An Early Appraisal For Revamped Husky Basketball Team

Trying to assess the University of Washington basketball team in mid-July is almost a fruitless exercise.

On face value, it’s Wesley Yates III and a whole of bunch of uncertainty.

The Huskies have players returning from previous season-ending health issues; portal transfer pick-ups aplenty, including one preparing for his eighth college season; plus newcomers from all over the world.

With so little first-hand knowledge about these guys, the automatic reaction is to assume this team won’t be very good.

On Wednesday, Jon Rothstein, who is about as plugged in as any college basketball insider, dropped his Big Ten preseason power rankings and he put Sprinkle’s team (16-17 overall, 7-13 conference) at No. 14 — which seemed overly generous because only Yates is a sure thing.

For that matter, the 6-foot-4 junior guard is coming off a wrist injury that ruined his shooting efforts, especially over the final month of last season. Yet that can be fixed.

For that matter, 6-foot-11 Mady Trarore, who missed all of last season with a foot injury, played in a dozen games and started four for Maryland in 2024 before suffering a knee injury. He has a Big Ten background, albeit brief.

If the Huskies can keep him in one piece, Traore might be a significant contributor.

However, questions abound regarding this next Husky team, which has pulled commitments from players in Croatia, Brazil and Australia. It’s unclear how good those guys are, though some have international experience behind them.

No, Rothstein says they’re No. 14, which means the Huskies are only better than Minnesota, Rutgers, Northwestern and Penn State.

Of the three other West Coast teams, the UW is supposed to trail everyone, including Oregon (12-20, 5-15) coming off a disastrous season, plus UCLA (24-12, 13-7) and USC (18-14, 7-13).

Rothstein has them 12th, fifth and fourth in his power rankings, respectively.

The Huskies were supposed to be a real factor in the Big Ten last season after bringing in a five-player recruiting class headed up by Hannes Steinbach, bringing back Zoom Diallo, plus welcoming a host of transfers including a couple of conference players of the year in Quimari Peterson and Jacob Ognacevi, and Desmond Claude and Yates.

However, injuries absolutely decimated the UW last season, leaving the Huskies with just seven scholarship players to finish the season and saddled to a sub.-500 record when so much more was envisioned.