UCLA's win over Cal leaves the Bruins as the only team with a chance to catch Washington for a share of the Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball title or the No. 1 seeding in the Pac-10 tournament.

UW assured itself of at least a share of the title by defeating Arizona on Saturday afternoon. The Huskies now will win the title outright and get No. 1 Pac-10 tournament seeding with a win over Washington State next Saturday or with a UCLA loss to either Oregon State on Thursday or Oregon on Saturday.

The Bruins will be solid home favorites in both games, meaning it may come down the Huskies taking care of their own business against the Cougars.

If the Huskies and Bruins tie, they will share the conference title. However, Pac-10 tournament seeding will be determined as follows:

Seeding: All 10 teams shall participate in the tournament. The seedings and pairings shall be determined upon completion of regular season play on Saturday,
March 7. The won-lost percentage record of the teams in reglar season Conference play will determine tournament seedings. The team with the best
won-lost percentage in Conference play will be seeded #1, the next best won-lost percentage in Conference play will be seeded #2, and so forth through
all the seeds.
Tie-Breakers: Tie breaking procedures for determining tournament seeding will follow the following procedure:
1. Two-team tie
a. Results of head-to-head competition during the regular season.
b. Each team’s record vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular standings, and then continuing down through the standings
until one team gains an advantage.
When arriving at another group of tied teams while comparing records, use each team’s record against the collective tied teams as a group
(prior to that group’s own tie-breaking procedure), rather than the performance against individual tied teams.
c. Won-lost percentage against all Division I opponents.
d. Coin toss conducted by the Commissioner or designee.
2. Multiple-team tie
a. Results of collective head-to-head competition during the regular season among the tied teams.
b. If more than two teams are still tied, each of the tied team’s record vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular season
standings, and then continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage.
When arriving at another group of tied teams while comparing records, use each team’s record against the collective tied teams as a group
(prior to that group’s own tie-breaking procedure), rather than the performance against individual tied teams.
If at any point the multiple-team tie is reduced to two teams, the two-team tie-breaking procedure will be applied.
c. Won-lost percentage against all Division I opponents.
d. Coin toss conducted by the Commissioner or designee.

Bottom line: Too early to tell.

However, since the Huskies and Bruins split, this tie-breaking method gives UW fans a rooting interest in Arizona State finishing third in the conference, because UW swept the Sun Devils, while UCLA was swept by them. Whereas, UCLA swept the Cal, whereas UW was swept by them.

Cal visits Arizona State on Saturday in a game that should be over by the time WSU and UW tip off.

The Huskies clinched at least a share of the Pac-10 title with a 83-78 win over Arizona. UW can now watch scoreboards until they return to conference play next Saturday when they close the regular season hosting Washington State.

And while they were very happy after they game, their main goal remains the outright title. With Arizona State's loss at Washington State today, the only team still capable of catching UW will be the winner of tonight's UCLA-at-Cal game. I'll pop in with another blog post after that one with more info on the remaining possibilities for the outright title and for Pac-10 tournament tie-breaking.)

Here's a quick review:

Star of the game: UW forward Jon Brockman had a game-high 11 rebounds, tied with Isaiah Thomas for UW’s scoring lead with 19 points, and provided senior leadership down the stretch. (A good case could have also been made for Venoy Overton, who brough energy,eight points, six rebounds and three steals. And if UA had won, it clearly would have been forward Jordan Hill.)

Key stats: The Huskies held Arizona guard Nic Wise to 11 points on 3-of-15 shooting. Wise had gone off for 29 points when the Wildcats won the first meeting in Tucson, Ariz. UW shot 35 free throws, while UA shot 14. … The teams were even in rebounds at halftime, but UW took control of the boards in the second half, 22-16.

Key run: Washington went on an 18-4 run in the middle of the second half to go from 10-points down to four points up. Over that stretch, Brockman provided eight points and assist.

Observations: UW claimed its first Pac-10 men’s basketball title since 1984-85. However, the Huskies say their primary goal remains winning their first outright conference title since 1952-53 and their first Pacific-10 Conference title ever. That would happen with a win over Washington State on Saturday or with a loss by tonight’s UCLA-Cal winner later this week. … Isaiah Thomas of Tacoma inched back ahead of Justin Dentmon for the UW season scoring lead.
Quotable: “The crowd, you talk about a sixth man, our crowd was unbelievable today and just helped will us to a victory.” – UW coach Lorenzo Romar on the sellout crowd of 10,000.

Next: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Seattle University, Hec Edmundson Pavilion; FSN. Tickets remain available.

Halftime: UA,36-32.

The good news -- if you can call it that -- is that the Huskies aren't playing well and they're still around.

In one way the difference is at the free throw line, where Arizona has hit 11 of 12 shots and Washington has hit four of 11. But the Huskies have been pretty blah in other areas as well. They're shooting .364 from the field, while Arizona is shooting .414. Rebounds are even at 19.

Isaiah Thomas leads uw with six points, but he's 1-of-5 from the line. Overton, Brockman and MBA all have five points.

Jordan Hill is dominating with 15 points for the Wildcats. Budinger has nine and Wise six.

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

(Here's my preview story.)

UW coach Lorenzo Romar is wearing his purple coat today -- which he tends to do annually, but he usually tries to sneak it in during a low-profile game ... which this decidedly is not.

Pregame: Huskies and Wildcats back out on the court for final warmups. Huskies in white, Cats in navy.

Huskies favored by seven. And if that holds, they'll clinch their first Pac-10 title -- although not necessarily outright -- since 1985.

Other games today that will affect the Huskies chances of an outright title will include Arizona State at WSU (UW fans should probably pull for the Cougars), and UCLA at Cal (UW fans should probably pull for the Bears). The evening game is on ESPN.

Normal gameday blogging plan here: pregame news as it happens, in-game updates and postgame notes and quotes.

If the Huskies beat Arizona at noon Saturday, they will be assured of at least a share of this season's Pac-10 regular season championship. (Here's my preview story.) However, several Huskies said today that that's not the accomplishment they want to celebrate. They want the outright title, and that's when they celebrate.

JUSTIN DENTMON:
"We want it all by ourselves. We’re not going to be satisfied with just a piece. We want to make history. We want to be the first Washington team to win it outright."

JON BROCKMAN:
No, we’re going to be greedy. We have to be greedy. We’re not trying to share it; we’re trying to win it outright. We can celebrate a little bit (after the game) if things go well. But we have to stay focused and realize that our job’s not done.

Coach Lorenzo Romar agreed, although he did allow himself a rare look ahead to what a Pac-10 title would mean to this team and this program:
"I think it’s pretty special for me to see our players experience that. There have been a lot of great great players that have gone on – the Fab Five at Michigan – never got to experience a conference championship. They got to experience a little more than that, but it’s just something that doesn’t come around for everyone. You recruit players and you talk about what your aspirations are as a program. This is what we’re capable of doing if we get you, that type of this. And this kind of validates what you talked about, if you’re able to do that. Obviously I think it brings credibility to your program, but in the Pac-10, you win the Pac-10 championship and you’re likely to get a decent seed in the NCAA tournament, I would think There are a number of positives that come out of this, if it were to happen. It’s so close, but it seems so far away."

He's right about that. Beating Arizona today won't be easy, and neither will WSU next week. (Although it is possible that game will be moot. That could happen, to cite perhaps the most likely example, if UW wins today while WSU beats ASU and Cal beats UCLA, and then Cal loses at Arizona on Thursday.)

A scouting report on the Wildcats:

ARIZONA (18-10 OVERALL, 8-7 PAC-10)
AT NO. 21 WASHINGTON (21-7, 12-4)
Noon Saturday, Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
TV: FSN.
Radio: 950-AM

Series: Arizona leads, 42-23, including a 106-97 victory in the Jan. 29 meeting in Tucson, Ariz. The Wildcats also lead 16-14 in Seattle.

Statistical leaders: For Arizona, F Jordan Hill, 17.9 ppg and 11 rpg; F Chase Budinger, 3.4 apg. For UW, G Justin Dentmon, 15.8 ppg; F Jon Brockman, 11.3 rpg; G Isaiah Thomas, 2.6 apg.

Scouting report: UW would clinch at least a share of the Pac-10 regular season title with a win today. … Arizona is 3-3 against ranked opponents this season. Oddly, the school is 4-0 all-time against teams ranked No. 21. … Washington leads the Pac-10 in scoring offense (79.2 ppg) and rebound margin (plus-8.9 rpg). Arizona is fifth in the conference in scoring offense (71.4), but the Wildcats scortched UW for a season-high 106 points in the previous meeting. Over the last five meetings in Seattle, the teams have combined to average 174.4 points per game – more than 87 points per team. … Dentmon has moved into the UW scoring lead, one-tenth of a point ahead of Thomas.

Next: 8 p.m. Tuesday, vs. Seattle University, Hec Edmundson Pavilion: FSN.

The latest ESPN Bracketology has Washington moving up to a No. 4 seed after the win over Arizona State last night.

Joe Lunardi's formula has the Huskies opening against American of the Patriot League in Porland, then facing the Xavier-Miami (Fla.) winner for the right to head on to Boston in the East Regional.

This, of course, is in addition to all the pure match -- magic number is two -- for the Huskies' outright Pac-10 regular season title.

Yes, the Huskies were happy after their overtime win over Arizona State last night. (Here's my game story, and here's Dave Boling's take.) But they were also amazingly ready to look ahead to what -- for them -- may be an even bigger test: Arizona at noon Saturday at Hec Ed.

Coach Lorenzo Romar:
Right now, I’m jumping up and down on the inside. Maybe I’m just a little drained from the game. But at the same time, I do understand we just played the first half. The second half is going to be Saturday against a team that kind of had their way with us when we were down in Tucson, Ariz. They are another tough team that presents a tough matchup for us. Their triangle (offense), we’ve not solved that mystery yet, how to keep those guys under control. We’re going to have to make sure that we get together and do a better job on them than we have done in the past."

Jon Brockman:
"I think we’ve accomplished one-third of what we wanted in terms of these next two weeks. It’s a big one, it’s a big one-third. But it doesn’t do much if we come out and lay an egg on Saturday."

Justin Dentmon
"We have another tough one coming in on Saturday so we’ve just got to get prepared, get our bodies prepared, get our bodies rested up for Saturday."

The result leaves moves the Huskies a game and a half ahead of ASU as well as UCLA and California, who kept pace with victories Thursday over Stanford and USC respectively. That leaves them all hovering just one game behind the Huskies in the loss column.

The Huskies two remaining Pac-10 games are against Arizona and Washington State. And since those teams met Thursday night, here's the WSU report from that game:

Washington State vs. Arizona – Feb. 26, 2009 – Pullman, Wash. (Friel Court)

Final Score: WSU 69, Arizona 53

Washington State Notes:
The Cougars got their first win over Arizona since Feb. 1, 2007.
Klay Thompson tied the WSU freshman record for 3-pointers made with 62 (came in with 58)…the record was set by Bennie Seltzer in 1990.

