{"id":424495,"date":"2024-11-28T11:17:11","date_gmt":"2024-11-28T11:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=424495"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Four-star-F-Niko-Bundalo-commits-to-Washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Four-star-F-Niko-Bundalo-commits-to-Washington\/","title":{"rendered":"Four-star F Niko Bundalo commits to Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Four-star power forward Niko Bundalo made a surprising commitment to the Washington Huskies. The 6-foot-10 Napa (Calif.) Prolific Prep senior had reportedly narrowed down his choices to Connecticut, Michigan State, Ohio State and North Carolina, visiting all four this fall but coming away without a decision. Instead, he chose coach Danny Sprinkles&#8217; Huskies despite not having visited the campus. &#8220;I just think the coaching staff and the style of play fit,&#8221; Bundalo told 247Sports. &#8220;For Coach Sprinkle the four-man plays the most minutes and he has one of the highest usage rates for his fours of any coach in the NCAA right now. I just think it&#8217;s a great opportunity for me to go in there where Great Osobor is on his way out the door. He&#8217;s a great player but him leaving and me getting a chance at that spot off the rip is a great opportunity for my development.&#8221; Bundalo said he was &#8220;super impressed&#8221; with what Sprinkle accomplished at Utah State in 2023-24, leading the Aggies to their first Mountain West regular-season title and first NCAA Tournament win since 2001. He finished with a 28-7 record in his first season with Utah State before taking the Washington job in March. &#8220;I think Sprinkle sees a lot for me. Just getting the ball off the rim and doing things. We talk about me initiating sets and being a high-level passer off the dribble and off the catch in my zone and my spots,&#8221; Bundalo said. &#8220;I think with me and Coach Sprinkle it&#8217;s going to be a relationship that&#8217;s very fluid where I can do whatever it takes to win. Whether we need a scorer, a good screener, a good rebounder I feel like I have an opportunity to do it all.&#8221; Bundalo is ranked No. 27 overall and the No. 7 power forward in the Class of 2025 by the 247Sports composite. &#8211;Field Level Media<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/imgupload\/3e6b508a554fa4c072d13f1606578c55.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/p>\n<p>Oct 3, 2024; Rosemont, IL, USA; Washington head coach Danny Sprinkle takes a question at the podium during the 2024 Big Ten Men\u00eds Basketball media day at Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Melissa Tamez-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>-Melissa Tamez-Imagn Images<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Four-star power forward Niko Bundalo made a surprising commitment to the Washington Huskies. The 6-foot-10&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-424495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424495\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}