Danny Sprinkle’s third season leading the Huskies begins much the same way as his previous two: with significant turnover. The Huskies, who have gone 29-35 under Sprinkle but improved from four Big Ten wins in 2024 to seven in ’25, return just three players who appeared in at least 10 games last year. Once again, Washington hit the transfer portal to replace all of its departing pieces, bringing in six transfers to go along with multiple international pieces as it tries to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
Junior guard Wesley Yates III is the only consistent starter back from last year’s team. He finished second on the squad in minutes per game (31.4) and 3-pointers made (53), and third in points per game (13.3). … Redshirt senior LeJuan Watts made Washington his fourth school in four years (Eastern Washington, Washington State and Texas Tech), averaging 11.8 points per game for the Red Raiders last year. ... Serbian sophomore Nikola Dzepina, who appeared in 14 games after joining the Huskies midway through last season, saw his usage increase as the winter went on and posted a double-double in an exhibition against Washington State.
German freshman Hannes Steinbach averaged 18.5 points and 11.8 rebounds per game and led the nation with 22 double-doubles, clearing the way for him to be selected 14th overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA draft. He’s the third Husky to be drafted in the first round since their last NCAA Tournament appearance, joining Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels in 2020. The Huskies also saw local product Zoom Diallo and 7-foot center Franck Kepnang transfer to Kentucky after the duo combined to make 84 starts over the past two seasons. Point guard JJ Mandaquit transferred to Arizona. Ryan Beasley joins the Huskies after leading San Francisco with 13.6 points and 4.0 assists per game in 2025.
The Huskies open their season on Nov. 2 against Colgate, and face No. 25 BYU to open the Southwest Maui Invitational on Nov. 23. They begin Big Ten play at No. 21 USC on Dec. 2. They host Baylor at Climate Pledge Arena on Dec. 20. Washington is set to play at least eight games against teams in the preseason AP Top 25, including a home game against No. 3 Illinois on Feb. 23.
Steele Venters joins the Huskies as an eighth-year senior after an injury-riddled career that’s taken him all over the state. A graduate of Ellensburg High School, he spent four years at Eastern Washington — he was named Big Sky Conference MVP in 2022-23 — then another three at Gonzaga. … This is the first season since 1915-16 that Washington will not play an official game against Washington State.
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FILE - Washington head coach Danny Sprinkle reacts during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Jan. 17, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond, File)
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — President Donald Trump is expected to announce plans Tuesday to loosen a Biden-era rule that aimed to reduce planet-warming emissions of methane from oil and gas drilling.
Trump was to deliver the announcement as he campaigned in Texas, according to an administration official speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record ahead of the official announcement.
The move aims to encourage more domestic drilling as Trump faces criticism over high fuel prices amid the U.S. war in Iran. Methane is responsible for about a third of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, scientists estimate.
Cuts in methane emissions have emerged in recent years as a global priority to slow the rate of climate change. Oil and gas operations are the largest industrial source of methane, which is the main component in natural gas and far more potent to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide in the short term.
The invisible gas leaks from equipment and is released into the atmosphere by oil drillers or burned off as a waste byproduct during crude production.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin previewed the changes last month, saying they would eliminate the agency’s “Super Emitter Program” that requires companies to investigate and repair major methane releases from oil and natural gas facilities. The agency would also set less restrictive standards for small oil and gas wells.
The loosening of the emissions rule comes as Trump and Republicans in Congress have been methodically dismantling climate policies enacted under former President Joe Biden. That's included the revocation of a scientific finding that was central to U.S. action on greenhouse gas emissions, lower fuel economy standards for vehicles and a move to repeal emission restrictions for coal and natural gas power plants.
Environmental groups criticized the latest rollback.
“It will impose a heavier pollution burden on our front-line communities and make our energy sector less efficient,” said Max Lopez, an Environmental Law & Policy Center attorney.
Zeldin has said the methane rule would have cost $18 billion and was holding back the U.S. energy industry.
“The Trump EPA is committed to fixing this so the U.S. can reach its full energy potential,” he said last month.
The Biden methane rule was announced by officials including former Vice President Kamala Harris during a 2023 U.N. climate conference in the United Arab Emirates.
Federal officials under Biden said it would prevent an estimated 58 million tons (52.6 million metric tonnes) of methane emissions by 2038 and reduce other pollutants that cause health problems.
By 2034, the rule was projected to yield $98 billion in benefits. That figure was derived by calculating the future “social costs” of greenhouse gas emissions on public health and the environment, an approach rejected by Trump's EPA.
While previous regulations focused only on new oil and gas wells in the U.S., the Biden rule regulated existing wells. Operators also would have needed to plug leaking methane from smaller wells that produce just 6% of the nation’s oil and gas while accounting for up to half of all methane emissions from oil and gas fields.
The final rule was published in 2024 but it never went into full effect. The EPA last year imposed an 18-month delay to give companies time to meet new inspection requirements and other provisions.
The rule was crafted to be coordinated with a methane fee, approved in the 2022 climate law. The fee program would have levied a “waste emissions charge” of as much as $1,500 per metric ton of methane on energy producers that exceed a certain level of methane emissions.
The fee marked the first time the U.S. government directly imposed a fee, or tax, on greenhouse gas emissions. Congress repealed it weeks after Trump took office.
Officials also tried to rein in methane from oil and gas under former President Barack Obama, but that effort was scaled back during Trump's first term.
Gruver reported from Fort Collins, Colorado.
FILE - A flare burns off methane and other hydrocarbons as oil pumpjacks operate in the Permian Basin in Midland, Texas, on Oct. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
