Youthful Washington emerges as surprise team in the Pac-12
In his 14 seasons as coach at Washington, Lorenzo Romar has led the Huskies to six NCAA tournaments and the Sweet 16 three times. Still there was reason to doubt him entering this season after four consecutive years on the outside looking in at March Madness.
There is no guarantee at this point in mid-January that the Huskies snap that string of disappointments, but they’re well on their way after handling Colorado 95-83 on Wednesday to move to the top of the Pac-12 standings.
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This wasn’t supposed to be the year the Huskies made a comeback. They finished last season dropping 10 of their final 12 games and had only three scholarship players returning to join a slew of freshmen. Competing at the top of the conference was supposed to come in a year when these freshman had some seasoning and several strong commitments for next season were added.
The fact that the Huskies have climbed so far this fast is, in part, a credit to their talent and Romar’s coaching, but it also speaks to the parity in the Pac-12, a league which some are already speculating could claim seven or eight NCAA tournament slots.
With senior Andrew Andrews leading the way, those freshman have handled their own with few exceptions and seem to be improving as the season moves along, feeding on their successes. Colorado had the much more experienced team Wednesday, but the Huskies jumped on the Buffs late in the first half and eventually surged to a 22-point lead.
Andrews scored 33 points, with some of that being handed to him late when the Buffs kept fouling him and sending him to the free throw line. Freshmen Dejounte Murray and Marquese Chriss each added 17 points schooling the Buffs, who came into the game as another team that appeared to be overachieving based on where it was predicted to finish before the season began.
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At this point, and this could change because there is a lot of basketball still to be played, Romar and USC coach Andy Enfield are clearly the frontrunners for Coach of the Year in the Pac-12, a conference that had nine teams ranked in the top 50 in RPI going into Wedneday’s games. Both could receive some national consideration along those lines depending on how the rest of the season progresses and how deep their teams go in March.
The Huskies are long and capable of playing with a lot of energy. They lead the nation in blocked shots and set a school record with 15 of them against the Buffs. They force a lot of turnovers, which generally makes watching them an entertaining two hours unless you root for the other team. Andrews is among the elite scorers in the nation and his ability to lead the offense takes pressure off all those young guys around him.
Six of the eight players Romar played on Wednesday against the Buffs are freshmen, which means, barring a mass defection, this team is already stocked well for the next few seasons. Washington’s freshmen are averaging 52.8 points per game to lead all freshmen classes around the nation.
It’s when Andrews is on the bench or not hitting his shots that Washington can sometimes get into trouble, but those instances don’t come often and the more experience the freshmen get, the more confident they are able to be without him.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