He moved into sole possession of second place in the WSU freshman record books for points…he now has 368.

DeAngelo Casto tied the WSU blocks record with his one block on the night…he now has 36.

Taylor Rochestie, Klay Thompson and Caleb Forrest all scored in double-figures for the second-straight game.

Casto scored a career high 11 points…previous high was 10 against Gonzaga (Dec. 10).

WSU tied its season high for assists with 22.

Just the second time this season the Cougars have scored 65-plus points in back-to-back games and the first in Pac-10 play.

Images from the game:

For a gallery of images from the AP's Ted S. Warren, click here.

A report on the game is included in the blog post below.

Small difference on the scoreboard could yield huge difference in title race.

The result leaves moves the Huskies (21-7 overall, 12-4 Pacific-10 Conference) a game and a half ahead of Arizona State (21-5, 10-5), as well as UCLA and California, who kept pace with victories Thursday over Stanford and USC respectively. That leaves them all hovering just one game behind the Huskies in the loss column.

That means the Huskies would wrap up at least a tie for the Pac-10 title Saturday with a victory over Arizona, which was eliminated from the regular season race Thursday after losing at Washington State. A UW win over the Wildcats also would assure the elimination of the loser of that day’s UCLA-at-Cal game, although the winner would remain in contention for a share of the title.

“It’s so close we can taste it,” UW junior Quincy Pondexter said. “But the next two games won’t be easy at all.”

Washington was led by Jon Brockman, who had 21 points and 11 rebounds. However, Justin Dentmon, Isaiah Thomas and Pondexter all scored in double-figures for UW. And Darnell Gant and Justin Holiday got crucial stops at crucial times against ASU’s James Harden, who once again was held under his Pac-10 21.2 point leading average.

Arizona State rode its big guns, getting 24 points from Jeff Pendergraph and 19 from Harden, both of whom fouled out in the overtime. However, Harden's division of labor was interesting: 15 points in the first half, four in the second.

“We’ve had teams that have a lot of heart,” coach Lorenzo Romar said. “I think our hearts have gotten bigger and bigger as this season progresses.”

End of regulation: The Huskies made some brutal errors on their final two possessions and we're headed into overtime, tied 61-61.

Out of town scoreboard: The teams directly behind won as UCLA came back to beat Stanford and Cal beat USC in overtime.

Halftime: Washington led most of the way -- peaking at 24-12 after about 10 minutes -- but ASU closed over the final few minutes.

James Harden is being far more agressive this time than he was in UW's win in the desert and already has matched his point total from that game: 15 points. Once again, he's getting big help from Jeff Pendergraph, 13 points. No other Sun Devil has more than three points.

Jon Brockman is leading UW with 11. Isaiah Thomas has seven, but is 2-of-9 from the field. Justin Dentmon hasn't scored and is 0-of-6 from the field.

Neither team is hitting from distance: UW is 1-10 and ASU 2-10 from 3-point range.

Rebounds are tied 18-18.

Tipoff: No. 14 Arizona State and No. 21 Washington have tipped off in front of what seems to be a loud and lively sellout crowd.

Normal starters going for UW: Brockman, Dentmon, Pondexter, Gant and Thomas.

And it's proving to be an interesting night in the Pac-10 already, as Washington State has knocked off Arizona, 69-53. Meanwhile, Stanford is off to a 33-26 lead over UCLA as I type this.

Buckle up.

Pregame: I've arrived early at Hec Ed, but not earlier than forgotten big men Joe Wolfinger and Artem Wallace, who are on the court working out about two hours and 15 minutes before tip.

Meanwhile, for you much-appreciated blog readers outside the Puget Sound area, Fox Sports Net has announced that tonight’s game will be to Fox sports networks across the country, making it available to more than 65 million viewers nationwide.

Locally, of course, the game is on FSN. Tip is 8 p.m.

That means I'll slip into what has become my emergency/rush/blogging mode: pregame news as it happens, a few in-game updates, and then notes and quotes after the game ... including some that time won't permit to get into the paper.

With first place and a direct path to the Pac-10 title on the line, there's no doubt that Washington's game Thursday against Arizona State is a big one. But how big?

To my figuring -- considering its a pair of ranked teams, and the winner will emerge atop the Pac-10 standings -- it's the biggest since March 24, 2006, when UW was denied entry to the Elite Eight with an overtime loss to Connecticut.

On Tuesday, I ran that past three of the Huskies who were there in 2006, and none could come up with a bigger game since.

UW coach Lorenzo Romar:
"I would say so. … I would have to say yeah. … It’s fun to be involved in these types of contests. I know that’s what any competitor really plays for: to play against the best and play at the highest level."

UW senior guard Justin Dentmon:
"The UConn game, man, that’s a sad game to think about; but yeah, you could put it with that game. I think this is going to be another tournament-like game for us, for our guys to get a feel for how a tournament game is."

UW senior forward Jon Brockman:
"In terms of league play, it's probably the biggest game since I've been a Husky. ... It makes it real exciting. I know what the environment is going to be like: It's going to be wild and crazy. They're coming in with a lot of energy, a lot of focus; and really I'm sure Arizona State is thinking they deserve to be in first place. They're coming in here and I know they've been thinking that the entire year: From when the season started they though they were the best team in this league, and they're going to come in here and expect to take it."

Meanwhile, folks in Tempe say this could be considered an even bigger game for Arizona State -- perhaps the biggest basketball game in school history.

As you would figure, the game is sold out.

A quick scouting report:

NO. 14 ARIZONA STATE (21-5, 10-4)
AT NO. 21 WASHINGTON (20-7, 11-4)
8 p.m. Thursday, Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
TV: FSN.
Radio: 950-AM

Series: Arizona State leads 34-32 overall. UW leads 17-14 at home. The teams split two meetings last season, each winning on the road. The Huskies won the earlier meeting this season, 84-71, at ASU.

Statistical leaders: For ASU, G James Harden, 21.2 ppg; F Jeff Pendergraph, 8.2 rpg; G Derek Glasser, 4.8 apg. For UW, G Isaiah Thomas, 15.9 ppg and 2.7 apg; F Jon Brockman, 11.3 rpg.

Scouting report: The Sun Devils are on a five-game Pac-10 winning streak, their longest since 1994-95. They also have won four straight Pac-10 road games, most since 1980-81. … UW leads the league in scoring and rebounding. ASU leads in 3-point field goals made, 3-point field goal defense, assists and assist/turnover ratio. … Individually, Harden leads the Pac-10 and is 16th nationally in scoring. Pendergraph leads the nation in field goal percentage (66.8). Rihards Kuksiks is fourth nationally in 3-point field goal percentage (47.6). Brockman leads the Pac-10 in rebounding. Senior guard Justin Dentmon has moved to within a tenth of a point of Thomas for the UW scoring lead. UW junior forward Quincy Pondexter has scored in double figures in six straight games. Over that span he is averaging 17.7 points, shooting 60.6 percent and averaging 6.2 rebounds. He needs nine points to reach the 1,000-point career mark. … The Sun Devils are 2-1 this season against ranked teams -- the two wins coming against UCLA and the loss to Washington.

Next: Noon Saturday, vs. Arizona, Hec Edmundson Pavilion; FSN.

UW freshman Isaiah Thomas said today that he can't remember the last time a coach chose to have him on the bench at crunch time in a close game.

But that's where he was Saturday, as the Huskies gutted out their 60-51 win over USC.

"It was weird," Thomas said. "We won so I can’t complain about it. We won, and that’s all that matters. But it was something different. I’ve never had that."

Coach Lorenzo Romar said Thomas sat because Venoy Overton was impacting the game by playing energetic defense and driving USC's Dwight Lewis to distraction.

"That was a game situation where Venoy’s defensive pressure had changed the game around and we just decided to go with that," Romar explained. "And then Justin Dentmon, down the stretch, he was guarding well too."

Thomas ended up with four points in 27 minutes. Dentmon had eight points in 32 minutes. Overton had seven points -- and three steals -- in 21 minutes.

Romar said the decision isn't expected to become a trend.

And Thomas took the attitude that all's well that ends well.

"I was ready, but our teammates got the victory for us," he said. "It was something that had never happened to me, and I hope it never happens again. But we won."

Technology -- well, at least FaceBook and Twitter -- came up today at our meeting with the Huskies.

First Jon Brockman noted that he is already at his FaceBook maximum of 5,000 friends, but that he now also has a Twitter account -- JBrock40 -- and he'd be happy to have some followers there.

Here, btw, is Brockman's post from today: "Good practice today for the team, getting ready for the ASU game, hope we will have all of your support!"

(Meanwhile, I've also opened a Twitter account: donruiztnt. Mostly, I've just opened it to keep track of football coach Steve Sarkisian's -- CoachSark -- tweets. And, of course, now JBrock40. However, I could also use it as a source for breaking news -- short breaking news, tweets are limited to 140 characters -- if any of you think that would be useful.)

In any case, don't be expecting any tweets from Lorenzo Romar Twitter anytime soon.

Asked something today about Twitter, he answered: "I could tell you if I knew what that was.''

Given a sort of sketchy description, Romar concluded: "I'm not that advanced at this point.''

UW senior forward Jon Brockman today was named among the 30 finalists for the Naismith award -- awarded annually to the college game's best player.

"Awesome," coach Lorenzo Romar said. "He deserves it, that’s for sure. Whatever accolades Jon Brockman gets, he’s much deserving of it."

"It’s an honor," Brockman said. "Looking at the list, there’s a lot of great players on there. A lot of guys I know, so I’ll be able to call them and congratulate them. But it’s just an honor to be on the list, and a pretty cool thing."

Here's the full release from GoHuskies.com.

California coach Mike Montgomery has a lot of Pac-10 history, so he was asked today who he thinks rates at the league favorite this season.

His response: "Washington, with three home games, would certainly be in the driver's seat given the fact that they are in first place as we speak."

Arizona State's visit to Washington on Thursday has sold out. The game between the No. 1 and 2 teams in the Pac-10 will be shown on FSN.

For those with tickets -- and only those with tickets -- the UW Alumni Association is hosting its final Jump Start party before the 8 p.m. tipoff.

Here is the info provided by the Alumni Association:

Husky Hoops Jump Start
UW vs. Arizona State
Thursday, February 26, 2009
5:00-8:00 p.m. in the Don James Center at Husky Stadium

Hear from Husky head coach Lorenzo Romar and enjoy an all-you-can-eat dinner buffet with beer, wine and soft drinks.

Enjoy a live performance by the Husky Marching Band and Cheer Squad, then walk over to Hec Ed for the UW’s biggest game of the year.

Cost is $25 for UWAA members and current UW students; $30 for non-members.

To register, go to UWalum.com or call 1-800-AUW-ALUM.

