Sprinkle Breaks Down 2 Newly Signed Recruits and Their Path to UW

The Husky coach made a connection with JJ Mandaquit while both were in Utah.

Danny Sprinkle and JJ Mandaquit made a connection in Utah. / UW

Danny Sprinkle wasn't more than a few seconds removed from talking about the low-energy level slowing down his University of Washington basketball team when the discussion shifted to his signing of two guards earlier in the day who apparently won't have that problem.

As with most coaches with newly added recruits, Sprinkle had plenty of positive stuff to say about 6-foot-1 point guard JJ Mandaquit from Utah Prep Academy in Hurricane, Utah, and 6-foot-3 shooting guard Courtland Muldrew from Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, but it also seemed as if he was sending out a message to his current guys.

"These are competitive kids that have played at a high level and they take it serious," Sprinkle said on Wednesday night. "They're going to come in from day one and they're not backing down from anybody. I don't care if it's a junior or a senior. That's the kind of steel they're made of."

The Husky coach told how his staff zeroed in on these two top 100 players and beat out a lot of high-profile programs to secure their talents for Montlake.

"I can't tell you how excited I am to have them," Sprinkle said. "Those are the two guards I saw this summer and said we have to get them."

The new Husky coach next slapped the table with his hand, as if for emphasis.

Sprinkle and Mandaquit, a two-time USA national team player, made a ready connection because both were in Utah together, with the coach spending this previous season at Utah State in the northern end in Logan, which is 375 miles from Mandaquit's hometown of Hurricane, at the southern end.

"He might be the truest point guard in the country." the UW leader said. "He's an old-school throwback, tough, physical, pass-first, can score it, makes all the right reads. ... He's one of those kids who's about the right stuff."

While geography played a part in Mandaquit's recruitment, the Huskies had a family connection they took advantage of that involved UW assistant coach DeMarlo Slocum and Muldrew, who's originally from Arkansas.

"It's not easy to get kids from the South to come up all the way to Seattle," Sprinkle said. "He had every SEC school, Big 12, [and] he could have pretty much picked where he wanted to go. I saw him at the top 100 camp and and he was terrific."

Sprinkle has shown himself to be an able recruiter while he continues to work on getting his current group of Huskies in a better mindset and more ready to play.

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