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Washington Huskies’ Ten Best Tournament Wins Of The Romar Era

By James Silberman

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The Washington Huskies are once again absent from the NCAA Tournament. With a ridiculously talented 2015 recruiting class set to rejuvinate the program, and most of the current roster returning, next year might be the year. In the meantime. here is a great list of good times to reminisce to.

10) Isaiah and the Huskies take down the Dawgs in the NCAA Tournament

9) Will Conroy sparks the beginning of an era

8) 2010 Pac-10 Championship and ensuing impromptu dunk contest

7) Huskies get their revenge on the Cardinal

5) Huskies overcome Stoudamire’s 37 for their first Pac-10 Title

4) 2006 Second Round Comeback Against Defending National Runner-Ups

3) UW outlasts Klay’s 43 and hang on for 89-87 win

2) Cold-Blooded Champions

1) Quincy Pondexter’s winner completes epic NCAA Tournament comeback

6) 2010 Second Round Victory Over New Mexico

Fresh off of the nail-biting comeback in their first round win, the Washington Huskies took on the third seeded (and eighth ranked team nationally) New Mexico Lobos and dominated almost wire-to-wire.

New Mexico held a small lead, fluctuating between one and three points, for the opening six minutes. But back-to-back layups from Quincy Pondexter and Venoy Overton gave the Dawgs a 17-15 lead and sparked a 28-12 run over the next 11 minutes. That gave them a 41-27 lead that they would not give up.

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It was the most Washington Husky-like game you could imagine. They ran the Lobos into the ground, with 21 assists on 32 made shots, a +6 turnover margin and they shot 8-17 from behind the arc with Isaiah Thomas (4-7), Elston Turner (2-5) and Scott Suggs (1-1) all pitching in.

Unfortunately, another staple of the Dawgs at that time was painfully bad free-throw shooting. And this game was no exception as they shot 10-20 from the stripe. The Lobos were even worse shooting 7-17, however, possibly due to exhaustion of being forced into the Huskies’ up-tempo attack and the shock of being completely helpless against it.

Right in line with how most of the 2009-10 season went, the scoring load was carried by Pondexter with 18, Thomas with 15 and Matthew Bryan-Amaning with 15.

Watching the game, it was very apparent who the better team was. The Huskies shot a higher percentage from the field, three-point line and free-throw line, and they had more steals, less turnovers, more blocks, and more rebounds. However, according to ESPN, New Mexico star Darington Hobson chalked it up to luck.

“They played the best game of their life tonight,” Hobson said. “They’re not even that good. They just played a good game tonight. We weren’t ready, and they beat us.”

Whether New Mexico wanted to believe it or not, the 2009-10 Dawgs were far better than the 11-seed they were given. They eliminated Big-East powerhouse (back when the Big East was the dominant conference in college basketball) Marquette, and ran the eighth-ranked and third-seeded Lobos out of San Jose.

Here are the highlights.

Don’t forget to check in soon at ECS as there will be more from Pondexter, Thomas and the rest of 2009-10 squad later in the countdown!

Relive the rest of the Washington Huskies’ top ten tournament wins under Coach Romar!

*All of the above photos are from USA Today Sports.

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