The start time for the Washington State-Washington men’s basketball game has been set for 2:30 p.m. March 7 at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

The game, which will conclude the regular season for both teams, will be televised by FSN.

Given the implications of UW's Pac-10 championship ambitions and WSU's own goal of climbing to No. 6 to earn a first-day bye in the Pac-10 tournament ... this could be a huge game with implications far beyond bragging rights.

UW romped in the earlier meeting, 68-48, on Jan. 3 in Pullman.

The 20-7 Pac-10 leading Huskies show up at No. 21 in both the media and coaches polls today.

Meanwhile, ESPN's latest Bracketology has UW as a No. 5 seed going to Portland to meet Maryland, in a bracket that would pair that winner with the Purdue-Nevada winner for the right to go on to the Western regional in Arizona.

Arizona State won a 70-68 thriller over Arizona tonight, moving to within a half game of Washington for the Pac-10 lead.

The result means that the winner of the ASU-UW game at Hec Ed on Thursday will be alone at the top of the Pac-10 race, with either UW moving a game and a half ahead of the Sun Devils or ASU moving a half game ahead of the Huskies.

The Huskies admitted that they were watching -- and whooping and hollering -- as the Washington State upset UCLA yesterday. So it's more than likely that they'll be tuned in again at 7 tonight when Arizona visits Arizona State.

The Sun Devils are the only Pac-10 team even with the Huskies in the loss column, so it seems clear that the Huskies -- and their fans -- should be pulling for the Wildcats tonight. (Regardless, the Huskies can take care of their own business when they host ASU on Thursday.)

Meanwhile, with the Pac-10 lead and only three home conference games remaing -- ASU, Arizona on Saturday and WSU the following Saturday -- even these one-game-at-a-time Huskies are willing to talk championship.

Coach Lorenzo Romar: "We’ve been (talking about) it as the time approaches more and more frequently. It’s kinda like when the big concert is coming: Two moths away there’s one commercial. By the time it’s a week away there’s a whole bunch of them."

Quincy Pondexter: "It’s incredibly motivating. To have the Pac-10 championship three games away, it's incredible from whre we started the season off, losing to Portland and how we played the last two seasons. We’ve come such a far ways and I’m just roud of our team and the staff for helping us get this far. These last three games aren’t going to be easy at all. Arizona and Arizona State are tremendous teams; as well as Washington State, which just beat UCLA. It’s going to be a battle each and every last game."

Justin Dentmon: "We knew Cal lost and we saw the UCLA game. ... The Cal game was surprising. It’s like, what more can we ask for? We’ve got three home games, so it’s like all in our favor right now.

More Dentmon: (After the game Jon Brockman) was just saying, 'Man, we finished it out. Now it’s time to enjoy home.' This is our last road win in a conference game. We’ve got to enjoy it."

And more Dentmon: "During the game (Romar) was like 'Championship, championship.' People were looking kind of tired, he said, 'Anybody need to come out?'"

There was some sort of incident -- perhaps two -- involving USC players after the loss to UW yesterday. It/they happened on the court and in the USC locker room while I was interviewing Huskies in another part of Galen Center.

However, we heard some rumblings about it yesterday, but I heard enough conflicting stuff where I didn't include anything my story -- plus, there was no shortage of UW things to write about.

However, the LA papers featured the incidents in thier stories today ... alhough even here this is considerably different emphasis in the LA stories.

Here's the take from the LA Times. And from the LA Daily News.

(By the way, the Times story has an incorrect quote attributed to Lorenzo Romar.) The quotes -- which was incorrectly transcribed by the USC sports information staff -- has Romar saying he was "astounded" that his team won. Romar actually said said he was "ecstatic" ... which is a different thing.)

Final: UW, 60-51. Here's my game story.

The win moves the Huskies (20-7, 11-4)one game ahead of Arizona State (9-4), who was idle, and a game and a half ahead of UCLA and Cal, who lost this afternoon.

Quincy Pondexter led all scorers with 22 points and what huge for UW down the stretch.

A few quotes:

Romar, looking back: “One of the best feelings in the world is to go on the road and be down against a physical, scrappy hard, great defensive team at their home and come out on top. … And we did it as a team.”

Romar, looking foward: “If you are going out to try to win a championship and your remaining games are at home, you’ve got to make sure that you prepare and not let those opportunities slip away. You couldn’t ask better situation, but that’s the situation we’re in. Although we’re playing against three very very good basketball teams.”

USC coach Tim Floyd: You have to credit Washington's defense. They changes the game by pressuring us up there. We really struggled with it. They took advantage of us on the boards. They pounded us on the offensive glass and second-chance opportunities. ... They got 22 baskets off four assists, so that was put-backs and manufactured players. Pondexter too over the game, and we couldn't stop him.

Star of the game: UW junior forward Quincy Pondexter had a season-high 22 points – twice as many as any other player in the game. He did it by hitting 10 of 13 shots from the field and both of his two free throws.
Key stats: In a battle of the Pac-10’s top two rebounding teams, UW won the battle of the boards, 40-30. Both teams were frigid from the field: USC shot .380; UW .379. … USC hit 3 of 12 3-point attempts (25 percent); UW hit 1 of 10 (10 percent).

Key run: Pondexter went on a personal 8-0 run, scoring four straight field goals late in the second half that moved the Huskies from four-points down to four-points ahead.

Observations: The Huskies concluded their Pac-10 road schedule with splits on their Los Angeles, the Bary Area and Arizona trips. In each case, they lost the first game and won the second. … This was Washington’s lowest point total since scoring 54 in a loss to Kansas on Nov. 24. The Huskies had scored at least 71 points in their 13 previous games. … Isaiah Thomas had a career-low four points on two-of-seven shooting. … Jon Brockman, who was held without a field goal in the first meeting against USC, was 2-for-eight Saturday. … This was Washington’s first win at Galen Center in three tries. … Only six Trojans scored, and the starters accounted for all but two of USC’s points.

Next: No. 14 Arizona State, 8 p.m. Thursday, Hec Edmundson Pavilion; FSN.

Halftime: UW, 31-28. The Trojans jumped to a quick 22-11 lead and it seemed it might just be one of those games. However, the Huskies went on a 20-6 run from there to take a three-point lead into halftime.

The Huskies are doing it without a point from leading scorer Isaiah Thomas, who had an odd first half. He started, then was pulled to the bench after about two and a half minutes, then came in to play probably his normal minutes. But he admitted yesterday that he hates the SC gimmick defenses, and this isn't likely to change that.

UW's other starting guard Justin Dentmon also has had his trouble with the SC defense and the Trojans' big guards ... he has four points and didn't get his first field goal -- and therefore the only field goal of the Huskies' starting guards -- in the final minute of the half. Thomas and Dentmon are a combined 1-for-11 from the field.

Pondexter leads UW with 10 points, Leonard Washington leads SC with eight.

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

Lots of empty seats in Galen Center as we get going.

(Cool pregame animation where a trojan runs out on a cartoon court and drives his sword through the Washington "W" logo.)

Around the league: As mentioned in the post below, UW got a little pregame good news as WSU beat UCLA today at Pauley Pavilion.

And that was followed by another break for UW as Oregon State knocked off California, 65-54 ... meaning two of the teams that woke up this morning in a tie for first place have already lost.

Pregame: Both teams have been out for initial warmups: Huskies in purple, Trojans in white.

Tipoff is 4 p.m., and the game will be carried on FSN.

Normal gameday blogging plans: pregame news as it happens, in-game updates and postgame notes and quotes.

Washington State did something today that Washington couldn't on Thursday: defeat UCLA in Pauley Pavilion.

The Coug's 82-81 win is also something of a favor to UW who now will either be one game ahead of UCLA or no worse than even with them in the Pac-10 standings after their 4 p.m. game at USC. Although the Huskies still could fall behind Cal, depending on the result of their afternoon game at Oregon State.

Here's my game preview from today's paper, dealing mostly with USC's oddball defenses.

Here's an interesting take from the LA Times on the Trojans' mysterious home-court advantage at Galen Center, where they are 13-1 this season despite a relative absence of fans.

And here are a few things coach Lorenzo Romar said yesterday that didn't make my story or -- until now -- this blog:

On USC guard Dwight Lewis, who didn't play in the Huskies' home win against the Trojans: "He is just so dangerous. He can shoot the three, he can pull up mid-range game, he gets to the foul line, he goes to the rim, he’s got great size, you’ve got to box him out, he gets out in transition. He is a true scorer."

On his team's chance of falling from first to fouth this weekend: "In this league or in college basketball in general, to me you’re always just two weeks away from the arrow pointing down or pointing up for that matter. We’ve been on both sides."

The Huskies just came off the floor after working out at USC's Galen Center.

No big news. The emphasis is on dealing with USC's unconventional box-and-one or triangle-and-two defenses.

Jon Brockman says he feels about the same -- meaning less than 100 percent -- from the illness he's battling. However, Elston Turner is fine ... he didn't play last night simply because of match-up issues.

Obviously, they're disappointed to have lost to UCLA, but in a significant way the USC game might be more important: Win, the they retain control of their destiny in the league. Lose, and suddenly they'll need help to get back to the top of the league standings.

A quick scouting report:

NO. 22 WASHINGTON (19-7 OVERALL, 10-4 PAC-10)
AT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (16-9, 7-6)
4 p.m. Sunday, Galen Center, Los Angeles.
TV: FSN.
Radio: 950-AM.

Series: USC leads 65-64 overall and 37-25 at home. UW won the earlier meeting, 78-73, Jan. 22 in Seattle. USC leading scorer Dwight Lewis did not play in that game due to an ankle injury, but he will play today.

Statistical leaders: For UW, G Isaiah Thomas, 16.3 ppg and 2.7 apg; F Jon Brockman 11.2 rpg. For USC, G Dwight Lewis, 15.6 ppg; F Taj Gibson, 9.6 rpg; G Daniel Hackett, 4.7 apg.

Scouting report: Senior guard Justin Dentmon (16.1 ppg) has pulled within two-tenths of a point of Thomas for the UW scoring lead. … These are the top two rebounding teams in the Pac-10: UW 41.1 rpg; USC, 36.2. UW also leads the Pac-10 in scoring offense (80.2 ppg), while USC is seventh (68.2). The Trojans are fifth in scoring defense (62.7), while the Huskies are ninth (70.4). USC leads the league in blocked shots (4.8 bpg) and is last in 3-point field goal percentage (32.7) and turnover margin (minus-1.32). … Despite playing in the newest arena in the league, USC is second-to-last in home attendance, averaging 5,409 (ahead of only Oregon State). However, USC has won five straight home games and is 13-1 at Galen Center this season.

Next: 8 p.m. Thursday, vs. No. 14 Arizona State, Hec Edmundson Pavilion; FSN.

Postgame: UCLA got the lead up to 10 early in the second half, Huskies cut it all the way back down to tie with about 12 minutes left, but they couldn't close the deal. The final score is a bit deceptive ... the result of several late nothing-to-lose fouls.

