For the Huskies, let the games begin

SAN DIEGO — No team seemed more ensnared in March Madness a year ago than the Washington Huskies.

From the talking heads who debated endlessly whether they were really deserving of a No. 1 seed, to the ESPN camera crew that followed their every move for nightly segments on "SportsCenter," the Huskies were — like a basketball version of Anderson Cooper — everywhere, all the time.

But this year, as the No. 5-seeded Huskies prepare for their first round game here at 6:55 p.m. against No. 12 Utah State, the lack of buzz has become noticeable even to the players.

"Nobody's talking about us at all," said senior guard Brandon Roy.

And when they do mention the Huskies, it seems it's only to point out that at least one No. 12 seed always beats a No. 5 — it has happened in every tournament but two since 1985. And that maybe this is the game where it will happen this season.

"It's almost good news for us," Roy said. "We get to be the underdogs again."

Added forward Mike Jensen: "It's just a little bit more motivation for us. People think we are going to lose in the first round? I don't think so. So that just gives us more motivation to prove them wrong."

But they'll only do it if the good Huskies — the ones who won 24 games, swept UCLA, beat Gonzaga, and won their last eight Pac-10 regular season games — show up.

The Huskies hope that other group has been banished forever. That group lost twice to last-place Washington State and was last seen blowing a 13-point second-half lead in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament against Oregon

"We know how good we can play and we know how bad we can play," said UW guard Bobby Jones. "We know we can't take anybody lightly."

What the Huskies also hope to count on is their experience — this is their third straight trip to the tournament, which has helped establish the Huskies as a March perennial. Roy — one of four UW seniors who are now just a loss away from seeing their careers end — recounted how each trip has had its own theme.

"My sophomore year [2004, a 102-100 loss to Alabama-Birmingham] we were just happy to be there and we didn't play a lot of defense," he said. "Last year, we were the number one seed and trying to live up to those expectations. I think this season is really fun. Nobody's saying a lot about us so we have a chance to go in there and surprise some people and that's pretty cool."

Asked Wednesday why he thinks the wave of public opinion seems to be running against his team, UW coach Lorenzo Romar pointed to that Oregon game, where 19 turnovers and some ragged shooting helped undo a 13-point second-half lead.

"It's not so much lack of confidence in our team but what's fresh on everybody's minds is that we lost in the first round of the Pac-10 tournament," Romar said. "Maybe they've forgotten about the previous eight wins in a row."

Or maybe it's that, in Utah State, they see a team that mirrors a lot of the Cinderellas of NCAA tournaments past.

The Aggies finished second in the WAC at 23-8 overall, 11-5 in conference play, and play a style — disciplined on offense, tough-nosed on defense, with good three-point shooters all around — that often lends itself to success in March.

Senior forward Nate Harris is a crafty player down low — Jensen will get the first chance to shut him down — and guard Jaycee Carroll (likely defended by Roy) is one of the best three-point shooters in the country.

Romar compared Utah State to once of the greatest Cinderellas of all — the Gonzaga teams of the late '90s, before the Bulldogs became an acknowledged power.

Utah State, located in Logan, is one of five teams to win at least 23 games in each of the past seven years — the others are Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas and Syracuse.

Utah State also has a history of NCAA tournament upsets or near upsets, having beaten Ohio State as a No. 12 seed in 2001 and lost to Kansas 64-61 as a No. 15 seed in 2003.

Romar even joked that if he were sitting in a barber shop, with no affiliation to either team, he might pick Utah State as well.

"You look at Utah State and at their past and you say 'yeah, there's one right there that could happen,' " he said.

Utah State coach Stew Morrill, who took over for Larry Eustachy in 1998, laughed at the, uh, seeming madness of it all.

"Yeah, right," he said, when told that some of the Huskies were calling themselves underdogs. "We were one of the teams everybody said [on Selection Sunday] didn't belong in the tournament.

Now all the sudden we are the upset special? How does that work?"

Not so well, the Huskies hope.

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