SEATTLE — Wearing new uniforms for the 2007-2008 season, the University of Washington men’s basketball players talked about tapping into the program’s past.
Granted it’s not a very distant past they were talking about, but the Huskies are looking to leave behind the disappointment of last year’s postseason-free season, and get back to the things that led to three straight NCAA tournament appearances and back-to-back sweet 16s.
Meeting with the media before departing for St. Martin’s College for season-opening camp, the Huskies talked about getting back to playing pressure defense and fast-break offense.
“We’ve worked on that, since I’ve been here, more than ever,” said sophomore guard Adrian Oliver. “I’ve never worked on defense so much in my life. We start out with half an hour of pure defense, no ball, before practice, and our spring training was all defense, no ball. That’s something we really lacked last year, and we have too much pride to come out two years in a row and just give up points like we did. We’re back to that pressuring up, full-court kind of game, so that’s going to make for a really exciting season.”
When asked what the emphasis would be during the first couple weeks of practice, coach Lorenzo Romar gave a definitive one-word answer of “Defense.”
While this week marks the beginning of practice for college basketball, Washington has a head start playing together thanks to an August trip to Greece. Romar said his teammates bonded on the trip, especially because a lack of cell phones and technology forced them to spend more time getting to know each other.
“We formed a lot of team camaraderie,” said sophomore forward Quincy Pondexter. “We weren’t able to talk on cell phones or enjoy other American luxuries that would take us away from our teammates. We were all we had out there in Greece, so we really enjoyed each other’s time.”
Now with the season opener less than a month away, the Huskies hope a renewed emphasis on defense and a stronger team bond can lead to a return to the NCAA tournament.
“We have a lot of returners, but this is a new team,” said Pondexter. “I think we’re going to come out and do well this year. We’re back to playing defense. I think we’re going to be a great team, one of the upper-echelon teams in our conference and one of the top teams in the country.”
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