Post by mhbruin on Apr 2, 2024 19:06:02 GMT -8
In an annoying side effect of joining the Big Ten, we now have two teams that go by "UW", Washington and Wisconsin.
CHANGES
Nate Calmese to Washington State
Tyler Harris withdraws from the NBA draft.
Added transfer Tyree Ihenacho
6/6 Wesley Yates to USC
6/12 Noah Williams to James Madison
====================
The Washington Huskies finished tied for 6th in the Pac-12 and finally decided to part ways with Mike Hopkins. That's a nice way of saying they fired him. After winning the Pac-12 in his second season in Montlake, he never finished higher than 5th in the league and never played a post-season game. I think he was lucky to stick around for 7 years.
The new coach is Danny Sprinkle, which not only rhymes with Wayne Tinkle, but sounds like the same thing. One more reason to be happy that Tyler Bilodeau came to UCLA is we didn't have to hear that he went from Tinkle to Sprinkle, which sound like two-thirds of the worst double-play combination ever. Tinkle to Sprinkle to Chance.
We'll see if Coach Sprinkle schedules a bunch of cupcakes.
Sprinkle got the job after 1 year following Mark Madsen as coach at Utah State. In Logan, he inherited a team that had no one on the roster who scored a point for the Aggies the previous season. Somehow he put together a new roster, won the Mountain West (which put 5 other teams into the NCAA tournament), and even won a game over TCU in the NCAA tournament before losing to Purdue.
Sprinkle will have to pull off another miracle in Seattle, since he is losing most of his roster to graduation and the portal.
Sprinkle has added Tony Bland to his staff. Your probably remember him as the USC assistant who was arrested as part of an FBI investigation.
GRADUATING
Washington loses their top four scorers to graduation or to the portal.
Keion Brooks was First Team All-Pac-12, and he led the conference in scoring and he was #6 in the league in rebounding.
Sahvir Wheeler led the team in assists and steals. He was #2 in the league in assists per game and #21 in the nation. At 5' 9", was also a good rebounder.
In short, these two Kentucky transfers were two of the best players in the Pac-12. With talent like that, it took a lot of bad coaching to finish 6th in the league.
Moses Wood was the third-leading scorer and the team's best three-point shooter.
You might expect a 3-year starter for Rutgers to be a good player, but he was just kind of "meh" for the Huskeis. "Meh" is not the same as "Meah" who was a part-time starter at center.
Anthony Holland was considered a 3-point specialist, but he only scored 2.6 points per game.
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
Tyler Harris, who is transferring from Portland, withdrew from the draft. I didn't know he was in the draft. Almost nobody else did either.
Great Osobor, the $2 Million Dollar Man, withdrew from the draft when he agreed to transfer from Utah State.
TRANSFERRING OUT
Koren Johnson was Pac-12 Sixth-Player-of-the-Year. He had some really good games, including scoring 30 against Stanford. I think he has a big upside, which he will pursue in Louisville.
Braxton Meah was a solid center, but with limited offensive skills and the ugliest-looking free throw in the country. He shot 49% from the line.
Freshman Wesley Yates didn't play at all this season. He was a 4-star, top 50 player out of high school, but broke his foot before the season. His cousin was Washington assistant Quincy Pondexter, who was fired along with Mike Hopkins.
Nate Calmese never showed that he was a Pac-12-level player. Now he will get a chance to show he is a Pac-2-level player.
Also transferring out are Samuel Ariyibi, who played in 2 games, and Noah Williams who never played after tranferring to UDub from Washington St.
RETURNING
Washington returns less production than any team in the Big Ten other than USC.
Danny Sprinkle arrived to find three sholarship players remaining. One had played less than half the games last season due to injuries, and another was a red-shirt freshman who hasn't played college basketball yet.
If Husky fans want to look on the bright side, when Sprinkle recruits, he has a lot of playing time to offer.
That's all there is returning.
Kepnang is an excellent player, if he can stay healthy. In his last two seasons he has been healthy enough to play a total of 18 games.
