Are You Sweet?

New Mexico is still catching its breath...

Washington outran New Mexico yesterday to earn a place in the Sweet 16! A place where many national "experts" would have never predicted Washington to be at this point of the tournament.

Washington has lasted longer that 5 Big East teams (Marquette, Villanova, Georgetown, Louisville and Notre Dame), and the overall #1 seed Kansas who got rocked yesterday by a guy who has the worst muttonchops in the history of college basketball. The UNI kid who shot the 3 with 30 seconds left in the game has the biggest onions in the history of college basketball.

Anyways, back to the Huskies. If you read my pre-game write-up on Friday, you would have gotten a good idea how I thought the game was going to go down. For those who didn't, let's just say I was about 100% correct in my projections.

From the opening tip, UW had this game won. Coach Lorenzo Romar completely outclassed New Mexico coach Steve Alford's redblazer. Kids, you don't win games dressed like this.

Washington looked like a final four team yesterday, but did not play their best game. That is the scary part of Washington's potential. We let up on the gas, but never stopped taking the ball at the New Mexico team. Washington was very successful in pushing the pace, and making life hard for New Mexico.

The Stars:

Washington's lone senior Quincy Pondexter was a beast yesterday. He played at the level Washington needs him to play at for the rest of the tournament. He scored 18 points for the second time this tournament. His 18 was a legitimate 18 as he went 7-12 from the floor and had 8 boards. Leaving the hotel yesterday, Q looked focused.

Four Huskies scored in doubt-digits, which shows the balance in Washington's game. Isaiah Thomas had 15, as did Matthew Bryan-Amaning. Elston Turner, who's continued hot shooting off the bench has helped keep the Husky's momentum going in the second part of the first half, had 10 points on 2-5 shoot from beyond the 3-point arc.

Yesterday's Loser:
New Mexico's rock star Darington Hobson shit the bed yesterday. He had a quiet 11 points and 5 boards. After the game, he bitterly called UW "they're not even that good. They just had a good game tonight." Listen, I understand you're a bit butt hurt from getting your doors blown off and having to run in a track meet for 40 minutes, but do not be a bitch. Comments like that do not help your personality profile moving to the next level. If you're Washington, you have got to love opponents so hurt by the way you played that they have nothing left but to be angry at the post-game press conference.

Looking ahead:
Washington now moves on to face the winner of the West Virginia / Missouri game this afternoon. Watching the 2nd half of the WVU/Mizzou game right now. Neither of these teams scare me. De'Sean Butler is a beast, but I think he is going to have a tough time dealing with the plethora of defenders UW can throw at him. JHoliday is a lot longer than many of these Big East teams have seen this year. Mizzou looks unorganized on O. Their M.O. is a lot like UW, pressure equals success. Some commentators call them the fastest 20 minutes in college basketball. They do not seem anywhere close to Washington's speed. WVU leads 52-44.

In other news, my bracket is officially DEAD. With the loss of Kansas (and Georgetown for an elite 8 finish), my bracket really never took off.

Without further ado, the DANCIN DAWGS!