The one player Danny Sprinkle needs most is leaving Washington

Danny Sprinkle is taking punch after punch this week, thanks to the opening of the transfer portal next week. It started with Courtland Muldrew last week, then JJ Mandaquit this morning, followed by Zoom Diallo. The last being the most crushing as Sprinkle has built the team around Diallo (even if fans wish it was actually around Steinbach). Diallo was the one young player he couldn't afford to lose, and now Diallo is planning to enter his name in the portal.

Diallo's departure is a double loss for Sprinkle. Not only because of the loss of a star guard who averaged 15.7 points, 4.5 assists, and 3.9 rebounds a game, but because he's a hometown hero. A player from down I-5 in Tacoma. A player who says he always dreamed of being a Husky is now exploring being something else entirely.

Zoom Diallo has put the nail in the coffin of Danny Sprinkle's dreams of Husky basetball

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Diallo did leave the door open at the end of his post announcing his decision, but nothing in the rest of the statement seems to indicate he is actually considering returning to the Huskies. This is the biggest loss so far, pending the NBA decision of Hannes Steinbach.

For Sprinkle, it has to be hard; his seat is already warm, and if it wasn't for his big buyout, he may even already be gone. The fans are tired of his "plans," and now his latest one is going up in smoke. His big dreams of a young core growing together and becoming the Husky squad of the future by the time they were upperclassmen are gone.

That was already the case with freshmen JJ Mandaquit and Courtland Muldrew, but now it's even more evident as the sophomore guard, Diallo. Sprinkle will have no choice but to rebuild the team around the transfer portal. Marking another year where it feels like the Huskies are rebuilding.