The Huskies were assigned a No. 11 seed in the East Region and will face sixth-seeded Marquette on Thursday at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. The victor will meet the winner of No. 3 New Mexico and No. 14 Montana on Saturday.
Coach Lorenzo Romar offered some thoughts.
On Marquette: “We’re playing against an exceptional basketball team. Marquette is good. They’ve had some great wins. They’re tough. They’ve played in a tough conference. They’ve played against some tough opponents. It’s going to be an unbelievable matchup for us. But when you’re in the NCAA tournament, you’ve got to expect to play against the best.”
On San Jose: “It doesn’t hurt us, that’s for sure. We’ve been to that area, we’re familiar with that area. We’re pleased with that. … Obviously, Spokane is even closer. But given the fact that we’re an 11 seed, we can’t complain about going to San Jose.”
On the No. 11 seed: “I thought we’d be a 10 or 11. … We’re excited to have an opportunity to do well and advance. We believed that we’re a better team than we showed earlier and if we got the opportunity, we would cherish that and do our best to take advantage of that.”
Washington clinched its spot in the Big Dance with a 79-75 win over California on Saturday in the championship game of the Pacific-10 Conference tournament.
Cal is the only other Pac-10 team invited to the NCAA tournament, as a No. 8 seed in the South Region.
Marquette is one of eight teams from the Big East to make the field. The Golden Eagles lost to No. 22 Georgetown, 80-57, in a Big East semifinal Friday – their only double-digit loss of the season. Their regular-season record is 22-11, while they went 11-7 in the conference, good for a tie for fifth place in the 16-team league.
“I think our mind-set has been the same from the beginning of the year up until now: We’re always the underdog,” Marquette coach Buzz Williams said. “… I think any time you play on the West Coast against a team in the Pac-10, you’re definitely the underdog.”
This marks the third consecutive year that the Golden Eagles have drawn a No. 6 seed. In 2008, they beat No. 11 Kentucky before losing to No. 3 Stanford in the second round. Last season, they beat No. 11 Utah State before losing to No. 3 Missouri.
This will be Washington’s fifth NCAA tournament appearance in the past seven seasons. The Huskies (24-9) made the field by winning seven consecutive games and 12 of 14.
They watched the Selection Sunday broadcast along with a crowd of about 350 fans at a public viewing party at the Don James Center at Husky Stadium.
The team and crowd tensed each time a 10th or 11th seeded-team was announced. They also had a brief misguided celebration when a “W” logo appeared on television before realizing it belonged to Wofford, the No. 13 seed in the East Region.
“It was crazy,” said guard Isaiah Thomas, who wore the cap of his hometown Tacoma Rainiers. “Every time another team come up, you thought you was playing them. You really didn’t know where you was going or who you was playing. That’s the fun part about it.”
Other than senior Quincy Pondexter – who played on a U.S. national team with forward Lazar Hayward, Marquette’s leading scorer – none of the Huskies knew much about the Golden Eagles.
That, however, is about to change.
“Our guys are going to get to studying today – finals are coming up,” Romar said. “We’re going to be studying a lot about Marquette also. … We’re going to practice the next two days, take off to go play in San Jose in this NCAA tournament, and we are fired up to go get this done.”
Don Ruiz: 253-597-8808
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