Huskies took contol after about 10 minutes and held the rest of the way. Their reward is keeping their share of the Pac-10 lead -- along with UCLA -- at the race's halfway point.

Coach Lorenzo Romar was happy with the play of Dentmon and Thomas, of course, but he really stressed the defensive contributions of Darnell Gant on James Harden and the defense and rebounding of Justin Holiday.

Here's my game story, here's one from the Arizona Republic, and here are some highlights:

Star of the game: UW senior guard Justin Dentmon scored a career-high 30 points. He hit eight of 12 shots from the field, four of seven 3-pointers and 10 of 11 free throws. His previous career- and season-high was 24.

Key stats: UW held ASU guard James Harden, the Pac-10’s leading scorer to 15 points, seven below his average. … Washington took 34 free throws to ASU’s 22. And the Huskies took advantage by hitting 26 of them (76.5 percent).

Key run: With the score tied at 12 after about eight minutes, the Huskies took the lead for good with three straight 3-pointers, one from Elston Turner and two from Dentmon.

Observations: UW is tied with UCLA atop the Pac-10 standings at the midpoint of the league season. … UW’s 41 points at halftime matched the most scored against the Sun Devils in a first half this season. … The Huskies are 4-1 on the road in conference play. ... With this victory, Washington tied its win total from last season.

Quotable: “For Washington, the refs were fantastic; but for us they hurt us. We’ve got to play through that. We can’t let Dentmon get 30 points. We can’t let the freshman (Isaiah Thomas) get 25 no matter who the refs are. That’s something we’ve got to learn to play through.” – UW senior Jeff Pendergraph, who had 21 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

Next: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, at California, Haas Pavilion, Berkeley, Calif.; FSN.

3:55 left: Justin Dentmon has scored 24 points three times. Today he's registered a career-high 26 ... so far.

Halftime: John Brockman didn't score until more than 14 minutes had been played, and James Harden didn't score until after more than 16 and a half minutes had been played. Brockman has two at the half, and Harden has five. (Gant and Holiday handled most of the defense on Harden, Dentmon picked up some duty late in the half.)

Picking up the slack for UW is Justin Dentmon, who has 18 points with the help of four 3-pointers. Jeff Pendergraph has 11 for the Sun Devils.

Washington got separation around the 10-minute mark with a 9-0 run on consecutive threes by Elston Turner and a pair by Dentmon. Suddenly, a 12-12 game was 21-12, UW.

Isiah Thomas carried UW early, scoring six of their first eight points. He has 10 at the half. No Husky other than Dentmon and Thomas has more than one field goal.

UW is shooting 51.7 percent, ASU 42.3. Each team has 16 rebounds.

UCLA beat Stanford today, so UW is playing simply to retain a piece of the conference lead.

Tipoff: I hear a lot of national anthems in this job, but never one quite like the one we just heard. All the familiar lyrics, but the tune was ... oddly Chrismas carol-ly.

Anyway, Huskies going with their usual lineup: Brockman, Dentmon, Pondexter, Gant and Thomas. (Unusual number of road cheers when Brockman was announced.)

Fair number of empty seats in the upper areas. But it's a big game and could be a hot crowd. Here we go.

1:15 p.m. The first few students of the ASU student section have trickled into Wells Fargo Arena, and the first few Huskies and Sun Devils are out on the court.

About 100 miles to the south, Arizona completed its sweep of the Washington schools by beating Washington State. And at 2:30, UW and ASU will try to avoid an o-fer weekend. Today's loser also could fall out of the national rankings -- UW certainly would. And an ASU win would pull them even with the Huskies in the Pac-10 race. (UCLA has a double-digit lead over Stanford as I write this.)

Normal gameday blogging plan: Pregame notes as they happen, a couple of in-game reports, and then back here with postgame notes and quotes.

Washington coach Steve Sarkisian's two recruiting violations over the last two weeks -- each outlined in blog posts below -- clearly are not good first impressions, either in reality or perception. However, Pac-10 associate commissioner for compliance Mike Matthews has put them in some perspective.

“Secondary violations are very common,” Matthews said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.“... Generally speaking, secondary violations result in a revisiting of the rules and a letter of admonishment."

UW athletic director Scott Woodward said the university self reports 30 or so secondary violations each academic year, usually with five or six concerning football.

Matthews said that the Pac-10 does not consider a set number of secondary violations for one school equivalent to a major violation that would prompt harsher penalties.

Remember what it was like in Western Washington in the days leading up to the Seahawk's Super Bowl appearance? That's kind of what it's been like in Arizona's Valley of the Sun this week.

There are T-shirt sales on street corners, signs of support in merchants windows and the Cardinals in the Super Bowl is making all other local news distinctly secondary. Including today's basketball game between No. 23 Washington and No. 14 Arizoa State. (Here's my story from today's paper. And here's one from the Arizona Republic.)

"Obviously the Cardinals have generated a lot of excitement in the Valley," ASU coach Herb Sendek said, "as you would expect with the team going to the Super Bowl."

However, the Sun Devils haven't been forgotten. The local paper is running Super Bowl stories on the front page of the paper and giving the Cardinals a whole section to themselves. So the Super Bowl coverage isn't affecting the Sports page much. On on Thursday, when Washington State upset ASU, the Sun Devils drew their largest crowd of the season -- 10,745, compared to their home average of 8,145.

Today's Super Bowl Eve tipoff is at 2:30 (PST). The game will be on FSN.

What seemed to be an extra-long practice for the Huskies today actually turned out to be a normal practice that ended late because it started late.

After running his team through an hour and 20 minute practice on the ASU campus today, coach Lornezo Romar said he hopes the results of last night's loss to Arizona got his team's attention by itself.

"Sometimes it’s not a harder workout, sometimes it’s film, sometimes its talking to," he said. "We learned a valuable lesson last night. We said from the first day of practice, we’re just not good enough to go out and play cool."

He also added that today's practice is one of the most important of the season because of how different the Sun Devils are from the Wildcats.

"There could be no distractions at this practice today because we’ve got really a day to prepare for a team that plays totally different than the one we played last night," he said. "So, in terms of paying attention to defense, it’s very important."

Final: It was a classic game of runs, but the Huskies' final surge never quite caught up with the Wildcats. And afterward, the Huskies blamed lack of effort, especially on the defensive end.

UW falls to 15-5 and 6-2 with a tough one at No. 14 Arizona State on Saturday. Arizona climbs to 13-8 and 3-5.

Here's my game storty; and some highlights:

Star of the game: Arizona junior guard Nic Wise had a game-high 29 points while also dishing eight assists. He hit all 14 of his free throws and nailed three of seven 3-pointers.

Key stats: Arizona took 51 foul shots and hit 41 of them (80.4 percent). … The Wildcats scored 69 points in the second half, while shooting 62.6 percent from the field over those final 20 minutes. … UW guard Justin Dentmon hit a career-high seven 3-pointers. Freshman Elston Turner tied his career-high with three 3-pointers.

Key play: Washington cut Arizona’s lead to three points with just under two minutes left. On Arizona’s next possession Zane Johnson – who averages 4.4 points – launched a 3-pointer with plenty of time on the shot clock … and nailed it. “When he locked and loaded for that shot I just about had a heart attack,” UA junior Chase Budinger said. “I just looked up and said, ‘Uh oh.’ … It turned out to be a huge shot.”

Observations: The Huskies gave up their most points since January 1998 when they were scorched for 112 points – also at Arizona. … UW senior Jon Brockman was called for an intentional foul in the final minute when he hit Arizona’s Jamelle Horne, who was driving to the basket. Brockman said he apologized immediately and again after the game, but Onobun wasn’t happy.

Quotable: “We’re a physical team, but once we stated getting fouls on us it made us hesitant so we couldn’t really played with pressure or we’d foul out. You can’t really point any fingers. When all is said and done, we just didn’t come out to play.” – UW senior Justin Dentmon.

Next: 2:30 p.m. Saturday, at No. 14 Arizona State, Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe, Ariz.; FSN.

Halftime: UW, 38-37. And I suspect they'll take it considering they got off to a very slow start, falling behind 10-2 and not scoring their first field goal until five minutes in.

On the other hand, UW then rallied for a six-point lead, and couldn't hold it.

UA's big three of Hill (11 pts), Budinger (10) and Wise (nine) are carrying their load. Brockman leads all scorers with 12, but UW is getting a surprising boost from Elston Turner who knocked down three quick 3's.

Tipoff: Certainly the smallest crowd I've seen in my five seasons here. But this is a down season these home fans aren't used to. Or this could be a late-arriving crowd, giving the 6:30 (Mountain Time) start.

Huskies going with their usual starting lineup: Brockman, Dentmon, Pondexter, Gant and Thomas.

Pregame: They've struck up the band here at McKale Center in Tucson, and the Huskies are out on the court in the road purples.

We'll run through our normal gameday rituals here: Pregame news if any, in-game updates, and then back here with postgame notes and quotes.

It's a big one for the newly ranked, league-leading Huskies.

Tipoff is 5:30. The game is on FSN.

Here's a release from UW arriving in my inbox today concering the incident outlined in the previous post:

The University of Washington athletic department will self-report a secondary violation of NCAA rules having to do with the football program, athletic director Scott Woodward said today.

The violation occurred when UW head coach Steve Sarkisian and assistant head coach Nick Holt met with two high-school seniors and their coach last week in Los Angeles. Also present at that meeting were a newspaper reporter and a junior teammate of the two players. It is not permissible for coaches to have off-campus contact with prospective student-athletes until July 1 prior to their senior year, nor is it permissible to have recruiting contact with prospects in the presence of media.

Neither UW coach was aware ahead of time that the junior student-athlete or the newspaper reporter would be present at the visit. Additionally, neither coach engaged either the reporter or the junior in conversation during the meeting.

“I want to make it clear that we do not tolerate NCAA violations,” Woodward said. “We, as a department, are committed to compliance with the rules. Coach Sarkisian and Coach Holt found themselves in an awkward situation that was not of their doing. They regret that the incident occurred, and I’m confident that they will handle similar circumstances differently in the future.”

The violation report will be submitted to the Pac-10 Conference. The UW will consult the Pac-10 on appropriate corrective measures.

The UW athletic department will have no further comment on this matter.

UW compliance officials are investigating whether new football coach Steve Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Nick Holt -- both formerly of USC -- violated NCAA rules by allowing a reporter and a high school junior to attend a recruiting meeting that was detailed in a story by Los Angeles Times.

Here's an update from the L.A. Times.

This comes on the heels of last week's report (see blog post from Jan. 21) about the prohibited use of a fog machine used in the recruitment of Wilson defensive back Desmond Trufant.

The Huskies are off for their first of four straight road games that will go a long way toward telling how good they really are.

A week ago, I figured three straight splits -- the LA schools at home last week, the Arizona trip this week and the Bay trip next week -- would be pretty good. But after sweeping the Trojans and Bruins, this team's upside may have risen a bit.

In any case, this opener in Tucson should be intereting because 2-5 in league says one thing about Arizona, while a lineup including Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill and Nic Wise says something else.

A quick scouting report:

NO. 23 WASHINGTON (15-4 OVERALL, 6-1 PAC-10)
AT ARIZONA (12-8, 2-5)
5:30 p.m. Thursday, McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz.
TV: FSN.
Radio: 950-AM

Series: Arizona leads, 41-22. The teams split last season, each winning at home.

Statistical leaders: For UA, F Jordan Hill, 18.4 ppg and 11.9 rpg; G Nic Wise, 4.6 apg. For UW, G Isaiah Thomas, 16.3 ppg and 3 apg; F Jon Brockman, 10.7 rpg.

Scouting report: Washington has won 13 of its past 14 games, is ranked for the first time since January 2006 and is alone atop the conference standings for the first time since January 2005. … The Huskies are one win shy of their total victories from last season. … This is the first of four straight road games for UW. As of now, the Huskies are 3-0 in Pac-10 road games for the third time in school history. … Arizona’s last game was a 96-90 overtime win over Houston on Saturday. The Wildcats trailed by 10 in the final minute of regulation. … Arizona is last in the Pac-10 in turnover margin (minus-2.1). … UW is the conference’s highest-scoring team, averaging 78.9 ppg. Arizona is tied for sixth at 69.8 ppg. UW also leads the league in rebounding margin; Arizona is third, and Hill is the Pac-10’s rebound leader. He also is second in the conference in blocked shots (2.3 bpg). Forward Chase Budinger leads the league with an average of 36.8 minutes played per game.

Next: 2:30 p.m. Saturday, at No. 14 Arizona State, Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe, Ariz.; FSN.

Cornerback Aaron Grymes of West Seattle High told Realdawg.com that he has decommitted from UW and will accept a scholarship offer from Idaho instead.

Grymes originally committed to the Tyrone Willingham staff. He changed his mind after the current staff asked him to greyshirt ... meaning to delay his enrollment until after next season.

"They talked to my mom about it -- instead of redshirting me", Grymes told RealDawg. "I told the coaches thank you for honoring my scholarship but I didn't feel that it was going to work out."

Just noticed a move by an ex-Husky, receiver Sonny Shackelford, who has been released by the Spokane Shock of Arena Football 2, and picked up by the Mahoning Valley Thunder, also of AF2. (And apparently in Ohio.)

Here's the announcement.

MBA is OK, FYI.

UW forward Matthew Bryan-Amaning hurt his foot Thursday in the Huskies' win over USC. Then he played 19 minutes Saturday in UW's win over UCLA, grabbing five rebounds. And he practiced Monday. And he was planning on practicing today.

"He's going to be fine," coach Lorenzo Romar.

And as you can tell, very little real news came from today's media meeting with Romar and some of the Huskies, as they prepare for their game Thursday at Arizona.

Washington head football coach Steve Sarkisian announced today that Aaron Roderick -- introduced last week as receivers coach, will not be joining the UW staff. Instead, Roderick has decided to stay on at Utah.

This is the second time a university has had to retract a Roderick announcement. About 10 days ago, Utah had announced that he was staying there and accepting a promotion to co-offensive coordinator. Then they had to put out a new release saying he was going to UW instead.

"I handled this whole thing badly," Roderick said in a Utah press release. "But I didn't want to compound my mistakes, when where I really want to be is Utah. This was never about titles and money. This is about doing what is right for me and my family. I love coaching at the University of Utah and I am grateful that Coach Whittingham welcomed me back."

The search to fill that final UW football assistant coaching position will continue.

After 13 wins over their last 14 games and bolting to the top of the Pac-10 Conference standings, the Huskies have been rewarded with entry into the AP national rankings: debuting at No. 23.

The Huskies swept the Oregon schools on the road two weeks ago and knocked off USC and then-13th-ranked UCLA last week. But while that was enough for media voters, it didn't get the job done in the coaches' poll where the Huskies got more votes but remain unranked.

Here are the complete AP and ESPN polls.

This is the Huskies first appearance in the AP rankings since December 2006.

There's a motherlode of UW recruiting information rolling in today. And also, in today's paper the TNT staff unveils its annual Northwest Nuggest and includes lots of other great recruiting information.

None of those Nuggets have been panned by the Huskies. However, has scooped up at least four new commitments, according to a couple of the recruiting Web sites.

The new commitments came from Tim Tucker, a 6-foot-2, 230 pound linebacker from Harbor City, Calif.,/Narbonne High School; Dominique Gaisie, a 5-10, 170 pound cornerback from Walnut, Calif./Mount San Antonio C.C.; and Semisi Tokolahi, 6-3, 290 pound defensive tackle from Hilo, Hawaii/Hilo H.S., according to RealDawg.com and Dawgman.com.

Meanwhile, Simione Vehikite, a 6-1, 243-pound fullback from Kapolei H.S near Honolulu also expressed his intention to attend UW, according to RealDawg. Vehikite originally committed to USC, and his current lean toward UW is considered soft.

UW football coach Steve Sarkisian addressed the crowd at halftime, saying -- well, yelling -- "We can't wait for Labor Day weekend."

And while that drew a big cheer, maybe the crowd is having second thoughts now. Maybe they can wait a while for Labor Day ... at least through what now promises to be an interesting final week of January, and a very interesting February, and perhaps a mad mad March.

I think those are a couple of the many things the Huskies accomplished with their win over UCLA on Saturday: They made the rest of the season that much more interesting; and they allowed fans' hopes to grow a little larger.

Here's my TNT story. Here's John McGrath's column on the play of(all-conference candidate?) Justin Dentmon. And here's are some views from the LA Times.

And finally, some highlights for skimmers:

Star of the game: UW senior Justin Dentmon scored 16 points and had two steals in a performance shorted to 17 minutes due to foul trouble. Both steals and eight of the points came during a 12-0 run late in the game that settled the issue.

Key stats: Washington shot 43 free throws to UCLA’s 15. The Huskies also hit 36 of those 43 free throws (83.7 percent). Dentmon was 10-for-10 from the foul line.

Observations: UW is alone atop the Pac-10 standings for the first time since January 2005. … This was the most points scored on UCLA since November 2005. … In the battle of brothers, UCLA’s Jrue Holiday had eight points, five rebounds and two assists. He was covered only briefly by his older brother Justin Holiday, who had three points and five rebounds. Those points came on his first career 3-pointer. … Over one stretch, UW nailed 12 consecutive free throws. … At halftime, football coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff were introduced. “This is the greatest coaching staff in American here, guys," Sarkisian told the crowd. "We can't wait for Labor Day weekend." That's when football season opens -- against Louisiana State. … Also introduced was Seattle Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid, who formerly coached at UCLA.

Quotable: “Yeah, we joked around a little bit. One of the free throws — I don’t know if I’m supposed to say this — but when we were supposed to box out, he was like ‘If you don’t go hard right here I won’t go hard.’ So I said, ‘OK, cool,’ and we just chilled. Little stuff like that. There were some little battles out there, but we tried to keep it happy.” – Justin Holiday on playing against this brother Jrue for the first time.

Next: 5:30 p.m. Thursday, at Arizona, McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz.; FSN.

Halftime: UCLA, 30-38.

The Bruins got off to a 5-0 and 9-3 lead as Washington missed its first six shots. However, UW got it together after that, briefly taking the lead at 29-28.

Justin Holiday ended the half with his first career 3-pointer.

Jon Brockman leads UW with nine points and (only) three rebounds. Josh Shipp leads UCLA with 12 points, but they came early and the points stopped when Holiday was guarding him.

At halftime, football coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff were introduced.

This is the greatest coaching staff in American here, guys," Sarkisian told the crowd. "We can't wait for Labor Day weekend."

That's when football season opens ... against LSU.

Tipoff: Huskies going with usual lineup: Thomas, Dentmon, Pondexter, Brockman and Gant.

11:30: The first few early-bird Bruins have begn trickling out to warm up.

And as I look up, I notice that the Brandon Roy No. 3 jersey has been moved to what I take to be its permanent home: alongside Big Hougbregs' No. 25 beside all the championship banners hanging above the east end zone stands.

11:15: I just pulled into the Hec Ed parking lot, and once again was greeted by signs warning that today's game is a sellout.

There was, however, an army of scalpers out already.

Gameday dawns: The 13th-ranked Bruins and Huskies go at it for the Pac-10 lead at 1 p.m. today at Hec Ed.

The TNT Vegas line ranks the game even.

Here's my game preview.

We got some time yesterday with coach Lorenzo Romar and some of the players, but no real news came from that. Most of the talk was on the significance of the game, and on the angle of the Holiday brothers -- Justin of UW and Jrue of UCLA -- opposing each other for the first time.

I'll pop back in once I'm at Hec Ed with pregame news, a running blog through the game, and quotes and notes after.

The game will be on FSN.

This win, combined with a shocking Cal loss to Oregon State tonight, makes UW and UCLA the Pac-10 co-leaders, each with 5-1 league marks.
And the Bruins come in Saturday.

The Huskies drew their first sellout crowd tonight. Imagine what Saturday will be like.

But first things first:

Star of the game: UW freshman Justin Dentmon led the Huskies with 22 points, and went 11-for-11 from the foul line.

Key stats: In a battle between the two top rebounding teams in the Pac-10, UW inched out a win on the boards, 36-34. Thirteen of those came from Jon Brockman, who had a season-low four points. … Three Trojans fouled out, including freshman sensation DeMar DeRozan, who has 16 points in 31 minutes.

Observations: USC leading scorer Dwight Lewis didn’t play due to an ankle injury. … It was another night of Pac-10 officiating, which I don’t mean as a compliment. At one point in the first half, Isaiah Thomas seemed to stop set in front of USC’s Leonard Washington. One official called a charge, one a block. They huddled and decided to split the baby in half by letting both calls stand. … Brandon Roy was honored before the game and a larger-than-life version of his No. 3 jersey raised to the rafters, joining Bob Houbreg’s No. 25 as the only basketball jerseys ever retired by the school. … The Huskies played before their first home sellout of the season.

Quotable: “This has got to be the most physical team we play,” Thomas said. “It came down to who wanted it more and who was tougher. We wanted it a little bit more than they did.” – UW freshman Isaiah Thomas.

Next: 1 p.m. Saturday, No. 13 UCLA, at Hec Edmundson Pavilion; FSN.

Haftime: USC's Daniel Hackett hit a 35-footer at the buzzer to cut UW's lead to 31-30.

It's been a half of runs and bad officiating.

Pondexter and Dentmon lead UW with seven each. DeMar DeRozan is living up to his billing with 12 for USC ... but he picked up his third foul late.

USC' tall guards are giving UW's small guards trouble. Isaiah Thomas has one point.

Tipoff: The Huskies are going with the usual starting lineup: Brockman, Dentmon, Pondexter, Gant and Thomas.

Meanwhile, UW's next opponent -- 13th-ranked UCLA, which comes in Saturday -- just survived by two points tonight in Pullman.

