Heading into its opening game of the Pac-10 tournament, the University of Washington men’s basketball team is on a roll, carrying a clean bill of health and ready to ride the shoulders of a do-everything senior class.
Oh, wait. That was last year’s Huskies.
The squad that rattled off t
hree consecutive wins and earned an automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA tournament seems like it’s tucked in the dusty annals of history right about now. Having gone 5-6 down the stretch, having lost their top two point guards, and relying mostly on underclassmen because the seniors are experiencing a Ch
arlie Sheen-type of stretch, the Huskies hardly look the part of a tournament sleeper this time around.
“It’s been a rough season,” junior Isaiah Thomas said Tuesday. “It’s been up and down. But we’re not going to give up.”
Entering tonight’s game against Washington State, the Huskies (20-10) could have just seven scholarship players at their disposal. And even the ones that are in uniform need to change their colors quickly.
Already without starting point guard Abdul Gaddy (season-ending knee injury) and key backup Venoy Overton (suspended for this week’s tournament on Tuesday), UW might also have to find a way to replace injured senior Justin Holiday (concussion). He’s expected to be a game-time decision as the Huskies try to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of WSU (19-11).
While last year’s Huskies rode a four-game winning streak into the Pac-10 tourney — thanks in large part to the lone senior, Quincy Pondexter — this group did the unthinkable by losing two of its last three games, all at home. Seniors Overton, Holiday (0-for-6 from the field in his last outing and 5-for-25 in his past three games) and Matthew Bryan-Amaning (11-for-33 in his past three games and 4-for-19 in a pair of losses to the Cougars this season) are showing few signs of reliability as UW tries to make another run.
Even the unflappable Thomas, a junior, was showing signs of confidence lost this week when he said his poor play might be the biggest reason for UW’s recent woes.
“I feel like lately my play has rubbed off on the team,” said Thomas, who went 8-for-25 from the field on the most recent homestand. “I put a lot on my shoulders, and a lot of blame goes on me for how we’ve been playing the whole month of February.”
UW’s struggles on the court were accented by the off-the-court situation that finally found some resolution this week. Overton was suspended for the tournament after the Seattle City Attorney’s Office charged him with providing alcohol to a minor. He’s due in court April 1 and will be eligible to return for the NCAA tournament later this month.
In a basketball sense, it’s the kind of headache the Huskies can’t afford to nurse right now. But they’re not alone.
WSU has its share of problems, too. Star Klay Thompson sat out the last game of the regular season after being suspended following an arrest and charge of marijuana possession one week ago. Point guard Reggie Moore is nursing a sprained ankle and will be hobbled — if he plays.
Add in the Overton and Holiday situations, and there are so many storylines that the actual basketball seems to have taken a backseat. But neither the Huskies nor the Cougars have forgotten about WSU’s regular-season sweep.
“Everybody’s going to be amped up,” UW’s Bryan-Amaning said. “It’s your state rival, regardless of what happened (during the regular season).”
On Tuesday, Thomas scoffed at the notion that the Cougars might be too tough a matchup for this year’s Huskies.
“They’re not the best team in the country to where we’re like, ‘Oh, man, we’re playing Wazzu, it’s going to be tough,'” Thomas said. “They played two good games, and we give them all the credit. But it’s hard to beat a team three times, and we’re going to be well-prepared for it.”
WSU coach Ken Bone said there are advantages to having swept the Huskies twice, but he’s also aware of the axiom about how hard it is to beat a team three times in the same season.
“We know them, whether we played them once or twice or 10 times,” he said this week. “… I’m just looking forward to us getting out on the court with Klay and Reggie in uniform.”
If the Cougars are looking for evidence that it might not be that difficult to beat a team three times in a season, they might want to look back at the 2009-10 Huskies, who swept both Oregon State and Stanford before beating them in the Pac-10 tournament.
“At that point last year, we were not losing a game,” Bryan-Amaning said. “We just had that kind of confidence.”
Even before the Overton suspension, the Huskies seemed to be losing their confidence this time around. So it’s hard to say which UW team will show up tonight.
“If we can manage to get our heads right, come out and guard and manage to hit a couple shots, and we can get our confidence, I think it would — quickly — kind of bring us back to life a little bit,” UW coach Lorenzo Romar said.
The Huskies are running out of chances.
“It’s March Madness,” Bryan-Amaning said, “and everybody loves it. Your adrenaline gets running.”
Lacking bodies and confidence, adrenaline might be all this year’s Huskies have right about now.
“Nobody’s feeling sorry for us,” Thomas said. “I’m not feeling sorry for us. We have to go out and win basketball games.
“Our backs have been against the wall before. We know what it takes to win a Pac-10 championship. We’ve got to play every game like it’s our last.”
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