Zero to No. 20: Meet college basketball’s biggest surprise

The most challenging three months of Danny Sprinkle’s life began the morning he became Utah State’s new men’s basketball coach last April.

A program-wide exodus left Sprinkle without a single returning player who scored a point for the Aggies during the previous season.

Two potential returning starters had already decided to follow former Utah State coach Ryan Odom to VCU. Another was in the process of transferring to Creighton. A standout guard moved on after Utah State wouldn’t medically clear him to play. A skilled 7-footer told Sprinkle he intended to retire from basketball and take a 9-to-5 job, only to change his mind and transfer to Utah Valley a few weeks later.

Before long, there was practically no one left from the Utah State team that won 26 games and earned a No. 10 seed in the 2023 NCAA tournament. The lone returner who saw game action last season logged a total of eight minutes and did not attempt a shot.

“It was scary,” Sprinkle told Yahoo Sports. “Most players are already committed by mid-April. We had to go recruit an entire team that could compete at the Mountain West level.”

The roster that Sprinkle and his staff cobbled together on the fly has surpassed all expectations so far this season. Utah State (15-1, 3-0) broke into the AP Top 25 on Monday after toppling 13th-ranked Colorado State. Then the Aggies validated their newly minted No. 20 ranking Tuesday night by pounding Wyoming, 83-59.

If someone had told Sprinkle two months ago that his team would win 15 of its first 16 games, the first-year coach says he would have responded, “You’re crazy.” Even Sprinkle is stunned that a collection of unproven newcomers projected to finish ninth in the Mountain West has jelled into one of college basketball’s most pleasant surprises.

“I’d be lying if I said I saw this coming,” Sprinkle said. “Nobody would have predicted this.”

Before the Utah State job unexpectedly opened last spring, Sprinkle was looking forward to a stress-free run-up to his fifth season as head coach at his alma mater, Montana State. The core of a 25-win NCAA tournament team was set to return, and Sprinkle had already secured commitments from a couple of promising transfers.

“It was going to be our best team by far,” Sprinkle said.

And then Utah State began showing interest in Sprinkle after VCU lured Odom away.

The timing may not have been ideal for Sprinkle, but the Utah State job was tempting. This was a tradition-rich program that had made the NCAA tournament 12 times since 1998, that played in the multi-bid Mountain West Conference, that routinely drew 7,000 fans to come watch an exhibition game. The ceiling was high even if Utah State’s roster turnover made winning right away seem improbable.

“It was really, really hard to leave Montana State,” Sprinkle said. “But Utah State excited me. It was one of those opportunities I just couldn’t pass up.”

From Day 1, Sprinkle threw himself into the challenge of replenishing Utah State’s roster. Eighteen-hour work days weren’t out of the ordinary for Sprinkle and his sleep-deprived staff. They called high school coaches, combed scouting service reports and scoured the transfer portal in search of uncommitted prospects.

Recruiting consumed so much time that for months neither Sprinkle nor his assistant coaches felt they could spare a few hours here and there even for house hunting. Sprinkle lived in a hotel for his first week in Logan before he and five fellow staff members crammed into a three-bedroom apartment provided by the university for the rest of the spring and summer.

“We didn’t have time for extra stuff,” Sprinkle said. “That’s how busy we were. There were days when we had more than one kid visit campus. One coach would be driving a kid to the airport while another would be driving to the airport to pick someone else.”

Sprinkle had urged his top players at Montana State to stick together and go win the Big Sky, but he was pragmatic enough to recruit them when they didn’t listen.

2023 Big Sky tournament MVP Raequan Battle turned down interest from Utah State to transfer to West Virginia, lured at the time by the chance to play for Bob Huggins, to compete in the Big 12 and to make a significant NIL paycheck.

“I thought it was a tremendous fit,” Sprinkle admitted. “We couldn’t give Raequan what Raequan got. Not even in the ballpark.”

Montana State starting point guard Darius Brown and 2023 Big Sky Sixth Man of the Year Great Osobor chose to reunite with Sprinkle at Utah State.

“We were very fortunate,” Sprinkle said. “They got offered a lot more money at other places and they still came here.”

The roster that Sprinkle built around Brown and Osobor was also a byproduct of relationships that he and assistant coaches Chris Haslam and Andy Hill had.

Wing Max Agbonkpolo (USC, Wyoming) and forward Jackson Grant (Washington) were poised to transfer to Montana State before Sprinkle left for Utah State. High-energy defensive stopper Ian Martinez (Maryland) played his freshman season at Utah when Hill was an assistant there. Athletic wing Josh Uduje (Coastal Carolina) is a native of England just like Haslam. They knew each other from Haslam’s previous unsuccessful attempt to recruit Uduje to Montana State two years earlier.

Sprinkle also benefited from the return of two Utah State players who redshirted the 2022-23 season. Shooting guard Mason Falslev grew up a short drive from Utah State’s campus dreaming of playing for his hometown school. Seven-footer Isaac Johnson is a fellow Utah native who started his college career at Oregon but decided he’d be happier coming back to the state where he grew up.

That assortment of players scarcely knew each other six months ago, but it's since bonded into a cohesive unit. The biggest surprise for Sprinkle has been how well the players share the ball on offense and communicate defensively.

The hallmark of this Utah State team is the way the Aggies defend the 3-point line and take away second-chance opportunities. Osobor’s low-post scoring, Martinez’s pull-up jumpers and Brown’s court vision have powered an offense that could get even better if the Aggies start sinking more than 29.1% of their 3-pointers.

“It’s crazy,” Sprinkle said. “We’ve got good shooters and we’re getting great looks. We have all year. There’s going to be a game where we hit 12 or 13 threes. I see it in practice and I know the work guys are putting in.”

Utah State flew under the radar in November and December, playing a modest non-league slate full of quality mid-majors but no power-conference competition. Now the opponents will get tougher in a Mountain West that features last year’s national runner-up, San Diego State, and five other team’s ranked 58th or better on KenPom.

What’s possible for Utah State? Sprinkle is done trying to figure that out.

“This group continues to shock me,” he said. “If we take care of the ball and start knocking down some shots, we have another gear in us, if not two gears. We’re only going to get better.”

THE COUNTDOWN

There are no more unbeaten teams left in Division I men’s basketball this season after Houston lost for the first time Tuesday night at Iowa State. The Cougars had opened the season with 14 straight wins before a 57-53 road loss to a Cyclones team that was in search of a signature win.

Has being the final unbeaten been a harbinger of success in recent years? It’s a mixed bag, as is apparent in the numbers below. Four of the past 10 last unbeatens reached the Final Four. Several others, for a variety of reasons, failed to win an NCAA tournament game.

2014-15 last unbeaten: Kentucky

Win streak: 38-0

First loss: Wisconsin, April 4

Season record: 38-1, first place in SEC

Posteason: Lost to Wisconsin in NCAA tournament semifinals

2015-16 last unbeaten: SMU

Win streak: 18-0

First loss: at Temple, Jan. 24

Season record: 25-5, second place in AAC

Posteason: None (NCAA postseason ban)

2016-17 last unbeaten: Gonzaga

Win streak: 29-0

First loss: BYU, Feb. 25

Season record: 37-2, first place in WCC

Posteason: Lost to North Carolina in NCAA tournament title game

2017-18 last unbeaten: Arizona State

Win streak: 12-0

First loss: at Arizona, Dec. 30

Season record: 20-12, eighth place in Pac-12

Posteason: Lost to Syracuse in first round of NCAA tournament

2018-19 last unbeaten: Virginia

Win streak: 16-0

First loss: at Duke, Jan. 19

Season record: 35-3, first place in ACC

Posteason: Beat Texas Tech to win national title

2019-20 last unbeaten: San Diego State

Win streak: 26-0

First loss: UNLV, Feb. 22

Season record: 30-2, first place in Mountain West

Posteason: No tournament

2020-21 last unbeaten: Gonzaga

Win streak: 31-0

First loss: Baylor, April 5

Season record: 31-1, WCC champion

Posteason: Lost to Baylor in the NCAA tournament title game

2021-22 last unbeaten: Baylor

Win streak: 15-0

First loss: at Texas Tech, Jan. 11

Season record: 27-7, tied for first place in Big 12

Posteason: Lost to North Carolina in second round of NCAA tournament

2022-23 last unbeaten: New Mexico

Win streak: 14-0

First loss: at Fresno State, Jan. 3

Season record: 22-12, sixth place in Mountain West

Posteason: Lost to Utah Valley in NIT first round

2023-24 last unbeaten: Houston

Win streak: 14-0

First loss: at Iowa State, Jan. 9

Season record: TBD

Postseason: TBD

MATCHUPS NOT TO MISS (all times Eastern)

• North Carolina at NC State, Wednesday, 8 p.m. (ESPN)

• Michigan State at Illinois, Thursday, 9 p.m. (FS1)

• Boise State at Nevada, Friday, 10:30 p.m. (FS1)

• St. John’s at Creighton, Saturday, 1 p.m. (FOX)

• Oklahoma at Kansas, Saturday, 2 p.m. (ESPN+)

• Kentucky at Texas A&M, Saturday, 2 p.m. (ESPN)

• Cincinnati at Baylor, Saturday, 8 p.m. (ESPN)

GET A LOAD OF THIS

Even South Florida’s Chris Youngblood was sheepishly chuckling at himself last week after this water bottle gaffe.

Water bottle issues aside, Youngblood is having a strong season. The Kennesaw State transfer is averaging more than 15 points per game for a South Florida team that is 8-5 and owns wins over Florida State and Loyola Chicago.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

It was a rare occurrence Tuesday night when No. 1 Purdue fell at Nebraska and No. 2 Houston lost at Iowa State within hours of each other. The top two teams in the AP Top 25 have only lost on the same day eight times in the poll’s history, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

The last time that happened was nearly eight years ago. On Feb. 6, 2016, Kansas State toppled No. 1 Oklahoma and Notre Dame took down No. 2 North Carolina.

ONE LAST THING

There may not be anyone in college basketball more committed to his free-throw routine than New Mexico’s Jaelen House. Here he is pantomiming slapping hands with his teammates after shooting technical foul free throws last Saturday against Wyoming.

In House’s defense, whatever he’s doing is working. He’s shooting 84.1% from the foul line this season.