Will Huskies go dancing? - Everett Herald

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Having finally exorcised the demon that followed it on road trips this season, the University of Washington menÂ's basketball team is able to set its sights on a much bigger goal this week.

That is, getting to the Big Dance.

The Huskies (17-8 overall, 7-6 in the Pacific-10 Conference) dampened their chances at a conference title, and of an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, with last ThursdayÂ's loss at Cal. But the win at Stanford two days later left UW clinging to a raft in the stormy waters of NCAA tournament hopefuls.

Â"I think we have a great shot. I still do,Â" senior Quincy Pondexter said Tuesday, three days after the Huskies had snapped a six-game road losing streak with a 78-61 win over the Cardinal. Â"I have a lot of faith in this team in getting to the Big Dance. At the end of this season, we could have enough wins and a decent resume.Â"

The only sure way for the Huskies to make it to the NCAA tournament would be to win the Pac-10 tournament in March, but the Huskies arenÂ't banking on that right now. They still see some hope to play their way into NCAA tournament consideration over the next five regular-season games.

Â"ItÂ's a tough situation,Â" junior Venoy Overton said. Â"We probably have to win the rest of our games. We havenÂ't won a lot of big games, so I feel like we probably have to win the rest of our games and a couple in the Pac-10 tournament.Â"

Head coach Lorenzo Romar wasnÂ't willing to predict how many wins it might take for UW to get back into tournament consideration. But he hasnÂ't given up hope.

Â"This year, I donÂ't know what the magic number is,Â" he said Tuesday. Â"Right now itÂ's one. WeÂ've got to concentrate on (ThursdayÂ's) USC game, and if that turns out all right, then the next game weÂ've got to concentrate on that. I canÂ't give you a number.Â"

The Huskies currently sit in the middle of the Pac-10 pack and hold an RPI rating of 53rd in the country, which is typically too low to get an at-large bid.

The struggles of the Pac-10 as a whole also could hurt UW, but itÂ's not the only conference swimming in mediocrity right about now. Nine of the 12 teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference have seven losses or more. The same can be said for eight teamÂ's in the Big 12, nine in the 12-team Southeastern Conference, seven in the 11-team Big Ten and 11 in the 16-team Big East.

And yet many NCAA tournament projections, like ESPNÂ's Bracketology, have only one Pac-10 team (Cal, which ESPN has as an eighth seed in the South Regional) making it into the round of 64.

Â"I donÂ't know what it is. The Pac-10 is down a little bit, but look at a lot of the schools that were good from last year; theyÂ're down,Â" said Pondexter, adding that Louisville and Connecticut have gotten more publicity than UW despite similar tournament resumes. Â"North Carolina is down. It seems like theyÂ're trying to find every reason in the world to let them in the tournament.

Â"We just have to go out and do our part. We have to finish out the season strong, and hopefully the NCAA committee lets us in.Â"

Working in UWÂ's favor is that several traditional national powers are struggling just as mightily these days. North Carolina (14-11), Louisville (16-9), Connecticut (15-11), Arizona (13-12), UCLA (11-13) and Oklahoma (13-11) are among the teams that might be on the outside looking in when it comes to at-large bids. ThatÂ's six of the 65 available slots that are typically all wrapped up by now.

On the flip side, the Huskies wonÂ't have much an opportunity to improve their No. 53 RPI rating down the stretch. Remaining opponents USC (No. 85), Washington State (118), UCLA (131), Oregon (157) and Oregon State (183) are outside of the top 80.

Just getting a few more wins before the end of the regular season might be a bit of a chore. Oregon already has a road win at UW this season, Oregon State is starting to find a rhythm — the Beavers have won two of three games, one of which came at Arizona — Washington State had a commanding first-half lead over the Huskies in a previous meeting and both USC and UCLA have beaten Washington already this season.

ThursdayÂ's game against USC should be an interesting one after the way the Trojans manhandled UW four weeks ago. That 87-61 victory included a season-low, two-point performance on 1-of-10 shooting from Pondexter, a conference player-of-the-year candidate who averages 20.4 points per game this season.

Â"WeÂ're not going to be able to hold him down like we did the last game,Â" said USC coach Kevin OÂ'Neill, whose Trojans (15-9, 7-5) are ineligible for postseason play this season because of an NCAA violation. Â"ThatÂ's impossible to do (twice).Â"

Pondexter said he has studied the defense used by the Trojans in the previous meeting, and he hopes to have better success.

More than anything, he wants to lead the Huskies back into the Big Dance — no matter how they get there.

Â"It would be a huge disappointmentÂ" not to get in, he said Tuesday. Â"I would take complete blame for it. This is my team. IÂ'm the leader of this team, and not going out on top is all because of me. Not to get into the tournament, it would leave a really sour note on everything.

Â"Â… I want to keep the legacy going after what our team did last year. We built a lot last year winning a Pac-10 championship. To not get to the tournament, that would be a big letdown for all of us.Â"

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