SAN DIEGO — Guess what, America? Washington is back.
The team you tried to ignore all season, the team that, from November through early March, won 20-some basketball games, away from ESPN's prying eye and in the shadows cast by prime-time acts like Illinois, Duke, North Carolina and Connecticut, is returning to the Sweet 16.
Surprise, the team nobody expected to finish higher than fourth in the disrespected Pac-10, the team that supposedly was biding its time until a talented freshman class arrived next season, is back for another round of the NCAA tournament. Back to remind people that college basketball is played in the Northwest.
For the second year in a row, Washington, basketball's accidental tourist, will play in the Sweet 16.
This is a team that deserves to be loved, but doesn't want to be loved. The Huskies are the bracket-busters, coming to the Washington, D.C., region whether they're wanted or not.
Most likely, they will play Connecticut on Friday and they, at least, believe they can win.
"This is a physical, hard-working team," said Huskies leader Brandon Roy, who finally is getting his chance to explode on the basketball intelligentsia. "But we continue to have the mentality that nobody likes us, nobody's picking us, so let's go out and shock the world.
"The minute we think that we're wanted and we're welcomed, that's when we don't play well. The mentality of this team is a hard-working team that feels like, 'Hey, nobody treats us fair, so let's go out there and try to earn it.' "
Saturday's win, this stunning 67-64, second-round victory over Illinois, was an improbable ride, practically a microcosm of Washington's hot-and-cold season.
During a timeout early, coach Lorenzo Romar prophesied the ebb and flow of the afternoon.
"This is going to be a long game. There are going to be ups and downs," Romar said as he planed his hand from shoulder to shoulder. "We have to continue to play up here. We have to keep our intensity up here."
The Huskies faded in and they faded out.
Through the heart of the first half, they played perfect basketball, taking a 28-14 lead. And then they went flat. They couldn't find an answer for 6-foot-10 James Augustine.
They couldn't stop playmaking guard Dee Brown. They lost their offensive rhythm, fell behind 53-42 and, with 12:30 left, the season looked as dead as winter.
"If we stop Augustine, we win the game," Romar predicted at another timeout.
The Huskies changed defenses. They played off Illinois' non-scorers and concentrated on Augustine and Brown. They played a bit of zone. And when they went man-to-man, they ran extra help at the Illini's two biggest threats.
Mike Jensen bumped, grabbed and denied Augustine in the post. Augustine didn't have a point in the final 15 minutes. And a senior committee of Roy, Bobby Jones and Jamaal Williams hungrily chased after Brown.
In the game's final 12 minutes, Illinois scored a mere 11 points.
On offense the Huskies stayed patient and marched insistently to the free-throw line, where Washington had a brow-raising 39-11 edge in attempts.
And, with the momentum swinging inexorably to Washington, Justin Dentmon, the freshman with the guts of a senior, drifted into a three-pointer, made it and was fouled by Jamar Smith.
That four-point play with four minutes left that cut Illinois' lead to 60-58 will be talked about as long as basketball is played at Edmundson Pavilion.
"He's fearless," assistant coach Cameron Dollar said of Dentmon.
This is a team that comes back at you insistently. It came from 15 back at UCLA. It was down double digits at Arizona and won. It's a team that doesn't stay down for long.
It got mugged by Oregon in the Pac-10 tournament, and then it played a game this gritty, on a stage this enormous, against the Big-Ten runner-up.
"They're undercover scrappers," Dollar said. "They don't really come out and promote blue collar and promote that they're scrappy and relentless, but at the end of the day that's what their work says."
It's a team with one superstar, Roy, and a bunch of people Digger and Jay and Dickie V are just beginning to love.
"We're the Seahawks of college basketball," Roy said. "And we're going to keep the mentality that we're not welcomed, yet. We still have something to prove."
Brown's final long three over Williams clanged off the rim, and the celebration began. Romar pumped a left fist at the Washington cheering section. He met Roy at the foul line in front of the Huskies' bench, chest-bumped him and wrapped him in a fatherly bear hug.
They're back, America. Washington basketball is sweet again.
Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com
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