"We were not able to get stops," UW coach Lorenzo Romar said. "We turned the ball over. We battled back, but we could not get stops. They are a tough team at home. Dragovic got them going. He did a good job of opening up their offense."

UW remains atop the Pac-10 standings, but only by a half game ahead of UCLA, Arizona State and Cal.

Justin Dentmon led the Huskies with 22 points. Jon Brockman had 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

The Huskies also have a few things to work when the work out Friday at USC's Galen Center. They hurt its own cause Thursday with 17 turnovers. They allowed UCLA to hit eight of 17 3-pointers, including a 3-for-3 performance from Josh Shipp and 3 of 7 from Nikola Dragovic.
The Bruins were led by Shipp’s 20, but Darren Collison, Dragovic and Alfred Aboya all scored in double figures.

A tight deadline forced me out of the postgame interview area without time for many quotes.

But here's one from UW's Quincy Pondexter, who had 12 points, seven rebounds and an extremely solid second half: “It’s very tough. They came out and played with 100 percent of their heart. They’re a very competitive team, a well-coached team, and they did everything in their powers to make sure we didn’t come in here and sneak out a win.”

And this from a very complimentary UCLA coach Ben Howland: “I thought it was an outstanding win against a very good team. I think Lorenzo Romar, Cameron Dollar and that entire staff have done an unbelievable job, and they will be a tough team to beat in the NCAA tournament."

Halftime: UCLA, 34-27. Both teams started sloppily, but UCLA found its footing first, and the Huskies have played from behind most of the way.

Jon Brockman has eight points and 10 rebounds for UW. Justin Dentmon has seven points.

Josh Shipp leads UCLA with 11. Nokola Dragovic had six -- coming on a pair of 3-pointers that hurt the Huskies.

UCLA is hitting 38.2 percent of its shots, UW, 37.1

UW leads in rebounding, 25-20.

Tipoff: The lineups are posted. UW is going with its usual lineup: Brockman, Dentmon, Pondexter, Gant and Thomas. UCLA's lineup includes senior center Alfred Aboya, who had missed some time this week with flu-like symptons, but and was listed as probable.

Pregame: The Huskies are on the court warming up (gold uniforms) for their big match against UCLA. It's the pairing of the nation's No. 20 and 22 teams, and of the Pac-10 leader (UW) with the defending champion (UCLA) just a game and a half behind.

Tip is 8 p.m., and the game is on FSN.

Unfortunately, that late tip is tough on my newspaper deadline, and that in turn makes blogging a little tougher too. But I'll pop in here with news as it happens, then in-game updates, followed by postgame notes and quotes.

UW football coach Steve Sarkisian completed his football staff today, announcing that Dan Cozzetto was hired as offensive line coach and run-game coordinator, and Doug Nussmeier, who was already on the staff as quarterbacks coach, was named offensive coordinator.

Here's more on the coaches from a UW news release:

Nussmeier was hired as the UW’s quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator last month. A star quarterback at Idaho in the early 1990s who went on to a career in the NFL and CFL, he came to Washington after having served as the offensive coordinator at Fresno State last season.

Cozzetto, who was the Huskies’ offensive line coach in 2003, comes to the UW after having spent the 2007 and 2008 seasons as tight ends coach at Arizona State. He had also previously worked as the offensive coordinator and o-line coach at ASU from 1992 to 1999.

The rest of the release is available at GoHuskies.com.

A bit was made this week about UW's Thursday road struggles: they lost the first game of the Arizona trip, then came back to beat Arizona State on Saturday. Then they lost the Thursday game of the Bay Area trip, then bounced back to beat Stanford on Sunday.

UW coach Lorenzo Romar is big on separating short-term flukes from trends, and he doesn't seem to think there's much to the Thursday issue yet. However, a few players did allow that they've got to be as fired up to win the first game as they have been to avoid a sweep in the second what.

As for me, I just think Arizona is a tougher matchup for UW than Arizona State and that Cal is a tougher matchup than Stanford.

On this trip -- UCLA tonight, and USC Saturday -- I'm not so sure. By most definitions, the Bruins are better than the Trojans. But judging from the home games at least, I'm not so sure SC's personnel and style isn't the tougher matchup for the Huskies.

Either way, UW better be ready to give top effort for each, or their reign atop the Pac-10 won't survive to Sunday. The stretch run is here, and it could be a lot of fun.

Here's my preview of the UCLA game, 8 o'clock tonight on FSN. And here's a look from the LA Daily News.

Future Husky point guard Abdul Gaddy has been selected to play in the 2009 McDonald’s All-American basketball game -- and so has his former Bellarmine teammate Avery Bradkey.

“It’s a great honor,” said Gaddy. “It’s going to be fun and I’m going to get to play with Avery again.”

Here's the full story from the blog of TNT reporter Doug Pacey.

They're running late on the Isaiah Thomas segment of the ESPN2 talk show "First Take."

However, those who tuned in at the scheduled time got to hear Woody Paige's take on the Mike Leach football coaching situation at Texas Tech.

"Texas Tech officials were stung that with two years remaining on his contract, Mike Leach flew to Seattle to interview for the Washington job. Not the Oklahoma job or the Alabama job -- the Washington job! And it startled people because they are sick and tired of being used as sort of a stepping stone."

(By the way, the Isiah Thomas interview finally rolled around and he did fine on several familiar topics, including the origin of his name and who he patterns his game after, etc.)

Here are the remaining Pac-10 schedules for the five teams within two games of the league lead:

Washington (10-3): at UCLA, at USC, ASU, Arizona, Washington State.

Arizona State (9-4): Arizona, at UW, at WSU, California, Stanford.

UCLA (8-4): UW, WSU, at Stanford, at Cal, Oregon State, Oregon.

California (8-4): at Oregon, at OSU, USC, UCLA, at Arizona, at ASU.

Arizona (8-5): at ASU, at WSU, at UW, Stanford, Cal.

UW freshman Isaiah Thomas of Tacoma, the Huskies' leading scorer and the top-scoring freshman in the Pac-10 Conference, will appear live on ESPN2’s “First Take” with host Dana Jacobson at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, the university has announced.

Earlier today, the regular old local media got our time with Thomas. A few of his thoughts:

Thursday's game at UCLA will be his first at Pauley Pavilion, but he knows its hallowed ground: "It's history. It's a big big game, and it will be fun to play there for the first time.

He said UCLA recruited him a bit while he was at Curtis High School, but stopped once he transferred to South Kent (Conn.) School.

He was asked if he feels like he might be nearing the dreaded freshman wall, as the final third of the season begins: "I'm feeling better now than I did at the start of the season," he said. "I'm just going to keep working and try to get better every day."

Fox Sports Net has picked up the Feb. 28 Arizona-Washington game at Hec Ed for national broadcast, and a noon tipoff has been set.

With UW now atop the Pac-10 standings and Arizona the hottest team in the league, that one seems worthy of the special treatment.

The gametime and TV info had been listed as "to be announced."

Now that it has been, UW's only remaining regular season uncertainty is the finale vs. Washington State on March 7. Time and TV arrangements remain "to be announced."

The Washington Huskies moved up in the coaches' poll to No. 19 and returned into the AP poll at No. 22.

However, Arizona guard Nic Wise beat out UW's Justin Dentmon for Pac-10 player of the week honors, as we suggested might happen in the post below.

Washington's two easy wins over the Oregon schools seems likely to produce one, and perhaps two, honors on Monday.

First, UW -- now 19-6 overall and atop the Pac-10 with a 10-3 league mark -- certainly should return to the Associated Press rankings and move up from No. 24 in the coaches poll.

There also seems a good chance that this is finally the week that a Husky -- Justin Dentmon -- earns Pac-10 player of the week honors.

"I would hope they would give him high consideration," coach Lorenzo Romar said. "He’s been pretty good."

Over the two games, Dentmon scored 49 points, handed out nine assists, grabbed six rebounds and came up with three steals.

Top competition might come from Arizona's Nic Wise, who had 53 points, four assists, six rebounds and four steals in helping the Wildcats sweep the LA schools.

However, players from seven different schools have won the honor already this season, and a UA player has won the honor three times. So it just seems about time that someone from the league's No. 1 team is recognized.

(Here's the list so far: 2008-09 U.S. Bank Pac-10 Players of the Week: Nov. 17 - Darren Collison, Sr., G, UCLA; Nov. 24 - James Harden, So., G, ASU; Dec. 1 - James Harden, So., G, ASU; Dec. 8 - Dwight Lewis, Jr., G, USC; Dec. 15 - Jordan Hill, Jr., F, ARIZ; Dec. 22 - Jerome Randle, Jr., G, CAL; Dec. 29 - Jamelle Horne, So., F, ARIZ; Jan. 5 - Patrick Christopher, Jr., F, CAL; Jan. 12 - Patrick Christopher, Jr., F, CAL; Jan. 19 - Lawrence Hill, Sr., F, STAN; Jan. 26 - Roeland Schaftenaar, Jr., F/C, OSU; Feb. 2 - Chase Budinger, Jr., F, ARIZ; Feb. 9 - Alfred Aboya, Sr., C/F, UCLA.)

Brandon Roy, one of only two Huskies to have his number retired by the school, will play in his second NBA All-Star game today. Here's a good profile by News Tribune sportswriter Eric Williams.

Tipoff is 5:30 p.m. on TNT. (You might what to keep your remote handy during the second half, because USC-ASU tips off at 7 p.m. on FSN in a match that could have implications for the Huskies' Pac-10 title hopes and Pac-10 tournament seeding.)

Meanwhile, former Husky Nate Robinson won the dunk contest. And former Husky Will Conroy won the D-League HORSE competition.

The Huskies' 103-84 win gives then a games and a half lead in the Pac-10 race over UCLA, Arizona State and California.

Here's my game story.

Four Huskies scored over 20 points, led by Isaiah Thomas' 24. Tajuan Porter caught fire against indifferent defense in the second half and ended with a game-high 33.

Coach Lorenzo Romar wasn't happy that the Huskies gave up 59 points in a second half that played out with all the defensive intensity of an NBA All-Star game.

However, the team seemed relieved to get past this game without becoming the first Pac-10 team to lose to these dreadful Ducks.

And they seem excited about the Pac-10 title-run challenges dead ahead, starting with their visit to UCLA on Thursday.

Highlights:

Star of the game: Freshman Isaiah Thomas of Tacoma led the Huskies with 24 points, hitting seven of nine shots from the field. He also had a game-high four steals and matched Jon Brockman with a game-high four assists. He even recorded the second blocked shot of his college career.

Key stats: The Huskies had their highest scoring output of the season. They shot 52.5 percent from the field. UW outrebounded Oregon, 45-30.

Key run: Washington scored the first eight points of the game and played most of the first half with approximately twice as many points as the Ducks, culminating with a 49-25 halftime lead.

