Culture Club

Portal Power

2022 • 23 Women’s Basketball PREVIEW

Crafted by Head Coach Tina Langley, the Huskies practice and play selflessly for their teammates, team and university

BOB SHERWIN • FOR GO HUSKIES MAGAZINE

While the University of Washington women’s basketball team long will savor the memories of its mid-August team trip to Italy, the coaches and players hope that what they brought home can inspire them deep into this basketball season. The Huskies, heading into their second season under Coach Tina Langley, vis ited Rome, Florence, and Como (with a stop in Switzerland) Aug. 12-21. They played three games and had a variety of cultural experiences, making olive oil, pasta, and bread with the locals, visiting Roman ruins, the ancient Accademia Gallery, and swimming in the Mediterranean off Camaiore Beach.

All that cultural immersion doesn’t seem like it would do much to sharpen the players’ on-court skills, but there’s more to a team’s potential than backdoor cuts and crossover dribbles. There’s also the inside game, the emotional connections among their disparate teammates.

“I’ve never seen a group come together so quickly as that group experienced throughout the trip,” Langley said. “They were learning and growing together. They really got to know each other on a deep er level. They spent so much quality time with each other.”

“It’s less individual thinking about ourselves,” Van Dyke said, “but serving our teammates and the staff. It’s much more fun to play. I think everyone has bought into that culture.”

What that can lead to, Langley believes, is a greater appreciation for their teammates and buildup of trust for each other as the season evolves. This is especially important on this year’s Husky roster because the team lost eight players from last season. The staff replaced the roster with six new play ers, while returning six.

It’s also an eclectic mix of players with five seniors (one fifth-year gradu ate), just one junior and seven freshmen or sophomores.

“So almost half our team is new,” Langley added. “Experiencing that togeth er does bond you, even when you’re just starting to get to know each other.”

Haley Van Dyke, the Huskies 6-foot-1 senior forward, said the biggest take away from the trip “was getting to know each other, more off-the-court con nections we were able to form with each other.

“It really brought us closer together,” she added, “and a big reason where we are right now. It is a new group and on that Italy trip we were together for 10 days. We experienced so many cool things and got to know each other. It was easy for us to build those connections.”

As a rule, for most athletic teams, leadership gravitates down from the up perclassmen, a top-down approach. But Langley said her program is different. “We believe in service leadership. So, every player’s voice on our team mat ters,” she said. “We want to lead by giving and helping each other to be better as people and players.”

Van Dyke said that “servanthood” has evolved under Langley.

“It’s less individual thinking about ourselves,” Van Dyke said, “but serving our teammates and the staff. It’s much more fun to play. I think everyone has bought into that culture.”

Langley, hired away after six seasons at Rice, brought that culture to Washington. When she began her UW coaching career, she didn’t have the most solid foundation. She inherited the program after Coach Jody Wynn’s four-year stint finished with a .336-win percentage (41-75). The Huskies were 7-14 during Wynn’s final season in 2020-21 while Langley, with few personnel changes, started with a 7-16 campaign.

Yet Langley has been in this position previously. In her first season at Rice, her team finished 9-22. That was followed by five straight 20-plus win seasons (best season was 28-4 in 2018-19) to finish with the highest win percentage (.674, 126-61) in school history. Her teams won three C-USA Conference titles, made two NCAA appearances, and won a WNIT championship.

She understands what elements it takes to build a winner.

“You focus on the process,” she said. “We want to establish our culture, which we made a great foundation last year. Our Italy trip continues to build on that. And teach six new people (that culture).”

The team does return three starters who are go ing to be the banner-carriers. They are Van Dyke, the team’s leading scorer last season at 11.7 points per game, 5-9 senior guard Trinity Oliver, and 5-11 junior forward Lauren Schwartz. Graduate senior Lexi Griggsby also started the first seven games last winter before an injury ended her season.

Oliver, who transferred from Baylor before last season, is one of three players who have come from other schools making the cultural transition to the Husky method. The others are senior 6-4 center Emma Grothaus, who came to Washington from Le high a year ago, and former Garfield High standout, 6-4 sophomore forward Dalayah Daniels, a transfer portal addition this spring from California.

“Those things just don’t happen overnight. There is a commitment, bringing in the right people who believe in our culture,” Langley added. “And want to be a part of it, live it and fight for it.

“I’m really proud of the staff, the coaches and the players who have committed to it and the work it’s going to take to put us in that direction.”

The Huskies, who have an eight-game nonconference schedule, begin Pac-12 play on Dec. 11 at home with a special Apple Cup game against Washington State. The conference’s top three pre season selections – Stanford, Arizona and Oregon, three culturally established programs – do not test the Huskies until well into the season. UW plays at Oregon on Jan. 13, at Arizona on Jan. 29, and at home against Stanford on Feb. 5.

Stanford is the preseason favorite, but the Hus kies play the Cardinal just that one time before the Pac-12 Championships on March 1-5 in Las Vegas.

To follow the team all season long, visit GoHus kies.com for updates, news and game results.