The Washington Huskies men's basketball team is set to begin its regular season against Arkansas Pine-Bluff at 8 p.m. PT on Nov. 3 at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle.

The Huskies have a healthy amount of expectations in the program's second season under second-year head coach Danny Sprinkle.

Washington will have a roster that has just two returning players from 2024-25 (guard Zoom Diallo and center Franck Kepnang). In the program's first year under Sprinkle, the team finished last in the 18-team Big Ten and missed the 15-team cutoff for the postseason conference tournament.

The Huskies received votes in the first Associated Press (AP) Top 25 poll, and several new additions, such as freshman forward Hannes Steinbach, have already shown flashes of potential in exhibition games and practices.

A lot of fans will anxiously await to see if Washington takes that massive step forward under Sprinkle.

At the pro level, the 2025-26 NBA season is officially underway and one of the better play for the Huskies in recent years represented his former stomping grounds.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels, in a photo shoot, wore custom Kevin Durant-model sneakers that bore the colors and logo of Washington.

McDaniels received a shout out from the Huskies men's basketball's official account on "X."

McDaniels, a Federal Way, Wash., native, was a five-star recruit in high school and a McDonald's All-American. He played for Washington for one season in 2019-20 for one season before he entered the 2020 NBA Draft.

McDaniels averaged 13 points and 5.8 rebounds a game in his lone season with the Huskies.

McDaniels was selected with the 28th pick in the 2020 draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. He was dealt to the Oklahoma City Thunder and then to Minnesota before his rookie year began.

For his career, McDaniels has averaged 10.3 points per game on 48.2% shooting from the floor and 34.8% shooting from 3-point range. He's also pulled in 4.2 rebounds and averaged 1.5 assists per game.

Last year, McDaniels set new career-highs in points per game (12.2), rebounds per game (5.7), assists per game (2.0) and steals per game (1.3). He averaged 14.7 points across 15 games on 51.5% shooting from the floor in the 2025 playoffs. McDaniels was named to the second-team All-NBA Defensive Team in 2024.

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