Toughness, unity carry Huskies to Pac-10 title

At the buzzer, the ecstasy began with Venoy Overton tossing the basketball as high as his right arm would allow. As it ascended, so too did Jon Brockman and Quincy Pondexter, meeting in the air and bumping their chests together.

Then came the rest of the Washington team, this unexpectedly fascinating group — players and coaches, managers and trainers, flailing, bouncing, yelling. Three minutes later, one-fifth of the 10,000 fans in attendance flooded the Edmundson Pavilion court, lifting Isaiah Thomas, holding up signs that summarized this joy.

"Kings of the Pac," they read.

The Huskies are regular-season conference champions at last, a once-in-a-half-century feat.

Crown 'em.

"It's been like a movie script the last couple of weeks," Pondexter said. "It's just a great story that we're living out right now."

It's a fairy tale with ample substance attached. Fittingly, this team earned its Pac-10 title with a 67-60 victory over Washington State that highlighted its most endearing qualities: toughness and unity.

Coach Lorenzo Romar has had prettier teams. He's had more talented teams. He's had more fluid teams. But he hasn't had one more delightfully focused on doing right for the coaches and for themselves, and all that determination has added up to a fresh accomplishment.

The Pac-10 has knighted more impressive champs, but seldom has it had one more charming.

The Huskies sound like a basketball fable. A team that endured hardships for two years because it played neither together nor with purpose learned from its mistakes and triumphed this season in improbable fashion. The Huskies' guards were supposedly too small, their small forward too inconsistent, their star post player too poor a foul shooter, and their other starting big man too inexperienced to be more than a bubble NCAA-tournament team.

Now they're the best T-E-A-M on the West Coast.

"I have a feeling this group right here has a chance to do something a little more special," Brockman said to the crowd as he stood on a ladder underneath a net-less goal.

A few seconds later, with a piece of that net dangling from his ear, Brockman bellowed, very Shaq-like, "Can youuuuuuuuu dig it?"

Here are the Huskies in one stat: They beat the Cougars with their three leading scorers — Brockman, Thomas and Justin Dentmon, who usually combine for 46 points a game — shooting 9 of 28 from the field.

They won with Pondexter discounting his sore ribs, the remnants of a nasty fall Tuesday against Seattle University, to score 16 points. They won with Justin Holiday and Darnell Gant doing the dirty work. They won with Brockman (18 rebounds), Thomas and Dentmon happily making hustle plays.

And they won with Overton, their whirling defensive ace, pestering Cougars guard Taylor Rochestie and contributing 14 points to offset Thomas' poor shooting.

Rochestie still managed 23 points, but he missed 12 of 20 shot attempts. At one point during the first half, he got into an argument with the aggressive Overton.

"For some reason, he told me to chill out, and I'm not cool," Overton said, laughing. "I told him I don't want to be cool."

All season, the Huskies have shunned cool points for something greater: victories. The previous two seasons, they were so cool, they missed the Big Dance both years. Not this season. Not this team.

During their first preseason meeting, Romar challenged his team with a question: "Who's the star of the team?"

The nervous players fidgeted in silence, and in those quiet seconds, they came to understand Romar's point.

The team is the star.

For Romar, who repeatedly says, "We are a true team," that's the reason why these players are so special. These Huskies have done something that Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson, Will Conroy and Bobby Jones couldn't do. It doesn't necessarily make them better than that group, but it's given them their own special legacy.

"I think this team innately was easier to grab the whole team concept," Romar said. "I think it was a little harder with those other teams, but I think those other teams were more talented. Maybe that's why it was a little more difficult for them."

With this team, Romar gave up some explosiveness for better rebounding and defense. The result is a championship.

Nice trade.

"It's special," Romar said of the Huskies' first outright regular-season league title in 56 years. "Hopefully, it doesn't take another 50 years."

Keep playing this way, and it won't. No chance.

Can youuuuuuuuu dig it?

Jerry Brewer: 206-464-2277 or jbrewer@seattletimes.com