Huskies pull off first upset – No. 1 seed

SEATTLE – Washington keeps making history.

One day after winning the Pac-10 tournament for the first time, the Huskies were awarded a surprising No. 1 seed in the 65-team NCAA tournament.

“If you ask me, ‘Do we deserve it?’ My answer is ‘Yes,’ ” coach Lorenzo Romar said Sunday. “Are we surprised? I guess the surprising part is that we weren’t sure whether someone else, other than us, would think we deserved it.”

The NCAA Tournament selection committee agreed.

Washington (27-5) is the top team in the Albuquerque Regional, which keeps the Huskies in the West, potentially, through four rounds. They open NCAA play Thursday against 16th-seeded Montana (18-12) at Boise, Idaho.

Unlike last year’s trek to Columbus, Ohio, where Washington lost 102-100 to Alabama-Birmingham in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, it’s a 6-hour drive from Seattle to Boise, and the Huskies’ noisy students are sure to be there.

“I’m really hyped about that,” point guard Will Conroy said. “It means the Dawg Pack can go.”

Washington made a strong case for a No. 1 seed by beating Arizona 81-72 in the Pac-10 tournament final Saturday night, the first league title of any kind for the Huskies since 1985. Washington outscored the Wildcats 17-2 over the last 5 minutes.

“We’ve definitely got a banner to put up in the gym next year,” forward Bobby Jones said. “We’d love to have another one that says, ‘National Champions,’ too.”

Fans and Washington players gathered Sunday at the team’s on-campus arena, and cheers went up when the television broadcast revealed the Huskies as one of four No. 1 seeds in the field.

Previously, Washington’s highest NCAA Tournament seeding was a No. 5 in 1985 – the final season under venerable coach Marv Harshman.

“I’m not going to lie and say I thought we were going to get a No. 1 seed,” Jones said. “But then I woke up today, and I started watching the shows. People were saying we could get it. I started believing them.”

Clearly, the Huskies benefited from Wake Forest’s loss in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament quarterfinals. Wake Forest, ranked in the Top 5 most of the season, was assigned a No. 2 seeding.

It was tough to ignore that Washington went 14-4 in one of the nation’s top conferences. Romar said it’s his understanding the Huskies finished No. 3 in the official Ratings Percentage Index that was used to select and seed teams.

“Washington has had a tremendous year,” said Bob Bowlsby, chairman of the NCAA selection committee. “They’ve had a lot of good wins. They are a postseason-tournament winning team. We just felt they deserved to be on Line 1.”

The Huskies closed strong – going 11-2 down the stretch.

“I never thought this would happen this quick,” Jones said. “It shows how talented we are, and it says a lot about Coach Romar.”