Rothstein expects Washington to sit in Big Ten’s lower tier entering Danny Sprinkle’s third season

Ahead of the 2026-27 college basketball season, CBS Sports analyst Jon Rothstein has Washington projected in the Big Ten’s bottom third, a placement that sets a low external bar for Danny Sprinkle entering his third season with the Huskies.

The outlook is notable because preseason placement tends to shape early narratives around depth, continuity, and matchups, particularly in the Big Ten where league play is often defined by consistency over a full conference schedule. Rothstein’s ranking suggests Washington is not expected to be a regular presence near the top of the standings, at least based on what he expects the roster will deliver this winter.

Washington’s season resume from 2025-26 provides the immediate context for that skepticism. The Huskies finished 16-17 overall and went 7-13 in Big Ten play, results that, in the eyes of many observers, indicate they struggled to separate from the middle and lower portions of the conference. Rothstein’s bottom-third placement follows naturally from that conference record, because Big Ten expectations usually hinge on how teams perform against familiar opponents multiple times across the year.

For Sprinkle, the third season often functions as a midpoint check. First-year transitions can include roster adjustments and system installation, while year two typically becomes about refinement and identification of the players who best fit the style. By year three, programs are usually judged more directly on whether the recruiting and development pipeline is producing the kind of rotation-level stability that leads to more competitive conference games.

The Huskies’ place in Rothstein’s projection also matters for how they approach the first half of the schedule. Teams in the lower tier category are often forced to treat early non-conference games as measuring sticks for what will translate into Big Ten results. In other words, if Washington wants to challenge a bottom-third label, it will need signs of improved quality quickly, not just flashes against select opponents.

There is, however, a caveat to any preseason ranking: Big Ten seasons can shift rapidly as rosters settle into roles and as matchups either amplify or mute specific strengths. Without detailed, source-backed information in this report about Washington’s incoming talent or specific returning production, Rothstein’s projection should be viewed as an expectations framework rather than a prediction locked to final results.