California post-game analysis

Published Feb. 12, 2010 at 12:46 p.m.

Seems like it's time to shift the paradigm when discussing the Huskies. Let's forget about the Final Four (Wow, doesn't that seem silly in hindsight?) and repeating as Pac-10 champion. With six games remaining in the regular-season, it's time to start thinking about Pac-10 tournament seeding. Seriously.

Washington is sixth in the conference, however, USC is higher in the standings and the Trojans are on a self-imposed postseason tournament ban. So that makes UW fifth and right now it would play UCLA and could face California in the tournament semifinals.

Husky skeptics will argue it doesn't matter where UW is ranked because unless the Pac-10 moves the conference tournament to Edmundson Pavilion, the Huskies won't win a game. And there might some truth there, but it feels as if Washington is going to need a strong showing in the Pac-10 tournament to impress NCAA tourney officials for an at-large berth or claim the automatic berth that comes with winning the tourney.

But then maybe I'm putting the cart before the horse. Before Washington can think about the conference tourney, it needs to rally, regroup and get ready for Stanford.

It didn't seem as if UW was suffering any lingering effects from tonight's 93-81 defeat at Cal. The Huskies were thoroughly dominated in every phase, but at least they competed until the very end. Did you see Quincy Pondexter toss Cal's Jorge Gutierrez in the final minutes? Or Venoy Overton and Abdul Gaddy scrap for loose balls? That stuff matters. That's good body language and it bodes well for Saturday.

Folks were hyping tonight's game as the biggest of the season, but I never bought into that. I didn't think the Huskies could beat a quality team like Cal on the road and thought the game at Stanford could be the key to the season.

On paper, UW should beat the Cardinal in Seattle, Palo Alto, Calif. or anywhere else. But then, these are the Huskies and they haven't won a game on the road so there's no guarantees.

If Washington doesn't win Saturday, then the Huskies likely win just one road game this season.

Think about it. Washington State is struggling this season, but it's difficult beating a rival at home. Oregon is probably the only road-win lock because the Ducks may quit on coach Ernie Kent who sits firmly on the hot seat. And Oregon State is an odd team at home. The Beavers lost by 51 points at home to Seattle University, but they also beat Arizona and USC at Gill Coliseum.

Pondexter said the Huskies will need "a short memory," to put the loss behind them.

Romar projected a confident image outside the visiting locker room at Haas Pavilion. He still claimed the winless road streak isn't mental even though one notable observer disagreed.

I talked to former Husky star Jon Brockman and asked him what's going on and he said: "It does seem mental, doesn't it. It's in their heads. They've got to believe they'll win. They can do it, but we'll see. We were like that my sophomore and junior years."

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