There's some healthy expectations for the Huskies coming off their best season in nearly a decade
The Washington Huskies women's basketball team is coming off its best season in nearly a decade.
The Huskies won its first NCAA tournament game since 2017 after beating South Dakota State 72-54 in the opening round of March Madness on March 20.
That win also marked the first win in three national tournament berths for head coach Tina Langley. Including this past March, Langley made the tournament three times: once with the Rice Owls (2019) and twice with Washington (2025-26).
The Huskies fell three points shy of advancing to the Sweet 16 after falling to the TCU Horned Frogs 62-59 in a Round of 32 game on March 22.
Coming off the heels of their 22-11 season, there's a healthy amount of expectations for Washington going into next season, including from Talia Goodman of On3 Sports.
The Huskies ranked No. 23 in early top 25 rankings from the publication.
Goodman wrote an excerpt on UW in an article for On3 Sports.
In the article, Goodman highlighted the backcourt pairing of first-team All-Big Ten guard Sayvia Sellers and All-Big Ten honorable mention guard Avery Howell as a key for the team going into 2026-27:
"The centerpiece of this team is the Sellers-Howell duo and it’s one of the best backcourt combinations in the Big Ten," Goodman wrote in the article. "Sellers earned All-Big Ten First Team honors while Howell received All-Big Ten Honorable Mention recognition and freshman Brynn McGaughy was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. Sellers, a midseason Naismith Player of the Year candidate, is a scoring guard who can also create for others, while Howell is a 6-0 guard who led the team in rebounding at 8.3 per game. The Huskies’ heartbreaking overtime loss to TCU in the second round should fuel this program into success next season."
Sellers, who entered last season as a preseason All-Big Ten pick, averaged a career-high 18 points across 33 games (all starts) on 47.3% shooting (35.4% from 3-point range). She also averaged 3.9 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game.
Howell transferred to the program after spending her freshman season with the Southern California (USC) Trojans and instantly became an impact player for Washington.
The Boise, Idaho, native averaged 14.2 points across 33 games (all starts) on 50.8% shooting from the floor, including a 43.1% mark from beyond the arc. She also averaged 8.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 steals. She led the team in rebounding after averaging three a game in 35 contests with USC her freshman season.
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