Huskies attain highest AP ranking since 1984

SEATTLE – The Washington Huskies rose two spots – to No. 7 – in this week’s Associated Press Top 25. That’s the team’s highest ranking in 21 years.

It’s also better than the No. 8 ranking the team had in last season’s final poll. The Huskies finished last season 29-6, won the Pacific-10 Conference tournament for the first time and earned their first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

This season’s Huskies (10-0) benefited from previous No. 7 Oklahoma losing to unranked West Virginia last week in Oklahoma City. They also leapfrogged No. 8 Gonzaga. UW beat the Zags 99-95 Dec. 4, the Huskies’ first win over their in-state rivals in eight tries.

The last time Washington was ranked this high was Dec. 18, 1984, when Detlef Schrempf was playing.

Next comes the Huskies’ Pac-10 season opener Thursday against Arizona State and then Saturday against Arizona – both at home.

A key reason Washington has rocketed from unranked in the preseason to No. 7 has been nine home games. The young Huskies – who start freshmen Justin Dentmon and Jon Brockman and play first-year transfer Ryan Appleby and freshman Artem Wallace – have a national-best 31-game home winning streak.

Their only “road” game was a 10-point victory over New Mexico on Dec. 10 in Anaheim, Calif., at the Wooden Classic. In that game, Washington lost almost all of a 20-point lead before putting away the Lobos.

After the Huskies host the Arizona schools this weekend, Cornell and Washington State will visit Seattle. Washington will step onto an opponent’s home floor for the first time Jan. 12 at Southern California.

“Once we get into league, we’ve got to learn how to play on the road,” said senior Bobby Jones, who eclipsed 1,000 career points Friday in a 54-37 breeze past Lehigh. “The thing is, with our youth, are they going to get better at it?”

The Huskies would have to before matching their school’s highest ranking: No. 2 on March 10, 1953. UW finished that season with its only Final Four appearance.