Sprinkle Era Begins Game Thread

[Seattle or Bust]

They were down at halftime to SPU. yikes.

I went again.

Ya the energy was atrocious for the first 20 minutes. They were slow and lacked a ton of effort.

There musta been a pretty serious half-time meltdown by Sprinkle. I was paying close attention to his demeanor in the first game... very calm, just sort of stood there. Same with the first half of the SPU game.

Second half the guy was raging. If you fucked up you heard about it. Whole energy of the team picked up and they musta forced 15 turnovers and 30 deflections. All of a sudden they were driving and kicking instead of just passing it around the perimeter. All of a sudden guys were stepping into their shots with confidence instead of being sheepish about shooting.

I don't know why it is that you have to coach that energy into your players. That's not a good sign.

[Michael K.]

I don't know why it is that you have to coach that energy into your players. That's not a good sign.

It's only going to get worse. Everyone is entitled. HS isn't much better, but imagine coaching a group of late teens or early twenties kids that all think they are the greatest, all think they should be making huge money just to play college ball and all of whom are going to up and transfer, with no repercussion, as soon as they don't like something.

This is the first year probably since ESPN was invented that I have paid almost no attention to college football....and I haven't paid much attention to college basketball in years already. Same reason. They are all just paid mercenaries now...will all be gone in a month or two anyway.

The system is broken. It's time to just assign a salary level for these kids. Call it a contract, and treat it as such. You want to leave before your Junior year? It's a breach of contract and you have to pay a buy out. Otherwise? Once these kids take the money, they are under contract.

It won't happen because the NCAA is stupid and this is always how it is. It took them decades to bring in a "playoff", and even that was just two teams. Then? They decided...hey, there are five Conferences and over 100 teams, we should have four teams in the playoffs! How many years before they realized how stupid that was?

[Seattle or Bust]

They beat UMass Lowell by 5 yesterday.

Gonzaga beat UMass Lowell by 59 points a couple days prior.

No bueno.

[D-train]

They beat UMass Lowell by 5 yesterday.

Gonzaga beat UMass Lowell by 59 points a couple days prior.

No bueno.

Good God. Wait until next season I guess.

[D-train]

Huskies won both games in Palm Springs and are 6-1. Still no quality wins though. What does the conference season start a full month earlier now??? We play UCLA on the 3rd

[Sibelius Hindemith]

The schedules are all fugged up now.

[Donn Beach]

That seems interesting

Danny Sprinkle and the Washington men’s basketball team surprised many in college basketball recruiting circles and secured a commitment from four-star prospect Niko Bundalo on Wednesday morning.

The standout 6-foot-11 forward at powerhouse Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.) included two-time defending champion UConn, North Carolina, Ohio State and Michigan State among his final four before reopening his recruitment in October.

Over the summer, Bundalo also listed Kentucky, Kansas, Pitt, Xavier and Texas among his final nine finalists.

“I thought I was finished with my recruitment when I narrowed my list to a final four,” Bundalo told ESPN. “Then schools got commitments, and I was not ready and then the season started, so I had to start over. When Washington heard I was reopening my commitment, they jumped right in, and they have been great.”

[Donn Beach]

More on Niko Bundalo

“I just think the coaching staff and the style of play fit,” Bundalo told 247Sports. “For Coach Sprinkle the four-man plays the most minutes and he has one of the highest usage rates for his fours of any coach in the NCAA right now. I just think it’s a great opportunity for me to go in there where Great Osobor is on his way out the door. He’s a great player but him leaving and me getting a chance at that spot off the rip is a great opportunity for my development.”

Bundalo said he was “super impressed” with what Sprinkle accomplished at Utah State in 2023-24, leading the Aggies to their first Mountain West regular-season title and first NCAA Tournament win since 2001. He finished with a 28-7 record in his first season with Utah State before taking the Washington job in March.

“I think Sprinkle sees a lot for me. Just getting the ball off the rim and doing things. We talk about me initiating sets and being a high-level passer off the dribble and off the catch in my zone and my spots,” Bundalo said. “I think with me and Coach Sprinkle it’s going to be a relationship that’s very fluid where I can do whatever it takes to win. Whether we need a scorer, a good screener, a good rebounder I feel like I have an opportunity to do it all.”

[Michael K.]

Sure weren't very competitive against UCLA. Maybe UCLA is real good, but I don't know that game was ever really very close was it? I barely watched any, but it just never felt like when I would turn the channel that we were ever going to threaten them. Osobor was 4 for 11 from the field and 6 of 11 at the line. He was 4 of 8 on November 5th and 2 of 4 on November 22nd. In all the other six games he shot under 50% from the field. Not great for a post player. Shooting 55% from the line on the year. I thought I kept reading about how great he was and was going to save the program? Seems to me like he might have been a guy that actually belonged at the school that wasn't in a Power 4 Conference.

[Seattle or Bust]

Sprinkle can recruit... not sure he can coach.

It's just not good basketball.