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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.

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

6) UW runs New Mexico’s Sweet 16 hopes into the ground

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

10) Isaiah and the Washington Huskies Hold Off The Dawgs

Disclamer: If you aren’t a fan of Isaiah Thomas man-crush sessions, this article is not for you.

Only a few days removed from a “cold-blooded” performance, I.T. and the Washington Huskies drew the Georgia Bulldogs in what was essentially a road game in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The first half was back-and-forth with a lot of sloppy play from both teams, and was capped with Isaiah Thomas making a circus layup that only he could make to tie the game at 28.

But the second half is when the Dawgs started to assert their will. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that Thomas began to assert his will. Even after playing more than 40 minutes per game in UW’s run through the Pac-12 tournament, he still had the legs to run Georgia into the ground.

UW got great-look-after-great-look to begin the second half and knocked almost every one of them down. A 19-9 run to open the half, capped by a contested step-back jumper from C.J. Wilcox, gave the Dawgs a 47-37 lead, a lead that Georgia would not come back from.

However, a rare miss at the free throw line from Wilcox gave the Bulldogs one final chance, but again, their hopes of advancing were squashed by Isaiah Thomas. Here is a great video of the game’s highlights for the Huskies.

Justin Holiday, Darnell Gant and Scott Suggs all played phenominal games as well, but Isaiah was nothing short of amazing. He scored 19 points on 6-14 shooting with seven assists and two steals.

But even more impressive, only two turnovers. With Abdul Gaddy injured, I.T. handled the ball 90% of the time and made just about every decision for the offense. It was a Steve-Nash-in-his-prime-like domination of the ball, and to only make two turnovers is shocking. The team only turned the ball over a total of five times, but no one else really had many opportunities to turn the ball over. Everything good look at the basket was created by Isaiah Thomas, whether he was the one shooting or not. 

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Watching this game, I was reminded of just how great Isaiah Thomas was for the Huskies at the end of the 2011 season. The Huskies had talented and athletic wings with Justin Holiday, Scott Suggs and C.J. Wilcox, a skilled big-man in Matthew Bryan-Amaning and a….. well big big-man in Aziz N’diaye. But this would have been a CBI team without Isaiah.

You know that saying, “make the players around you better”? This game was the definition of that. Just about every basket was conceived in Thomas’ creative mind ten seconds before it happened. He not only created space for himself, but he got his teammates wide-open shots with his penetration and ball fakes. It really was a joy to watch.

Come back to Emerald City Swagger tomorrow morning for the ninth best tournament victory for the Washington Huskies under Lorenzo Romar.

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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