Breidenbach is a good backup center although at 230 lbs, he has a hard time against a bigger, stronger guys. If Kepnang can play, Breidenbach could make a good stretch four.
Christian King was a redshirt last season. Mike Hopkins beat out Lehigh, Pepperdine, and Rice to sign him.
RECRUITS
(#35 class, #6 in B1G)
After Hopkins was fired, Chavis rasked to be released from his LOI. I don't think he has found a new home. Maybe he should have stayed.
All things consdered, this is a pretty good first class for Coach Sprinkle. Zoom Dialo is a big-time recruit and Butler has the potential to be good.
Zoom Diallo's real first name is "Vazoumana".
Jase Butler had signed with Illinois, but got his release and is headed to Seattle.
TRANSFERRING IN
There is a pretty big difference between how 247 and Evan Miya rate this group of transfers.
Great Osobor came from England, which isn't exactly a hotbed of basketball, so he was likely overlooked in the initial recruitng process. When he decided to transfer, he was no longer overlooked, being ranked the #7 player in the portal, but he decided to follow his coach from Utah State to Washington. The $2 million NIL deal was a hell of a lot of icing on the cake.
Osobor lived up to his first name, leading the Aggies to the regular season and tournament championships the Mountain West and a convincing win over TCU in the NCAA tournament. He led USU in points, rebounds, and blocks. He had three games of more than 30 points.
Mekhi Mason was the second-leading scorer for the Rice Owls, although his shooting numbers weren't great. At one point he committed to Purdue, before switching to the Huskies.
KC Ibekwe moves north from Coravllis after two uninspiring seasons for a bad Oregon State team. He was a limited scorer and turned the ball over a lot. He was not one of the top 475 players in the transfer portal.
DJ Davis was the best free throw shooter in the country at 95%. He spent three seasons for UC Irvine, before transferring to Butler, where he was third in scoring and second in steals. He goes from being an Anteater to a Bulldog to a Husky I think he is progressing in the mascot rankings.
Chris Conway was the 4th-leading scorer for the Golden Grizzlies, who won the Horizon League and beat Kentucky in the NCAA tournament, before falling to NC State. He scored 8 points and 9 points in his two NCAA tournament games. I hope he had a great experience. He isn't going back to the tournament with the Huskies.
Luis Kortright was the third-leading scorer for the Rhode Island Rams, who finished 12th in the A-10. He led the team in assists and steals. He wasn't a great shooter, but at least Washington has someone who could be their point guard.
Signing a hoss like Kortright was only part of the transfer bonanza on May 11th. On the same day, they signed Tyler Harris.
Tyler Harris had an excellent freshman year and was named to the WCC All-Freshman team. He was injured during his last two seasons of high school ball, so he may have been under-recruited out of high school. He also missed quite a few games for Portland due to injury. He is a good shooter and rebounder. He could be a significant contributor for the Huskies if he can stay healthy.
Tyree Ihenacho took an unusal path to get to Seattle. He played for a season for North Dakota, then two seasons at James Madison, then back to North Dakota for a year, and finally finishing up his college career for the Huskies. I spent a winter in Grand Forks, North Dakota. (It was about a girl.) It went for 3 straight months without getting above zero. After one winter in Grand Forks, I never went back. I can't figure out why Tyree did.
Tyree was the second-leading scorer for the Fighting Hawks, who finished second in the Summit League. However, he didn't shoot well (40%/27%/64%), so he was primarily a high-volume shooter.
Coach Sprinkle has put together a transfer class with a lot of players. We will have to see if the quality matches the quantity.
CONCLUSION
Rebuilding this roster should be a piece of cake for Sprinkle compared to what he had to do at Utah State. Building a roster from scratch is usually a metaphor. At Utah State, it was what he did. Personally, I think Washington hit a home run with this hire, just as they did with Kalen deBoer in football. For their sake I hope he is that good, and they can keep him.
Given the hand he was dealt, Coach Sprinkle sprinkled around the magic fairy dust (NIL money) and brought in 10 new players. This includes a couple of 4-star freshmen and a Top 10 transfer and another Top 100 transfer.
