UW Basketball | Huskies will see what they missed vs. ASU

Although Arizona State guard James Harden is listed as "day-to-day" with a groin injury, Washington coach Lorenzo Romar expresses little doubt the standout freshman will play Thursday against the Huskies.

"He's a gamer," Romar said of the 6-foot-4, 215-pounder who is fifth in the Pac-10 in scoring at 18.6.

Romar knows well of what he speaks, saying, "I watched him play I can't tell you how many times" when Harden was in high school.

In fact, Harden, a graduate of Artesia High in Lakewood, Calif., was one of UW's top targets for the Class of 2007, along with another ASU freshman, 6-3 guard Ty Abbott of Phoenix, who is averaging 11.2 points for the Sun Devils.

All of which gives UW coaches a little sense of "what might have been" this week as they prepare to play the Sun Devils, who have ridden the infusion of new talent to bust out to a 14-3 overall record. They are 4-1 and tied for the Pac-10 lead after going 8-22 overall last season.

"In some ways, it validates you as an evaluator, I guess, seeing them doing so well," said UW assistant Cameron Dollar, who was heavily involved in the recruitment of both players, who are accounting for 41 percent of ASU's scoring this season.

Harden was an all-everything player at Artesia (a McDonald's All-American among his honors) who had a number of offers. But by the summer of 2006 he had narrowed his choices to UW and Arizona State.

Shortly after, he chose ASU, saying he thought there was more of a chance to make an immediate impact there than at UW, throwing a dagger in the heart of Huskies coaches.

Romar says former Bremerton forward Marvin Williams and forward Jrue Holiday — who has signed to play next season at UCLA and is the brother of current Husky Justin Holiday — are the two players UW was unable to land that the Huskies wanted the most during his time as coach. "But James Harden would be right up there as someone that we really, really wanted," Romar said.

But Romar says that despite appearing to be in a dead heat with ASU for Harden, "we never felt like we were going to get him."

It didn't help the Huskies that ASU coach Herb Sendek — who had been hired just months earlier — hired Harden's high-school coach, Scott Pera, as director of basketball operations shortly before Harden committed. Pera is now an assistant.

Harden said at the time that had no major impact on his decision, though Romar says, "I'm sure it helped. And [ASU sophomore guard] Derek Glasser was his high-school teammate and they'd played together and won a lot together, so I'm sure that helped, too. But I'm not going to say they had to do that [hire Pera] to get him. They did a good job recruiting him."

Abbott, whom Romar says was "one of the more underrecruited freshmen in the country," was a lot closer to becoming a Husky. The graduate of Desert Vista High signed with New Mexico in the early period in November 2006. But when Ritchie McKay was fired as coach of the Lobos, Abbott was released from his letter of intent. He visited Washington and Washington State last spring before deciding to stay home.

"My visit to UW was really, really great," Abbott said this week. "That made it really tough. My mom wanted me to go up there. But I wanted to stay close to home."

Says Romar: "We thought we had a great chance. He just couldn't leave home."

So the Huskies are left Thursday trying to defend what they hoped would be theirs, assuming Harden — who missed practices Monday and Tuesday — recovers well enough to play.

"He plays like he's 25 years old — he just does not get rattled," Romar said of Harden, adding, "He's one of those players you can make a case for player of the year as a freshman."

Abbott, meanwhile, has been a clutch player, hitting three-pointers late in the final minutes in wins over California and Arizona.

"They have become more of their go-to guys who pull out victories," Romar said.

NOTES

• Also on the ASU roster is freshman guard Jamelle McMillan of O'Dea High, who is averaging 1.9 points and 2.5 assists and started both of the team's games last weekend. UW didn't really recruit McMillan, having decided instead to take Curtis High's Isaiah Thomas, who ended up at a prep school and is expected next season. "It was more of a numbers thing than anything," Romar said, adding that McMillan "is a good player, a good defender. He's a winner."

• Romar said the lineup will likely stay the same, though freshman Matthew Bryan-Amaning is making a move at returning to the starting unit.

• There is no TV, live or delayed, for Thursday's game.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com