In 2004-05, and 2005-06, when Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson, Bobby Jones and Jammal Williams were the stars of this school, Washington was dominating the Pac-10, won a Pac-10 tournament title, had a #1 seed for the first time ever. But they still never got past the sweet 16 when it really mattered. Even so, Washington was no longer a joke, they were a new force to be reckoned with. Fast forward 2 years, all of the players mentioned are gone, and so is the great play. Everyone thought that with the addition of Spencer Hawes in 2006 would boost up a Huskies team that lost Brandon Roy and Bobby Jones, who were seniors after their OT loss to UConn in the sweet 16. But he never got healthy, never developed his game, and neither did the team.
It was a young squad indeed, Justin Dentmon was a sophomore, Jon Brockman was a sophomore, Ryan Appleby a junior, Adrian Oliver and Quincy Pondexter were freshmen. Their youth caught up with their preseason #8 ranking. And although they were quite capable of beating top teams, like then ranked #2 UCLA, #24 USC, and many more teams, all of those wins were at home, where they rarely lose. Would anyone like to take a guess at how many wins they had away from home last season ago? If you answered 2, you are correct. Both of those wins came against Arizona State (Pac-10 play, and the Pac-10 tournament in LA) , who were really lousy. That’s right, Washington went a remarkable 1-8 in Pac-10 reg. season play away from Hec. Ed Pavilion, and 1-1 in the Pac-10 tournament. For reasons unknown after a terrible season, they did not make the NIT.
So one year has passed, new recruits have come, Washington has a year of experience under their belt. They lost Spencer Hawes to the NBA, and Phil Nelson to transfer in the offseason. They lost Adrian Oliver to transfer as well 2 weeks back. Now 10 games in to the 2007-08 season, and the Huskies in non-conference play, are 6-4. And again, they haven’t won a road game this season. After winning their first two preseason NIT games and a non-conference game against Eastern Washington at home, the turnovers and defensive breakdowns that haunted them last year, came back and bit them as they lost to Syracuse and Texas A&M at Madison Square Garden in the semifinals of the NIT.
After winning against Long Beach State at home, coach Lorenzo Romar and Washington had another chance to win on the road in the Pac-10/Big 12 hardwood series. Instead, on national TV, they got destroyed 96-71 against Oklahoma State to drop to 4-3.
This leads me to the ending of Pitt/Washington in Seattle. Justin Dentmon, a junior on the team, had made a game winning shot at the buzzer to upset Pitt…but the shot came after the buzzer sounded, the shot did not count and they lost 75-74. They had 5 seconds to win the game, and Dentmon had it from start to finish. As a supporter of Washington, I’ve grown tired and frustrated watching Justin Dentmon. He can’t shoot, he’s inconsistent, and he is a turnover machine, and you mean to tell me, that with 3 years of experience, he did not know how much time there was left on the clock?! So they’ve won their last 2 against Portland and Portland State….at home. After Cal State Northridge at home yet again, Washington travels to LSU on the 29th of December, which is their last non-conference game on the road this season (the last non-conference game is against Idaho State). If they cannot beat a team that lost to Wichita State by 20, then Husky fans are going to have to wait until next year.
The Pac-10 has 4 ranked teams as of today, so coach Romar and Washington know what they are up against. They either start playing better basketball, win on the road, quit dribbling the ball off their feet, turning it over, or face the possibility of missing March Madness yet again.