No. 3 retired: We've just finished the Bradon Roy jersey-retirement tribute. Roy was warmly received by the current Huskies and by the sellout crowd here today. Among those joining him on the floor were Lorenzo Romar, athletic director Scott Woodward and even university president Mark Emmert.

A larger-than-life white No. 3 jersey now hangs from the rafters, alongside a similar one that has been created for Bob Houbregs and his No. 25.

Roy opened his speech by saying he was told to keep it short, and he did. He thanked the fans, asked them to support the current Huskies and ended with a "God bless."

Pregame: USC leading scorer Dwight Lewis (15.8 ppg) is in street clothes on the Trojans bench. He had sprained his ankle on Monday, but indications this week had been that he would give it a go tonight.

That won't happen. But there's enough firepower on the roster where someone -- or some someones -- could step up.

Meanwhile, the 8 p.m. start gives me a pretty tight deadline tonight, so I might be a little light on the blogging. But I'll try to pop in with any news before or during the game, and also give a halftime update and postgame notes and quotes.

The game is on FSN.

We just got a few minutes with Brandon Roy and started with the obvious question: How does it feel to have your jersey number retired by UW.

His answer was pure typical B-Roy:

"I’ve been trying to think all week what this moment means, and I really can’t put it into words. But I know that I’m happy to be home and I just have to say I owe this moment to my teammates that I played with, Coach Romar, and you know without those guys this moment wouldn’t be possible. I just think my jersey going in the rafters represents what we did here at Washington. It may seem like it’s Brandon Roy’s jersey. It’s not though. It’s about this team and the moments we shared here."

Meanwhile, I notice that former Husky Spencer Hawes is here tonight, and Roy said former teammate Jamaal Williams will be here.

And now the current Huskies have taken the court and are warming up, all wearing No. 3 Brandon Roy commemorative T-shirts, which are on sale here tonight.

Speaking of that No. 3, Roy also told a good story I'm not sure I'd heard before about how he came to wear that number:

"That was my brother’s number, he wore it in high school. I actually wore four. He kind of made the number popular. When he didn’t get a chance to play college, I said, 'I’m going to wear your number.' That’s when I was going through my (academic) struggles. I was like, 'I’m going to try to do this for both of us.' When I got to Washington, I was like, 'I’m going to wear three.' ... This was my big brother, and I want to wear it. Now it’s going to be retired, so it’s like both me and him both being up there."

I've arrived at Hec Ed, and there is a sign outside saying that this game is sold out.

Part of that, I'm sure, is the Huskies' recent run of success and the importance/attractiveness of this game.

Another part, I'm also sure, is the pregame tribute to Brandon Roy, perhaps the best and certainly one of the most popular Huskies of them all.

(For those of you who know Hec Ed, the familiar purple and gold Bob Hougregs banner hanging from the rafters has been replaced with a larger-than-life jersey showing his name and his No. 25. It's just my hunch a companion No. 3 jersey is about to join it.)

The game will be broadcast on FSN at 8 p.m.

Here's the report from the Associated Press:

Washington has committed a minor recruiting violation and intends to report itself to the Pac-10 Conference.

School spokesman Richard Kilwien confirmed Wednesday that the school will report a secondary violation to the Pac-10 after it was determined that new coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff violated an NCAA rule regarding game-day simulations while recruits are on campus.

The violation came to light after Desmond Trufant, who has verbally committed to the Huskies, described to Dawgman.com a simulated game-day entrance during his on-campus visit last weekend. In a story posted Monday on the Dawgman Web site, Trufant described smoke and noise and players running out of the tunnel leading into Husky Stadium.

An NCAA bylaw prohibits prospects from participating in any type of “game-day simulations” during a visit, but the violation is considered minor.

Kilwien says it is not expected to jeopardize the eligibility or recruitment of any players.

Luke Huard of Puyallyp has joined the Illinois State staff as quarterbacks coach.

Huard had been a graduate assistant at UW for the past two seasons, working closely with quarterback Jake Locker.

Between his time as a Viking and a Husky, Huard spent two seasons at the University of North Carolina, where he played in seven games for UNC and started four as a freshman in 1999.

As at Puyallup High, Huard was the Gatorade Washington Player of the Year as a senior and twice earned conference player of the year honors. He was an all-state selection and an honorable mention All-America selection. As a senior, he led Puyallup to a 12-1 record and the state 4-A semifinals while throwing for 2,650 yards and 39 touchdowns.

More information is available at the Illinois State website.

UW has officially confirmed the hiring of Utah receivers coach Aaron Roderick as wide receivers coach on Steve Sarkisian staff. The hiring, which had been confirmed Saturday, means that the nine-man, full-time assistant coaching staff is now complete.

Here's the official release from GoHuskies.com.

And here's a frustrated take from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Meanwhile, Dawgman.com is reporting that Kimo Makaula of Honolulu has given an oral commitment to UW. He is a 225-pound athlete who played defensive end at the Punahou School but seems destined for another position in college.

The usual weekly conference call of Pac-10 basketball coaches was held today. Oregon State's Craig Robinson wasn't there, for reasons noted in the post below. However, the other African-American coaches were asked about their thoughts of seeing Barack Obama sworn in as president this morning:

OREGON coach Ernie Kent, on whether he thought he's live to see the day:
"I want to say no, because you just don’t think that way with where our country’s been in the past. But I think that question is more appropriately asked of my mom who just turned 80. And Dr. King would have been 80 also. And I put that question to her and her response, she said never in my lifetime did I ever expect to see that. But then again she said never in my lifetime did I think I’d see one of my kids in the position you’re in today."

STANFORD's Johnny Dawkins:
I think it’s an amazing moment in time. Like everyone, I think, I was glued to the television and of course very proud of our new president and the course he wants to take our country in. ... It’s one of those things that it shows through time and progress things to change and anything is possible. That’s the thing I do take from him being named president, is I think for all Americans there is a realization that you can be whatever it is that you choose to be. At some point in time I think you hoped for that, but you weren’t certain if it was really possible. Having Barack Obama being named president, I think for everyone in our country it’s a feeling of, you know what, if you put your mind to it and if you dream of it, you can do it.

UW coach Lorenzo Romar:
"As I was watching I was a little overwhelmed. Having grown up in Compton, Calif., … battling through racism – it’s wasn’t as bad as a lot of other people, but I experienced it myself. You get a feeling from a lot of people around you that we can only go so far. A lot of times in our communities – in African-American communities – you’ve got men 40 years old who can’t look you in the eye, their self-esteem is so low. And to see now what we have here with our new president, it’s pretty special seeing that. It was awesome."

Anyone watching the inauguration ceremonies tonight might have noticed Oregon State men's basketball coach Craig Robinson ... who was notably wearing a black-and-orange-striped scarf behind the new president -- who also happens to be Robinson's brother-in-law.

However, if there was a Beavers logo on there, I didn't notice it.

Bellvue beat Bellarmine last night at Hec Ed in part of the King Holiday Hoopfest.

Prize UW recruit Abdul Gaddy had 11 points in what will be his basketball home next season.

Here's the report from TNT sportswriter Doug Pacey.

The Huskies road sweep of week teams wasn't enough to impress many votes as the Huskies remain unranked in the latest AP and ESPN polls.

The Huskies got 12 votes in the media poll, and two in the coaches' poll -- good for 37th and 38th respectively.

Here are the two polls.

The Huskies get more respect from Mike Tokito of The Oregonian, who puts UW at the top of his Pac-10 power rankings.

Desmond Trufant of Wilson, the young brother of Seahawks star Marcus Trufant, has given his oral commitment to the University of Washington, according to RealDawg.com and Dawgman. com.

"It just felt good in my heart", Trufant told Realdawg.

Trufant is a 5-11, 170-pound cornerback, who also plays basketball and participates in track and field.

After some uncertainty, Utah receivers coach Aaron Roderick has decided to move to Washington in the same position, completing Steve Sarkisian's football staff.

Sarkisian confirmed the hiring through a UW media representative, although the official announcement will come next wek. However, the University of Utah posted this announcement on its Web site:

SALT LAKE CITY - Dave Schramm is Utah's new offensive coordinator, Kyle Whittingham has announced, amending an earlier decision to split the coordinator duties between Schramm and Aaron Roderick. Roderick took a position at the University of Washington today after initially agreeing to serve as Utah's co-coordinator.

Whether Schramm continues to coach running backs and coordinate Utah's recruiting efforts will be determined later, as Whittingham searches for assistants to fill his openings. Previously, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Andy Ludwig and offensive line coach Charlie Dickey accepted jobs at Kansas State. With Roderick's departure, Whittingham has three openings.

"It was an easy decision to hand the coordinator duties over to Dave after we received the news on Aaron this morning," said Whittingham. "Dave is a veteran coach with a great track record and he has played a major role in our game planning and play calling ever since he got here four years ago."

Schramm has coached two 1,000-yard rushers in his first four years at Utah--Quinton Ganther (now with the Tennessee Titans) in 2005, and Darrell Mack in 2007. Prior to Schramm, Utah had just seven 1,000-yard rushers in its history. Schramm has 21years of college coaching experience at Austin Peay, Nebraska, San Diego State, Southwest Texas State, Montana and Utah.

Meanwhile RealDawg.com is reporting that the Huskies have received oral commitments from wide receiver James Johnson of Valley Center, Calif., and defensive back Will Shamburger of Bellflower, Calif.

UW is now in a three-way tie with UCLA and Cal atop the Pac-10 standings.

Here's my game story, here's the story from the Corvallis Gazette-Times, and here's the skimmer's version:

Star of the game: By the end it was hard to remember, but the Huskies had a lot of early trouble with Oregon State’s zone. It was senior guard Justin Dentmon who found the answer first, with his shooting, driving and passing. He ended with 13 points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Key stats: UW out-rebounded the Beavers, 46-19. Their 17 offensive rebounds helped provide points though the early going. UW also shot 58.6 percent from the field to Oregon State’s 39 percent.

Key run: Washington scored on its first 12 possessions of the second half, inflating a seven-point halftime lead into a 60-42 rout.

Observations: UW freshman guard Elston Turner returned to action after missing four games with a high ankle sprain. … Twelve Huskies played, 11 scored, and five scored in double figures. … UW is off to a 3-0 start on the road in Pac-10 play.

Quotable: “I think it’s perfectly fine to feel good about (being in first place). It’s a great start for us. It’s a good way to start off conference play. But no one cares in March how you did at the beginning of the season. We have to keep improving, keep keeping after it and continue this little bit of success that we’ve had.” – UW senior Jon Brockman

Next: 8 p.m. Thursday, USC, Hec Edmundson Pavilion; FSN.

Halftime: Huskies trailed much of the half -- having trouble getting inside OSU's 1-3-1 zone on anything but offensive rebounds -- but closed strong and leads, 34-27.

Jon Brockman has eight points, Justin Dentmon seven, Matthew Brian-Amaning six, Isiah Thomas, five.

Tipoff: With UCLA and Cal both losing today, a share of first place in the Pac-10 awaits the Huskies if they take care of business tonight.

UW is going with its usual starting lineup: Brockman, Dentmon, Pondexter, Dent and Thomas.

5:40: I'm at Gill Coliseum about an hour and a half before tipoff of Huskies-Beavers.

It's already been a fascinating day in the Pac-10 with Arizona State beating UCLA and the Cougars setting a conference free throw record (28-of-28) in their win over still-winless Oregon. Arizona-USC and Cal-Stanford are going and I write this.

Meanwhile, the Huskies are a nine-point favorite, and they had better not let this one slip away because the schedule turns really tough over the next three weeks.

Anyway, usual gameday plans here: pregame news as it breaks, updates through the game and then postgame notes and quotes.

Isaiah Thomas quietly moved past Jon Brockman for the UW basketball team's scoring lead on Thursday. (Here's my story from our Saturday paper.)

Thomas -- who is averaging 20.5 points since Pacific-10 Conference play began -- is now averaging 16.2 points for the season, while Brockman is averaging 15.8.

After practice today on the Oregon State campus, both players said they didn't even know about the change in the scoring column, which Brockman had topped all season and all of last season.

However, Thomas' recent play raises yet another interesting question: Is he making the most impact of any freshman of the Romar era? The chief competition would be center Spencer Hawes, who holds the current UW freshman record of 461 points (14.9 average) in his one-and-done 2006-07 season. (Brockman averaged 8.4 points and 6.5 rebounds as a freshman in 2004-05.)

Lorenzo Romar: "(Thomas is) making a case for it. … He might be because he’s not been injured or sick. If Spencer had been healthy the entire time, it might have been a different story. But Spencer played four, five, six games where he was either sick of hobbled by something. That being the case, Isiah’s been pretty healthy, so he’s having a pretty good impact."

Brockman: "That’s a tough one. It’s tough because they’re two competely different players. Spencer did a great job of coming in and just being a presence down low. He did a lot of things, passing, a lot of things. Isaiah has done a great job of coming in and leading the team – taking the ball in his hands and saying ‘All right, I’m going to be in control’ and get the ball in the right spots. I don’t think I could say."

Thomas: "That’s exciting to hear."

Otherwise, there was only minor injury news from today's meeting with coaches and players after practice at Gill Coliseum.

Romar said guard Elston Turner is possible for the 7 p.m. Saturday game with the Beavers. Darnell Gant suffered something like a stinger last night in Oregon, but is expected to start Saturday. And Brockman said he continues to feel his own sprained ankle and doubts that it will ever make it back to 100 percent during the grind of this season.

Washington has changed the dates of three football home games to create a pair of off weeks in the 2009 schedule: Oct. 31 and Nov. 21.

The original schedule had the Huskies playing 12 games in 12 weeks.

The games affected are Arizona, Cal and Washington State.

The Apple Cup was moved back a week to Nov. 28. The Cal game, originally swr for Oct. 10 will now conclude the regular season on Dec. 5. And the Arizona was shifted from Oct. 31 to Oct. 10.

“Obviously, playing 12 consecutive weeks can take a big toll on our student-athletes,” said UW athletic director Scott Woodward. “In making these schedule revisions, our main goal was to try to provide a break or two during the season, and that’s what has happened. I’m pleased with how it all worked out.”

Here is the new schedule:

Sept. 5 LSU
Sept. 12 Idaho
Sept. 19 USC
Sept. 26 at Stanford
Oct. 3 at Notre Dame
Oct. 10 Arizona
Oct. 17 at Arizona State
Oct. 24 Oregon
Nov. 7 at UCLA
Nov. 14 at Oregon Sttae
Nov. 28 Washington State
Dec. 5 California

Additional information is available at GoHuskies.com.

Jon Brockman moved to the top of the UW career rebounding list with 1,054, but after the game, he was notably disppointed in his own performance.

“I don’t think (the record) registered with me,” Brockman said. “I wasn’t very happy after the game. I was happy we won, but I just wasn’t very happy with the way I played. But, you know, a win’s a win. You’ve got to put everything else aside, and road wins in league don’t come just sitting on your doorstep. I was proud of the way our guys played tonight. In the areas that I lacked, they were able to pick it up.”

The Huskies' 84-67 win over Oregon moved UW to 12-4 on the season and 3-1 in the Pac-10. The Ducks fall to 6-11 and 0-5.

Here's my game story.

And some ighlights:

Stars of the game: Washington guards Isaiah Thomas and Justin Dentmon combined for 45 points, seven assists and five steals. With Oregon’s long and athletic frontcourt giving Jon Brockman trouble, UW’s backcourt took over.

Key stats: Oregon shot 36.7 percent from the field, 26.3 percent on 3-pointers and 64.3 percent on free throws. The Ducks also committed 20 turnovers, 12 in the first half. And while Oregon has a six rebound advantage at halftime, UW rallied to win the battle of the boards, 44-38.

Key run: Washington led, 40-37, at halftime. Then they instant separation when Thomas opened the second half with a 3-pointer and Quincy Pondexter finished on a fast break.

Observations: Brockman had another double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. With his seventh and eighth rebounds he caught and passed Doug Smart, who had held the school career rebounding record of 1,051. … The Oregon student section was unusually subdued. At one point they chanted a mild insult at Brockman, but the 0-fer conference start seems to have taken something out of them.

Quotable: “I just expected so much more. It was nothing … I expected signs, everything Nate (Robinson) got. I was just expecting so much more, a crowd that was crazy, and it was really just not a factor.” – Thomas, on his reaction to playing at Mac Court for the first time.

Next: 7 p.m. Saturday, at Oregon State, Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Ore.; FSN.

11 minutes left: UW is up, 63-51, and Jon Brockman just got his seventh rebound of the night, tying the school career rebound record.

Half: UW leads 40-37 in what has been a streaky game.

Isaiah Turner leads UW with 11 points, including two early treys. Quincy Pondexter has 10.

Jon Brockman has five rebounds, two away from the UW career record.

The Ducks have balanced scoring, with four guys ranging from 9 to 7 points.

Washington is getting outrebounded for the second consecutive game, 23-16.

Ducks 2-of-7 on 3-pointers.

7 p.m. The Huskies just took the court to maybe less-intense-than-usual boos, and I haven't heard any obscene chants yet. But the night is young.

Off we go.

6:50: By the way, this isn't the Huskies' last game at Mac Court. Oregon's new Knight Arena is currently just a muddy lot about to become a construction site. At best, that construction is expected to conclude in about two years, ideally opening in time for the 2010-11 Pac-10 season. That means next season will likely mark UW's last visit.

6:30: Oregon's student section is pretty much filling up its areas, but the rest of Mac Court is mostly empty for now. It should be rattling over the next couple of hours, as a very interesting Pac-10 game should unfold.

Big for the Huskies, who don't want that triple-overtime disppointment to Cal to morph into a losing streak.

Big for the Ducks, who are the only Pac-10 team without a league win.

Plus, it's Huskies and Ducks.

Unfortunately, no TV. I'll try to fill in some with any pregame news, keep the blog running through the game, and then hop back in after with notes and quotes.

UW will make up that basketball date lost to the Lehigh cancelation by resuming its local basketball rivalry with Seattle University a season earlier than expected.

The teams will meet at 8 p.m. on March 3 at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Ticket holders for Washington's cancelled Dec. 23 game against Lehigh will be able to use that ticket to admission to the game against Seattle U. with the same seat location.

For those who were willing to pass on Lehigh but want to be there for this Huskies-Redhawks renewal, tickets will go on sale Friday through the Husky Ticket Office by calling 1-206-543-2200 or by purchasing online on GoHuskies.com. Tickets are price at $30 for all seats with backs, $25 for bleacher seating without backs and $10 for UW students.

Four new assistants have been added to Steve Sarkisian's staff at Washington: Mike Cox, Jeff Mills, Doug Nussmeier and Joel Thomas. Dennis Slutak also has been hired as assistant athletic director for football operations.

Here are highlights from the UW announcement:

Cox will coach the Husky linebackers while Mills will handle the safeties. Nussmeier has been named quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator, and Thomas will coach the UW running backs.

“I’m really excited about this latest group of coaches we’ve hired,” Sarkisian, the Huskies’ first-year head coach, said. “They’re all great coaches, great recruiters and great people. They’re all excited to be a part of this program and each of them understands the great, rich tradition that UW football has.”

All four of the new assistant coaches have ties to the Northwest, and three of the four played their college football at the University of Idaho.

More information is available at GoHuskies.com.

One of the interesting sidelights to tonight's game will be seeing how the Mac Court crowd treats Isaiah Thomas in his first appearance there.

My hunch is that they will aim most of their fire at Jon Brockman in his final appearance. It may take them at least one appearance to even approach giving Thomas the kind of grief they gave Nate Robinson ("Ga-ry-Cole-man...")

In any case, Thomas says he's ready for anything.

"I’m ready," he said this week. "I know they’re one of the best at getting on players, making fun of them, but I’m ready for it."

Thomas will likely be paired some with Oregon's Tajuan Porter, who wasn't real interested in discussing the match-up, and freshman Garrett Sim, who has faced Thomas before.

"I’ve played against him before (in AAU)," Sim said. "He’s a real good player, real quick. I’ve got to lock down defensively."

At the midpoint of his freshman season, Thomas is averaging 15.7 points, 3.2 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game. I think it's the best start of any UW freshman I've seen since starting on this beat in 2003-04. His only real competition would be one-and-done center Spencer Hawes.

I asked coach Lorenzo Romar:

"Spencer would be the closest to it," he said. "Spencer had some big games for us. The difference between Spencer and Isaiah is that Spencer was hurt and sick for a few of those games, whereas Isaiah has been relatively healthy for these first 15. He's done a pretty good job. They both had a tremendous impact in that with Spencer you had to devise a defense to play against him, and I think with isaiah you've got to do some tricky things to play against him and try to contain him. I think teams have tried to do those things."

We also asked Thomas how he has improved over the first half of his first college season.

"I think I'm more patient, picking my spots, knowing when to I guess score and knowing when to pass – just making the winning plays," he said. "Coach Romar always puts it in my head: just make the right play, the winning play. I think I'm just getting more mature and better at that."

One of the subplots of tonight's UW game at Oregon will be Jon Brockman needing seven rebounds to tie the UW career rebounding record.

Here's a quote about Brockman from coach Lorenzo Romar that didn't get into my story: "He could rebound in his sleep. If you had the power to do it and you just threw him in an NBA game, he’d rebound. He rebounds – period. … He’s going to do that no matter where you put him."

But what's it like going against Brockman from the other side?

We asked Oregon junior center Joevan Catron, who has the task at 7 tonight: "It’s going to be one heck of a battle: two big guys banging each other for 40 minutes. It’s going to be a big battle. … You just know he’s going to play hard the whole time you’re on him. He’s going to try to bang you, he’s going to try to throw you out the way, he’s going to elbow you, do whatever it takes to get that ball and put it in the basket."