Observations: These were the most points scored by the Huskies since scoring 105 in December of 2006 against Portland State. … The Washington sports information office could locate a previous game when four Huskies had scored 20 points. However, three Huskies – Quincy Pondexter, Justin Dentmon and Matthew Bryan-Amaning did it last season against Portland State. … Tajuan Porter scored 33 points just two days after the entire Oregon team was held to 38 at Washington State. … Among those in the sellout crowd were former Husky Bobby Jones and former Sonics coach P.J. Carlisimo.

Quotable: “It feels good that we weren’t the team that they beat. … I know they’re just hungry for a win, and I’m thinking they’re still going to get a win.” – Dentmon, on Oregon’s so-far winless Pac-10 season.

Next: No. 11 UCLA, 8 p.m. Thursday, Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles; FSN.

Final: UW, 103-84.

Halftime: UW, 49-25. The Huskies jumped to a quick 8-0 lead and have held control the whole way ... roughly outscoring the Ducks 2-1 most of the first half.

Justin Dentmon has 14 for the Huskies, and Isaiah Thomas 10. Michael Dunigam has 10 for Oregon.

UW hitting 55 percent from the field, Oregon 35 percent.

Final from Tucson: Arizona 84, UCLA 72.

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

Out of town scoreboard: The Huskies appear likely to tip off today with a full game lead -- including one game in the loss column -- over UCLA, which is getting mauled at Arizona today. As I write this, the Wildcats are up 23 with 11 minutes left.

If you want to check in, that game is on CBS.

Pregame: Pulling into the Hec Ed parking lot, I drove past signs pointing out that this game already is sold out. Which might be an advantage for some of you, judging by the south-bound traffic congestion from the three lanes closed due to construction on I-5.

In any case, the game is on FSN (and available in HD -- the better to check out the Ducks black uniforms). Tipoff is noon.

Here's my game preview. And here's one from The Oregonian. (And, from San Jose, a note on the Spartans' loss of former Husky Adrian Oliver to injury.)

Normal gameday blogging is planned: Pregame news as it develops, in-game updates, and postgame notes and quotes.

2, 3, 4, 3, 1, 1, 4, 2, 3, 3, 1, 3, 2, 2, 4, 1, 2, 4, 3, 1, 1, 4, 4, 5, 3, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3.

That list shows the number of league losses the Pac-10 champion has had since the league expanded to 10 teams 30 years ago.

It averages out to 2.5 losses.

That will be topped this season, as Washington and UCLA already have three losses. So while the Huskies might still have some margin for error, they had better not waste any of it Saturday when Oregon arrives at Hec Ed with an 0-12 league mark. (That's the topic of my game preview in the Saturday paper.)

Meanwhile, the Huskies were saying the expected things today staying focused on Oregon -- even with the visit to UCLA coming up Thursday.

However, coach Lorenzo Romar wasn't shy about admitting that the Huskies' want this championship.

"I think it's really important," he said. "... I think it’s great for your program, it’s great for the tradition you’re trying to establish. And again, if you win the Pac-10 championship that means that year you were the best of the 10. And if I’m playing Monopoly, I want to be the best. It doesn’t matter where, you want to be the best. But you also don’t want to loose sight of you want to be who you are. Whatever your potential is, you want to reach it. If your potential allows you to be fourth place, then you want to do that. If your potential allows you to win the Pac-10 championship, then you want to do that. That would be the most important thing to me, that we reach our potential, whatever that is."

With the win, Washington (18-6 overall, 9-3 Pac-10) is once again alone atop the Pac-10 standings, a half-game ahead of the Bruins (19-5, 8-3).

Here's my story from the Friday paper.

Justin Dentmon led the way with 28 points -- two off of his career high. Venoy Overton was a difference-maker with his second-half energy.

Romar overview: “As my good buddy Steve Lavin used to say, ‘Sometimes you just have to move the chains.' I thought that’s kind of how we played tonight. Oregon State does a great job of really challenging you. They do a good job of defending you. They play smart basketball.”

OSU coach Craig Robinson overview: "You can't beat a team like this -- which is going to be competing for the championship in our league -- missing laups, missing foul shots. The one thing we did right was keep them off the offensive glass. But we had plenty of opportunities to make layups, to make foul shots, to make the game feel close for them."

Romar on Dentmon: “Justin Dentmon had another phenomenal basketball game. He passed it, scored it, made big shots and played defense. Again, he played like a senior.”

Dentmon: It took us a while ecause we were really trying to look for the home run play, like coach said. We were trying to make one pass and hopefully get a shot up, when we should've just moved the ball and looked for cracks in their defense."

Quincy Pondexter on being back in first place: “It’s great to be back in first place. But it can be short-lived in this conference because it’s tough. We’ve got to chip away one game at a time. We’ve got Oregon on Saturday, and we’ve got to come out and play as hard as we can.”

14:55 left Justin Dentmon has 16 points, pulling him even with Nate Robinson with 1,283 career points, 20th on the UW all-time scoring list.

Halftime: UW, 36-35. Different OSU team, indeed. They're pushing their 1-3-1 defense waaaay out, and it's giving the Huskies trouble ... 10 first-half turnovers and shooting 36 percent from the field. When they get inside they're having trouble finishing.

Justin Dentmon carrying the Huskies with 16 points. No other Husky has more than four. Seth Tarver leads OSU with 12.

In the biggest difference from the first game, Oregon State is matching the Huskies on the boards: 16 each.

Hanyes apparently didn't start as coach Craig Robinson was apparently sending a message about practice habits.

Out of town scoreboard: Arizona State has just beaten UCLA, 74-67, meaning that UW will move back alone to the top of the Pac-10 standings with a win tonight.

Meanwhile, UW up, 10-9, early. (And Haynes is in now, btw.)

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

However, OSU leading scorer Calvin Haynes is not.

Pregame: The Huskies and Beavers (in their orange unis) are on the floor warming up for their 8 p.m. game, which will be on FSN.

Here's my preview story from this morning.

We'll stick to our usual gameday blogging ... only less. I'll certainly try to pop in with any pregame news and I'll try to do an update or two during the game. However, this 8 p.m. start is going to make for a nasty rush to deadline tonight, so there may be a few less notes and a few more typos.

Sione Potoae, a 285-pound defensive tackle from Lakewood (Lakes High School), has given an oral commitment to become part of the Washington Huskies’ football freshman class of 2010, according to Dawgman.com.

Potoae joins Zach Fogerson, a 225-pound running back from Seattle (O’Dea), as the two earliest commitments for what will be head coach Steve Sarkisian’s second recruiting class at UW.

Tim Lappano, UW offensive coordinator under Tyrone Willingham, has been introduced as the new tight ends coach for the Detroit Lions.

Here's the info from the Lions' Web site.

Realdawg.com is reporting that former UW assistant Dan Cozzetto is returning offensive line coach -- perhaps with some additional offensive title -- completing Steve Sarkisian's staff.

There was no confirmation from UW, but one could come as early as Thursday.

Cozzetto is a 27-year coaching veteran with coaching experience at Arizona State, Idaho, the San Francisco 49ers, Oregon State, Washington (2003) and California.

Jimmie Dougherty, former University of San Diego offensive coordinator, will become wide receivers coach at the University of Washington, head coach Steve Sarkisian announced today.

Dougherty spent the past five seasons on the coaching staff at USD, the final one as the Toreros’ offensive coordinator.

“Jimmie is a bright young coach,” Sarkisian said through a UW press release. “I’m excited to have him on the staff. He’ll do a great job with our wide receiver group.”

More information is available at the GoHuskies.com Web site.

Jim Machalczik, ever so briefly UW's offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, explained to his hometown paper -- the Peninsula Daily News -- why he jumped to the Oakland Raiders.

"It's hard to break into the NFL," he said. "And you usually break in as the offensive line assistant coach. But I was offered the offensive line head coaching position. I couldn't pass it up."

He also said his family likes the Bay Area, where he was a coach at Cal for the previous six seasons.

The University of Washington announced today the the latest Alaskan malamute that will serve as the school's mascot will be known as "Dubs."

He replaces Whitepaw's Arlut Spirit of Gold Dust ("Spirit"), which served as the school's mascot since 1999.

"Dubs" beat out a number of potential names including "Sundodger," the former great nickname of the university's sports teams.

The whole sorry release is available at GoHuskies.com.

The Associated Press poll may have penalized the Huskies for their loss at California, but ESPN's Bracketology didn't.

UW shows up as a No. 5 seed starting in Portland in the latest Bracketology listings.

Apparently I have learned to spell "Michalczik" for nothing.

UW put out a release today saying:

Washington football coach Steve Sarkisian announced today that Jim Michalczik has left the UW coaching staff to take a position with the Oakland Raiders.

Michalczik was hired to the Husky staff in December as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.

The UW staff currently has two openings on its football coaching staff. The NCAA allows a Division I-A staff to have a head coach and nine assistants.

Here's my story from the Tuesday paper. (A clarification not mentioned in that story: Michalczik had not yet signed a contract with UW. However, if he wants out, I don't know what Sark would gain by forcing him to stay.)

Michalczik is the second to assistant to follow his "yes" to Sarkisian with a "no," following Aaron Roderick who made an even quicker U-turn back to Utah.

This leaves Sarkisian with two openings on his staff: offensive coordinator and receivers coach.

The significance of the loss of Michalczik is mitigated somewhat in that Sarkisian intends to call plays for the UW offense next season. And, of course, that probably lessens the pool of candidates who might be interested in the job.

The good-news, bad-news nature of the Huskies' Bay Area split over the weekend resulted in good-news/bad-news in today's polls.

The Huskies fell out of the AP writers poll after two weeks, while climbing one spot to 24th in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll.

Here are the polls. Here's my story from the Tuesday paper.

The Huskies were happy to win -- I assume largely because they'll never have to talk to sportswriters anymore about the Maples losing streak.

My story for the Monday paper is largely about that streak, and the key play that killed it -- the Isaiah Thomas drive with about 2 1/2 minutes left that turned a UW three-point lead into five, and really seemed to quiet the crowd and doom the Cardinal.

Here's how it looked from the Stanford side.

The Huskies are now 1/2 game behind UCLA in the Pac-10 race, with the rematch there coming up in a couple of weekends. Otherwise, the schedule really turns in UW's favor now -- six of their final eight games at home. They seem very close to locking down an NCAA tournament bid.

Some other highlights:

Star of the game: Coach Lorenzo Romar called Venoy Overton the game’s MVP, and who are we to argue? Overton came off the bench to provide 11 points, five assists, five steals, three rebounds and a lot of defense and energy.

Key stats: Stanford hit nine of 17 free throws (52.9 percent), while UW hit 21 of 28 (75 percent). Stanford also had trouble shooting from the field, hitting 41.9 percent to UW’s 47.3. The Huskies outrebounded the Cardinal, 39-34.

