Huskies Draw Votes in Preseason AP Basketball Poll

The University of Washington basketball team lost more games than anyone in the Big Ten last season and finished dead last.

Following a near complete roster overhaul, Danny Sprinkle's Huskies since have lost the services of two of their new big men to injuries -- 6-foot-11 Mady Traore for the season and 6-foot-8 Jacob Ognacevic for three months, both suffering foot issues.

Yet all is not lost for the UW, which still drew enough votes in the Associated Press preseason poll, released on Monday, to be considered the nation's 35th best college basketball team, or at least something resembling that.

The Huskies (13-18 overall, 4-16 Big Ten in 2024-25) emerged from the also-ran balloting with 7 points to trail Missouri (22-12 overall, 10-8 SEC) by one, was tied with Vanderbilt (20-13 overall, 8-10 SEC) and stood one point ahead of Iowa (17-16 overall, 7-13 Big Ten).

"This ain't last year's team," Sprinkle said. "It's a totally different energy. I felt like we upgraded our talent."

Sophomore guard Zoom Diallo and 6-foot-11 senior center Franck Kepnang are the Huskies' only returning players this season, joined by a dozen newcomers, though the aforementioned two are injured.

Zoom Diallo is in deep thought before play resumes. | Skylar Lin Visuals

If the UW, indeed, is the country's 35th best, that means an NCAA Tournament berth would be coming in the near future and Sprinkle's guys would be inserted in the upper half of the bracket for March Madness.

The Huskies haven't been to the NCAAs since 2019, when it beat Utah State 78-71 -- well before Sprinkle coached there -- and lost to North Carolina 81-59.

That marks the UW's only appearance in the college game's main postseason event over 14 seasons.

So 7 points is a very good indicator as Sprinkle tries to bring the Huskies back to basketball respectability that hasn't been experienced since the playing days of Isaiah Thomas and Quincy Pondexter and Brandon Roy and Nate Robinson before that.

It won't be easy, of course.

The AP has fellow Big Ten entry Purdue (24-12 overall, 13-7 conference) ranked No. 1 in the preseason for the first time in that school's storied basketball history.

The Boilermakers are one of six Big Ten teams in the preseasonTop 25, joined by Michigan (27-10, 14-6) at No. 7, UCLA (23-11, 13-7) at No. 12, Illinois (22-13, 12-8) at No. 17, Michigan State (30-7, 17-3) at No. 22 and Wisconsin (27-10, 13-7) at No. 24.

"Everybody got better, which is why you want to play in the best league in the country," Sprinkle said.

Zoom Diallo and Franck Kepnang, players second from right and right, are all that's left from the 2024-25 UW basketball team. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Not only that, three other Big Ten entries received more also-ran points than the Huskies in Oregon (25-10, 12-8) with 93, Ohio State (17-15, 9-11) with 28 and USC (17-18, 7-13) with 10.

The Trojans rank higher than the UW even after losing their starting backcourt from last season in Desmond Claude and Wesley Yates III to Montlake through the transfer portal.

The Huskies will go through a dress rehearsal next Sunday at home when they face UNLV in an exhibition game.

"It's a challenge," Sprinkle said. "That's why we've got to get this place packed and get it rocking so when teams come here it's the hardest place to play in the conference."

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