We're No. 88!

One can almost hear energetic University of Washington basketball fans chanting this development at next Monday night's season opener against Colgate at Alaska Airlines Arena.

It seems Sports Illustrated, the mother ship, has put together a composite ranking of all 365 college basketball teams and pegged the Huskies to finish right behind Wake Forest at No. 87 and just ahead of McNeese State at 89.

While this preseason projection puts Danny Sprinkle's third UW team squarely in the upper fourth of the college basketball hierarchy, it likely leaves them out of the 76-team NCAA Tournament bracket by a wide margin.

With a third serious roster churn under Sprinkle following the coaching change that brought him here, this sort of placement shouldn't be all that surprising to basketball fans across the city.

The continuously rebuilding Huskies have posted just two winning seasons over the past seven and both were modest 17-15 records.…