Key run: After nine ties and 10 lead changes in the first half, Washington scored the first nine points of the second half to take control, 44-34. Stanford whittled the lead down to three points in the final minutes, but never made it all the way back.

Observations: This was UW’s first win at Maples Pavilion since 1993, ending a run of 15 straight losses. … UW senior Jon Brockman had 13 points and 12 rebounds. It was his 53rd career double-double, which is the most among active players. … After going 2-2 over a season-long stretch of four straight road games, the Huskies now end the regular season with six of their final eight games at home.

Quotable: “I’m proud of our guys. I think our guys have done a really good guy through this schedule.” – UW coach Lorenzo Romar as the Huskies return home after back-to-back road splits in Arizona and the Bay Area.

Next: 8 p.m. Thursday, Oregon State, at Hec Edmundson Pavilion; FSN.

Final: The Huskies' 10-point lead shunk to three and -- given the history here -- is seemed that another disappointment might be awaiting. However, the Huskies held off the charge this time, winning in Mapled Pavilion after 15 straight losses.

I'll be back with notes and quotes.

11:10 remaining: Washington scored the first nine points of the second half to -- at least for now -- open some daylight in what had been a very close game.

However, some very odd things have happened over Stanford's 15 straight home wins in this series...

Halftime: UW, 35-34. Just a one-point lead, but I'll guess the Huskies will take it because they played a pretty sloppy first half. Stanford, somehow, played a sloppier one, including 11 turnovers, serveral unforced.

Once again, it took the Huskies a good while to remember they've got an all-conference player underneath, as Jon Brockman didn't get his first shot until the game was more than seven minutes old.

Also once again, Quincy Pondexter has picked up the slack offensively, leading with 13 points -- tied for the game-high with Stanford'd Landry Fields, who got 11 of those in the first 11 minutes of the half.

Stanford leading on the boards, 18-17.

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

Cardinal starting with Mitch Johnson, Landry Fields, Anthony Goods, Lawrence Hill and Josh Owens.

A fair little sprinkling of purple in the stands today, but of course, vastly outnumbered by cardinal. Also some openings of empty seats as the game tips.

I'll report back at halftime or as news breaks.

Pregame: The Huskies and Cardinal are on the floor of Maples Pavilion, beginning warmups for their 2:30 game (FSN).

And it's a big one for the Huskies because if they want to retain their national ranking, they'll likely need this one. (A split on this trip should do it, because a lot of ranked teams lost yesterday.) They also better win if they want to retain any hope of catching UCLA in the Pac-10 race, because the Bruins look like they've figured something out since their loss at UW.

We'll have our normal gameday drill here: pregame news as it happens, a couple of in-game updates, and then postgame notes and quotes.

Huskies and Cardinal tip off at 2:30 p.m. It'll be on FSN.

Here's today's UW-Stanford preview, which deals with Justin Dentmon's last-second foul that ended up costing the Huskies their game with the Cardinal four seasons ago. I probably think back on that as the second most dramatic loss of my five seasons covering UW hoops ... trailing only the Sweet 16 loss to UConn that ended that same season.

Since I reference that 2006 Stanford game a lot, I dug out the story I wrote from that game on that day. Here it is:

STANFORD, Calif. - Washington senior Brandon Roy has seen a lot.

But as he stood outside the silent Huskies locker room in Maples Pavilion, he admitted he had never seen - or felt - anything quite like Washington's 76-67 overtime loss to Stanford on Sunday night.

"For the first time in basketball, I feel sorry for myself," Roy said. "I feel like I did everything I could to win, and then that happened."

The loss was so sudden and so painful, several Huskies said they would take Sunday night to recover.

Then they resolved to wake up this morning with a goal: To make sure the damage is limited to a single loss.

"What's important at this point is we don't take a nosedive," UW coach Lorenzo Romar said. "I've seen teams in this situation not recover from it. That's what we need to make sure we get back. It's fine to grieve. I'm going to grieve. But tomorrow's a new day, and we have to bounce back."

The Huskies were 2.1 seconds away from victory after Roy hit a pair of free throws to put Washington ahead 63-60.

They were close enough to believe they had achieved the seniors' goal of winning at Stanford after 12 seasons of losses.

Then the roof caved in.

Stanford ran a play it calls "home run" - inbounding a pass from under its own basket to Matt Haryasz, who relays it to guard Chris Hernandez, who launches a desperation 3-point shot.

That is exactly the play Romar told his team to watch out for, exactly the play the Huskies prepared for in their huddle.

Still, Hernandez broke free from Justin Dentmon, and in the freshman's effort to recover, he brushed Hernandez's shooting hand. The foul was whistled, which sent Hernandez to the line needing to hit all three shots to force overtime.

The first was clean. The second swished. The third stuttered on the rim before Hernandez coaxed it through with body English.

"I was trying to lean it in just a little," Hernandez said. "I'll tell you, the lord had my back."

Even before those shots, while the officiating crew reviewed their call - ruling Hernandez had been behind the line and that he had released the shot before the buzzer - Romar tried to rally his players.

"The first thing I told our team while they were reviewing - I knew they were down - I said, 'Get you minds ready. In the event he makes these three, we've got to play another five minutes.' "

Saying it proved easier than doing it.

The Huskies (16-4 overall, 5-4 Pacific-10 Conference) quickly fell behind the Cardinal (10-7, 6-3) and then spent the remainder of the game intentionally fouling in a doomed effort to catch up.

"It kind of took me a minute in overtime to get my engine going," Roy said. "I think (my teammates felt) the same. It was tough trying to kick start."

"There was a letdown," Romar said. "Those things are hard to recover from. You could see their look. There's no way you think you're going to lose that with 2.1 second to go. It's an unheard of situation, and it happened."

No one was more distraught than Dentmon, who took some extra time before meeting with the media.

"It was a dumb foul," he said. "I thought I got him after the buzzer, but the camera showed it wasn't. It was a mental mistake. . . . (My teammates) just told me to put it behind me. They told me to let it slip, that I became a man tonight. This is just going to make me stronger."
Veteran Huskies admitted they must take their own advice about putting the game behind them.

The loss dropped Washington to a tie for fifth place as the league race hit its midpoint, two games behind conference leader UCLA.

That cold math is a reminder that the Huskies cannot afford to let the Stanford loss snowball into additional losses.

"There are still more things I'm planning for my senior year," Roy said. "(Winning at Stanford) is just one box I wanted to check off. There's still a lot more to play for: that NCAA tournament, and the chance to win that. And now, as dark as it may look, we still have a chance to win this Pac-10 championship."

The Huskies get to watch the other Pac-10 teams play today, while preparing for their 2:30 p.m. Sunday game at Stanford.

Here's an early look at that one:

NO. 22 WASHINGTON (16-6 OVERALL, 7-3 PAC-10)
AT STANFORD (14-6, 4-6)
2:30 p.m. Sunday, Maples Pavilion, Stanford, Calif.
TV: FSN.
Radio: 950-AM

Series: Stanford leads, 69-60. The Cardinal swept the two games last season. UW won the earlier meeting this season, 84-83, Jan. 8 in Seattle. The Huskies have lost 15 straight games in Maples Pavilion since a one-point win in January 1993.

Statistical leaders: For UW, G Isaiah Thomas, 16.5 ppg and 2.8 ppg, F Jon Brockman, 11 rpg. For Stanford, G Anthony Goods, 16.8 ppg; G/F Landry Fields, 6.6 rpg; G Mitch Johnson, 4.5 apg.

Scouting report: Justin Dentmon (15.4 ppg) has passed Brockman (15) as UW’s second-leading scorer. Washington leads the Pac-10 in scoring (79.6 ppg), Stanford is fourth (73.8). UW also leads in rebounding margin (plus-9.8), Stanford is eighth (plus-0.1) … Stanford’s win over Washington State on Thursday ended a three-game losing streak. … Individually, Goods ranks sixth in the Pac-10 in scoring, Johnson ranks third in steals and seventh in assists. Stanford reserve C/F Josh Owens ranks fifth in field goal percentage and eighth in blocked shots. … Johnson, from Seattle (O’Dea H.S.), averages 7.1 points and 7.1 in his seven career games against UW. … The Cardinal is 11-2 at home. … This concludes a stretch of four straight road games for the Huskies, their longest of the season.

Next: 8 p.m. Thursday, vs. Oregon State, Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Washington senior forward Jon Brockman is one of 30 players nationally -- and one of five from the Pac-10 -- still alive for consideration for the John Wooden award, given annually to the player of the year in college basketball.

Brockman is UW's leading rebounder (11 rpg), although he is now the Huskies' third-leading scorer (15 ppg), staying behind Isaiah Thomas (16.5) and now slipping below Justin Dentmon (15.4) after his four-point performance Thursday at Cal.

Here's the full list and more information.

Maples Pavilion is a bland little place that might be mistaken for a science lab as you drive through the Stanford campus. However, it's been a house of horrors for the Washington Huskies, who have lost 15 straight games there.

The Huskies seemed unconcerned about that today, as they practiced for their Sunday game against the Cardinal. Instead, they seemed more annoyed about the ugly game they played last night in their defeat at California. (Here's my game story.)

"We committed a lot of errors that we shouldn't have defensively and offensively," coach Lorenzo Romar said. "For some reason, we went away from sharing the basketball. It's been a while since we've done that, but we went totally away from sharing the basketball and our shot selection was very bad in the second half. Obviously, when it was that way, everything went sound -- defensively, offensively, all of it."

The players seemed to agree. But captain Jon Brockman said that sometimes games take on a momentum of their own where it can be hard to fix a problem -- such as not sharing the ball -- simply saying during a timeout, "Hey, guys, lets start sharing the ball."

"When a problem like that occurs, it's really hard to correct in the middle of a game like that," he said. "The defense is doing what it's trying to do. It's not just us trying to be rebellious. So in a way it does take on a life of its own."

Brockman may have been a particular victim of the lack of sharing as he got off only four shots and ended with no field goals in a four-point 15 field goal performance. However, he wasn't pointing any fingers Friday.

"(Cal was) clamping down on the side a lot," he said. "I could have done things to make myself more open. I've got to be smarter when I get the ball and have opportunities to attack the rim, I've got to take those. When I see it's clogged up and I don't have anything, I've got to kick it back out. There's things I could have done."

Here's my game story.

The Huskies will practice at Stanford on Friday, and I should have more news and raction after that.

Postgame: The late start and a tight deadline didn't allow me much time to talk to many folks after the game.

However, in coach Lorenzo Romar’s mind, the points column was merely reflected the real problem in the assists column: Cal had 16, while the Huskies had only six.

“I didn’t think we were in synch the entire time,” Romar said. “Give Cal a lot of credit – they were an absolute machine in the second half, they really executed on both ends of the floor. I think we were a little frustrated offensively. But tonight was a little uncharacteristic of this Husky team in that we weren’t sharing the ball as much.”

Naturally, Cal coach Mike Montgomery was happier.

