The end of an era
The University of Washington and Washington State University announced that their long‑standing men’s basketball series will not continue beyond the upcoming season, bringing to a close a rivalry that dates back more than a hundred years.
The decision follows a series of negotiations that failed to produce a new agreement, with UW coach Danny Sprinkle having previously indicated that the matchup was no longer a priority for the program. "It simply isn’t important enough to keep on the schedule," Sprinkle said in a recent interview.
The two schools have faced each other 300 times, with Washington emerging victorious in 189 of those contests. Their history includes periods of intense competition, such as the stretch from 1930 to 1954 when the teams met four times a year, sometimes in consecutive games.
A broader pattern of fading rivalries
This is not the first time Washington has let go of a historic basketball series; the annual game against Gonzaga University was discontinued earlier, marking the second Northwest rivalry to end in recent years.
Beyond the numbers, the rivalry has been shaped by legendary coaches who once defined the contests. Marv Harshman, George Raveling and Hec Edmundson each left indelible marks on the series, guiding their teams through eras that saw the matchup become a staple of regional college basketball.
The final scheduled meeting may not be a regular‑season game. Both institutions have left open the possibility of an exhibition contest in October, though no official arrangement has been confirmed.
The roots of the series stretch back to 1910, when the first game was played in Pullman, resulting in a 13‑9 win for Washington. Even during World War I, when UW’s schedule was trimmed to 14 games, the two schools continued to meet, underscoring the rivalry’s early resilience.