With USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington set to join the Big Ten, we’re exploring what each of these additions means to the Big Ten men’s basketball landscape. How do their fans feel about their head coach? Who has joined and left the program this offseason? Where are they projected to rank in the conference?

Next up: the Washington Huskies

Washington will be looking to bounce back after a disappointing 2023-24 season in which it went 17-15 and missed the NCAA Tournament.

Following Lorenzo Romar’s successes from 2002-17, the program turned to Mike Hopkins. Hopkins won Pac-12 Coach of the Year his first two seasons while also winning the conference regular season title in 2018-19. But that would be the peak of the Hopkins era, as the Huskies only advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament that year and never made the tournament again in his tenure.

The university let Hopkins go before quickly identifying Danny Sprinkle as their next head coach. Sprinkle comes to Washington after just one — albeit very successful — year at Utah State. Prior to that, he was at Montana State for four seasons and took them to the NCAA Tournament twice.

Last season’s Huskies were led by a pair of former Kentucky Wildcats in forward Keion Brooks Jr. (21.1 points per game) and guard Sahvir Wheeler (14.3 ppg). They had two other scorers who averaged double-digits in forward Moses Wood (11.9) and guard Koren Johnson (11.1). The Huskies also had a pair of former Big Ten players in the rotation in guard Paul Mulcahy (Rutgers) and forward Wilhelm Breidenbach (Nebraska). Centers Franck Kepnang and Braxton Meah, along with guards Nate Calmese and Anthony Holland, rounded out the rotation.

Predictably due to the coaching change, Washington’s roster is undergoing a massive overhaul. Five Huskies ran out of eligibility, while Johnson (Louisville) and Meah (Nebraska) left for greener pastures via the portal. Yates and Calmese also entered the portal but have yet to find a new home. For those keeping track at home, that’s all four of their top scorers and eight of the 10 members of the rotation that will not be returning. Only Breidenbach (5.3 ppg) and Kepnang (8.3 ppg) are expected to return.

To replace essentially the entire roster, Sprinkle brought in a transfer portal class of seven players that is currently ranked No. 2 in the Big Ten and No. 8 nationally, according to 247Sports. Headlining the class is center Great Osobor, who is following Sprinkle from Utah State to Washington. The No. 7 ranked transfer in the country this offseason, Osobor made the news recently as the highest paid transfer of all time (that we know of) as he is set to earn more than $2 million in NIL, according to ESPN.

In addition to Osobor, Sprinkle brought in highly touted guards Mekhi Mason (Rice) and D.J. Davis (Butler), and forward Tyler Harris (Portland). Mason is No. 87 on 247Sports’ transfer portal rankings, while Davis is No. 104.

Rounding out the class are unranked transfers, Chris Conway (Oakland), KC Ibekwe (Oregon State), and Luis Kortright (Rhode Island).

Washington’s incoming freshmen class is another reason for excitement. The Huskies brought in two four-star guards in Zoom Diallo and Jase Butler. Both are in the top-100 of high school prospects, with Diallo bordering on five-star status. Both are expected to be instant contributors. The class ranked No. 34 nationally and No. 6 in the Big Ten.

It’s tough to know what to project for this upcoming season’s Washington Huskies, given they return just 7.8 percent of their total minutes from a season ago. Only USC returns less minutes from last year in the new Big Ten.

Torvik currently projects Washington to go 19-12 and be the No. 52 team in the country. This would place the Huskies 14th in the Big Ten, just ahead of the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Osobor certainly provides some excitement, along with the incoming freshmen guards, but the depth likely won’t be there this season.

Historically, Washington has not been a top-tier men’s basketball program. The Huskies have never won a National Championship and have made just one Final Four (1953). Their last Sweet Sixteen was in 2010.

Notable alumni of the program include Brandon Roy, Isaiah Thomas, Matisse Thybulle, Detlef Schrempf, and Dejounte Murray.

Washington is certainly in for a rude awakening in the Big Ten this year. However, Sprinkle has the ball rolling with a little momentum right now. Whether he’s able to continue that momentum will determine their early success or failure.

