The Washington Huskies men’s basketball team seems to be zeroing in on an international player to fill the final spot available for the 2026-27 team.
The Huskies’ current roster has 14 players signed or committed out of a potential 15 and has already begun practice in hopes of breaking its six-season NCAA tournament drought.
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Washington’s roster is a healthy balance of returning players, transfer portal acquisitions, a single Class of 2026 commitment and several international additions.
Based on various reports, Huskies head coach Danny Sprinkle is currently in Slovenia attempting to court a guard from that country, Urban Kroflic.
Washington has had interest in Kroflic for months, but he’s delayed a decision on an NCAA commitment and is currently competing for his native country in the FIBA EuroBasket tournament. One of the Huskies’ returning players and another international recruit from last season, forward Nikola Dzepina, is also competing in the tournament for his native Serbia.
Dzepina and Kroflic could be heading towards a clash in the championship game. Dzepina and Serbia will play Spain in a semifinal and Kroflic and Slovenia will play France in the other semifinal.
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Currently, Washington is competing for other Big Ten rivals, the Iowa Hawkeyes and Rutgers Scarlet Knights, for Kroflic’s services. But based on his performance in the EuroBasket tourney, more teams could become aware of the 6-foot-6 combo guard.
Kroflic is arguably the MVP of the tournament through the quarterfinals. Through five games, the 20-year-old has been showing his versatility and skill set that makes him an intriguing potential recruit for Sprinkle and the UW coaching staff.
In five games of the tournament, Kroflic is averaging 16 points on 61.5% shooting from the floor in addition to 6.8 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game.
He had 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 25 minutes in the quarterfinal game against Turkey on Thursday.
Kroflic’s size and ability to pass and rebound makes him a capable candidate to start at the point, at the two or the three. His ability also means he can split ball handling duties with San Francisco transfer Ryan Beasley, not dissimilar to what Zoom Diallo (transferred to Kentucky) and JJ Madaquit (transferred to Arizona) did for the team last season.
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Due to him being an international player, there’s question over how well his game will translate from the international ranks to college. However, if his ability is able to transfer, he could be another diamond-in-the-rough found by Sprinkle in international waters like 2026 NBA lottery pick Hannes Steinbach was last season.
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