Here's Dissenting Vote for Interrupting UW-Zag Hoop Series

New Huskies coach Danny Sprinkle chose not to play Gonzaga the next two seasons.

Gonzaga guard Ryan Nembhard droves on Washington center Franck Kepnang in their 2023 game in Seattle. / Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

Danny Sprinkle is known as a fierce competitor, which is why reports of him pulling the plug on University of Washington-Gonzaga basketball games this year and next are more than a little disconcerting.

You don't duck worthy opponents, you try to beat them. You don't quit on a rivalry game everyone else wants to see.

Not only that, but has Sprinkle actually looked at the Husky non-conference schedule over the past decade or more, which outside of the UW-Zags annual get-together each winter often has brought tepid, uninteresting matchups?

Over the past two seasons alone, the UW engaged in plenty of northern exposure -- playing Northern Illinois, Northern Arizona and Northern Kentucky.

All forgettable games. Empty-seat games. Games almost no one in Seattle witnessed.

Sprinkle used a coaching-change clause giving him the option to pull out of the Gonzaga series, as reported by the Spokane Spokesman-Review. It comes after the Huskies broke a seven-game losing streak and won 78-73 last December at Alaska Airlines Arena, emerging victorious for the first and only time for now departed coach Mike Hopkins.

Washington, of course, will play its first season in the Big Ten, a tougher conference than the former Pac-12, which might have spurred Sprinkle to tone down his team's non-conference play.

Gonzaga's public reaction to this exit strategy was tame, especially with the Zags having no trouble finding and willingly playing marquee opponents.

“It makes sense to me with a new coach, going into a new league and scheduling philosophies,” Gonzaga athletic director Chris Standiford told the Spokesman-Review. “Hopefully, we can do something again in the near future.”

This marks the second time the UW has withdrawn from the cross-state series, with former Husky coach Lorenzo Romar unwilling to play the Zags for eight years, beginning with the 2007-08 season.

Bad blood existed back then between the two programs headed up by Mark Few and Romar, largely over recruiting issues, plus the Huskies were losing almost every year. The series came to a halt following a 97-77 Zag victory.

The Huskies and Zags finally played again in 2015 in a Bahamas holiday tournament and resumed the series the following season, though Romar was fired once it happened.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington