The Washington Huskies have really struggled since moving to the Big Ten. To make matters worse, the Huskies lost their best player to the NBA.
Hannes Steinbach declared his intentions for the 2026 NBA draft yesterday afternoon. The 6-11 German had a sensational freshman campaign. He averaged a double-double with 18.8 points and a Big Ten-high 11.8 rebounds while shooting 57.7% from the field and 34% from the 3-point line. The all-Big Ten third team selection averaged 1.3 blocks per game and set a Big Ten freshman record with 22 double-doubles. He is expected to be a top-20 draft pick with lottery upside.
“[Steinbach] just has an innate ability to rebound the ball, and his feel for the game is just tremendous,” coach Danny Sprinkle told Percy Allen of The Seattle Times. “We knew he was going to be good, but did we know he was going to play as he did as a freshman? Like nobody could have seen that. We thought we’d have him for at least two years.”
A Day After Losing German Star To NBA, Huskies See Second-Leading Scorer Transfer to SEC Program
Washington, which had regular success from 2003-10 under Lorenzo Romar, is coming off a 16-17 campaign in Sprinkle’s second season in Seattle. The Huskies are just 29-35 over the last two seasons, including 11-29 in the Big Ten. They are on a seven-year NCAA Tournament drought and have only made three NCAA appearances since 2010.
Steinbach, who reportedly turned down $10 milllion in NIL money, is not the only player vacating the Huskies. Steinbach’s departure means that the Huskies will have four new starters next season. The Huskies knew that 6-11 center Frank Kepnang and Quimari Peterson wouldn’t return as they exhausted their eligibility. Although Kepnang officially entered the transfer portal as he seeks a seventh season via a waiver from the NCAA, per Roman Tomashoff of the Huskies Wire.
Kepnang is the sixth Husky to enter the transfer portal. Zoom Diallo — who started 29 games this past season — Desmond Claude, and consensus top-50 2025 recruit JJ Mandaquit are the other key players in the transfer portal.
There is some good news for Washington. Six-foot-6 forward Bryson Tucker, who started 14 of his 21 appearances, is expected to return to UW as is starting guard Wesley Yates III, who was fourth on the team in scoring at 12.7 points and second with two treys a contest. Additionally, Kepnang said there was a chance that he would return to the Huskies.
All totaled, Sprinkle has seven players who will likely return from last year’s squad -not including Kepnang. Sprinkle does have a commitment from Davidson transfer Parker Friedrichsen. Friedrichsen committed to the Huskies on April 12 after a career season with the Wildcats. The 6-3 guard, who also spent two seasons at Wake Forest, is a 3-point specialist.
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