There is a rumor that UW has an NIL whale for basketball. The fact that the kid who just committed wasn't even considering UW and hasn't visited would suggest that might be true.
The whale exists. There was a reason Hopkins could convince transfers to keep coming in to his program after the evidence was out that he wasn’t a great coach. Contrary to Kim’s opinion, it was never because Will Conroy was so charismatic. Pretty sure the only kid Conroy convinced to come to UW was Koren Johnson.
It's becoming clear a lot of the recruiting success of late Romar and Hop can be attributed to our mystery bball donor(s).
There's really been no excuse for us to not have been a regular tournament team over the last decade, just bad coaching. If Sprinkle is good he will have no problem getting a good roster.
if Sprinkle and UW lands Sylla, they jump into the top 10-12 rankings. I have a hunch it’s Ballmer feeding the program $$$ for recruiting and the new bball facility, he’s a bball nut.
Despite all the transfers this years version of the huskies are not good. They cannot make an outside shot. We will see if they actually improve. I can't remember the last time we had a good coach that schemed and was good at coaching basketball.
The offense they’re running is creating layup opportunities and open shots. That’s more than I can say for the Hopkins or Romar regimes. True, this team can’t shoot. Not jumpers and not free throws but the looks are there. Defensively they mix zone and man to man. They move their feet, play with effort and don’t rack up stupid fouls like teams from the last two coaches did. That’s nice to see and it’s getting better from games 1 and 2 to games 7 and 8. They lost two of their big guys, one for the season, the other likely for the season and they weren’t deep to begin with. That hurts. Zoom will keep getting better, he’s as good as advertised. Harris is a freaky athlete and streaky scorer that’s still learning team basketball, DJ Davis came in as a great shooter but looks like his confidence is shot. Maybe the heavy guard rotation is hurting him getting into a solid rhythm. Great, as stated by his head coach in multiple interviews, is out of shape and trying to do too much. Why he can’t play 32 good minutes is very disappointing. If they keep improving though, they may be an NIT team. Keep faith, teams can get better and I think this one will.
Romar had a good run. If you look at his teams though he needed a future NBA all star just to make the tournament. Not NBA players, he needed an actual all star just to qualify. Teams with Hawes and Brockman didn’t make the NCAAs, teams with Brockman and Pondexter didn’t make the NCAAs, both of those future NBA players needed a future All Star in Thomas to get there. Teams with Wroten, Ross and Wilcox couldn’t make the tournament. If you’ve got teams with NBA level talent on them you should make the NCAA tournament, period. If he didn’t have a Brandon Roy or an IT he could never do it and the P12 sucked. A team with Thomas, Ross, Holiday, Wilcox and MBA had to win the P12 tournament just to get into the NCAA tournament as an 8 seed. He wasted so much talent it was criminal. I’m hoping Sprinkle can marry talent and coaching in a way Romar and Hopkins couldn’t. The recruiting class coming next year is a good start and the coaching of this flawed team gives me hope.
Romar built a good culture for a bit. He brought in some serious talent. Dudes played hard. Players liked playing for him. Other teams hated playing us.
But they also couldn't play defense after one or two weak side rotations. Our halfcourt offense depended on having an elite offensive guard to run p&r or else it sucked. Our inbounds on offense and defense were garbage. We didn't beat a team in the tourney with comparable talent (Illinois maybe).
All that to say yes he is the best husky hoops coach of my lifetime.
Romar was truly fucked on defense when the NCAA cracked down on hand checking. When UW was not allowed to rough up opposing PGs the defense became a fouling machine which further deteriorated the viewing pleasure of watching basketball. Zero flow.
That USC game was full on regression. Poor effort. Haven’t seen that from the team this year. Slow to the ball, slow on defensive switches, Great O. looks slow and out of shape. Hope Sprink runs these dudes into the ground tomorrow. Unacceptable.
Great Osohor came in out of shape. I wouldn't even have him practice. He has the ball skills, just put him on an elliptical for 45 minutes a day and get his stamina up, and shed a few lbs. Eat better. #MGBHA Other big from Oregon State doesn't look like he can run a quarter mile. Kepnang can't stay healthy. If he stays healthy a year ago, that team is probably sniffing the tourney. Apparently he will be back soon.
No great shooters in the main rotation. Probably should play King (shooting .833 from the floor and 1.000 from 3) more for this reason but he gets very little playing time. Harris is an interesting player but not aggressive. Zoom has been nice but, like the other guards, struggles from deep. If one can shoot, it can open up the lane for even the slowest fattest players.
As for recruiting, yes, they have attracted some elite players. Early on in Hopkins era it was some guys from New York he had longstanding relationships. Obviously there is a hoops donor that is helping attract. As for Conroy, Jaden McDaniels probably doesn't come here without him, and quite honestly, neither does Zoom. Interestingly they brought in guys like Stephenson (Lacey - Wichita State - UW) and picked up guys like Raequan Battle (Marysville - UW) but never really gave those guys the green light they needed to get going. Both ended up being the leading scores at WVU the last two seasons. I'm venturing into hypotheticals.
The 2006-2007 team with Hawes and Brockman which just destructed after bring ranked in the top 15 at one point really made me question Romar. I didn't call for his job until 2013 or 2014 because he could recruit pretty well. I think losing Bone on 2005 or whenever that was hurt him.
Diomande in the fold now for the rest of the season. Been playing pro ball overseas, projected top 50 NBA draft pick. Another scoring option for Sprinkle and UW. Will be interesting if he turns pro.
Comments
#12 2025 class in the country. I’m thinking this guy fucks.
Disagree.
There is a rumor that UW has an NIL whale for basketball. The fact that the kid who just committed wasn't even considering UW and hasn't visited would suggest that might be true.
