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Pondexter new face of UW hoops

Huskies Basketball: Jon Brockman, Brandon Roy are gone, and Quincy Pondexter makes no bones about it: He’s the man now

DON RUIZ; The News Tribune | • Published October 28, 2009

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Pick up a University of Washington basketball pocket schedule, and there's Quincy Pondexter pictured on the front.

The Huskies’ media guide cover: Pondexter.

The regional cover of Lindy’s College Basketball magazine: Pondexter.

Somehow, after an up-and-down first three seasons – including some downs deep enough to invite speculation about his future in the program – Pondexter heads into his senior season not only as UW’s top returning rebounder and No. 2 returning scorer, but also as the face of the program.

He likes that.

“You wait for this your entire career here,” Pondexter said Tuesday. “You see other people have the chance to be on those, and you’re kind of jealous. … They’re your teammate, but you want that to be you one day.”

That day has arrived. Today, Pondexter will fly down to Los Angeles along with coach Lorenzo Romar to represent the university at the Pacific-10 Conference men’s basketball media day on Thursday.

It’s an honor that Huskies such as Brandon Roy and Jon Brockman had before him. And now Pondexter hopes to live up to their standards – in his own way.

“I’m a little bit different-looking than Jon, but I hope I’ll stand up a good standard for our program,” Pondexter said. “He was definitely a spokesman for the program. … He just took the initiative himself to be that guy. To have someone that wanted to impact the community and be the face of the program and lead by the right example was a great person to have.”

Now the Huskies have Pondexter, the only remaining member of what was once the highly regarded freshman class of 2006.

He played in all 32 games in his freshman season, starting 22 of them, and received honorable mention for the freshman all-conference team. However, Pondexter’s career wobbled as a sophomore as he started only nine games and his scoring average fell into single digits for the only time since starting out at San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno, Calif.

Just as the whispers began that Pondexter might be a bust, he elevated his game. A lot.

Romar believes that during the final third of Pondexter’s junior season – including the Huskies’ two NCAA tournament games – he often was the best player on the floor.

“Justin Dentmon was all-league, Isaiah Thomas was our leading scorer, Jon Brockman was all-everything,” Romar said. “And people just lose sight of the fact that Quincy, down the stretch, was our leading scorer, and he was our second-leading rebounder.”

Romar said Pondexter has continued his growth during this preseason, stepping up his leadership on and off the court. And Romar said he expects that the 6-foot-6 forward will take that new attitude into the regular season, which begins Nov. 14.

But Pondexter’s coming out party as the face of the team will come Thursday, when he and his coach represent the program in front of media members from across the conference.

Romar believes his senior is ready for all of it.

“I just think he’s been waiting for this for a long time,” Romar said. “Here it is. I think he’ll be fine there. … Quincy’s a senior, and he’s ready to lead this team and have a great year.”

Fast breaks

Romar said the flu-like symptoms that swept through his roster last week have mostly disappeared. But he says it put the team a few days behind schedule in terms of conditioning and installing sets. … For the first time in Romar’s eight seasons at UW, the Huskies played their private interschool scrimmage on the road, visiting St. Mary’s of California over the weekend. Romar said he thought that experiencing life on the road would be useful to this young team. However, NCAA regulations prohibit him from providing details. “I can just say it was good for us,” Romar said. … Romar said two players from his walk-on tryouts are practicing with the team, but he said he doesn’t yet know if they will be placed on the roster.

Don Ruiz, 253-597-8808

don.ruiz@thenewstribune.com

blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports