UW Men | O'Dea grad steps up game at Stanford

It was somewhere in Italy — maybe Rome, maybe Florence — that Mitch Johnson finally found his place.

Exactly where it happened doesn't really matter.

Not even, necessarily, that he became a starter again.

What mattered to Johnson was that it was somewhere over there — during a preseason trip of exhibition games last August — that he finally began making the Stanford point-guard position his own.

He entered the trip coming off a sophomore season in which he yo-yooed in-and-out of the lineup as Stanford's starter, and ended it having apparently made it his for the rest of his career.

"I kind of used that as an opportunity to prove, not only to myself but to teammates and coaches, the improvement I had made and that I was ready to lead the team and kind of step up," said Johnson, a junior and an O'Dea High School graduate.

And tonight, when Stanford makes its annual appearance at Edmundson Pavilion to play the Huskies at 7 p.m. there is little doubt who the Cardinal's on-floor leader is now.

"He's probably the biggest reason that we have won 16 games and lost three to this point," said Stanford coach Trent Johnson this week.

Johnson, the son of former Sonic John Johnson, had started lots of Stanford games before — 40 of 61 in his first two seasons.

But when last season ended, he was on the bench, getting just 14 minutes in a reserve role in Stanford's blowout loss to Louisville.

That capped a season in which Johnson had a solid assist-to-turnover ratio (sixth in the Pac-10) but often struggled to take the next step to becoming a true offensive threat, shooting 35 percent from the field.

Johnson said he knew he had to be able to score when opponents collapse on twin 7-footers Brook and Robin Lopez for Stanford to reach its potential, so he spent the summer working on his shot, altering his technique a little to bring the ball a little closer to his body. He spent a lot of the summer in Seattle working out with close friends and current Huskies Jon Brockman and Ryan Appleby, and when the Italy trip rolled around, he was ready to unveil his new game.

"I'm just more confident and definitely a lot more aggressive [this year]," Johnson said.

Said Trent Johnson: "He's getting the same shots he had last year, but now he's knocking them down."

Johnson, who has started all 19 games this season, is shooting 45 percent and is averaging 6.8 points and a team-high 29.9 minutes per game. More than the numbers, however, is the simple ability to score when the opportunity is there. Saturday, in an 82-77 win at California, Johnson scored a career-high 16 points, along with seven assists and five rebounds.

"That was a big key for them, him knocking down some shots," said Cal coach Ben Braun.

Johnson's hoping for more of the same tonight when maybe he can finally have a happy homecoming. He played just 14 minutes off the bench in a 64-52 loss to the Huskies in Seattle last year, and had four points in 23 minutes in a 75-57 defeat here in 2006.

"They've hammered us real good," Johnson said.

His dad, along with O'Dea coach Phil Lumpkin and former Sonic and family friend, Gus Williams, are expected to be in attendance tonight.

It's the beginning of a crucial few weeks for the Huskies that figure to determine where this season is headed. Washington is on the far edge of NCAA tournament talk (UW's RPI was 88 entering the week) but with the conference ranked at No. 2, any team that can get into the top five is likely in. UW is 3-4 and in seventh place, but this is the first of four in a row at home against all four California schools. UW has lost just five Pac-10 home games since the beginning of the 2004-05 season, giving it some confidence it can make up some ground.

"These games are big," UW coach Lorenzo Romar said. "It's so difficult to win on the road, so when you have your opportunities, you better take advantage of them on your home floor."

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