Although coach Ernie Kent wishes it were otherwise, the chief topic of discussion after the Oregon Duck's basketball practice Thursday was his team's lingering distraction from the Arizona State game.

In that 76-58 loss Saturday, Kent pulled junior guard Tajuan Porter from the game in the final minute of the first half, citing lack of hustle. When Kent approached Porter, the player seemed to wave his coach off. And while Kent has since said the gesture was misinterpreted, Porter didn’t play in the second half.

Coach and player say the situation is behind them, and Porter is expected to start against the Huskies on Thursday. (Here's my game preview.)

However, it's just another distraction for the Ducks, who don't need any extra distractions as the only Pac-10 team without a league win. And in addition to Kent and Porter having to talk about it, so did the other Ducks made available to the media today:

Freshman guard Garrett Sim: "They did a good job handling it. They did a good job of getting back on the same page and I think things are definitely better now."

Junior forward Joevan Catron: "With me knowing Tajuan, I know he’s going to bounce back. When he gets benched like that he usually bounces back. He’s lible to go for 40 the next time he plays, so I’m not worried about T.P. … I’ve seen him do amazing things. I’m pretty sure he’s going to bounce back and have a good game."

An early look at the game:

WASHINGTON (11-4 OVERALL, 2-1 PAC-10)
AT OREGON (6-10, 0-4)
7 p.m., McArthur Court, Eugene, Ore.
TV: None.
Radio: 950-AM

Series: Washington leads 180-102 overall and 70-67 at Oregon. The teams have split the past two seasons, each winning at home.

Statistical leaders: For Oregon, G Tajuan Porter, 13.4 ppg; Joevan Catron, 6.7 rpg and 2.7 apg. For UW, F Jon Brockman 16.2 ppg and 10.9 rpg; G Isaiah Thomas, 3.2 agp.

Scouting report: The Ducks are the only winless team in Pac-10 play. They are trying to avoid their first 0-5 league start since opening 0-11 in 1992-93. … The Ducks are drawing 7,896 fans per home game – 87 percent of capacity. … The will not be UW’s final game at Mac Court. Oregon’s new basketball arena is scheduled to open in time for conference play during the 2010-11 season. … Coach Ernie Kent is running a deep rotation: 11 Ducks average more than eight minutes per game, and only Porter is averaging more than 30. … Washington leads the Pac-10 in rebounding margin, while Oregon is last. UW also has become the highest-scoring team in the league, averaging 77.8 points per game. Oregon doesn’t lead the league in any statistical category and is last in scoring margin, scoring defense, field goal percentage, field goal percentage defense, and 3-point field goal percentage defense… Brockman is seven rebounds short of matching Doug Smart’s school-record 1,051 career rebounds. Passing Smart will move Brockman to eighth on the Pac-10 career list.

Next: 7 p.m. Saturday, at Oregon State, Gill Coliseum, Corvallis, Ore.

And yes, unfortunately that "No TV" is correct.

Fresno State offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier will become the quarterbacks coach at the University of Washington the Fresno Bee reports.

Nussmeier had been at FSU only one season. Under his brief watch, the Bulldogs were ranked 43rd of 119 Football Bowl Subdivision schools in total offense this season, averaging 387.23 yards per game. Their passing offense was ranked 66th and the rushing offense 32nd.

Here's his bio from the FSU web site:

Fresno State head coach Pat Hill announced the hiring of Doug Nussmeier as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach on Feb. 27, 2008. Nussmeier came to Fresno State from the St. Louis Rams of the NFL.

In two seasons coaching the Rams, Nussmeier helped Marc Bulger have one of his best seasons in 2006. Bulger, named to his second Pro Bowl, finished the season with 370 completions in 588 attempts (62.9 percentage) for 4,301 yards with 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions for a 92.9 passer rating. His 4,301 yards is the fourth-best passing yards season in Rams' history (29th in NFL history) and gave Bulger his first 4,000-yard passing season.

Nussmeier was quarterbacks coach at Michigan State three seasons prior to joining the Rams' staff. After a five-year NFL playing career, Nussmeier entered his first season as a coach in the NFL in 2006. In 2005, Nussmeier tutored Drew Stanton, who accounted for a Spartans single-season record 3,415 total yards.

In 2003, quarterback Jeff Smoker earned second-team all-Big 10 honors and led the league in passing (261.2 yards per game). Smoker's 2003 season is the best in Spartans history, as he completed 302 of his 488 attempts for 3,395 yards and 21 touchdowns, all single-season school records.

In 2002, Nussmeier served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League.

Nussmeier made his coaching debut in 2001 as quarterbacks coach for the CFL's British Columbia Lions.

Nussmeier finished his professional playing career with the Lions in the CFL in 2000, helping the club to the Grey Cup Championship. Originally a fourth-round selection (116th overall) of the New Orleans Saints in the 1994 NFL Draft, Nussmeier played five years in the NFL, with the Saints (1994-97) and with the Indianapolis Colts (1998).

Nussmeier, who was coached at Idaho by Rams head coach Scott Linehan when Linehan was the Vandals' quarterbacks coach, still ranks among the NCAA Division I-AA all-time leaders in passing (ninth with 10,824 career yards) and total offense (10th at 309.1 yards per game).

He is one of only three quarterbacks in NCAA history to throw for at least 10,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards (1,230), joining Alcorn State's Steve McNair (1991-94) and Central Florida's Daunte Culpepper (1996-98). Nussmeier set several Vandals career records for passing yards, including touchdown passes (91), passing efficiency (175.2), completion percentage (.609), and total offense (12,054 yards; 308.4 yards per game).

In 1993, Nussmeier won the Walter Payton Award, presented annually to the Division I-AA player of the year, leading the Vandals to an 11-3 record. He set a school-record with 33 touchdown passes, and his 172.2 passer rating ranks as the seventh-best single-season mark in Division I-AA history.

A native of Lake Oswego, Ore., Nussmeier and wife, Christi, have a son, Garrett, and a daughter, Ashlynn.

Here's my UW hoops story from today's paper, looking at UW senior Jon Brockman who is on the verge of becoming the school's all-time leading rebounder.

And if you follow the link, you will notice a new look for the TNT website. Here's some background on that.

We just got about a half hour with basketball coach Lorenzo Romar. Lots of interesting stuff looking back at Cal and ahead to Oregon.

However, the only real news was that Elston Turner has been upgraded to possible for Thursday after missing the last three games with an ankle injury.

And there is still no news on making up the Lehigh game that was lost to weather conditions last month.

The LA Daily News is reporting that All-America safety Taylor Mays of Seattle has decided to return to USC next season, along with cornerback Josh Pinkard and tailback C.J. Gable -- who were all eligible for the NFL draft.

This means, among other things, that the hype-talented Mays remains a problem for the Huskies rather than possibly becoming an asset for the Seahawks.

That's the point this Oregonian blog post makes, in placing the Beavers and Ducks at the bottom of their Pac-10 power rankings.

It's also what the Huskies may be counting on in their hopes of putting their disappointing triple-overtime loss at home to California behind them with a road sweep at Oregon on Thursday and Oregon State on Saturday.

TNT reporter Eric Williams has a nice feature today on Clarence Trent, formerly of Gig Harbor, now in North Carolina, and next season bound for the Washington Huskies.

I spoke to coach Lorenzo Romar about Trent a bit last week, and he said Trent may arrive as the team's best athlete from his first day.

And, of course, he will become part of a potentially spectacular South Sound trio: Trent, Abdul Gaddy and Isaiah Thomas.

Here's my game story.

Cal led 1-0 and over 55 minutes of basketball didn't lead again until 86-85. And that was the one that sends them -- and not UW -- to the top of the Pac-10 standings.

Cal improves to 12-3 and 4-0. UW falls to 11-4 and 2-1.

Coach Lorenzo Romar's overview:

"Tonight, 55 minutes of some hard-fought basketball. Give Cal a lot of credit for being mentally tough on the road to come out and squeak out a triple-overtime victory. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. There’s a reason they’ve done so well and they’re undefeated. Patrick Christopher is a heck of a basketball player, made big shots. Their trio did a really nice job, especially in the overtime periods, carried them."

Romar has his players were disappointed, of course. But they also seemed to sense the danger in a loss like this and stressed their intentions not to let this snowball, especially with a couple of winable games awaiting in Oregon next week.

Highlights:

Star of the game: Cal junior guard Patrick Christopher led all scorers with 27 points. He hit four of nine 3-pointers and seven of eight free throws. He also had 11 rebounds a steal and an assist in 53 minutes.

Key stats: Washington forward Jon Brockman hit two of eight free throws. The Huskies hit 27 of 40 as a team. UW committed 14 turnovers in 55 minutes. ... UW was out-rebounded for only the second time this season, 46-42.

Key play: Christopher missed a three-pointer to tie at the end of the second overtime. However, teammate D.J. Seeley scored on the put back and was fouled by UW freshman Isaiah Thomas with one second left. Seeley hit the free throw to send the game into its final overtime. (Here's John McGrath's take on Thomas' day.)

Observations: This was Washington’s first triple overtime game since 1984 and Cal’s first since plying a five-overtime game in 1977. … Brockman (1,526 points) passed Steve Hawes for sixth place on UW’s career scoring list. … Brockman has hit only five of 17 free throws over the past two games. However, he also had a total of 34 rebounds over the two games. … Tacoma’s own Clay Huntington and Marc Blau took part in a halftime ceremony honoring former Seattle SuperSonics player and coach Lenny Wilkens into the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame.

Quotable: "That was clearly a foul, but to get that whistle, on the road, with that much time left, you're like, 'He's not going to call that.’ You've got to give him credit for making that call." – California coach Mike Montgomery, on the foul called on the home team in the final second of the second overtime.

Next: 7 p.m. Thursday, at Oregon, McArthur Court, Eugene, Ore.; no TV.

End of second OT: Isiah Thomas fouled on a made-putback with less than two seconds left. The free throw was made, and now we're headed into the Huskies' first triple-overtime since 1984.

End of first overtime: Both teams missed last shots in the final 10 seconds. So five more minutes, tied at 64.

End of regulation: The Huskies let a 10 point lead get away in the closing minutes as Cal ended on a 14-4 run.

Halftime: UW, 32-28. Huskies played with the lead the whole way, but the Bears closed on a run.

Isaiah Thomas leads all scorers with 13 points, and he had an amazing stretch where he realized his defender couldn't stay with him, and he briefly took over.

Patrick Christopher leads Cal with 11 points. He's 2-of-5 on 3-pointers, and overall the Bears have hit four of 11 threes.

Tipoff: Usual starting lineup for the Huksies: Brockman, Dentmon, Pondexter, Gant and Thomas.

1:55 p.m. A little more than an hour before tip. Both teams are on the court warming up: UW in white, Cal in their dark blues.

Normal gameday blogging plan: Pregame news as it happens, in-game blog updates, and then back with wrap-up notes and quotes.

Tip is 3 p.m.; game is on FSN; and last I heard tickets remain available, although I'd be very surprised if this one isn't very close to a sellout.

Morning: Washington is a five-point favorite in its game against Cal at 3 p.m. this afternoon at Hec Ed.

Here's my game preview, dealing with Cal as the most accurate 3-point shooting team in the nation.

Cal and UW are two of the three remaining teams unbeaten in Pac-10 play (along with UCLA). And a win by UW could be double-big with a trip to Oregon and Oregon State -- presumably the Pac-10's easiest trip -- awaiting them next week. It better not even cross the players' minds, but fans are fully free to star dreaming about a 5-0 league start.

The game will be on FSN.

A few quick notes from today's interviews in advance of Cal's 3 p.m. Saturday visit.

Elston Turner (ankle) remains doubtful for this weekend.

Romar said it is unlikely that the Lehigh game will be rescheduled. However, he remains hopefully that another opponent can be brought in, rather than lose the home date.

Charles Garcia, a member of the incoming class of 2009, has quit his Riverside, Calif., junior college team in order to concentrate on his grades. Romar said he supports the move and still expects Garcia to be a Husky next season.

Here was the signing day rundown on Garcia:

CHARLES GARCIA, 6-9, 220, F, Los Angeles/Riverside CC (Calif.)First-team all-city selection as a high school senior. Enrolled part-time at Sacramento State, but didn’t play. In junior college, he grew into a first-team all-state selection, averaging 14.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks as a freshman while shooting 57 percent from the field. Has quickness to defend multiple positions. Counted on to contribute immediately when Jon Brockman and Artem Wallace leave after this season.

Former Husky and SuperSonic forward Detlef Schrempf will be added to the Pac-10's basketball Hall of Honor, the conference announced today.

Here's the full release.

And here's the background on Schrempf:

Detlef Schrempf, Washington - A four-year letterwinner for Coach Marv Harshman from 1982-85, Schrempf is 11th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,449 points. A native of Leverkusen, Germany, he was a two-time all-Pacific-10 Conference selection, two-time team MVP, three-time winner of the team’s top rebounder award. He was also the team captain as a senior and The Sporting News named him to its All-America second team. Selected eighth overall by the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association, Schrempf played 16 seasons in the NBA. From 1993-99, he was a member of the Seattle SuperSonics before finishing his career with Portland in 2001. He was a three-time NBA All-Star and won NBA Sixth Man awards in 1990 and 1991. Internationally, Schrempf played for Germany in the 1984 and 1992
Olympic Games. He also participated for his home country in the 1983 and 1985 European Championships. He established the Detlef Schrempf Foundation in 1996 to benefit Seattle-area charities.

Washington's one-point win over Stanford last night lifts them to No. 29 in today's RealTimeRPI rankings.

That's the highest they've been ranked in quite a while, and puts them on a tournament pace.

But their next opponent -- Cal, which visits Hec Ed at 3 p.m. Saturday -- will come in with a No. 10 RPI rating.

Amazing game. More exclamation points than a Nick Holt paragraph.

Brockman gets the winning points on a put-back of an MBA miss. Then Stanford misses on a full-court pass on their final chance.

UW's ninth straight win. It moved them to 11-3 overall and to 2-0 in the Pac-10.

Brockman led UW with 18 points -- including the game-winner -- and a game-high 12 rebounds. Also scoring in double figures were Isaiah Thomas (18), Matthew Bryan-Amaning (17) and Quincy Pondexter (14).

For Stanford, Anthony Goods had a game-high 19 points. Mitch Johnson of Seattle added 12.

Naturally, the Huskies were feeling pretty good about themselves after.

A few quotes:

Isaiah Thomas
It was a big win. Coming back from Washington State, getting that win, we stepped up against Stanford and just got better. We’ve been working on Stanford and we were doing a good job of not holding our heads down. Coach said there was going to be a lot of adversity in this game, but keep your head up and just play through it, and my guys did a great job of that.

On the loud home crowd of 9,291:
We’ve just got to protect our home, that’s what coach said. Protect our home, make sure we get no losses here. Our crowd really helped us down the stretch.

Mathew Bryan-Amaning
On winning on an offensive rebound and put-back by Brockman:
I guess it’s our identity now. We’re not really thinking about it. Whatever we’ve got to do to get it done.

On this quicker but smaller Stanford team:
bviously them not having the Lopez twins obviously is a really good help for us. The way we’ve been hitting the glass, not just myself but Jon and Quincy and Darnell all together it’s been a real big thing for us.

Jon Brockman
On his winning basket:
That play seemed to take about 30 minutes. The ball was in the air forever. I saw Matt taking the shot from the right, kind of mid-post. I just had a feeling it was going to come off the back side and I kind of went in and wedged myself in, and luckily it came right to me.

Halftime: Stanford ended the half with an 8-0 run, including a pair of 3-pointers.

Brockman has 16, MBA 11, Thomas 10.

Stanford is led by Anthony Good, 11; and Landry Fields, 10.

1st/3:46: Really fun, fast flowing first half.

Both teams look mightly athletic. The difference right now is only UW has Jon Brockman. He leads all scorers with 14 points, and with his ninth point went over the 1,500-point mark in his career.

Tipoff: We've just had the national anthem, and the introductions are up next.

Huskies going with usual starting lineup: Brockman, Dentmon, Pondexter, Gant and Thomas.

Another small crowd ... once again probably due to the weather, and this time also because of the conflict with the BCS championship game.

6:10: There's nasty traffic out there, as you may have heard. And, of course, there's a football game on tonight, as you also may have heard.

But this should be a pretty good basketball game, too. I'll pop in here with any pre-game news. Then keep a running blog through the game. Then be back with postgame notes and quotes.

Tipoff is 7:30, and it's on FSN.

USC coach has named Rocky Seto as his new defensive coordinator, replacing Nick Holt, who arrived this week as defensive coordinator and assistant head coach at UW.

Here's a report from the LA Daily News.

Before the Stanford-UW basketball game, the sixth-annual Husky Hoops Jump Start will be held from 5-7:30 Thursday evening in the Don James Center at Husky Stadium.

The event is open to anyone with a ticket to the game, and will include a dinner buffet and an address by Romar about an hour before tipoff. Cost is $25 for alumni association members, $30 for non-members and $10 for ages 5-12.

Details: www.uwalum.com.

Meanwhile, an early look at the game:

STANFORD (11-1 OVERALL, 1-0 PAC-10)
AT WASHINGTON (10-3, 1-0)
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
TV: FSN.
Radio: 950-AM.

Series: Stanford leads, 69-59; but UW leads in Seattle, 43-19. The Cardinal swept both meetings last season.

Statistical leaders: For Stanford, G Anthony Goods, 17.2 ppg; G/F Landry Fields, 6.7 rpg; G Mitch Johnson, 4.7 apg. For UW, F Jon Brockman, 16 ppg and 9.7 rpg; G Isaiah Thomas, 3.2 apg.

Scouting report: The teams have no common opponents. … Stanford opened its season with 10 straight non-conference wins, then opened Pac-10 play with a 90-60 loss to Arizona State before bouncing back with a 76-60 win over Arizona. … The Cardinal is using an uptempo style under first-year coach Johnny Dawkins. … The Cardinal leads the Pac-10 in turnover margin and 3-point field goal defense, is second in scoring, and third in steals and assist/turnover ratio. Goods is fourth in scoring, Hill is seventh in rebounding, and Johnson is sixth in assists. … Johnson is a graduate of Seattle’s O’Dea H.S. … UW has an eight-game winning streak. … Thomas is the Pac-10 freshman scoring leader (15.1 ppg). … The Huskies lead the NCAA in rebounding margin (plus-11.8 rpg) and lead the Pac-10 with 42.8 rpg. … With Brockman's ninth point, he will become the first Huskies to reach 1,500 career points and 1,000 rebounds.

Next: 3 p.m. Saturday, vs. California, Edmundson Pavilion.

New UW defensive coordinator/assistant head coach Nick Holt naturally gets most of the attention in my Wednesday story and in several blog posts below. But today also provided a chance to hear from Steve Sarkisian again for the first time in a couple of week.

Here's some of what he had to say:

On recruiting:
"This is a big recruiting week for us. We’re still in the contact period so we’re doing a lot of home visits, we’re flying around the West Coast. We’ve got coaches all over the place. Starting next week, it’s a dead period because of the (football coaches) convention, so we’ll be in the office trying to kind of get our bearings a little bit, getting guys feet on the ground here. Some guys will be going to Nashville. (He's unsure if he is going.)

"Then after that week it’s a big push. It’s a big push on the recruiting front. Starting the 16th we’ve got three straight big recruiting weekends. Obviously, we’re going to be out on the road those final two weeks, in homes trying to solidify some commitments, then we’ve got to close hard for the fourth of February.

"It’s a big time right now, we’re trying to hire really good coaches, obviously some of these coaching hires will have quite a bit of impact on recruiting. Not only on the front of how we recruit, but also in the response that we get from the kids. So I think this is a tremendous hire for us getting Nick today at this stage of the recruiting game."

On Holt's additional duties as assistant head coach:
"A lot, really. The first thing you have to remember is that he's going to speak to half of our football team every day, and I'm not going to be in that room. We're going to be at team meetings, and we're going to split up offense/defense, and he's going to be talking to 50 guys every day and spreading the word of what we're about and what we're going to become.

"The second thing is I'm going to use his voice for our football team. As you guys heard, you could feel his intensity, and I think it's important for our entire football team to feel him.

"And thirdly, he's tremendous with boosters, alumni, the fans, everyone's going to feel Nick Holt. He's got a great presence, and I'm really going to rely on his opinions on a lot of things."

On his early interactions with his players:
"We had a great team meeting yesterday. We kind of gave them the lay of the land and our overall philosophy of things and how we’re going to do things in strength and conditioning and in the classroom and what their expectations should be. I think they’re really motivated right now, I think there’s a buzz on our football team about where we’re headed. But they also understand we’ve got a lot of work to do. It’s going to take a lot of time and effort and diligence on their part. But they understand. They’re excited, they know what this place can be, they feel the energy. They’re feeling hopefully myself and the other assistants and who we are and what we represent."

On the Huskies forming a new identity:
"Well, it starts with me. I can’t try to be Pete Carroll, I have to be Steve Sarkisian. I have to take some things that we did at SC and incorporate them with the things that I like, but we can’t try to be USC North, and we’re not going to be. We’re going to be the University of Washington, I’m going to be Steve Sarkisian, Nick is going to be Nick Holt. We’re going to be who we are, but there are definitely some things that we will try to incorporate that I think can be successful for us."

On his final game as a Trojan in the Rose Bowl last week:
"I knew going in that it was my last game, and I really tried to embrace the whole leading up to the game and the ball game. After the game it was a great moment for me knowing it was the last game at SC and winning another Rose Bowl – our third straight, and all of the confetti and all the things that go on in that environment is something special. Sometimes when you’ve gone to four in a row you can take it for granted. I was fortunate to know it was my last game there so I really wanted to embrace it. And I thought to myself walking into the tunnel off the field, Some day I’ll be back. We’ll be back here. Sooner than later. That’s the mindset we’re going to have. We’re going to get back to that game. We’re going to get the University of Washington back to that game."

I'm taking a break from typing all those Nick Holt exclamation points to pass along a few quick items from today's meeting with basketball coach Lorenzo Romar and a few of the Huskies.

1.) Freshman guard Elston Turner (ankle) won't play Thursday against Stanford and isn't likely to play Saturday against California, but he is expected back for the Oregon trip next week.

2.) Romar and freshman Darnell Gant seem willing to put the incident with WSU senior Caleb Forrest (see blog post below) behind them without making it a bigger deal that it already has become. Gant said he thinks it will all be mostly forgotten by the time the Cougars come to Hec Ed in March.

3. ) Forward Jon Brockman says his own ankle sprain is getting better, but still isn't 100 percent.

4.) UW still hasn't been able to fill its date lost when Lehigh couldn't make it to Seattle due to late-December snows. However, it now appears that if a make-up game is arranged, Lehigh probably won't be the opponent.

5.) UW football coach Steve Sarkisian met with the basketball team this week. Brockman says he was impressed.

After a few minutes of Nick Holt's introductory press conference, new head coach Steve Sarkisian offered up the comment, "Any question why I wanted him?"

Everyone in the room understood what he meant. (And here's TNT columnist John McGrath's take.)

Nick Holt is a high-energy coach, every bit as different from Ed Donatell as Sarkisian is from Ty Willingham.

Other than that general impression, there wasn't much real news out of this press conference, other than the eye-popping dollars involved outlined in the post below.

Holt said that he will run a defensive system very similar to what he ran at USC. He also plans to practice the same way -- which means hitting and tackling at every practice.

Holt called USC coach Pete Carroll his No. 1 mentor. He said it was difficult to leave. But he is excited about returning to the Northwest and facing the challenge of reestablishing UW as a football power. He once again used the term "sleeping giant."

I'll be back with more details and a few direct quotes later.

Look at the bottom right in the clip above, and you will see WSU senior Caleb Forrest take a swing at UW freshman Darnell Gant.

WSU coach Tony Bennett said today that Forrest "just lost his head" and tht he had been spoken to. But apparently no other discipline is forthcoming.

"There was some back and forth going between Caleb and Gant and then Caleb lost his composure. And then Caleb apologized immediately after to Gant and to Coach Romar after the game. Caleb is a good kid, and he just lost his head. I've dealt with that with Caleb. I think there was a double-technical assessed. Like I said there was some jawing going on and some things before that. He just lost his head. I've dealt with it Caleb and he certainly apologized to Coach Romar and the player."

UW has released the highlights of the contract that made Nick Holt a Husky:

- 3 years
- 600K in the first year, 650K in the second and third years
- 200K retention bonus (payable to him up front, but would have to be returned all or in part, on a sliding scale, if he were to leave before the end of the contract)

So, in all, 3 years for a total of $2.1 million.

Nick Holt, coordinator of USC's dominating defense, has agreed to become defensive coordinator and assistant head coach at the University of Washington. (Here's my story from the Tuesday paper.)

A press conference to introduce Holt was delayed from Monday until 12:30 p.m. Tuesday for undisclosed reasons, but the university has confirmed the hire.

Holt, 46, had been the Trojans' defensive line coach and defensive coordinator from 2006 through their just-completed 2009 Rose Bowl victory.

The 2008 Trojans completed the regular season as the nation's No. 1 defense, leading the Football Bowl Subdivision in total defense (206.08 yards per game), scoring defense (7.75 points per game), pass defense (122.83) and pass efficiency defense (81.46). USC was also No. 5 in rushing defense (83.25 yards per game). The '08 Trojans posted three shutouts -- including one against Washington -- and held eight of 12 regular-season opponents to seven or fewer points.

Holt also had also served as USC's linebackers coach from 2001 to 2003. In between, during the 2004 and 2005 seasons, he was head coach at Idaho, where he'd previously worked a defensive coordinator.

"This is very exciting for Husky football," new UW head coach Steve Sarkisian said in a news release. "I don't think we could have found a more qualified or successful defensive coordinator anywhere in the country."

"Coach Sarkisian has been working tirelessly to recruit and to hire coaches," UW athletic director Scott Woodward said in the same news release. "This hire is a clear reinforcement of the confidence I have in him to put together a top-notch coaching staff."

The entire release is available at GoHuskies.com. Here's Holt's biography from USC.

The University of Washington is holding a press conference Tuesday to introduce its new defensive coordinator: former USC defensive coordinator and Idaho head coach Nick Holt.

That means we'll have to wait a few more hours to hear from Holt about accepting this job. However, shortly after UW announced it was firing Tyrone Willingham, I interviewed Holt in Los Angeles ... talking to him mostly about UW's head job. However, some of his answers from back them might give some indication of why he might be interested in joining Steve Sarkisian up here... especially the final answer.

TNT: How good is this USC defense?
Holt: "Ask me in December, because we’ve still got four or five games left. But up till now it sure has played really solid. I think that if we continue to improve – and there are things we can improve – it can be as good as we’ve had here in our eight years. We’re really pleased with the effort, we’re staying relatively health, which is huge … but I think we have a good attitude, we have a lot of guys who can run to the ball, a lot of guys now are believing really in their techniques – they always have but now it’s even more. And I think our secondary is really good also."

TNT: How good are the Huskies?
Holt: "Quite honestly – this isn’t just coach-speak – every Pac-10 team plays us pretty good. So we’ve got to come every week. You just look at the last two (UW-USC games), it’s come down to the last couple of plays of the game. We don’t take them lightly. We know their coaches – they’re very well coaches, quite honestly. And they’ve had a lot of injuries, and hopefully they don’t get it going against us."

TNT: Would you be interested in the UW job?
Holt: "I don’t think about that. To us down here and to people who know the Pac-10 that is just an awesome job. Whatever happens, they’re going to be good up there. Had they probably stayed with the guys they have now (the Willingham staff)they’d end up being good. They’ve got some good young kids. They had some holes to fill recruiting. Hopefully they don’t catch up; but that is, as you know one of the premier places we think down here in the country. It’s just a matter of time."

Holt, by the way, is a hyper-high-energy guy who looks and acts like a defensive coordinator straight out of central casting. I have a hunch UW fans are going to love this hire.

USC defensive coordinator Nick Holt is reported in Seattle today to discuss the Huskies defensive coordinator position, and now a 3 p.m. press conference has been called amid speculation he will get the job.

New UW head coach Steve Sarkisian confirmed his interest in Holt to the Los Angeles media over the weekend.

If Holt joins Sarkisian, that would put the offensive and defensive coordinators from the 2008 Trojans on the UW sidelines in 2009.

Holt coordinated what is generally thought to be one of the great defenses in college football history. He also has a bit of a Northwest connection, having served as head coach at Idaho in 2004-05 and serving on the Vandals staff from 1990-97.

With only one weekend of Pac-10 play behind us, only Washington, UCLA and Cal remain unbeaten. It could be a fascinating league race this year, and road wins -- as the Huskies' pulled off in Pullman -- could be precious and rare.

That number of unbeatens is sure to drop in the coming week, as UW and 2-0 Cal meet Saturday at Hec Ed. Before then, the Huskies meet that other surprisingly impressive Bay Area team -- Stanford -- on Thursday.

Here's a look at the first weekend of the Pac-10 race.

UW football coach Steve Sarkisian is back in Seattle, and the local media is likely to get some time to catch up with him early this week.

Meanwhile, however, the Los Angeles Times took this look at Sarkisian's farewell with the Trojans.

Here's the key Sarkisian quote:

"I've turned down jobs because I didn't feel they were right," he noted. "This one, I wouldn't have taken it if I didn't think we could turn it around . . . and we will."

With a night to sleep on it, that was still a pretty impressive UW win yesterday at Pullman.

As Pac-10 play begins, it appears the Huskies are a very good rebounding team and they are becoming a pretty good defensive team. When they are hitting their outside shots -- as they were Saturday -- they look like a team that could do some damage in the league ... and beyond.

But before looking too far forward, another look back:

Here's the game story. Here's a secondary piece on all that was at stake, and perhaps the Huskies rubbing it in a bit. And in the blog post below, there's a photo gallery from the game.

Finally, a few quotes that didn't make either of my stories:

UW COACH LORENZO ROMAR
"I had thought we were a better team this year. I thought there were some things we were better at. A game like this would confirm it up to this point. Who knows what happens next game, but to come out against someone who’s had their way with us and come out on the road and win in this type of fashion, I was very impressed with our team."

"Justin Dentmon, Vernoy Overton and Isaiah Thomas did a marvelous job of pushing the ball, but when nothing was there, brining it back out. Earlier we would try to make the home-run play, we would force the issue and we would come up with turnovers. There is a reason we only committed 11 turnovers. Those three guys had a lot to do with it. But even on some offensive rebounds, we got the rebound, but we didn’t just throw the ball back up at the rim. We threw the ball back out. I thought our guys just did a good job that way."

WSU coach TONY BENNETT
“When those bad stretches come, it’s kind of like when it rains, it pours. A lot of things go wrong.”

“We certainly worked all week on hard block-outs and gang rebounding, but it didn’t show up.”

“They’re a good team. They have better guards this year with the addition of Thomas. They can attack you off the dribble.”

WSU senior guard TAYLOR ROCHESTIE on whether WSU center Aron Baynes got the ball enough:
“Even if he gets 15,20, 30 touches, as a point guard, I always feel the big man doesn’t get enough touches. I think we should keep trying to go inside-out. Washington, they’re used to Baynes. They have a good game plan for him.”

WSU senior CALEB FORREST
“We got a lot of decent shots and stuff that way, but when it comes down to it, we’ve been letting games slip away, and we’ve got to figure out some way to fix that.”

“I feel we weren’t gang rebounding as a team, getting everyone in there as a team.”

UW senior JON BROCKMAN on the Huskies' improving ball movement:
"I think It’s been a problem and just our movement hasn’t been solid, we haven’t made the defense work as hard as they need to, and tonight we really moved that ball around, made them work side to side, making them more tired, and getting us a better shot."

JUSTIN DENTMON on snapping the losing streak to Cougs:
"It feels real good, it feels awesome, especially here, and it’s giving us some momentum to go on to the rest of the pac-10 season when we’re on the road, that’s where we’ve struggled in the past, and just getting it done is great."

QUINCY PONDEXTER
"It’s a lot of weight lifted off of our shoulders with this one, especially doing it here. We had a really great chance to come out and show what we’re about. Washington State is a really great team, a very underrated team. I just think our team came out and played really really hard."

On whether UW could have won by 20 on the road in the past without big numbers from Brockman:
"Not nowhere near in the past. In the past we were too immature. We weren’t smart enough, we weren’t old enough. We didn’t know what it took to win games and be smart. Him, right now, he’s the leader of his team, and he was still leading us. It’s just we all matured and did our parts."

On eight straight wins:
"We’re finding our identity on the defensive end, which is really helping us. It’s terrific to come into games knowing that we’ve done all the work."

ISAIAH THOMAS on his outside shooting:
"We’ve been working on it all week. We know how they play D. They help so much the outside is open. We did a good job. JD did a great job of hitting his 3-point shots."

And on his first Pac-10 game:
"This is the 11th or 12th game of the season, so there’s no pressure to me. I just go out and do the best I can."

I thought you all might like to see the images Ted S. Warren from the Associated Press made at the game tonight.

The slide show.

Washington guard Isaiah Thomas celebrates with temmate Matthew Bryan-Amaning, left, near the end of the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 3, 2009, at Friel Court in Pullman, Wash. Washington beat Washington State 68-48. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Big win for UW, moving to 1-0 in Pac-10 play with home games against the Bay Area teams next week. The Huskies are now 10-3 overall and their winning streak is up to eight games. And, of course, they end WSU's seven game streak in the series.

Highlights:

Star of the game: UW senior Justin Dentmon scored 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field, including 4-of-4 on 3-point shots. He also had four assists, four rebounds and a steal.

Key stats: Washington put the game away in the second half, when the Huskies shot 50 percent and limited the Cougars to 36 percent. … Against the packed-in WSU defense, the Huskies had one of their best outside shooing games, hitting six of 11 3-pointers (54.5 percent). … UW outrebounded WSU, 36-20. … UW forward Jon Brockman had four rebounds, his fewest of the season.

Key run: Washington State had cut Washington’s 10-point lead to five midway through the second half. Just as the crowd sensed the Cougars were making a run, Dentmon silenced them with a 3-pointer. Then Darnell Gant scored on an offensive rebound of a Quincy Pondexter miss, and suddenly the Huskies were up by 10 again.

UW quote: “It felt great. I haven’t been a part of the 0-7 (losing streak to WSU), but coming into the game I knew it was a big game: my first Pac-10 game, personally. I just wanted to come out and do whatever I can to give my team the W.” – freshman Isaiah Thomas.

WSU quote: “When it comes down to it, we’ve been letting games slip away, and we’ve got to figure out some way to fix that.” – senior Caleb Forrest.

Next: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, vs. Stanford, Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

1:30/2nd: Assuming this holds, Dentmon is going to be the game's MVP. He had game-high 15 points and is 4-for-4 on 3-pointers in a game where UW really needed some outside shooting.

UW dominating boards, 27-19, and that's hurting WSU now, as Huskies are running the clock and then getting offensive rebounds that lets the run it some more.

Cougs fouling now.

6:30/2nd: Cougars had cut a UW 10-point lead to five, and the crowd was getting into it, feeling a game-turning run. But Justin Dentmon nailed a three pointer -- his second without a miss -- and the Huskies have worked the lead back to 10.

Halftime: Jon Brockman didn't get his first point until about 17 minutes in, and he still hasn't gotten a rebound. However, UW is playing even because they're drilling some shots from the outside.

Isaiah Thomas and Quincy Pondexter lead UW with eight points each. Aron Baynes also has eight for the Cougs.

UW is shooting .476, WSU .462. UW leads on the boards, 15-11 ... which seems fortunate considering Brockman's zero.

Mathew Bryan-Amaning has three fouls... which is potential trouble, with Brockman struggling.

Tip: Game has began. Huskies going with their usual starting lineup: Brockman, Pondexter, Gant, Thomas and Dentmon.

While there is no change in the starting lineup, it will be interesting to see how the rotation is tweaked with guard Elston Turner out (ankle) and his 16 minutes per game therefore up for grabs.

2:55: We're about five minutes until tip, and the Cougs' home-court advantage seems likely to be muted a bit. The lower blow is about three-quarters full, the upper desk vastly dominated by empty seats.

However, there's almost no purple in the house at all -- Jon Brockman's dad being the main exception. In fact, the Huskies just ran onto the court, and while the boos weren't intimidating, I didn't hear any cheers at all.

2 p.m. Huskies are on the court warming up. Freshmen Elston Turner (ankle) and Tyreese Breshers (knee) are in uniform, but neither is expected to play.

1:45: UW assistant Paul Fortier is sitting courtside, so I assume the Huskies have made it safely to the arena.

1:30: Cougars Taylor Rochestie and Charlie Enquist are the first players out on the court. And a few fans are beginning to trickle in. It'll be interesting to see what kind of crowd shows up here. School is out, and the weather isn't inviting. Still: Big game.

And speaking of big games, they're showing the UW-WSU women's game on one of the video screens now. Cougs up 16-11 early.

Also, press row beginning to trickle in with reporters from Spokane and Seattle.

1 p.m. I am in from the whitest crunchiest parking lot I've used probably since the Great Alaska Shootout. But, of course, that only marks the halfway point in the trip. The drive down from Spokane demanded concentration, but never really clicked over to scary. I'm hoping for no worse on the return trip.

For now, I'm the only reporter on press row, so I'm hoping all the other Puget Sound reporters make it uneventfully, too.

However, now that I'm here, it's time to begin concentrating on what should be a really good, really important game as these rivals open their Pac-10 seasons.

We'll handle the game in our normal way. I'll click in here if any pregame news breaks. Then I'll keep a running blog through the game, and then return for postgame notes and quotes.

Tipoff is 3 p.m. It's on FSN, 950-AM and 850-AM.

The Huskies' apparently have made it safely to Pullman for today's 3 p.m. game at Washington State. However, their Horizon flight from Sea-Tac was diverted to Lewiston because the Pullman Airport was apparently closed. The team bussed to Pullman.

(As for me, I'm at SeaTac now, scheduled to fly to Spokane and drive to snowly Pullman. Here's hoping my next blog post comes in early afternoon from Beasley Coliseum.)

Here's my preview story from today's paper. The game is on FSN at 3p.m.

Here's my game preview.

Washington and Washington State both open Pac-10 play Saturday projected for the middle part of the league and the NCAA tournament bubble. That only amplifies the difference between a 1-0 start and an 0-1 start.

Washington has the added incentive of wanting to end a seven-game losing streak to WSU.

“You lose to them seven times straight, it’s definitely a game that you want to win,” said UW senior Jon Brockman, who has never beaten the Cougs. “It’s something that I definitely want to accomplish before I leave here. That makes me just have more respect for Wazzu and how good of a team they are. They’ve had some great teams and some great players and they’ve played basketball the right way for the last few years.”

Meanwhile, as much as WSU would like to keep the streak going, senior guard Taylor Rochestie points out that this game also is important for other reasons.

“We’re a young team, we want to get our first win in the Pac-10, especially our first game,” he said. “It’s a home game for us and we want to have a good home record, protect our home court. It’s a rival game. It’s the first game of the new year -- so many reasons that we want to go out there and get a win. … This will be a really high energy game with a lot on the line, and I think everyone is going to be pretty excited about it. All the slates are clean, and everyone’s just trying to get a win.”

A quick scouting report:

WASHINGTON (9-3)
AT WASHINGTON STATE (8-4)
3 p.m. Saturday, Friel Court, Pullman.
TV: FSN.
Radio: 950-AM (UW); 850-AM (WSU).

Series: UW leads, 167-98. However, WSU has won the last seven meetings.

Statistical leaders: For UW, F Jon Brockman, 16.5 ppg and 10.2 rpg; G Isaiah Thomas, 3.1 apg. For WSU, C Aron Baynes, 11.4 ppg and 6 rpg; G Taylor Rochestie, 4.8 apg.

Scouting report: This is the Pacific-10 Conference opener for both teams. Washington comes in on a seven-game win streak. WSU has lost four of its last seven, including its most recent outing, 64-52, at Louisiana State last weekend. … UW is 0-3 away from home. … The Cougars have the No. 1 scoring defense in the Pac-10, allowing 49.3 ppg, and the lowest-rated offense, scoring 60.1 ppg. UW is third in scoring (77.5) and ninth in points allowed (64.8). The Huskies lead the Pac-10 in rebounding margin. … WSU is one of four Division I schools with nine freshmen on its roster. … UW’s Thomas leads Pac-10 freshmen with a 14.8 scoring average. UW freshman guard Elston Turner is out with an ankle sprain.

Next for UW: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, vs. Stanford, Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Next for WSU: 7 p.m. Thursday, vs. California, Friel Court.

Steve Sarkisian's USC career ended this afternoon with the Trojans' 38-24 Rose Bowl win over Penn State.

Now all Sarkisian has to do is hop a flight back to Seattle, finally free to devote all of his attention to rebuilding the Huskies. My understanding is that he was expecting to return Friday.

If you watched the game, you know that Sarkisian got a lot of face time on the broadcast, and his move to UW was mentioned several times.

And if you liked his play calling -- or didn't -- prepare to see something similar next fall at Husky Stadium.

One of the first questions I asked Sarkisian in his first UW press conference was if what he was doing at USC is what he plans to do offensively at UW.

His answer: "The offense will very similar (to USC), obviously we’ll play to the strengths of what we have, whether is offensive line, running back, quarterback, wide receiver. For the most part, the system will remain the same, but every game is different. There will be some games we’re going to pound the rock, some games we’re going to have to throw it 40 times to win, but the goal is the same and that is to win football games. That’s what we’re going to try to do."

Eight Pac-10 teams tip off in the first four league games of the season Friday, and then UW and Washington State complete the first round of games at 3 p.m. Saturday in Pullman.

We took a fresh look at the state of the conference race in today's paper.

And we also got preview comments from both UW coach Lorenzo Romar and WSU coach Tony Bennett.

Romar:
"I thought that the conference would be competitive. I didn’t know how competitive it would be from one to 10. I think there are more clubs that are stepping up, that are making it an even more competitive conference that I even thought it would be. I wouldn’t have predicted Stanford would be undefeated going into conference play. They’re doing a heck of a job. I watched them play against Texas Tech: They looks stellar. Cal (is even better than I expected.) … There are just some teams across the board that are doing a good job. I think Arizona has everyone’s attention. People thought they were dead in the water. They’re not. It’s going to be a wild ride again."

Bennett:
"You don’t know until you get into league play, but certainly Cal and Stanford have been surprises. You look at what Stanford did to Texas Tech and you say, 'Oh my, that was an impressive performance.'

"In the league, I think everybody’s capable. Some teams are a little up and down with new guys, but our hope is that with our new guys they’ll continue to become more solid. Some of these games have exposed the areas where we have to improve. But I think the league is very capable this year. Maybe it doesn’t have the powerhouses or some of the marquee players of last year, but it’s a little better than maybe some of the people thought. It seems to be solid. ... Some teams that some people thought – the Cals or Stanfords that might be really down; or even us for that matter – have shown now that they’ll be able to compete. So, I think you’ll see a very hard-fought league -- better than people thought. As good as last year? I don’t know; it’s probably hard to say that right now. But I think it’s capable."