Former Washington Huskies Star Guard Visits Kentucky

Former Washington Huskies standout guard Zoom Diallo made an official visit to Kentucky on Friday, his first public trip since the transfer portal opened on April 7.

Diallo, a 6-foot-4 versatile guard, started 29 of 33 games for the Huskies this past season as a sophomore and was the second-highest scorer on the team behind Hannes Steinbach, averaging 15.7 points per game.

While the Wildcats never entered the mix for Diallo when he came out of Curtis High School as a McDonald's All-American in the 2024 recruiting class, UW was the first school to offer the Evergreen State native back in July 2021 under then-coach Mike Hopkins.

Despite transferring out of state his senior year to play for Prolific Prep in California, Diallo chose the Huskies over Arizona, Gonzaga, and USC on December 23, 2023, citing his relationship with assistant coach Will Conroy as a key factor in the decision to stay home.

Diallo never got to play for Hopkins, though he remained firm on his commitment and played his freshman season for coach Danny Sprinkle. As a freshman, Diallo started 22 games and made 31 total appearances for UW in 2024-25, shooting 47.1 percent from the floor and averaging 11.1 points per game.

Despite the majority of the roster graduating or entering the portal after his freshman season, Diallo and senior center Franck Kepnang were the only two players from the team that finished 13-18 overall in Sprinkle's first season that returned for the 2025-26 season.

"Just going back to my roots, I'm from here, and the season that we had last year, I didn't want to end that as a last impression of me playing Washington basketball," Diallo said last June after he signed to return for another season.

"I came here for a reason—to be a part of a change. I wanted to continue that, and I feel like what coach (Sprinkle) did this year, with bringing in a whole group of guys, talented people, just putting us together, I feel like we can actually do something this year. So that was my reasoning for coming back."

While the team improved its record to 16-17 overall and 7-13 in Big Ten play, Diallo and Steinbach couldn't carry the team as injuries began to mount throughout the season.

When Diallo announced his intention to enter the transfer portal on April 3, he noted that he would leave an option to return to UW for a third season.

With Kentucky entering the mix fresh off an NCAA Tournament appearance for second-year coach Mark Pope, it may be hard for Sprinkle to offer enough of an enticing package to lure one of his key players back for the 2026-27 season.

This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Former Washington Huskies Star Takes Official Visit to Kentucky