Everett, Wash.
Published: Thursday, January 8, 2009

Washington men walking a fine line

Eight-game winning streak has put some swagger in their step, but the Huskies don't want to get too cocky

By John Boyle
Herald Writer

 SEATTLE -- After a 2008 that brought nothing but bad news and disappointment for Seattle sports, 2009 brings something different for Washington basketball.

Coming off a 20-point win over Washington State -- a team that had beaten the UW in each of their past seven meetings -- the Huskies are dealing with something new now: expectations, optimism, and perhaps even a little hype.

A new year indeed.

The Huskies have a bit of a swagger as they head into tonight's Pac-10 home opener against Stanford on an eight-game winning streak. For the first time in what seems like forever, a local team must learn how to handle high hopes and expectations instead of dealing with adversity. So, just how will these Huskies deal with being told they're good?

The key to success, the Huskies say, is to walk that fine line between believing in themselves and believing the hype.

"Heads are held a little bit higher, which is good," senior forward Jon Brockman said. "But we can't teeter over that line of being overly cocky. There's a fine line between cocky and confident, and we need to have confidence, especially going into this league with the amount of talent there is and how many good teams there are. We need to have our heads up above normal, but we can't just keep our noses up in the air and expect to come in and be all-stars and expect to win. We've got to grind it out and win like a blue-collar team."

Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said his team had a good practice Monday coming off its big victory over the Cougars, and credits that in part to the character of his players.

"What ends up happening sometimes if you've got kids of good character, which I think we have, is you, as opposed to getting cocky an arrogant and feeling like now we don't have to work, you kind of feel like, 'You know what, we're not bad. We need to really work and make sure we can accomplish our goals. It's a possibility,'" Romar said. "I think that was more our attitude."

If this year's team does handle early success well and turn it into a strong finish in the Pac-10, the Huskies will in part have done so because of their inability to handle expectations two seasons ago. Coming off back-to-back Sweet 16 seasons, the Huskies lost seniors like Brandon Roy and Bobby Jones for the 2006-2007 season, but they added a strong freshman class that included Quincy Pondexter and Spencer Hawes.

That young team spent the entire non-conference season ranked in the top 20, and lost only once heading into Pac-10 play. The Huskies entered Pac-10 play ranked No. 14 in the country, then proceeded to lose six of their first seven conference games.

"It was a good learning experience for us, because we were ranked pretty high in the nation and hadn't really proven anything yet," Brockman said. "Seeing how our guys handled that, I think we learned some valuable lessons that there is way too much season left to play to start thinking we're on top of things. There's a lot of work that needs to be done still."

Pondexter said he has learned that lesson since his freshman year, and isn't making too big of a deal out of the WSU win.

"That was only one game," he said. "It wasn't like we went out and got a sweep on the road; it was only one game."

And compared to that 2006-2007 season when the Huskies started with so much hype and never lived up to it, Pondexter is happy to have this team slowly earn its respect this time around.

"It's a lot better to actually earn the success and notoriety people are starting to give you," he said. "Before, we didn't earn a single thing and people gave us a lot of credit. I think now we're older and smarter and we deserve everything that's been given to us so far."

Gant says he's over it: Redshirt freshman Darnell Gant was punched in the back of the head late in Saturday's game by Washington State senior forward Caleb Forrest. Officials apparently missed the blow, but did assess a technical foul to both players after they exchanged words following the incident.

Forrest apologized to Romar and Gant right after the game, and both the Washington coach and player said they're ready to put it behind them.

"It was just the heat of the game," Gant said. "He just got frustrated and had to take his aggression out. . . He apologized and apologized to coach Romar. . . I don't hold grudges. I've put it past me. We got the win and that's all that matters."

Turner doubtful: Romar said that freshman guard Elston Turner, who has a sprained ankle, will not play today and likely will miss Saturday's game as well. Romar is hopeful Turner can return for next week's games in Oregon.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA