Huskies Mature, Cop Pac-10 Tournament

After Lorenzo Romar’s Washington Huskies were blown out at Galen Center by the USC Trojans, the question that had been on the minds of basketball minds for some time resounded with a flourish.

“What happened to the Washington Huskies?” the shocked fans of Seattle wanted to know.

Kevin O’Neill, the experienced, savvy USC head coach, had the answer. The Huskies were missing the experience that led to the school’s first conference crown since 1953 and the days of superstar Bob “Hooks” Houbregs.

That experience of last season was highlighted by two big names, Jon Brockman and Justin Dentmon, who provided senior leadership as a forward and guard combination. Meanwhile, star forward Quincy Pondexter was the sole senior on this season’s squad.

Fresno flash Pondexter provided great leadership all season long, but the experience lag was responsible for many of the problems the team encountered leading up to the important final portion of the season.

Alas, the talent was there, and it was just a question of time, and now the Huskies, who seemingly could not win a game on the road, defeated Stanford and interstate rival Washington State while sweeping Oregon rivals Oregon State and Oregon away from home heading into the Pac-10 Tournament at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The team that a few weeks earlier was being consigned by many to an NIT tourney bid at best and certainly a contingent shut out of the NCAA Tournament competition, came alive, playing with hunger and conviction.

Pondexter supplied flash at both ends of the court in scoring and rebounding. Meanwhile, talented sophomore Isaiah Thomas, the conference’s No. 1 freshman last season, blended a skilled shooting touch and tenacious defense. Thomas’ shooting touch was superb at the three-point line, where his jump shot found the mark in key situations.

The Pondexter-Thomas duo was augmented by the developmental find of the season, the London born junior with the gigantic wing span, Matthew Brian-Amaning. Down the stretch, Brian-Amaning was a monster on the boards who also secured important points that moved the pendulum in the Huskies’ favor.

After finishing the conference season strong and garnering an 11-7 record, good enough for third place, the team’s intensity was evident at Staples Center last week in the conference tournament.

Craig Robinson’s Oregon State team provided a tough zone and slowed the game up noticeably in the first half of the Huskies’ initial round test. After a slow first half, Pondexter and Thomas led the charge. The Huskies began to move up and down the court swiftly at both ends, as befitting their style, and secured a come from behind 59-52 win.

The second round provided an engagement with a Stanford team fresh from an upset over the conference’s second place team, Arizona State, a loss that proved the ultimate factor in keeping the Sun Devils out of the NCAA tourney. An aggressive defense kept the Cardinal off balance all night, as Washington prevailed 79-64.

That left the toughest assignment of all, confronting the senior laden conference titlist, Mike Montgomery’s California Golden Bears. Cal in earlier tournament competition had impressively defeated Oregon and UCLA.

The result was one of the classics of Pac-10 Tournament history, a down to the wire nail biter between two teams determined to win and detesting the thought of losing.

The Huskies secured a 79-75 win in the team’s most outstanding performance of the season. Washington matched the conference’s champion in rebounds with 31 apiece and, when the chips were down, converted free throws so adroitly as to edge out the conference’s premier charity stripe team. The Huskies converted an almost perfect 17-for-18, while Cal was also brilliant with 20-for-23.

Poindexter scored 18 points, on par with his seasonal average of 20, while diminutive sparkplug Thomas kicked in for 16. Thomas’ value was augmented by the tenacious defense he provided against Jerome Randle, the talented senior who was selected as the conference’s Most Valuable Player by the coaches. Randle was held to 12 points.

Matthew Brian-Amaning supplied quality minutes down the stretch, blocking shots and garnering clutch rebounds, finishing with nine points and five rebounds.

So now the Huskies have won 12 of their last 14. Momentum is with them, but the next stop is a formidable hurdle supplied by Marquette in first round NCAA Tournament action. The Huskies meet Marquette Thursday in San Jose.

Win or lose, the season was a success, as Lorenzo Romar brought his players along in such a manner as to peak at just the right time, after many had decided that it would be “wait until next year.”