Inside The Huskies

Nitu No Longer With Husky Basketball Team

The Florida State transfer wanted to redshirt and then left.
Dan Raley|
Christian Nitu met with the media that cover Husky basketball in October.
Christian Nitu met with the media that cover Husky basketball in October. | Dan Raley

In some unidentified gym, with people lifting weights behind heavy black netting in the background, Christian Nitu turned up on a social-media video on Friday, dribbling a basketball the length of the court.

What was significant about this was it might have been his first public appearance of any kind since the University of Washington basketball season began without him.

While the Florida State transfer remains listed on the Husky roster, the 6-foot-11 Nitu, a sophomore from Canada, disappeared back then without any explanation other than he had planned to redshirt.

Asked on Friday if Nitu was still on the team, UW coach Danny Sprinkle said no, without elaborating for the record.

Christian Nitu heads up court in the FIBA Eurobasket.
Christian Nitu heads up court in the FIBA Eurobasket. | FIBA

Yet it might have been no more than a clash of two strong-willed personalities in the player and the coach.

Sometimes you don't know how it's going to work out until you end up in practice together. It's like going out on a date that doesn't work.

Plus, everyone's got an agent feeding them information these days that might run counter to what everyone wants.

Clearly, the Huskies with all of their season-long injuries could have used the services of the lanky and left-handed Nitu. In 2025, he appeared in 22 games for his ACC school, averaging just under 6.9 minutes per outing.

The thing with Nitu is he's far from a finished college basketball product and he expressed his desire to redshirt this season.

In the end, the Whitby, Ontario, product never showed up for any UW games and left the team sometime as the season began to unfold.

It's unclear what comes next for Nitu. He's a big man who should draw some interest. He played for the Romanian national team in the U20 FIBA Eurobasket tournament.

Yet he has a track record of playing very little at Florida State and not at all for the UW.

Christian Nitu (11) shoots for two for Florida State against Virginia Tech in 2025.
Christian Nitu (11) shoots for two for Florida State against Virginia Tech in 2025. | Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In another UW personnel matter, 6-foot-11 center Franck Kepnang, who sat out the Rutgers game with a sore leg after playing in the first 27 outings, has another season of eligibility out there if he wants it.

He previously had three season-ending injuries for the Huskies, which makes him eligible for a medical waiver and a seventh season if he chooses.

Earlier in the year, Kepnang said he would be open to considering another year at the UW, but wasn't ready to make any commitment back then.

The Cameroon native is trying to stay healthy enough to finish this season, which is down to at least three regular-season games and a Big Ten Tournament outing.

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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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