SEATTLE — The last time the University of Washington squared off against Washington State in a men’s basketball game, the fans of the winning team celebrated like it was a season-ending exclamation point.
For one team, tonight’s game may well be just that.
While the Washington Hu
skies could be one more bad performance from moving onto the NCAA tournament bubble, the Cougars come to Hec Edmundson Pavilion tonight needing a miraculous three-game finish to the regular season just to get back into the tourney discussion.
For UW, it’s a somewhat familiar position. This time last season, the Huskies were so far from a tournament lock that they had to win every game just to stay within reach of the postseason. This time around, they look like they’re in but might be one more loss from being sent to Sweat-It-Out Island.
It could be said that the Huskies (19-8 overall, 10-5 Pacific-10 Conference) don’t need a win as much as they can’t afford to lose.
“I don’t feel like we’re on the outside looking in this year,” UW coach Lorenzo Romar said Friday. “I feel like we were on the outside looking in this time last year. I feel like if we play our way out of it, we don’t make (the tournament). But I don’t think we have to play our way into it.”
The Cougars (17-10, 7-8) are desperately trying to play their way back into it after winning just two of their past six games and the likely possibility that last weekend’s loss to Arizona State burst their proverbial bubble. WSU still has games against UW and UCLA in its final three regular-season contests, so a 3-0 record heading into the Pac-10 tournament would give the Cougars a couple of quality wins, a 20-victory season and a winning conference record.
Add in another two or three wins in the Pac-10 tournament — including one against nationally-ranked Arizona — and WSU may well find a way to win back the NCAA tourney committee and return to an over-inflated bubble that has recently added once-ranked teams like Illinois, Minnesota, St. Mary’s and Memphis.
WSU coach Ken Bone said the Cougars’ only chance at an at-large bid would be to win out and make a run to the conference tournament finals, then play well in that game just to have “a good shot” at getting invited to the dance.
“Losing any game from here on out is really going to make it difficult for us to make it to the NCAA tournament,” Bone said. “Because of the teams we play here at the end of the year, Washington, and then UCLA and USC (later this week), those are really good teams, so all those would be quality wins. And if we’re fortunate enough to win those games, we’d be going into the Pac-10 (tournament) on the right step, and I think our chances would be good going into the Pac-10 tournament.”
Before a Jan. 31 home game against the Huskies, Washington State appeared on the road to serious NCAA tournament consideration. And after the Cougars beat UW in that game, a ticket to the Big Dance was theirs to lose.
But four losses in six games have all but lost WSU a shot at an at-large bid. For the second year in a row, the Cougars have faltered in the second half of Pac-10 play after a solid start.
“We’ve shown signs, but we have not been consistent — and consistently good, like Washington has as of late,” Bone said last week.
UW got tripped up by the Cougars on Jan. 31 and went on to lose three games in a row to fall out of the national rankings in the first week of February. But a 4-1 record that included a last-second loss at Arizona has the Huskies back on the path toward at least an at-large bid.
But the Huskies, who had to rally to win seven consecutive games and the Pac-10 tournament to make the Field of 64 last season, know how tenuous their current position might be.
“It’s pretty much the same thing,” UW senior Matthew Bryan-Amaning said, comparing this month to one year ago. “We felt last year if we lost, we weren’t going to make the tournament. This year, it’s the same sort of thing.
“We don’t know what’s going on, but we know that if we take care of business, we should be playing past the Pac-10 tournament.”
UW senior Isaiah Thomas said the Huskies could make a statement tonight when the Huskies and Cougars meet.
“Every game’s an opportunity,” said Thomas, who made just three of 13 shots in the last meeting. “We’re trying to make a statement and get respect out there that we’re a pretty good team, even though we have some tough losses.
“If we come out and play the right way (tonight), I feel like we’ll be in a good position to win the game.”
The loss to Arizona eight days ago temporarily put UW’s hopes of a regular-season title on ice, although the Wildcats’ two-game losing streak has breathed new life into the Huskies’ goal. So, the Huskies have plenty of motivation to win tonight.
Just don’t expect the UW fans to rush the court if the Huskies win. The Washington players are still somewhat miffed by the celebration that happened in Pullman after the Cougars beat them four weeks ago, and the Huskies are out for revenge.
“I don’t think we should storm the court that way,” UW senior Justin Holiday said of the possibility that the Huskies win at home tonight. “That’s just how I feel.”
Of note
Junior walk-on Brendan Sherrer (staph infection) returned to practice this week and could be available for tonight’s game. … The Huskies will play without Scott Suggs (ankle) for the third consecutive game. C.J. Wilcox will start in his place, while point guard Venoy Overton continues to come off the UW bench.
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