"We had a little run in the secon half, where we got down, got a little soft, and then challenged them a little bit," he said. "Then we came back and played well from that point forward."

The result dropped Washington (16-6, 7-3) one game behind UCLA in the Pacific-10 Conference standings. The Bruins routed rival USC on Wednesday and don’t have another conference game this week, meaning that the Huskies will be trying to pull within a half game of the lead at 2:30 p.m. Sunday when they conclude their Bay Area trip against Stanford at Maples Pavilion.

Halftime: UW, 32-30. Apparently these are two pretty evenly matched teams.

However, in a way, it's amazing that the Huskies are anywhere near this game, as seniors Jon Brockman and Justin Dentmon have combined for two points -- from JD. Brockman has nine rebounds. And much of the scoring slack is being picked up by Quincy Pondexter, who has 14 points, and Isaiah Thomas, who has eight.

Similarly, Patrick Christopher -- who had 27 points in Seattle -- has only two points.

Tipoff: Washington is going with its usual starting lineup: Brockman, Dentmon, Pondexter, Gant and Thomas. Cal also has the same starting lineup that it did in that classic triple-overtime game Jan. 10 in Seattle.

However, it's either going to be a late-arriving crowd, or not much of a crowd is going to take in the rematch.

Anyway, here we go.

7:05: Former Husky/current Sacramento King Spencer Hawes is in the arena to watch his old team tonight. He apparently also spent part of the day visiting with his former teammates at the team hotel.

Pregame: It's a rainy day in the Bay Area, delaying lots of flights, including mine. But we're all settled in now at Haas Pavilion, ready for the Huskies' rematch against Cal.

The Huskies need a win to catch up to UCLA, who pulled a half-game ahead last night with a surprisingly easy win over USC.
Here's my game story from today's paper.

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

And while Haas has never been one of my favorite gyms in the league, we talked to Jon Brockman about it a bit this week, and he seems a fan.

"It’s a fun place to play," he said. "I think I’ve been in foul trouble there a lot. But it’s a great arena, good crowd. I really enjoy playing there."

Meanwhile, usual game night plan: pregame notes here as they happen, an in-game update or two, and then postgame notes and quotes.

While most of today's press conference at UW was devoted to the players who will be wearing Husky uniforms next fall, there also was a little news involving the uniforms themselves:

"We might have some uniform changes," new coach Steve Sarkisian said.

Yes, yes, go on, we said.

"We’re going to stay somewhat traditional to what the UW has been, and we’ll have a few wrinkles here and there just to spice it up for the kids and keep the kids excited," he said. "They love that type of stuff."

Sarkisian had hinted earlier that changes might be coming, but there also had been some issue of regarding there was enough time to get things done for next season. And apparently there is.

"Yeah, we’ve worked with Nike, they’ve been great with us," Sarkisian said. "We have a new contract with them, they’ve responded really well. They’ve answered a lot of the needs that we’ve wanted and they’ve been great to us."

These, of course, are dangerous waters.

There are two types of sports fans: Those who care nothing about uniforms and can't even begin to wonder why anyone else would care; and then there are those fans who do care. Very very much.

So, among those who do care, the question arises: How do you please tradition-loving alumni while also pleasing young players who may view the Oregon Ducks as fashion trend-setters, rather than, say, circus clowns?

"Our fan base is extremely important, and we want them to be proud of who we are," Sarkisian said. "But also, I want our kids to feel good about what they’re wearing and what they’re doing, and be excited about what’s going on. So there’s a combination of both in there, and we want to look good. We want to look good when our highlights are on TV."

Coach Steve Sarkisian was asked at his recruiting press conference today about those two secondary violations (outlined in posts below) that the school self-reported.

"Misunderstandings," he said. "We took care of it, we reported ourselves and we'll move on. I was OK with it. It's part of being a new head coach, a young head coach. You've got to learn with experience. We'll be smarter next time."

However, "misunderstandings" is kind of vague, so after the public portion of the press conference I asked a question I had somehow never asked before in all my days as a journalist: Did you know that bringing in a fog machine is illegal?

"They hadn’t used it as a game-day experience here. … They had never done it on gameday before. At the time, in my estimation of it, that wasn’t simulating a gameday activity because they hadn’t done it on gameday before."

(The point is that the rule that was violated is an NCAA prohibition against simulating game-day experiences for recuits. And, as he points out, UW doesn't use fog machines for its Husky Stadium pregame introductions.)

That seemed a fine enough point to draw one more follow-up question: Was he certain that the NCAA ruling was to be read that literally, or did he understand that he might be pushing the envelope?

"I want to be really clear: We’re not trying to push the envelope; we’re not trying to see how many secondary violations we can get," he said. "We want to be compliant with every rule that we can. That’s where I think the misunderstanding comes in. That’s exactly what it was. This wasn’t us trying to beat the rule of anything. We did something that they hadn’t done anything before and that’s the extent of it."

(That last paragraph might read a little angrier than it sounded. He actually seemed understanding of the questions and was polite with his answers.)

One of the cool thinks Steve Sarkisian did today was volunteer a player-by-player rundown on his new recruits.

Here's his opening statement.

"This is a pretty exciting day for us. I am very proud of our coaching staff coming in here with only three weeks to go, three recruiting visits, to increase our number from what was four scholarship players up to 18 is exciting. I think we have filled a lot of needs."

Here's my overview story.

And here's his take on the freshman class of 2009:

Marlion Barnett "He's more of an H-back type of guy - a move guy. He has great hands and was a 1,500 yard receiver as a junior. We are excited about him and had him in camp at SC. He was an early commit here and he stuck with us, and I am really excited about him, and I think he'll have a chance to play early for us."

David Batts "He's a junior college safety and a three-for-three kid. [He's] big, physical, just a good looking kid - that's how they are supposed to look. He still has some work to get done in the classroom but I think he will have an immediate impact for us, especially on special teams.

Dorson Boyce "He's a physical tight end, not the tallest kid, 6-foot-2, 245 guy, that is a physical blocker that we need if we are going to establish ourselves as a physical football team. We need that kind of guy in our program, that can knock guys off the ball. I think he will be a nice complement to the guys we already have in the program."

Talia Crichton "He's a fantastic pass rusher. This guys a split end pass rusher, a LEO in our system, that can really rush. In this conference if you are going to be successful, especially on third down, you better be able to get after the quarterback and this guy can do that for us. I am really excited about this guy and was able to hold onto him in the end. There was a lot of pressure from other schools in the conference, and we held onto him which is big for us."

Nathan Fellner "He's a real physical kid and puts his hat on guys. He played some offense and I'm excited about Nate because not only can he do some things on defense, but he can help us on special teams. He's a very smart kid and the grandson of Jim Sweeney, he's been around football his whole life, and it's good for us to get those type of football junkies in our program."

Dominique Gaisie "Don't be fooled by 5-foot-9, 165, this kid is a physical football player. He's a great return guy and we are expecting him to come in and contribute right off the bat. He's a physical kid that can come in and help on both defense and special teams."

James Johnson "James Johnson, in my opinion, was probably the biggest get in this class. We needed a guy that could come in and play at wide receiver right now. He can do that, and he can make plays down field. He will help in the passing game, and on special teams. Again, his brother is a coach and he just gets it. It's important for us to get more football guys in the program."

Daniel Mafoe "He's a big physical tackle and again another JC guy that can hopefully fill a need on the offensive line. I know some people will look at this class and ask why there were not more o-lineman if the offensive line was such a need. Well, it's one thing to fill a need with numbers and to fill it with guys that can come in and play. It was not a big year for offensive line on the West Coast, and instead of just taking numbers at the position and not get better, we decided to take what we thought was the best guy at tackle."

Will Mahan "He's the top junior college punter in the country and we are estatic to have Will in here. Again, if you are going to be good, you need to be good in all three areas. Special teams is huge for us and playing the field position game is big."

Kimo Makaula "He's a fantastic athlete out of Hawaii. This kid was a quarterback on a state championship team. The first day I saw him I though he was somebody else and you guys will know who I am talking about (Manti Te'o), because he is such a good looking kid. He can play fullback, tight end, possibly defensive end and his upside is huge. I am very excited about him and again he's a football junky, a well equipped athlete that can do a lot of different things. I love the fact he was a quarterback on a championship caliber team and he brings a lot of leadership, and a winning mentality to our program."

Keith Price "He's a fantastic football player and when I got here one of the first guys I got on to stay with the program. He can make plays with his arm, he can make plays with his feet."

Andru Pulu "He's a local kid and I am anxious to watch him develop. He may develop into a defensive lineman, I don't know, but right now he's a big physical inside linebacker who can put his hat on guys. I think he can have an immediate impact on special teams and you are going to hear me come back to this because we were not very good on special teams last season if you guys didn't notice. It's a third of the game, a third of the time our special teams are out there and we need to get better at it."

Chris Robinson "He's another kid that we had to hold onto late because guys were coming after this kid hard. Nick Holt did a great job fighting people off and keeping him. I think this guys going to have a big impact. He's a big, physical, and explosive kid that can really come off the football. He reminds us a lot of Cedrick Ellis back at SC, he has the same kind of build and explosiveness."

Will Shamburger "He's a fantastic athlete, a safety, receiver, outside linebacker. Where exactly he ends up I don't know. Again he's another special teams guy and we will give him his opportunity at safety, but he could fill out into a linebacker, or lengthen out into a receiver. But, we need guys like him that can play a lot of position and do a lot of things for us."

Johnny Tivao "He's a defensive tackle and he's a load now - he's a load. He's a nose guard, he can handle the center really well and is two gap guy. He's a JC kid and is more mature and very physical. He has highlights of him at fullback and moves very well for his size. Again he's an immediate impact guy for us."

Semisi Tokolahi "This kids is great, a fun kid, and 6-3, 320. This is what they are supposed to look like when they come in. I am anxious to get this guy apart of the program because I think he just has a winners mentality and a beautiful family."

Desmond Trufant "He was a big get and when I hired Nick Holt the first thing we did was visit Desmond. He's a big get, keeping the local in Washington. Obviously we all know about the lineage of the family and I think he will have huge upside in the program and start to change the scope of who we are."

Tim Tucker "He's a linebacker and possible fullback. He's a big physical thumper type of guy, which if we want to become the physical football team we want to be, we need to get more guys like this in our program."

I'll be back with more information on some of these, but here's what caught my ear first time through (in no particular order).

* He said he's excited and proud of his first class and that he believes he filled some needs.

* Like Willingham, he's not predetermining that anyone should redshirt. But there were a good handful of players who he actually mentioned as likely to provide immediate help.

* He said the class is big on roughly linebacker sized guys, and that's because those are the kinds of guys who run down on special teams -- which was an area of emphasis at several points of his talk.

* Concerning his secondary violation in the recruitment of Desmond Trufant, he said he didn't think fog machines would be considered part of the "gameday experience" because they haven't traditionally been used at Husky Stadium.