Virginia

1

Where: Great Falls.

Sold by: Ian Landy, cofounder of the telecommunications company LightSpeed International.

Listed: $17,995,000.

Sold: $14,750,000.

Days on market: 271.

Style: Georgian.

Bragging points: Eight bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, and five half bathrooms on more than 17 acres, with equestrian stables, a private lake, a sauna, an elevator, and an indoor swimming pavilion.

2

Where: Rosslyn.

Sold by: Ralph Shrader, chairman and former CEO of Booz Allen Hamilton.

Listed: $6,250,000.

Sold: $5,950,000.

Days on market: 81.

Style: Condo.

Bragging points: A 4,600-square-foot penthouse with three bedrooms, three bath­rooms, and two half bathrooms; northern, eastern, and southern exposures; a gourmet kitchen; two dressing rooms; and a library.

DC

3

Where: Kalorama.

Sold by: Rex Tillerson, former Secretary of State and former CEO of ExxonMobil.

Listed: $6,500,000.

Sold: $6,200,000.

Days on market: 19.

Style: Townhouse.

Bragging points: Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and three half bathrooms, with an elevator, a study, three fireplaces, and a courtyard-­style garden.

4

Where: Forest Hills.

Bought by: Stephen Weissman, partner at Gibson Dunn.

Listed: $5,850,000.

Sold: $5,650,000.

Days on market: 98.

Style: Transitional.

Bragging points: New construction on almost half an acre, with six bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, a recreation room, a wet bar, a mudroom, and a primary suite with dual walk-in closets.

5

Where: Georgetown.

Sold by: John Castellani, former president and CEO of PhRMA.

Listed: $4,750,000.

Sold: $4,500,000.

Days on market: 3.

Style: Colonial.

Bragging points: Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and two half bathrooms, with a wet bar, covered porch, gated four-car parking pad, and walkout terrace.

6

Where: Berkley.

Bought by: Katie Mitchell, partner at Narrative Strategies, and Nicholas Williams, VP of technology and product development at X-COR Therapeutics.

Listed: $4,150,000.

Sold: $4,050,000.

Days on market: 8.

Style: Colonial.

Bragging points: Six bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms, with an indoor/outdoor fireplace, French doors, over-size windows, a media room, and a gated motor court.

Maryland

7

Where: Chevy Chase.

Bought by: Danielle Juda, executive director at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, and Aaron Juda, chief strategy officer and president of consumer banking at Forbright Bank.

Listed: $3,500,000.

Sold: $3,600,000.

Days on market: 6.

Style: Colonial.

Bragging points: Seven bedrooms, six bathrooms, and two half bathrooms, with a chef’s kitchen, sunroom, den, screened porch, wet bar, mudroom, and au pair suite.

Sales information provided by Bright MLS.
This article appears in the May 2024 issue of Washingtonian.

In this column, we take a look back one hundred years ago in western Washington County. This week, the clips come from the Washington County News-Times and the Hillsboro Argus, published May 15, 1924.

We also have a very special feature this week: A Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, hand lettered with the names of businesses and buildings in and around Banks in September 1921. View the images below, but the absolute best way to view them is to scroll down and click on the link below each map, which will take you to a zoomable image hosted at the Library of Congress. Their website is clearly more robust than mine, which refused to host the original size file, so I had to shrink the size a bit.

These news clips are selected for relevancy for the geographic area our newspaper covers, and occasionally include areas in Forest Grove (a shopping, business, and transportation hub at the time) and Hillsboro (the county seat) for news events that I believe would have been of significance to rural readers of the time. They are presented as-is, and without comment. At the time, the newspapers of the day often expressed viewpoints that today would be considered racist, xenophobic, and sexist, frequently using slurs to describe ethnic groups and often stepping outside the norms of what we consider to be ethical journalism today.

Want more local history? Visit the Banks Historical Society online at www.bankshistory.org for Banks-area history, and Friends of Historic Forest Grove, which often works in the Gales Creek area, online at www.fhfg.org.

View the full size map here.

View the full size map here.

View the full size map here.

View the full size map here.

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Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.

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