Husky Basketball Makes Strong Push for Maryland's Top 2026 Player

Qayden Samuels is an offensive-minded junior who holds nearly two dozen offers.
Qayden Samuels, second from right, has been a targeted recruit by the UW.
Qayden Samuels, second from right, has been a targeted recruit by the UW. / Samuels

Danny Sprinkle's University of Washington basketball team currently occupies last place in the Big Ten standings, saddled with a six-game losing streak, but that hasn't stopped his staff from aggressively trying to sell the program to top talent everywhere.

Qayden Samuels -- considered Maryland's No. 1 player for 2026 -- is a 6-foot-5 forward who holds nearly two dozen scholarship offers, but on Wednesday told Joe Tipton of the On3 recruiting website that five schools have recruited him harder than the rest: Alabama, Georgetown, Rutgers, Villanova and Washington.

Samuels, a junior for Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland, carries a 5-star label from 247 Sports and ESPN. A left-hander, he's a big scorer who turned in multiple 30-point games over the past month and a half. He hasn't listed his school preferences.

Since Sprinkle took over 10 months ago, the first-year coach and his staff have expanded the Huskies' recruiting footprint and put together a Top 15 class for 2025, topped by 6-foot-10 forward Niko Bundalo from Uniontown, Ohio, and now a McDonald's All-American Game invitee who plays for a California prep school.

Besides his obvious offensive skills, Samuels has impressed recruiters with how he's handled a season of extremes, good and bad, for a young team that competes in the overly competitive Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

Bishop McNamara, playing some of the better teams the East Coast has to offer, began the season 0-9. The Mustangs next ran off eight consecutive victories before losing again and stands 8-10.

Samuels can score in any variety of ways, armed with an accurate 3-point shot and the ability to drive to the rim and dunk.

“Shooting-wise, I think I shoot the ball really well as a floor spreader," he told Zags Blog at a New Jersey tournament. "I’ve got a lot of patience in getting the right look and looking for the right shot."

Naturally the Huskies will be hard-pressed to pull Samuels away from the host of Eastern teams chasing him. Georgetown and Syracuse are among those who have offered him, with the Hoyas making him aware of its open-door policy, where he can stop by the school and shoot with others, something he's taken advantage of.

“I hear from them the most," he said of Georgetowwn. "It is basically the entire staff recruiting me. They contact me after every game, give me feedback on how I play. They try to help me improve on what I do best."

The UW, which will travel to Minnesota for a Saturday morning game, regularly heads back east these days. The Huskies might as well bring someone home with them as Sprinkle's program gets put together for the long run.

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


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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.