I would be skeptical about Sprinkle's ability to create a quality team our of an entirely new roster, but he did just than last season in Logan, Utah. He seems capable of doing it in Seattle. I think they end up somewhere in the middle of the league.
For another look at Washington, see Big Ten hoops additions: What to expect from Washington
Torvick projects Washington as the #57 team in the country and #16 in the B1G. He projects a 19-12 record, with 11-9 in the league.
247 picks the Huskies to finish 14th in the Big Ten.
Lunardi doesn't predict they make the tournament.
Vrooman picks them to finish 8th: He writes:
8. Washington Huskies
Projected Adjusted Efficiency Margin: +18.05 (+12.95 last year)
Coaching Info: Danny Sprinkle +9.95* (4th)
5 Highest Rated Players: G DJ Davis (Butler- 13.5 pts, 2.6 ast), F Great Osobor (Utah State- 17.1 pts, 9.0 reb), F Wilhelm Breidenbach (5.3 pts, 3.4 reb), G Tyree Ihenacho (North Dakota- 14.5 pts, 5.0 reb), C Franck Kepnang (8.3 pts, 1.7 blk)
We made it. This Washington projection comes with a major caveat. Normally, when a coach moves up from a mid-major program I simply start their coaching grade at +0.0. It’s obvious they did a good job at a lower level school or they wouldn’t have gotten the job. But I normally operate off the principal that my model is really intended to use recruiting rankings and so grading a coach from a college where almost everyone was unrated out of HS would probably throw things off. Add in that the level of competition is so different (plus it’s a ton more work for me to add in results from all those schools) and I’ve skipped it.
But since this is Washington’s coach I went ahead and entered in the data for Sprinkle’s one year at Utah State and unsurprisingly, he way overachieved the results. That’s why he was a top-5 finisher for national coach of the year. His +9.95 mark would make him the 4th best coach at the high major level if I count it. But then again, I didn’t go back through Dusty May’s teams at FAU. And I didn’t go back to Sprinkle’s first few years at Montana State. It’s probably most fair to just set Sprinkle’s coaching grade to +0.0 and treat him like everyone else. Doing so would move Washington down to 12th and barely sneak them into the middle third here.
That might also be the best option because it’s unclear how well the pieces fit on this roster. Great Osobor was a deserving MWC player of the year winner and he should at the least average 15+ pts and 8+ rebounds per game if healthy. But there’s just not a lot of shooting on this roster unless multiple players outperform their career averages. Either Osobor will have to play a lot of center or the paint is going to be very crowded with 4 other PF/C on the roster, none of whom shot better than 33% on 3’s last year and only 2 of whom shot more than once from that distance.
Sprinkle brought in 4 different guards in the 6’3 to 6’4 range and all of them are better at driving the ball than shooting the 3. It’s clear that Washington’s goal next year is to be one of the conference leaders in free throw attempts and hope that putting lots of tough, gritty players who are comfortable passing the ball will lead to a free flowing offense that can overcome spacing concerns.
Maybe that’s what will happen. Fully healthy seasons from both Tyler Harris and Franck Kepnang would help. I have enough reservations to say I think it’s more likely right this second we see the version of this team that finishes 12th and is in line for an NIT spot than the one that finishes 8th and is a legitimate NCAA tournament squad. But I’d love to be wrong.
===============================
DANNY SPRINKLE
Profile: Sprinkle, 47, did one of the best coaching jobs in college basketball this season, leading Utah State to 28 wins, the regular season title in the six-bid Mountain West and an NCAA Tournament win over TCU. This came after he and his staff basically recruited a whole new team after arriving at Utah State. He was previously the head coach at Montana State.
Style of Play: Hard to draw any conclusions based on Utah State, because that was a brand-new team assembled via the portal, but that Aggie team really reimagined positional roles, though that might have just been a luxury Great Osobor afforded them.
Recruiting Profile: Wasington will be portal-heavy, especially early, but then typically Pacific Northwest- and West Coast-dependent.
CHANGES
Nate Calmese to Washington State
Tyler Harris withdraws from the NBA draft.
Added transfer Tyree Ihenacho
6/6 Wesley Yates to USC
6/12 Noah Williams to James Madison
====================
The Washington Huskies finished tied for 6th in the Pac-12 and finally decided to part ways with Mike Hopkins. That's a nice way of saying they fired him. After winning the Pac-12 in his second season in Montlake, he never finished higher than 5th in the league and never played a post-season game. I think he was lucky to stick around for 7 years.
The new coach is Danny Sprinkle, which not only rhymes with Wayne Tinkle, but sounds like the same thing. One more reason to be happy that Tyler Bilodeau came to UCLA is we didn't have to hear that he went from Tinkle to Sprinkle, which sound like two-thirds of the worst double-play combination ever. Tinkle to Sprinkle to Chance.
We'll see if Coach Sprinkle schedules a bunch of cupcakes.
Sprinkle got the job after 1 year following Mark Madsen as coach at Utah State. In Logan, he inherited a team that had no one on the roster who scored a point for the Aggies the previous season. Somehow he put together a new roster, won the Mountain West (which put 5 other teams into the NCAA tournament), and even won a game over TCU in the NCAA tournament before losing to Purdue.
Sprinkle will have to pull off another miracle in Seattle, since he is losing most of his roster to graduation and the portal.
Sprinkle has added Tony Bland to his staff. Your probably remember him as the USC assistant who was arrested as part of an FBI investigation.
GRADUATING
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Notes |
| Keion Brooks Jr. | 32 | 32 | 35 | 21 | 6.8 | 1.4 | Leading scorer and rebounder |
| Sahvir Wheeler | 31 | 29 | 34 | 14 | 3.5 | 6.1 | |
| Moses Wood | 32 | 32 | 33 | 12 | 4.5 | 0.8 | |
| Paul Mulcahy | 31 | 30 | 25 | 6 | 3.0 | 3.4 | |
| Anthony Holland | 31 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 1.5 | 0.2 |
Washington loses their top four scorers to graduation or to the portal.
Keion Brooks was First Team All-Pac-12, and he led the conference in scoring and he was #6 in the league in rebounding.
Sahvir Wheeler led the team in assists and steals. He was #2 in the league in assists per game and #21 in the nation. At 5' 9", was also a good rebounder.
In short, these two Kentucky transfers were two of the best players in the Pac-12. With talent like that, it took a lot of bad coaching to finish 6th in the league.
Moses Wood was the third-leading scorer and the team's best three-point shooter.
You might expect a 3-year starter for Rutgers to be a good player, but he was just kind of "meh" for the Huskeis. "Meh" is not the same as "Meah" who was a part-time starter at center.
Anthony Holland was considered a 3-point specialist, but he only scored 2.6 points per game.
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Can Return? |
| Tyler Harris | Yes | ||||||
| Great Osobor | Yes | ||||||
Tyler Harris, who is transferring from Portland, withdrew from the draft. I didn't know he was in the draft. Almost nobody else did either.
Great Osobor, the $2 Million Dollar Man, withdrew from the draft when he agreed to transfer from Utah State.
TRANSFERRING OUT
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Notes | Destination |
| Koren Johnson | 31 | 5 | 24 | 11 | 2.2 | 2.7 | Louisville | |
| Braxton Meah | 32 | 16 | 17 | 5 | 5.3 | 0.3 | Led the team in blocks | Nebraska |
| Wesley Yates III | 0 | USC | ||||||
| Nate Calmese | 16 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 0.6 | 0.8 | Washington State | |
| Noah Williams | James Madison |
Koren Johnson was Pac-12 Sixth-Player-of-the-Year. He had some really good games, including scoring 30 against Stanford. I think he has a big upside, which he will pursue in Louisville.
Braxton Meah was a solid center, but with limited offensive skills and the ugliest-looking free throw in the country. He shot 49% from the line.
