Huskies maintain conference title aspirations

If Washington is going to claim at least a share of only its fourth regular season conference title in the last six decades, it’ll do so away from the comforts of home.

And even in a down year for the Pac-12, that might make the accomplishment more meaningful.

Washington’s final push for the regular season title began Saturday with the Huskies’ 59-55 victory over Washington State in Pullman.

The Huskies (20-8, 13-3) kept pace with California, which could take a half-game lead into the final week of the regular season with a win at Colorado today.

But the conference doesn’t differentiate regular season titles based on head-to-head meetings. So as long as Washington wins out – with games next week at USC and UCLA – the Huskies will at least claim a share of the conference title even though the Golden Bears beat Washington in the only meeting of the regular season.

The Huskies have won nine of 10 and 12 of their last 14 overall, yet their poor performance and lack of a marquee victory during the non-conference slate — not to mention an RPI of 54 that won’t get much better — has Washington squarely in the focus of those trying to determine the NCAA tournament field and those final few bubble teams.