The whale exists. There was a reason Hopkins could convince transfers to keep coming in to his program after the evidence was out that he wasn’t a great coach. Contrary to Kim’s opinion, it was never because Will Conroy was so charismatic. Pretty sure the only kid Conroy convinced to come to UW was Koren Johnson.
It's becoming clear a lot of the recruiting success of late Romar and Hop can be attributed to our mystery bball donor(s).
There's really been no excuse for us to not have been a regular tournament team over the last decade, just bad coaching. If Sprinkle is good he will have no problem getting a good roster.
That's what I was wondering from afar. Seems like the Huskies have had NBA players without results
Maybe he can coach
First impression is that Sprinkle is a solid dude and possibly a good coach. I'm mildly interested in the season this year, which is an uptick for me.
@Sonics is trying to single handily make the basketball team again thanks to his BTC gains. Thanks, Detlef!
if Sprinkle and UW lands Sylla, they jump into the top 10-12 rankings. I have a hunch it’s Ballmer feeding the program $$$ for recruiting and the new bball facility, he’s a bball nut.
Despite all the transfers this years version of the huskies are not good. They cannot make an outside shot. We will see if they actually improve. I can't remember the last time we had a good coach that schemed and was good at coaching basketball.
Has anyone done better than Romar?
Not saying he was great but I did pay attention then
The offense they’re running is creating layup opportunities and open shots. That’s more than I can say for the Hopkins or Romar regimes. True, this team can’t shoot. Not jumpers and not free throws but the looks are there. Defensively they mix zone and man to man. They move their feet, play with effort and don’t rack up stupid fouls like teams from the last two coaches did. That’s nice to see and it’s getting better from games 1 and 2 to games 7 and 8. They lost two of their big guys, one for the season, the other likely for the season and they weren’t deep to begin with. That hurts. Zoom will keep getting better, he’s as good as advertised. Harris is a freaky athlete and streaky scorer that’s still learning team basketball, DJ Davis came in as a great shooter but looks like his confidence is shot. Maybe the heavy guard rotation is hurting him getting into a solid rhythm. Great, as stated by his head coach in multiple interviews, is out of shape and trying to do too much. Why he can’t play 32 good minutes is very disappointing. If they keep improving though, they may be an NIT team. Keep faith, teams can get better and I think this one will.
Romar had a good run. If you look at his teams though he needed a future NBA all star just to make the tournament. Not NBA players, he needed an actual all star just to qualify. Teams with Hawes and Brockman didn’t make the NCAAs, teams with Brockman and Pondexter didn’t make the NCAAs, both of those future NBA players needed a future All Star in Thomas to get there. Teams with Wroten, Ross and Wilcox couldn’t make the tournament. If you’ve got teams with NBA level talent on them you should make the NCAA tournament, period. If he didn’t have a Brandon Roy or an IT he could never do it and the P12 sucked. A team with Thomas, Ross, Holiday, Wilcox and MBA had to win the P12 tournament just to get into the NCAA tournament as an 8 seed. He wasted so much talent it was criminal. I’m hoping Sprinkle can marry talent and coaching in a way Romar and Hopkins couldn’t. The recruiting class coming next year is a good start and the coaching of this flawed team gives me hope.
Romar built a good culture for a bit. He brought in some serious talent. Dudes played hard. Players liked playing for him. Other teams hated playing us.
But they also couldn't play defense after one or two weak side rotations. Our halfcourt offense depended on having an elite offensive guard to run p&r or else it sucked. Our inbounds on offense and defense were garbage. We didn't beat a team in the tourney with comparable talent (Illinois maybe).
All that to say yes he is the best husky hoops coach of my lifetime.
Romar was truly fucked on defense when the NCAA cracked down on hand checking. When UW was not allowed to rough up opposing PGs the defense became a fouling machine which further deteriorated the viewing pleasure of watching basketball. Zero flow.
That USC game was full on regression. Poor effort. Haven’t seen that from the team this year. Slow to the ball, slow on defensive switches, Great O. looks slow and out of shape. Hope Sprink runs these dudes into the ground tomorrow. Unacceptable.
Great Osohor came in out of shape. I wouldn't even have him practice. He has the ball skills, just put him on an elliptical for 45 minutes a day and get his stamina up, and shed a few lbs. Eat better. #MGBHA Other big from Oregon State doesn't look like he can run a quarter mile. Kepnang can't stay healthy. If he stays healthy a year ago, that team is probably sniffing the tourney. Apparently he will be back soon.
No great shooters in the main rotation. Probably should play King (shooting .833 from the floor and 1.000 from 3) more for this reason but he gets very little playing time. Harris is an interesting player but not aggressive. Zoom has been nice but, like the other guards, struggles from deep. If one can shoot, it can open up the lane for even the slowest fattest players.
As for recruiting, yes, they have attracted some elite players. Early on in Hopkins era it was some guys from New York he had longstanding relationships. Obviously there is a hoops donor that is helping attract. As for Conroy, Jaden McDaniels probably doesn't come here without him, and quite honestly, neither does Zoom. Interestingly they brought in guys like Stephenson (Lacey - Wichita State - UW) and picked up guys like Raequan Battle (Marysville - UW) but never really gave those guys the green light they needed to get going. Both ended up being the leading scores at WVU the last two seasons. I'm venturing into hypotheticals.
The 2006-2007 team with Hawes and Brockman which just destructed after bring ranked in the top 15 at one point really made me question Romar. I didn't call for his job until 2013 or 2014 because he could recruit pretty well. I think losing Bone on 2005 or whenever that was hurt him.
Diomande in the fold now for the rest of the season. Been playing pro ball overseas, projected top 50 NBA draft pick. Another scoring option for Sprinkle and UW. Will be interesting if he turns pro.
If he can rebound and hit free throws I’ll love him.