Freshman Wesley Yates didn't play at all this season. He was a 4-star, top 50 player out of high school, but broke his foot before the season. His cousin was Washington assistant Quincy Pondexter, who was fired along with Mike Hopkins.
Nate Calmese never showed that he was a Pac-12-level player. Now he will get a chance to show he is a Pac-2-level player.
Also transferring out are Samuel Ariyibi, who played in 2 games, and Noah Williams who never played after tranferring to UDub from Washington St.
RETURNING
Washington returns less production than any team in the Big Ten other than USC.
| STAT | RETURNING |
| Starts | 10% |
| Minutes | 10% |
| Points | 10% |
| 3-Pointers Made | 15% |
| Rebounds | 5% |
| Assists | 2% |
| Steals | 9% |
| Blocks | 20% |
Danny Sprinkle arrived to find three sholarship players remaining. One had played less than half the games last season due to injuries, and another was a red-shirt freshman who hasn't played college basketball yet.
If Husky fans want to look on the bright side, when Sprinkle recruits, he has a lot of playing time to offer.
| Player | Size | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG% | 3-Pt% | A/TO | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank |
| Franck Kepnang C | 6-11 250 | 10 | 7 | 19 | 8 | 6 | 0.2 | 59% | -- | 0.3 | Sr | 4 | 36 |
| Wilhelm Breidenbach F | 6-10 231 | 32 | 9 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 0.2 | 57% | 33% | 0.3 | Sr | 4 | 105 |
| Christian King F | 6-8 | 0 | Rs Fr | Unranked | |||||||||
| . |
That's all there is returning.
Kepnang is an excellent player, if he can stay healthy. In his last two seasons he has been healthy enough to play a total of 18 games.
Breidenbach is a good backup center although at 230 lbs, he has a hard time against a bigger, stronger guys. If Kepnang can play, Breidenbach could make a good stretch four.
Christian King was a redshirt last season. Mike Hopkins beat out Lehigh, Pepperdine, and Rice to sign him.
RECRUITS
(#35 class, #6 in B1G)
| Player | Size | Position | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank | Offers |
| Zoom Diallo | 6-4 190 | CG | 4 | 35 | Arizona, Gonzaga, USC |
| Jase Butler | 6-4 180 | CG | 4 | 108 | Illinois, Colorado St, Loyola Marymount |
| . | |||||
| . | |||||
| . |
After Hopkins was fired, Chavis rasked to be released from his LOI. I don't think he has found a new home. Maybe he should have stayed.
All things consdered, this is a pretty good first class for Coach Sprinkle. Zoom Dialo is a big-time recruit and Butler has the potential to be good.
Zoom Diallo's real first name is "Vazoumana".
Jase Butler had signed with Illinois, but got his release and is headed to Seattle.
TRANSFERRING IN
| SOURCE | NATIONAL CLASS RANK | BIG TEN CLASS RANK |
| 247 | 8 | 2 |
| Evan Miya | 42 | 10 |
There is a pretty big difference between how 247 and Evan Miya rate this group of transfers.
