Washington Huskies Coach Talks About Team's Identity Going Into 2026-27 Season

SEATTLE — For the third season in a row under head coach Danny Sprinkle, the Washington Huskies men's basketball team will have an almost completely retooled team.

The Huskies replaced nine spots on the 15-man roster this offseason. The roster is comprised of six returners, a pair of international players learning the college game for the first time, one Class of 2026 high school graduate and several transfers, many of whom are in their fourth year of college ball or later.

UW was plagued with injuries last season which limited the team to just seven or eight scholarship players available at various points in the season. 

This year, with three fifths of the roster new to the team and several of the six returners among the players who missed time last season, Washington is a team that, at least on surface, doesn't have an identity.

Fourth-year point guard and San Francisco transfer Ryan Beasley described the current system as a "read and react" offense following practice Tuesday at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle.

"We've done a pretty good job up to this point," Sprinkle said in a news conference Thursday at Alaksa Airlines Arena. "Now we need to play against other people who don't know our tendencies. We still need to (do) a lot better job at spacing. Opening the floor for some of our guys that can drive. The ball (is) still sticking a little too much. The ball's got to find the open shot. ... A couple guys are holding the ball a little too long and it's stagnating our offense. We got to continue to get better at that because we have some guys that can really shoot the basketball. Now we got to find a way to manufacture shots."

Beasley, as the assumptive starting point guard, will be tasked with being the floor general that helps everything moving consistently and congruently.

Right next to Beasley will be another transfer, fifth-year wing LeJuan Watts.

Watts transferred to Washington from the Texas Tech Red Raiders. He spent one season in Lubbock, Texas, which resulted in him and the Red Raiders advancing the Round of 32 of the 2026 NCAA tournament.

The fifth-year wing co-led the team in points (16) in the exhibition loss against the Broncos, and will likely continue to remain a focal point of the offense, whatever shape it takes, going forward.

"LeJuan is so talented. He could play point guard," Sprinkle said. "When he has the ball in his hands, it's probably the best thing he does. Offensively, he's very, very dynamic. He can shoot the 3, but his habit is to catch and playmake for somebody. He's (6-foot-6, 235 pounds) but he has a fast twitch. He can start and stop probably better than anybody on our team. He really can. He can be really explosive at times, but the way he just changes pace is elite. It's just something that he has. ... We're going to need him to be a playmaker."

UW will next be in action in an exhibition game against the Washington State Cougars, one of Watts' former college teams, at 1 p.m. PT on Sunday at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle. The regular season will begin against the Colgate Red Raiders at 7 p.m. PT on Nov. 2, also at Alaksa Airlines Arena.