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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

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) 80-78 First Round Victory Over Marquette in 2010

Quincy Pondexter wanted the turnaround jumper in the lane over Marquette SF Jimmy Butler. But a double team forced him to kick out to Isaiah Thomas’ and watch I.T.’s game-winning attempt clang off the back rim.

Pure speculation here, but I’m guessing Pondexter was thinking something like, “Well, looks like I’ll have to do this myself.”

Q-Pon proceeded to beat Butler to the loose ball, and save it back in-bounds to Venoy Overton. He then calmly, but firmly walked out towards half-court and demanded the ball from Venoy. 

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All that was left to do to extend his college career was take Butler (who was voted a second-team All-NBA defender in 2014) off the dribble and score. That’s what the Huskies needed, and that’s what Pondexter gave them.

He gave Butler a right-to-left crossover, shielded him off with his shoulder, leaned in, and kissed it off the glass and in with 1.7 seconds remaining.

Those were the only 1.7 seconds of the second half in which the Huskies held the lead. They trailed by nine points at the 15-minute mark, at which point, CBS decided to switch the broadcast over to the 3-14 match-up where the Ohio Bobcats were on the verge of upsetting the Georgetown Hoyas. The most agonizing few minutes of my life was watching the tiny scoreboard in the top right corner of the screen as the Marquette lead extended to 15.

Even though this is after the fact, and I know UW was about to go on a 20-6 run and win the game, I still get stressed thinking about it.

Elston Turner scored 11 points in a six minute stretch and the team would shoot 14-23 from the field, 3-5 from three and 4-4 from the free throw line the rest of the way.

Coming back from a 60-45 deficit at the 13-minute mark, and advancing the way we did, against a Big East powerhouse (back when the Big East was full of powerhouses), makes this the greatest game of the Lorenzo Romar era.

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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