Photo credit: Jim Bates

There's been a lot of interest in the new design (above) that appears periodically among advertisements below the scorer's table at Washington men's basketball games.

The design debuted Jan. 30 at the Washington State game, however, a school spokesman said it is not a new logo, but rather an "in-house graphic to promote Husky athletics." There are no plans by the school to place the graphic on merchandise.

Washington is slowly phasing out its secondary logo, a profile shot of Husky that's been dubbed "The Weasel" by detractors. The school hasn't used the logo in several years, however, marketers have included it on a few items recently.

UW spokesman Richard Kilwien said the school is exploring the possibility of adding a new secondary logo, but said the new horizontal graphic depicting a pair of menacing Husky eyes is not a possibility.

"The W logo is the strength of the University of Washington's athletic brand," Kilwien said.

IN OTHER NEWS:

--- The fan ejected from Thursday's game and escorted out of the Hec Ed by two police officers for throwing a half-filed water bottle on the court has been a season-ticket holder for several years, said a school spokesman.

The fan, a middle-aged man, reached an agreement with UW officials. His tickets have not been revoked, but he's promised not to attend any games the remainder of the season.

According to UW, he e-mailed athletic director Scott Woodward about an hour after the game and apologized profusely. "He was very contrite," Kilwien said.

Midway in the second half of UW's hotly-contested 81-75 victory, the bottle landed near the Husky bench, startling players and coaches.

"At first I thought I thought it might have been one of our players that threw something, but then I realized our players wouldn't be that dumb to do something like that," senior Quincy Pondexter said.

The school did not press charges, the fan was not arrested and there's a strong likelihood UW will allow the fan to renew his season tickets next season.

"We called the Pac-10 office and ran things by them," Kilwien said. "We take these things very seriously.

Coach Lorenzo Romar addressed the situation before today's practice.

"It was a shock to me because I feel like we have an unbelievable balance here," he said. "I feel like we have the best fans in the league. Our fans support us, they come out. We have more sellouts than any school in this conference this year. And it's not like we're undefeated, and the people have still come out and supported us.

"Our fans are very classy, I think, and it just caught me off guard that something like that would happen. The gentleman was a season-ticket holder. Sometimes emotions get the best of you in a situation like that, although I don't think I could ever throw a bottle out on the floor. But at the same time, I'm sure the person that did it is very remorseful."

--- Romar reserved comment on Arizona, which self-imposed sanctions on the men's basketball team for NCAA rules violations committed by former coach Lute Olson. The school will take away a scholarship for the 2011-12 season, reduce recruiting time and placed the team on a two-year probation.

--- About 125 tickets remain for Saturday's game against Arizona State.