Life in the Big Ten is cruel. Over the weekend, Washington beat arch-rival Oregon. It was just the second time in a six-game span where the Huskies battled a team not ranked in the top 15 of the AP Poll. Days later, reality slapped UW’s face, similar to the rude suddenness a bug experiences in […]
Life in the Big Ten is cruel.
Over the weekend, Washington beat arch-rival Oregon. It was just the second time in a six-game span where the Huskies battled a team not ranked in the top 15 of the AP Poll. Days later, reality slapped UW’s face, similar to the rude suddenness a bug experiences in its death when meeting the windshield of a road-tripping vehicle. No. 9 Illinois will keep on rolling to its next destination. Washington is left scraping itself back together and continuing its journey onward.
As it currently stands, the rest of the road does not pit Washington against a ranked opponent, and only five of the remaining contests are road games, two of which are against the Ducks and UCLA. So the path does get easier for the Huskies. Not that winning those games will sway any selection committee. Still, Washington finishing the season strong matters.
The Huskies signed up for growing pains when they did these things.
- Become a Big Ten member
- Fire experienced, but struggling, ex-head coach Mike Hopkins
- Replacing Hopkins with Danny Sprinkle, a conference champion and two-time NCAA Tournament qualifier at the midmajor level
Getting Great Osobor to follow Sprinkle to Washington gave a boost of excitement to a fanbase in desperate need. The result? Underwhelming. Sprinkle responded by putting together a strong offseason, which caught the attention of college hoops media members. An early scouting report suggested Washington would flourish on offense while being mediocre on defense. A better prediction would’ve simply been, “struggle.” Unless your name is Hannes Steinbach, practically everything has been a struggle on Montlake this offseason.
Sitting at 11-10, a loss on the road to Northwestern would drop the Dawgs to .500. The first order of business? Finding a groove offensively. Washington had just three double-digit scorers against Illinois: Steinbach had 15 and 12 rebounds, Wesley Yates III (13), and Zoom Diallo (12). The second? Well, we’ll be here all day if I start listing out UW’s issues.
The Huskies return to action Saturday, 5 p.m. Pacific to battle NU on the road.
Category: General Sports
