, Sprinkle has plenty of work to do with his personnel before taking on a second Big Ten season with the Huskies.

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