| Player | Size | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG % | 3-Pt % | A/TO | From | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank | Transfer Rank |
| Great Osobor | 6-8 250 | 35 | 35 | 34 | 18 | 9.0 | 2.8 | 58% | 21% | 1.0 | Utah State | Sr | Uranked | 7 | |
| Mekhi Mason | 6-5 195 | 32 | 32 | 31 | 14 | 4.0 | 2.8 | 41% | 36% | 1.0 | Rice | Jr | 3 | 89 | 82 |
| KC Ibekwe | 6-10 287 | 32 | 22 | 18 | 5 | 4.0 | 0.5 | 52% | 0.3 | Oregon St | Jr | Unranked | Unranked | ||
| DJ Davis | 6-1 175 | 33 | 33 | 29 | 14 | 3.2 | 2.6 | 43% | 35% | 1.6 | Butler | Sr 5 | 3 | 372 | 99 |
| Chris Conway | 6-9 200 | 35 | 35 | 27 | 10 | 4.1 | 1.3 | 52% | 21% | 1.5 | Oakland | Sr 5 | Unranked | Unranked | |
| Luis Kortright | 6-3 200 | 32 | 31 | 30 | 10 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 44% | 30% | 2.0 | Rhode Island | Sr 5 | Unranked | 433 | |
| Tyler Harris F | 6-7 180 | 22 | 21 | 34 | 12 | 7.3 | 1.1 | 46% | 36% | 0.6 | Portland | So | 3 | 222 | 136 |
| Tyree Ihenacho G | 6-4 190 | 21 | 19 | 33 | 15 | 5.0 | 3.9 | 40% | 29% | 1.7 | North Dakota | Sr 5 | Unranked | 448 |
Great Osobor came from England, which isn't exactly a hotbed of basketball, so he was likely overlooked in the initial recruitng process. When he decided to transfer, he was no longer overlooked, being ranked the #7 player in the portal, but he decided to follow his coach from Utah State to Washington. The $2 million NIL deal was a hell of a lot of icing on the cake.
Osobor lived up to his first name, leading the Aggies to the regular season and tournament championships the Mountain West and a convincing win over TCU in the NCAA tournament. He led USU in points, rebounds, and blocks. He had three games of more than 30 points.
Mekhi Mason was the second-leading scorer for the Rice Owls, although his shooting numbers weren't great. At one point he committed to Purdue, before switching to the Huskies.
KC Ibekwe moves north from Coravllis after two uninspiring seasons for a bad Oregon State team. He was a limited scorer and turned the ball over a lot. He was not one of the top 475 players in the transfer portal.
DJ Davis was the best free throw shooter in the country at 95%. He spent three seasons for UC Irvine, before transferring to Butler, where he was third in scoring and second in steals. He goes from being an Anteater to a Bulldog to a Husky I think he is progressing in the mascot rankings.
Chris Conway was the 4th-leading scorer for the Golden Grizzlies, who won the Horizon League and beat Kentucky in the NCAA tournament, before falling to NC State. He scored 8 points and 9 points in his two NCAA tournament games. I hope he had a great experience. He isn't going back to the tournament with the Huskies.
Luis Kortright was the third-leading scorer for the Rhode Island Rams, who finished 12th in the A-10. He led the team in assists and steals. He wasn't a great shooter, but at least Washington has someone who could be their point guard.
Signing a hoss like Kortright was only part of the transfer bonanza on May 11th. On the same day, they signed Tyler Harris.
Tyler Harris had an excellent freshman year and was named to the WCC All-Freshman team. He was injured during his last two seasons of high school ball, so he may have been under-recruited out of high school. He also missed quite a few games for Portland due to injury. He is a good shooter and rebounder. He could be a significant contributor for the Huskies if he can stay healthy.
Tyree Ihenacho took an unusal path to get to Seattle. He played for a season for North Dakota, then two seasons at James Madison, then back to North Dakota for a year, and finally finishing up his college career for the Huskies. I spent a winter in Grand Forks, North Dakota. (It was about a girl.) It went for 3 straight months without getting above zero. After one winter in Grand Forks, I never went back. I can't figure out why Tyree did.
Tyree was the second-leading scorer for the Fighting Hawks, who finished second in the Summit League. However, he didn't shoot well (40%/27%/64%), so he was primarily a high-volume shooter.
Coach Sprinkle has put together a transfer class with a lot of players. We will have to see if the quality matches the quantity.
CONCLUSION
Rebuilding this roster should be a piece of cake for Sprinkle compared to what he had to do at Utah State. Building a roster from scratch is usually a metaphor. At Utah State, it was what he did. Personally, I think Washington hit a home run with this hire, just as they did with Kalen deBoer in football. For their sake I hope he is that good, and they can keep him.
Given the hand he was dealt, Coach Sprinkle sprinkled around the magic fairy dust (NIL money) and brought in 10 new players. This includes a couple of 4-star freshmen and a Top 10 transfer and another Top 100 transfer.
I would be skeptical about Sprinkle's ability to create a quality team our of an entirely new roster, but he did just than last season in Logan, Utah. He seems capable of doing it in Seattle. I think they end up somewhere in the middle of the league.
For another look at Washington, see Big Ten hoops additions: What to expect from Washington
Torvick projects Washington as the #57 team in the country and #16 in the B1G. He projects a 19-12 record, with 11-9 in the league.
247 picks the Huskies to finish 14th in the Big Ten.
Lunardi doesn't predict they make the tournament.
Vrooman picks them to finish 8th: He writes:
8. Washington Huskies
Projected Adjusted Efficiency Margin: +18.05 (+12.95 last year)
Coaching Info: Danny Sprinkle +9.95* (4th)
5 Highest Rated Players: G DJ Davis (Butler- 13.5 pts, 2.6 ast), F Great Osobor (Utah State- 17.1 pts, 9.0 reb), F Wilhelm Breidenbach (5.3 pts, 3.4 reb), G Tyree Ihenacho (North Dakota- 14.5 pts, 5.0 reb), C Franck Kepnang (8.3 pts, 1.7 blk)
We made it. This Washington projection comes with a major caveat. Normally, when a coach moves up from a mid-major program I simply start their coaching grade at +0.0. It’s obvious they did a good job at a lower level school or they wouldn’t have gotten the job. But I normally operate off the principal that my model is really intended to use recruiting rankings and so grading a coach from a college where almost everyone was unrated out of HS would probably throw things off. Add in that the level of competition is so different (plus it’s a ton more work for me to add in results from all those schools) and I’ve skipped it.
But since this is Washington’s coach I went ahead and entered in the data for Sprinkle’s one year at Utah State and unsurprisingly, he way overachieved the results. That’s why he was a top-5 finisher for national coach of the year. His +9.95 mark would make him the 4th best coach at the high major level if I count it. But then again, I didn’t go back through Dusty May’s teams at FAU. And I didn’t go back to Sprinkle’s first few years at Montana State. It’s probably most fair to just set Sprinkle’s coaching grade to +0.0 and treat him like everyone else. Doing so would move Washington down to 12th and barely sneak them into the middle third here.
That might also be the best option because it’s unclear how well the pieces fit on this roster. Great Osobor was a deserving MWC player of the year winner and he should at the least average 15+ pts and 8+ rebounds per game if healthy. But there’s just not a lot of shooting on this roster unless multiple players outperform their career averages. Either Osobor will have to play a lot of center or the paint is going to be very crowded with 4 other PF/C on the roster, none of whom shot better than 33% on 3’s last year and only 2 of whom shot more than once from that distance.
Sprinkle brought in 4 different guards in the 6’3 to 6’4 range and all of them are better at driving the ball than shooting the 3. It’s clear that Washington’s goal next year is to be one of the conference leaders in free throw attempts and hope that putting lots of tough, gritty players who are comfortable passing the ball will lead to a free flowing offense that can overcome spacing concerns.
Maybe that’s what will happen. Fully healthy seasons from both Tyler Harris and Franck Kepnang would help. I have enough reservations to say I think it’s more likely right this second we see the version of this team that finishes 12th and is in line for an NIT spot than the one that finishes 8th and is a legitimate NCAA tournament squad. But I’d love to be wrong.
===============================
DANNY SPRINKLE
Profile: Sprinkle, 47, did one of the best coaching jobs in college basketball this season, leading Utah State to 28 wins, the regular season title in the six-bid Mountain West and an NCAA Tournament win over TCU. This came after he and his staff basically recruited a whole new team after arriving at Utah State. He was previously the head coach at Montana State.
Style of Play: Hard to draw any conclusions based on Utah State, because that was a brand-new team assembled via the portal, but that Aggie team really reimagined positional roles, though that might have just been a luxury Great Osobor afforded them.
Recruiting Profile: Wasington will be portal-heavy, especially early, but then typically Pacific Northwest- and West Coast-dependent.