Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Seniors’ Day Has Arrived For UW Guards

Bob Sherwin Seattle Times

The journey will end soon. It might be Thursday, Saturday or next week, but their glory days are certainly numbered. Washington guards Jan Wooten and Chris Thompson have reached their destination. Everything beyond this is real life.

The only two seniors on the UW men’s basketball team will lead the Huskies (18-9) into their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 12 years this morning in the East Regional against Xavier (22-7) at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. In the past two weeks, each has given teammates the kind of perspective they need as they prepare to play their most significant game.

Thompson, an overachiever from Edmonds-Woodway High School who was voted team captain despite his status as part-time player, stunned the team just before the UCLA game March 1. He asked UW coach Bob Bender not to start him. It’s tradition to start departing seniors in their final home game.

“I thought that game carried such magnitude for us, potentially getting us into the NCAA Tournament, that winning the game far outweighed any sentimental reasons of starting my last home game,” Thompson said. “The coaching staff had used a consistent starting lineup all season. I saw no reason to shake that up.”

He did it for the team, the team won and that victory over the 18th-ranked Bruins was indispensable in allowing the Huskies to reach the NCAAs, which was Thompson’s goal since he first picked up a basketball.

Five days later at a pregame meal before playing Washington State, another must-win game, Thompson and Wooten stood up before teammates for what could have been one final time.

“I just wanted to let everyone know that I never had the dream of playing in the NBA, making the money,” said Wooten, a 5-foot-9 starting guard from Elizabeth, N.J. “I wanted to get an education. It has been an exciting journey for me, going through the junior-college route to end up playing at a Division I school, now making coach Bender’s dream come true.

“We both spoke from the heart, and I think people were kind of surprised at some things we said.”

Now comes the reward for Wooten and Thompson. They have made it. Across the court this morning they will encounter one of the nation’s best backcourts, juniors Lenny Brown and Gary Lumpkin. The tandem, teammates since junior high school in Wilmington, Del., are potential dream-killers.

“We need to play like we did in the first half at Arizona. We played strong with ball,” said Bender, whose team trailed 50-43 at halftime in that game before losing 112-81 in Tucson. “That’s what Xavier does: The defense creates quick offense. Now we’re not going to get three steps quicker before the game; what we have to do is take care of the ball.” xxxx TODAY ON TV 9 a.m.: Xavier vs. Washington followed by Maryland vs. Utah State (CBS). 4:30 a.m.: Kentucky vs. South Carolina State followed by Stanford vs. College of Charleston (CBS).