It's just my hunch that the big news of the night is going to be UW apparently settling on USC's Steve Sarkisian as the new football coach. (See post below.)

However, it also was a very nice night for coach Lorenzo Romar's basketball team, which just knocked off Oklahoma State, 83-65 in a game they dominated the whole way.

The Huskies move to 4-3, with what was clearly their best effort of the season.

Four Huskies scored in double digits: Isaiah Thomas (18), Jon Brockman (16), Justin Dentmon (14) and Quincy Pondexter (12).

Brockman also had a game-high 11 rebounds.

Dentmon's first point pushed him over the 1,000-career-point mark.

The Huskies outrebounded the Cowboys, 44-31.

In the locker room, the attitude is that the team is coming together ... and also that they looked good enough tonight where their next game will pose a whole different challenge: Don't look past Texas Southern, who visits Saturday.

ESPN was first with the news this evening that USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian will be named the Huskies head coach.

Here's my own story.

Washington athletic director Scott Woodward refused to comment, saying only that he will maintain his policy of waiting to announce his hire when an official announcement in called.

In Los Angeles, Sarkisian went a little further, acknowledging an interview and his honor of being considered, but saying flat out that no contract had been signed.

However, all indications on campus -- where the basketball team is about to claim a very impressive win over Oklahoma State -- are that UW has found its guy.

Indications are that both schools want to hold off on the announcements until after the regular seasons end Saturday -- when UW visits Cal and USC visits UCLA.

The news ends a wild day for UW in which Texas Tech's Mike Leach and Fresno State's Pat Hill took themselves out of the running.

Sarkisian had previously confirmed his interest and an in-person interview.

Here is a quick bio from USC:

Steve Sarkisian, who is in his fourth stop at USC as an assistant coach or athlete, returned to the Trojan staff in February of 2005 as the assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach. He added the offensive coordinator role in 2007. Combined, he is in his seventh year at USC.

In 2006, quarterback John David Booty made the All-Pac-10 first team as he led the league in passing efficiency and total offense. He was a fifth round pick in the 2008 NFL draft.

In 2005, quarterback Matt Leinart won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting, was a finalist for the Davey O'Brien, Maxwell and Walter Camp Awards and was an All-American first teamer. He set 16 USC records (11 were Pac-10 marks and 2 was an NCAA record). He was the 10th pick of the 2006 NFL draft. USC's 4,157 passing yards in 2005 was a school record and the Trojans were fifth nationally in passing (319.8).

Sarkisian spent the 2004 season as the quarterbacks coach with the Oakland Raiders. His quarterbacks passed for more than 4,000 yards in 2004 as Oakland ranked eighth in passing in the NFL.

Sarkisian, 34, originally joined the USC staff as an offensive assistant in January of 2001. Then, after joining San Diego State briefly as the quarterbacks coach in January of 2002, he returned to USC in March of 2002 to handle the quarterbacks fulltime for 2 seasons (2002-03).

In 2003, quarterback Matt Leinart was an All-American first teamer and was the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year (he finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting) while setting Pac-10 season records for TD passes (35) and consecutive passes without an interception (212). He also had the highest passing efficiency rating of any USC quarterback (163.2). USC won its first national championship since 1978.

In 2002, quarterback Carson Palmer won the Heisman and Unitas Award en route to setting the Pac-10 career records for passing yards and total offense (he was the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NFL draft), plus he was an All-American first teamer.
USC played in the 2001 Las Vegas Bowl, 2003 Orange Bowl, 2004 Rose Bowl, 2006 Rose Bowl (BCS Championship Game), 2007 Rose Bowl and 2008 Rose Bowl.

Sarkisian spent the 2000 season as the quarterbacks coach at El Camino Junior College in Torrance (Calif.). His quarterback, Robert Hodge, earned All-American honors. El Camino played in the CHIPs For Kids Bowl.

Sarkisian starred at the quarterback position at the prep, collegiate and pro levels. He was with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League for 3 seasons (1997-99). He started in 1999 and threw 16 touchdowns.

He had a record-setting 2-year (1995-96) career at BYU, where he was coached by former USC assistant Norm Chow. He completed 549-of-824 passes (66.6%) for 7,755 yards and 55 TDs in his career. His 162.0 career passing efficiency rating is third on the all-time NCAA list. As a senior in 1996, he led the nation in passing efficiency (173.6, the seventh best mark ever) as the Western Athletic Conference champion Cougars went 14-1 and won the 1997 Cotton Bowl. He was the WAC Offensive Player of the Year in 1996, won All-American second team honors and played in the East-West Shrine Game and Hula Bowl. As a 1995 junior, he made the All-WAC team and led BYU to the WAC title. Against Fresno State that season, he set an NCAA game completion percentage record when he hit 31-of-34 passes (91.2%).

He came to BYU from El Camino Junior College, where he starred for 2 seasons (1993-94). He was a J.C. All-American first teamer as a 1994 sophomore and won All-Mission Conference honors in 1993 as a freshman. He also played baseball (shortstop) at El Camino in 1993.
He actually began his college career at USC, spending the fall of 1992 on the Trojan baseball team before transferring to El Camino.

He was a standout football and baseball player at West Torrance (Calif.) High.

He earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from BYU in 1997 after getting his associate's degree in general studies from El Camino in 1994.

He was born March 8, 1974. He and his wife, Stephanie, have 2 daughters, Ashley, 5, and newborn Taylor, and a son, Brady, 3.

SARKISIAN SNAPSHOT
BIRTHDAY: March 8, 1974
FAMILY: Wife, Stephanie; Daughters, Ashley, 5, and Taylor, newborn; Son, Brady, 3
HIGH SCHOOL: West Torrance (Calif.) HS
EDUCATION:
Associate's degree, general studies, El Camino Junior College, 1994
Bachelor's degree, sociology, BYU, 1997
PLAYING EXPERIENCE:
West Torrance (Calif.) HS
El Camino Junior College, Torrance, Calif., quarterback, 1993-94
BYU, quarterback, 1995-96
Saskatchewan Roughriders, quarterback, 1997-99

The University of Washington will retire the No. 3 jersey worn by former Huskies star and 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy.

The number will be retired in a ceremony before the Jan. 22 home game against USC.

Roy is a 2002 graduate of Seattle's Garfield High School and completed his UW career in 2006 as one of the top players in school history. He was a key player in the Huskies' 84-42 run from 2003-06 which featured three straight NCAA tournaments and back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances.

For complete release is available at GoHuskies.com.

Tailback Brandon Johnson won't travel with the team to Berkeley this weekend due to an undisclosed disciplinary reason, coach Tyrone Willingham just informed us.

Willingham said Wille Griffin will start at tailback at Cal, with Terrance Dailey in reserve.

Johnson had run for a career-high 121 yards in last season's victory over the Golden Bears.

Willingham also said cornerback Mesphin Forrester is questionable with an ankle injury, but that offensive tackle Ben Ossai will play.

As expected, Fresno State coach Pat Hill withdrew his name from consideration for the UW job today.

Far less expectedly, ESPN is breaking a lot of hearts by reporting that Texas Tech coach Mike Leach has also.

We'll get details on that as the day progresses, but those are two once-major names -- in Leach's case, he may have seemed the front-runner as recently as this morning -- that are now out of the picture.

So, who's the front-runner now? Steve Sarkisian?

More to come.