By John Sleeper
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – Remember finals week?
Remember sweating out all-nighters, knowing full well that at least half your grade comes down to whether you choke during a one- to two-hour time slot?
Remember stress?
The University of Washington men’s basketball team not only has been going through finals this week – five freshman did for the first time at this level – it has had to prepare for annual powerhouse UCLA.
“You could tell (at practice) that some were distracted,” UW coach Bob Bender said, “and understandably so. For a lot of these guys, to take finals and have major college basketball be a major part of their lives is new.”
Talk about your higher education.
“It’s been all right,” said freshman guard Erroll Knight, one of several Huskies who has missed practice time to take final exams. “As long as I have my tutors, I’ll be all right. As far as the game goes, the game’s totally separate. When I’m at practice, I think about the game. When I’m in school, I concentrate on school.”
The preseason has been a further source of education for the young Huskies (6-3), who open the Pacific-10 Conference season at home tonight after having played six games on the road. Along the way, Washington has faced Gonzaga (a 67-47 loss) played a brutal stretch of three games in five days and gutted out a 75-74 victory at New Mexico State two nights after a potentially psychologically damaging 74-62 loss at Texas-El Paso.
“It’s helped us a lot,” Knight said. “The New Mexico State game was a big one because usually, nobody wins there. It showed how much pride we have.”
The theory is that the challenges the Huskies faced in a rugged preseason forced a young team to grow up quickly and got it as ready as possible for the Pac-10 season.
“We’ve played in some tough places to play,” UW forward Grant Leep said. “That helps the process in getting better. We played in a couple of close games. We had a second-half lead when teams come back. We’ve been in a game when we’ve had to make plays at the end to win the game at the buzzer, at New Mexico State. Every experience we have like that is going to be beneficial to us.”
Bender said the Gonzaga game could serve as a positive, despite the 20-point defeat. Most Huskies had never been in a big-game atmosphere, one in which Hec Edmundson Pavilion was sold out, one in which the crowd was screaming from the opening tip-off.
And while the Huskies didn’t react as well as a senior-laden team would have, at least they can say they’ve been through that kind of setting. Tonight’s game figures to have a similar feel.
“I would hope that one positive that we can take away from that is that we’ll be better able to handle that kind of atmosphere,” Bender said. “We need that same energy and emotion that we had, but we’ve got to do a better job of concentrating and execution. This team has shown that they’re pretty quick learners, and we hope they’ll be better for it.”
UCLA (5-2), picked by many as a top-five team in preseason, has struggled with injuries and graduation that have translated to problems on the court. The Bruins lost to Ball State 91-73 in the Maui Invitational Nov. 20 and dropped another to Pepperdine 85-78 at Pauley Pavilion eight days later. They also barely beat UC Irvine 75-74 Thursday.
The Bruins are going through a transition period, trying to replace Earl Watson, their great four-year starter at point guard who started all 129 games of his career before being the second-round draft choice of the Seattle SuperSonics.
It was hoped that true freshman phenom Cedric Bozeman would step in, but he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery Dec. 3 and will be lost for another three to five weeks. Rico Hines, a senior who redshirted last year, has filled in at point, along with redshirt freshman Ryan Walcott.
“We’ve kind of done it by committee,” UCLA coach Steve Lavin said. “We’ve gotten away with it, but you always like to have the one guy you depend on to bring the ball downcourt and run the offense.”
In addition, starting forward Matt Barnes sprained his left ankle and missed a game. Lavin said Barnes would play against the Huskies.
Still, the Bruins have plenty of talent and figure to make an impact in the NCAA Tournament. And again, the question is this: How ready can the young Huskies be after nine games?
“We’ll see (tonight),” Knight said.
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