Here’s upside of disappointing first year for Washington Husky men under Danny Sprinkle

Perhaps in the end, Danny Sprinkle will leave a lasting impression. 

But right now, his team is just last. 

Maybe down the road, Sprinkle builds a skyscraper of a program. As of this moment, though, his Huskies are locked in the cellar. 

Building a program that had made just one NCAA tournament appearance since 2011 takes time. Moving on to a more competitive conference is an adjustment. 

But if you’re feeling frustrated as a fan of Washington men’s hoops, you have every right to be. Year 1 of the Sprinkle era wasn’t supposed to be this bad. 

Heading into Tuesday’s road game vs. Wisconsin — the 11th-ranked team in the country — the Huskies are in last place in the 18-team Big Ten. They sit 13-14 overall and 4-12 in conference after having lost nine of their past 12. 

Yes, they have won three of their past six — all against fellow bottom feeders such as Penn State, Minnesota and Northwestern. They would likely need to play their best basketball of the season in these final four games to get into the Big Ten tournament, which is reserved for the conference’s top 15 teams. 

I’ll stop short of calling this a disaster considering Sprinkle took over a team that had a losing record in conference in four of its past five years — finishing 11th in the Pac-12 once and last another. And I’ll make the essential acknowledgment that UW has the 14th-best recruiting class in the country for 2025, according to 247Sports.com. 

Sprinkle has a six-year contract for a reason. Athletic directors know that, even in the current age of college sports, it can take some time to make a program a regular contender. 

Still … 18th out of 18 with four games to go? 

Yes, there have been a couple of injuries to UW’s post players. Chris Conway, the transfer from Oakland (Mich.), has not suited up all season. Franck Kepnang, who is perpetually sidelined, missed 17 games in a row before returning Jan. 24. But the season was never going to come down to that pair’s health. 

This Husky team just never came together. 

Some might point to the brutal schedule they faced in the early weeks of conference play. Fair. Except that doesn’t excuse some of the drubbings they experienced. Michigan State beat them by 34. Michigan trounced them by 16 the next game. And though the Huskies led Purdue by eight at halftime, they were outscored by 19 in the final 20 minutes. 

So have there been any signs of potential? 

Sure. Topping Maryland, the 16th-ranked team in the country, made it seem as though UW could hang with some of the nation’s top teams. This wasn’t the Huskies getting hot from outside and making a bevy of uncharacteristic shots — this was them simply outplaying the Terps. 

But that proved to be a one-off. When the schedule got easier, the Huskies didn’t get that much better. And it’s fair to ask — are they better off now than they were at this point last year? 

With Wisconsin, Indiana, USC and Oregon left on the schedule, there’s a chance the Huskies are sportsbook underdogs in each of their final four games of the season. Even if they win two of those four, they would need considerable help to simply get into the Big Ten tournament. And though I agree that it’s unfair to judge Sprinkle’s work based on his first season, giving programs a quick fix is necessary in today’s college sports landscape. 

A couple of friends and I were debating the other day whether we’d rather win the NIT or lose by 50 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The consensus was the latter, in part because programs don’t really build off momentum from previous seasons anymore. Everyone transfers. Everyone re-recruits. 

It’s encouraging that, per the recruiting rankings, UW has some big-name talent coming in. The question is whether Sprinkle can A) land some talent through the transfer portal and B) mold that talent into something formidable. 

Washington has been one the nation’s better football programs over the past decade, winning three conference titles, twice making the College Football Playoff and once reaching the national title game. Its men’s basketball program, on the other hand, has disappointed. 

Sprinkle was supposed to halt that disappointment. Perhaps he will. Perhaps he’ll turn this thing around the way he did at Montana State. He was hired because his résumé blared “program builder.” 

But right now his program is at the bottom. It can still improve — it just hasn’t yet.