UW Men's Hoops | Isaiah Thomas, Huskies' little guard, coming up big this season

Standing 5 feet 8 inches, Isaiah Thomas has always been the shortest player on the basketball court, but he's never been overlooked until now.

"I think Isaiah has been so good, people have just come to expect what he does," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "I think people do that to the great ones."

Those who know Thomas insist he's better than he was a year ago when he was the leading scorer on the best men's basketball team in the Pac-10 conference as a freshman.

"Better shooter, better passer, better rebounder and better defender," Romar said. "He's becoming a complete basketball player."

And yet around these parts, Thomas has gone relatively unnoticed.

He scored a career-high 30 points in the season opener, but the story of the day was how the 14th-ranked Huskies struggled to put away a Wright State team missing two of its best players.

The next night against Belmont, Thomas converted 6 of 9 shots, including four three-pointers, for 23 points, while snagging seven rebounds and two steals, and delivering three assists. Center Matthew Bryan-Amaning, however, had a career scoring high and was the star of the game.

And finally, Thomas capped the three-day tournament with 21 points and six rebounds against Portland State. However, he shared co-MVP honors for the Athletes in Action Classic with teammate Quincy Pondexter, who was the weekend's big winner and named Pac-10 Player of the Week.

Thomas will get another chance to continue his red-hot start tonight when Washington (3-0) meets San Jose State (1-0) at Edmundson Pavilion.

"I won't say that I'm being overlooked," he said. "We're winning. And people I guess expect this out of me. I expect it out of myself. It's not a big deal if people overlook me. They'll find out sooner or later."

Word is starting to spread nationally about Washington's little big man. He's tied for fifth nationally with a 24.7 scoring average through Wednesday's games.

Thomas was one of 50 players named to the preseason Naismith Watch list and the John R. Wooden Award preseason list.

This week, Sports Illustrated put him on the regional cover of its college basketball preview and placed him on its third-team All-America team.

"I'm just more mature," said Thomas, who bulked up eight to 10 pounds during the offseason. "I know what to expect in the college game. It's something I've worked on all summer. It feels like it's a little easier out there."

After losing 74-69 to the Huskies last Friday, Wright State coach Brad Brownell said Thomas is Washington's most important player.

"He can do a little of everything," Brownell said. "He is fearless the way he gets into the lane. He is so quick and crafty the way he can hop-step between defenders.

"He is so hard to guard with one player. You know, he's a guy that you have to build your entire defense around."

Belmont coach Rick Byrd designed a defense to slow Thomas, but his man-to-man scheme surrendered 23 points in the post to Bryan-Amaning.

"Pick your poison," Byrd said. "What are you going to do when all of a sudden Thomas is a daggone three-point shooter when he's shooting 30 percent for his career?

"When he can do that, how the hay do you keep him from driving because he may be as hard to guard driving the basketball as I've ever seen."

The early statistics say Thomas is better than ever.

Shooting: Last season, he averaged 15.5 points while shooting .418 from the field, .219 on three-pointers and .686 on free throws. This season, Thomas is .568 on field goals. He's converted 10 of 19 (.526 percent) treys and 22 of 27 (.815) at the line.

Rebounding: Thomas has improved upon his 3 rebounds per game as a freshman and is up to 5.

"I told coach, if he let me crash the offensive boards I'd probably average about seven this year," Thomas said. "But he's not letting me do that."

Assists: The dip in assists average (2.6 to 1.6) is due to Thomas playing more of a traditional shooting-guard role this season.

"We talked about decision-making with the basketball, and he's still working on that," Romar said. "When two or three people are there and people are open on the perimeter, he's got to be able to get the ball to those people."

Defense: This is the most difficult area to quantify with statistics. Admittedly, Thomas didn't exert much effort on defense last year, so any improvement is noticeable.

"I just got by," he said. "I wasn't really a liability, but I wasn't what I should be. And this year I'm focusing more on stopping guys and stopping good guards. Just getting into my guy and being a pest out there on the defensive end like I am on the offensive end."

Despite winning the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year award last season, Thomas has still flown under the radar early in the season.

But perhaps things are starting to change.

"I wish I had known more about him," Brownell said. "I knew he was good, but not that good."