“You’ve got to be tough to practice with us,” center Franck Kepnang said after a summer of workouts with Washington Huskies coach Danny Sprinkle. Not only is he preparing an all-new team for his first season at the helm in Seattle, but he’s also getting them ready for their first campaign in the Big Ten.
Just like on the football field, the conference is known for its culture of physicality, and that hasn’t been lost on Sprinkle or his players.
When asked about the team’s improved physicality, Kepnang said that he believes himself, forward Great Osobor, and center KC Ibekwe are one of the most physical trios in college basketball and said Sprinkle has helped elevate Washington’s mindset during the offseason.
“I think all of us on the team are physical guys. I think that’s one thing we’re trying to emphasize this year is to have a really, really tough team, and that’s why we train hard every single day.”
Hard might be a bit of an understatement, as Sprinkle has gone to great lengths to make sure the Huskies are prepared for the extreme physicality. For freshman guard Zoom Diallo, it took a little while to get used to.
“Our first few practices, he made us do a drill where it was basically 3-on-3, and we could just foul the crap out of each other,” Diallo said. “The first few things he told us is we’re in a new conference. This is the Big Ten. It’s gonna be physical. We have to be prepared for it.”
“No, it wasn’t,” the freshman followed up when asked if the drill was any fun.
While the Huskies have had a grueling offseason to prepare for life in their new conference, it might translate to the most fun team Washington has fielded since the school’s last NCAA Tournament appearance in 2019.
[lawrence-related id=7469,7439]