Now that the Washington Huskies have completed their 'Montlake Madness', it's time to start ramping up the good vibes for basketball. The men's exhibition game is on October 29 against Western Oregon and the women start their season against cross-town rival Seattle U on November 4.

So Dawgman's Jack McCauley pulled in two former UW players - Noah Dickerson and Jason Crandall - to get their thoughts on the transition from Mike Hopkins to Danny Sprinkle, as well as the move to the Big Ten. They played under Hopkins and have also been able to meet Sprinkle and watch his team in action too over the summer.

To start, what should UW fans expect in that change from Hop to Sprink? Both Noah and Jason offer specific thoughts on the transition, including some basic changes they expect to see in the first-year head coach. And both also talk about Sprinkle's outreach to the alums to get them even more involved with the program, and Noah offers his insight into how he expects the new coach to build his culture.

Getting Noah's perspective on this team is a great one, because Spinkle has said that Dickerson is a perfect comp for current Husky Great Osobor.

Before the break, Jack asks Noah and Jason a couple of other questions. First, with so many new faces, how quickly can the players gel? And besides Great, who will the Huskies rely on to help get them back to the NCAA Tournament?

After paying some bills, the guys get right back at it with plenty of more preview material, starting with their takes on what they think the mentality of the team is going to be. Needless to say, the notion of toughness is talked about, and Noah definitely backs up the comparison to Great Osobor as an 'undersized big'. (Hint: Noah hated being called a center)

Jack asks the guys for their opinions on who else they think could be 'x' factors for success, and Noah has one name that should get fans intrigued.

Talk then turns to the idea of playing in a new conference, the Big Ten, and all that entails, including travel. Noah offers his specific perspective as a big man having to go cross-country to play games. It's not easy. But that works both ways too, as UW can use that to their advantage when they're hosting teams from multiple time zones away.

To finish out the preview, Noah and Jason talk about what they think success will look like for Danny Sprinkle in his first season on Montlake, and Jack asks them for any hot takes they have for the season ahead.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices