SEATTLE — Washington Huskies junior point guard Will Conroy made the most dramatic scoring increase among Pacific-10 Conference players last season over 2001-02, boosting his point production by more than 10 points a game.
And that, naturally, wasn’t enough for coach Lorenzo Romar.
In Romar’s world, a world that included five seasons as an NBA point guard, Conroy’s contributions must include more than points. Although it took some time and a temporary benching, Conroy’s finally getting it and is now approaching what Romar demands in terms of putting the hammer down on game control, feeding his teammates, playing defense and, yes, scoring enough to keep defenses honest.
"He just improved as a basketball player last year," Romar said. "Now, he’s improving as a point guard. It was tough for him early on."
Conroy could score, but Romar was up to his eyeballs in guards who could score. Romar needed someone who approached Magic Johnson as a floor leader, even without the flair. Conroy had the skills. The question was whether he could both score and set up his teammates.
"I needed to establish myself," Conroy said. "When you mention the top point guards in the conference, I want to be mentioned."
Magic Johnson is the subject of one of Romar’s favorite point-guard stories.
As a member of the Golden State Warriors, Romar was an observer on the bench when Lakers forward James Worthy stole the ball and attempted to dribble nearly the length of the floor with a defender on him.
Seeing that Worthy was a turnover waiting to happen, Johnson ran over to him, snatched the ball from a startled Worthy’s hands and barked at him to get his heinie on the block.
Then Johnson whipped a laser to Worthy, who whirled and slammed.
Three things happened. The Lakers scored, which helped the team. Worthy got his dunk, which made him happy. And Worthy didn’t kick the ball into the 12th row.
"That’s a point guard," Romar said. "He knew exactly what he was doing. And Worthy respected him enough to let him do that."
Conroy isn’t Magic. Who is? But Romar sees steady improvement.
"He’s a lot closer to being the ideal point guard than he was last year," Romar said. "He’s a lot closer than he was in October."
It’s been a long road.
After having started all 27 games last season, Conroy found himself watching others, usually Nate Robinson and Curtis Allen, play the point.
"That was one of the hardest moments I’ve ever been through," Conroy said. "After starting all 27 games in my sophomore year, playing 28 minutes a game, that was hard. But I figured Coach knew that whoever he had in front of me was doing a better job of doing what he wanted me to do than I was. We were 3-0, we were winning, so that was good enough, I thought. But the coaches saw that we could do things better."
He learned, mostly, that the position requires much more than passing and shooting. Conroy is learning to be an extension of his coach on the floor.
"At first, I took the small things for granted," Conroy said. "You don’t realize how important everything is. The thing you might think is small is a big thing. Now, I’m able to score as well as get guys involved."
Conroy needed to learn the immense responsibility the position demands. And as the Huskies were in the middle of a streak that saw them lose eight of 10 games earlier in the season, it was a painful lesson.
"When you lose, you want to take the burden on your shoulders," he said. "You’re out there, you’re running the show, the ball’s in your hands the majority of the time. When you lose, you couldn’t change what happened. That was the hardest thing."
Conroy’s command was evident in Washington’s 96-83 upset victory against ninth-ranked Arizona Thursday night. It was, arguably, Conroy’s most complete game, with 19 points, eight assists and just three turnovers in 32 minutes.
The waning stages of the game showed Conroy’s growth. Washington was well ahead with two minutes remaining. Nate Robinson had knocked the ball out of Mustafa Shakur’s grip and Conroy picked it up.
His first reaction: Beat it down the court for a fast-break slam. But Conroy saw two Wildcats getting back on defense, so he stopped and let his teammates set up.
He smiled and shook his head as he pulled the ball back out, as if to say, "Nope, nope, let’s run some time off the clock."
Eventually, Conroy was fouled and made both free throws.
In fact, down the stretch, Conroy controlled the floor better than he ever has. In the last three minutes, Conroy either scored or had a hand in 11 of Washington’s final 15 points.
"Getting the trust from your teammates that you can deliver the ball when they’re open is just big time," Conroy said.
"We looked to him as the leader, especially at the end of the game," said Robinson, who lit up the Wildcats for a career-high 31 points.
Look for more of the same in the last 11 games of the regular season.
Even if it’s not Magic.
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