Really? Surprising Washington continues its improbable run
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Meanwhile, amid the bracket carnage, Washington's Brendan Sherrer paused to reflect.
"It is," the sophomore reserve said, "impossible to explain."
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| It's amazing to see how far these Huskies have come. (US Presswire) |
They won the game, 82-64 over New Mexico in a second-round East Regional game. Now it's up to the Huskies to win the hearts of a nation ready to go ga-ga over the likes of Northern Iowa and St. Mary's.
Cinderella? Not if you saw the 11th-seeded Huskies' dissection of the third-seeded Lobos. There might be better stories, but there is only one team seeded lower than Washington left in the tournament. Twelve seed Cornell takes its chances against Wisconsin on Sunday.
For only a fleeting moment were the Huskies not the biggest story in HP Pavilion on Saturday. The scoreboard posting of Kansas' loss got the typical reaction: Shock and awe.
The rest of the time, Washington rocked the house. It's hard to believe that a team with this much size, athleticism, speed and ability has been part of the Pac-10 sob story this season. They took out the Lobos like it was a back-alley mugging.
"They just kept on scoring," New Mexico's Ramon Martinez said. "We couldn't respond in any way defensively or offensively."
How bad was it? The shining example is Sherrer, a little-used walk-on scrub who had all of 15 minutes of playing time this season before getting in the final 1:26.
"Mostly, I'm in there banging away," Sherrer said of practice, not the incredible run Washington is on.
The Huskies were so good that a kid who fought off viral meningitis this season was able to get quality, um, seconds.
"I saw him on campus and I thought he was still in the hospital," teammate Elston Turner Jr. said of the meningitis that caused Sherrer to lose feeling in his left side. "I'm glad he's back."
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| Washington vs. New Mexico |
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Recap: Washington 82, New Mexico 64 |
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Message boards: Washington | New Mexico |
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It mattered. Washington has never lost this season when "The Human Victory Cigar" (that's really his nickname) has played.
Actually, everybody's back for Washington just in time to ask one serious question: What the hell has happened? This squad was somnambulant for large parts of the season. Before the Pac-10 tournament, an NCAA tournament berth was in question.
Now, winners of nine in a row, the Huskies are in the Sweet 16 for the third time in the last six seasons. They're banging, defending, blocking, nearly flying in a season that looked lost a few weeks ago.
"That's what our mentality is, just run up and down the floor," Turner said. "We feel like no team in the country can run with us."
This is a team that started the Pac-10 season 0-3. The conference season started with a loss to Oregon that prompted a players-only meeting called by guard Isaiah Thomas. The Huskies then went out and lost the next two.
And that wasn't the lowest point. That came on the L.A. swing in January when Washington lost to UCLA and USC. It went on to be swept by the Trojans.
"The lowest point was when we lost to USC at their place [Jan. 23]," senior Quincy Pondexter said. "We were playing awful as a team. From then on we said, 'No more.' We didn't want to go out like that. We were kind of getting laughed at nationally."
The Huskies had plenty of company. The Pac-10 as a whole underachieved. There was a bit of West Coast pride in the locker room as the Huskies realized they had survived along with St. Mary's and Cal.
The winner of Sunday's Missouri-West Virginia game will have a surprise in store in next weekend's East Regional. Matt Bryan-Amaning is a 6-foot-9, 240-pound block of granite scouted and brought over to the States from London. Thomas, a 5-8 sophomore, is fearless whether he is slashing or spotting up.
These Huskies will only go as far as Pondexter takes them. He already is an NBA talent, one of the best players in Washington history, according to coach Lorenzo Romar. His biggest contribution in the end might be staying at Montlake. Pondexter was part of the celebrated four-man 2006 recruiting class that had broken up by December 2007.
Spencer Hawes left after his freshman year for the NBA. Two other players transferred. As a senior, Pondexter has an NBA-ready power forward body with quick moves around the basket. Washington didn't need all of his 30 minutes (18 points, five rebounds) but a case can be made for Pondexter being the San Jose pod's most outstanding player. He hit the game-winning shot against Marquette and had 36 combined points in two games.
"In the age where it's kind of a microwave way of thinking -- 'If I don't get it right away, I'm out of here' -- he didn't do that," Romar said. "He stuck with it. It's a great lesson in life. Evaluate yourself first."
Now Washington is one of the few to last -- to the second weekend.
"It's the NCAA tournament," Pondexter said, "you have no choice but to be consumed by it."
