Inside The Huskies

Huskies Get National Exposure, But Not the Guy

Point guard Dylan Mingo has UW in his final four choices, reveals decision on ESPN.
Dan Raley|
Dylan Mingo had the UW among his final choices.
Dylan Mingo had the UW among his final choices. | Mingo

The University of Washington basketball team drew some national exposure, but they didn't get the player.

Dylan Mingo, a 6-foot-5 point guard from Farmington, New York, on Tuesday went on ESPN's First Take show with Stephen A. Smith to reveal his college decision and chose North Carolina over Kentucky, Baylor and the Huskies.

Seated at a table, Mingo unzipped a sweat top to reveal a Tar Heels T-shirt.

"That's what I was hoping for," Smith bellowed on air.

It was the Huskies' second setback involving the Mingo family in six days.

Last Wednesday, Mingo's younger brother, Kayden, came into town as a freshman guard for Penn State, then a last-place team in the Big Ten, and left with a 63-60 victory the UW, scoring 13 points.

Dylan Mingo had kept Danny Sprinkle's team and the others guessing for the past four months after settling on his four finalists.

He's considered a top 10 player nationally and is New York's reigning Gatorade Player of the Year, with 247Sports ranking him No. 6 at one point.

Mingo took an official visit Montlake on Aug. 1 and in ensuing months looked over, in this order, Penn State, Baylor and North Carolina. He went through Chapel Hill in early November. 

New York guard Dylan Mingo chose from four schools, which included the UW.
New York guard Dylan Mingo chose from four schools, which included the UW. | Mingo

He also holds offers from Alabama, Connecticut, Florida State, Illinois, Louisville, Miami, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina State, Texas and Texas A&M.

In June in Rockhill, South Carolina, Mingo wowed the assembled 100 NBA scouts and college coaches by averaging 23.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6.8 assists at the NPBA Top 100 camp. 

“I’m just here to show all the scouts and coaches that I’m a complete point guard and I can do a little bit of everything, whether that’s scoring, passing, rebounding, whatever it takes,” Mingo told reporters after his first outing. 

After bringing in four freshmen for this season in Hannes Steinbach, JJ Mandaquit, Jasir Rencher and Courtland Muldrew, Sprinkle's UW staff hasn't picked up any commits just yet for the 2026 class.

The Huskies have just two departing seniors on the roster in guards Quimari Peterson and Desmond Claude, could lose another player or two to the transfer portal, but aren't in need of a near total roster renewal and a large manpower infusion as they were a year ago.

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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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