* He called wide receiver James Johnson "the biggest get in the class."

* He said he's already offered 20 players for the class of 2010... with emphasis on offensive linemen, running backs, depth at receiver and what he called "outside linebacker body types."

* He said that next year's class of in-state talent is better over a good variety of positions.

* He said Jake Locker is throwing and doing well.

* He said another player or two could be added to the class at some point, but apparently not over the next few days.

* He said he has plenty of good candidates for the receivers coach position and might have an announcement next week.

* He gave the class a grade of "C." But he added that he almost never gives grades above C.

* He said he expects all 18 recruits to make it into school.

* He said there have been no position changes of exisiting personnel ... or at least that he had none to announce.

* He said he hasn't looked at other Pac-10 classes enough to say which schools might have helped themselves most today.

*He implied heavily that the Huskies will be playing in new uniforms next season. But otherwise, he didn't give much away in terms of what they might look like.

The Huskies have received 18 letters of intent today -- completing what they expect will be Steve Sarkisian's first class.

You can meet the new Huskies at GoHuskies.com.

I'll report back in with reaction after Sarkisian 1 p.m. press conference.

If you want to listen in live, there's a link in the post below.

Wednesday is letter of intent day. Here's my UW preview from the morning paper.

However, there were a few good preview quotes that didn't make the story that I thought I'd include here:

Rick Kimbrel, Rival Pac-10 analyst:

On the UW class: "Washington has a lot of players that have the possiblity of being coached up. They’ve got a lot of players on this list that I’m looking at who seem to have their best days as a football player ahead of them. And they’re getting in coaches like Sarkisian and Holt coaches who know how to get the best out of players. To be honest with you the difference between the 84th class and maybe the 50th class is one of two players who actually develop against players that don’t develop. It’s not an exact science, it is a compass that helps guide you thought the recruiting process, it’s not an exact anything. This group that I’m looking at, they might end up coming in as three stars and leaving as five stars."

On Hawaii commit DT Semisi Tokolahi:
"He was a late bloomer. People didn’t really know about him. They did a really nice job in Hawaii, which was a known state of theirs when they were doing pretty good."

On Sarkisian's late arrival: "They did what they had to do in the short time that they had to do it. I think this is a good first class for Sarkisian. I think Sarkisian is the right personality – he’s going to make it competitive down here, he will get kids in the future."

CHRIS FETTERS, Northwest football recruiting for Scout.com

On Sarkisian's introduction to the state recruiting scene: "I get the impression that he’s made a good first impression. It’s so soon. It’s only been like two months. That’s why its hard to say, oh, yeah, he’s a better recruiter than Tyrone. … In some ways I think I think the main point about Tyrone’s recruitment is his pitch works with kids all over the country, but they have to be the right kind of kid. … Whether it was in southern California or southern Idaho, for some reason his pitch would appeal to a certain kind of kid. Now, I think what Sarkisian is showing is an energy and an enthusiasm and a creativity to the process that gets guys excited. ... I think there is some understanding what recruits like and what they want and the things that they like to hear. I think in that sense his pitch might work on a lot of kids.

(Willingham’s) sales pitch is one that’s kind of time-tested. It’s not flashy, it’s very substantive. So when a kid makes a commitment to him, chances are there’s not a lot of waffling, there’s not a lot of ambiguity. Whereas with Sarkisian, I think there’s a situation where he’s really selling guys on the promise of what could happen and trying to really get them going and get them energized.

On Sarkisian's challenge compared to Willingham's: "Even with Gilby at 1-11 with Tyrone coming in, there seemed to be this idea that OK it’s an anomaly. It’s a one-time deal, it’s not going to happen again. But now, not only does Sarkisian have to deal with 0-12, but he also has to deal with this specter of 11-37. He always has to deal with the specter of that record under Willingham. And those kinds of things, you just can’t erase from a kid’s memory. Because they don’t know about (Washington's glory days). They just look at the last few years and say Washington isn’t very good. … That’s the problem I think Sarkisian is facing.

"Willingham had to deal with a lot of uncertainty. But the uncertainty never had to really outweigh what the previous administrations had done, because four years earlier, Rick Neuheisel had taken them to a Rose Bowl. It wasn’t that long ago. Now all of a sudden, Sarkisian is having to deal with nearly a decade of futility. That’s a difficult legacy to overcome."

Meanwhile, while I'll certainly be blogging through recruiting day. And there is great information at the TNT prep blog, which will be updated throughout the day. And the GoHuskies.com site has plans that include three signing day shows, available at no cost. The shows, hosted by Bob Rondeau and former Husky quarterback Johnny DuRocher, will feature visits with members of the Husky coaching staff, video highlights of signees and all the latest news. The half-hour shows will air at 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Additionally, here are links to UW's Signing Day Central page:

Signing Day Central

Signing Day Blog

9 a.m. Signing Day Show

10 a.m. Signing Day Show

11 a.m. Signing Day Show

1 p.m. Steve Sarkisian Press Conference

In our Wednesday paper, I give some thoughts on the Pac-10 season at its midpoint, including a few midseason awards in the following categories:

Pac-10 player of the half-season

Husky of the half-season

All-Pac-10 first team

All-Pac-10 team based on performance vs. Huskies

Coach of the half-season

Freshman of the half-season

Projected NCAA tournament teams from the Pac-10

Projected Pac-10 champion

Before then -- or after -- feel free to weigh in on any of the categories you like with your own picks, and we'll see where we match or disagree.

Former Husky guard Will Conroy, of Seattle and Garfield High School, has been named to the 2009 NBA D-League All-Star Team.

The game will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, in Phoenix at the NBA's All-Star Jam Session and will be shown live on NBA TV.

Conroy, now a member of the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, has played for the Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers.

I remember him as a team-first Husky who was capable of scoring, but was more than willing to fit his game into the needs of distributing to folks like Nate Robinson and Brandon Roy and Tre Simmons and Bobby Jones. And a really good guy, too.

I received an email from in which the writer outlines a few things still concerning him as the Huskies head into the second half of the Pac-10 race.

I thought it was interesting and might also lend to a decent conversation from some of you about any worries you have about the Huskies hanging on over the next nine games.

Here's Sam's email, which I'm putting on the blog with his permission:

I'm so stoked with the way this season is playing out and how this team is playing. The excitement and intensity that this team generates is awesome and really reminds me of the Nate and BRoy days.

Any team has areas of improvement no matter how elite they are, including teams like Duke, UNC, Pitt, etc. UW has weaknesses and areas to improve upon as well. I'm not going to nit-pick every little thing that UW could improve on. Any critic could sit here and say that UW needs to improve FT shooting, improve 3-point shooting, reduce turnovers, blah, blah, and so on.

UW plays tough, they play intense, they play quick, they play together (Zona game was the exception)...The facets of their game that I see potentially biting them in the butt later are:

Coming out slow, a bit lackadaisical and lacking aggressiveness and intensity from the tip-off. If I remember correctly, every one of their conference games have been pretty close (score) at half time, and in most of those games UW started the game a bit groggy. I'm not saying they have to go into half-time with a monster lead, but they don't seem to have the hustle and intensity and focus that they have in the 2nd half. The opposing team seems to really ratchet up their play and have a good game plan to throw off UW's rhythm and energy from the tip-off. UW then makes half time adjustments and plays a very intense, focused, energetic 2nd half, coming out like banshees and really taking it to the other team. The reason this is a concern to me is because on the road, or in post-season play, UW really cannot afford to come out slow at the start of the game. Giving the edge to their opponent or being too cautious or lackadaisical in the beginning could really put them in a hole that's tough to dig out of, especially on the road or against tournament quality opponents.

Playing focused and with energy and intensity towards the end of games. Against Cal, USC, Stanford and UCLA, I believe that towards the end of the game, UW started to lose focus and played a little sloppy, resulting in careless turnovers and/or the opponent closing the gap a bit with the score. This has been addressed by some players and coaches, but I'd definitely like to see this factor shored up. Again, it'll be a concern on the road and/or against post-season type opponents. Can't give the opponent any signs of life or any hint of momentum at the end of games.

These are areas of UW's game I'd love to see shored up more than anything. I'm really not that concerned about FT shooting or turnovers or other little things because I think we have the type of players to keep those things in control. And the potentially good thing is that these are mental factors, not so much physical. It's just an adjustment in mindset more than anything. If it hasn't already been brought up, could you address these things with the coaches and players?

I haven't really noticed UW coming out slow very much. I think some of the reason they may play better in second halves is because they're deeper than a lot of Pac-10 teams and play at a pace a lot of Pac-10 teams aren't used to and cant' match for 40 mintes.

As for free throws and outside shooting, I saw those as problem areas going into the season, but much less now.

Other than injuries, I think the biggest challenge might just be the turn of the schedule. And even that's not much. The Huskies actually play five of the final nine at home, so in that way the schedule turns in their favor. However, four of the next six are on the road. And the flips from the first half don't work in the Huskies favor.

At home, UW went went into triple-overtime against Cal and beat Stanford by a point. So, losing home court seems problematic, even though neither the Bears nor Cardinal has played especially well since their Seattle vists.

Then come the Oregon schools, and since UW swept on the road, there's no way to improve on that.

And then comes the visit to the LA schools, and even a split there would seem pretty ambitious despite sweeping at home.

Any others?

The desert split moved the Washington Huskies up a spot to No. 22 in the AP men's basketball poll, and also got the Huskies into the coaches' poll for the first time this season at No. 25.

UCLA is the top-ranked Pac-10 team in the AP poll at No. 15. Arizona State -- which was swept at home by the Washington teams -- fell from No. 14 to 24th. The only other Pac-10 teams receiving votes are USC and Arizona.

The Huskies go to the Bay Area this weekend, visiting California on Thursday and Stanford on Sunday.

Here are the complete polls.

Meanwhile, the Huskies also have climbed to a No. 6 seed in ESPN Bracketology.

Dawgman.com is reporting that Ryan Davis, a 6-4, 250-pound pass rushing defensive end from Cerritos CC in California has decommited from Cal in favor of UW.

"I just got back from my visit to Washington this afternoon and I wanted to talk to my parents and family about it before I talked with anyone about it," Davis told Dawgman.com on Sunday. "It was a great visit and the players and coaches were great. ... I'm a Husky."

Signing day is Wednesday.

Our WSU writer, Ryan Divish, and I combined for an early look on football recruiting at Washington and Washington State. This story mostly compares Paul Wulff's second recuiting effort at WSU with Steve Sarkisian's fist at UW.

Naturally, we'll have more Huskies' recruiting coverage before and after letter-of-intent day, which is Wednesday.

And we might as well start now, as I see that both Dawgman and RealDawg are both reporting oral commitments to UW from three junior college players: defensive tackle Johnny Tivao of Norwalk, Calif.; offensive tackle Daniel Mafoe of Torrence, Calif.; and a much needed punter, William Mahan of Bakersfield, Calif.