Husky Men's Basketball Blog

Seattle Times staff reporter Bob Condotta provides a running commentary on the Huskies.

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May 5, 2008 9:48 AM

Huskies could face national champs

UW's 2008-09 schedule remains unfinished as the Huskies look to secure two more games.

However, what has come into focus is UW's opposition in the pre-season CBE Classic. UW is one of 16 teams set for the tournament, and one of four that will serve as a regional host for the first two rounds.

The others, I've learned, are Kansas, Syracuse and Florida.

And the Huskies and Jayhawks are set to be on the same side of the bracket meaning that if UW wins its two home games and advances to the semifinals it would face Kansas, the defending NCAA champs. The semifinals and finals will be held in Kansas City and tournament organizers are probably hoping for a Kansas-Florida final to pit the two teams that have won the last three NCAA titles, something the Huskies will try to spoil.

Kansas figures to drop a bit next season (here's one early rating from Jeff Goodman seeding the Jayhawks at No. 20) but obviously in any incarnation will be a stiff test for a new-look Husky team.

UW would then get either Florida or Syracuse in the its next game giving the Huskies two contests against top-flight competition by the end of November. The Huskies will also host Oklahoma State and are looking for one more game against a BCS-type school to play on the road.

As for advancing to the semis, this tournament has historically been set up to make it pretty easy for the four host schools.

Here's a look at the history of the CBE Classic and you can see, for instance, that UCLA last year played CS-San Bernardino and Youngstown State in the first two rounds to advance to the semis. UW will likely get opponents of similar ilk for its two home games.

Since the CBE Classic began in 2001, the only team that hosted a regional that didn't advance to the semis was Stanford in 2006 when it was beaten by Air Force.

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Posted by Dave " The Meatball" Armistead

10:39 AM, May 05, 2008

"if UW wins its two home games and advances to the semifinals it would face Kansas, the defending NCAA champs."

Bob- Let's not kid ourselves, this is the biggest 'If" that I have ever read. Washington will likely lose their first game in that speudo tourney.

Posted by grant

10:41 AM, May 05, 2008

However it plays out, I hope we play Florida instead of Syracuse in the last game. Syracuse is a quality opponent, but I'd like to see us play some new teams (plus I think Florida will be better next year). No matter what, the Dawgs need to come away with a win or two. The Pac-10 will be down a little next season, so non-conference wins against quality teams will be a bigger component of NCAA bids for us.

Posted by patience

1:14 PM, May 05, 2008

i can hardly believe my eyes!

meathead dave, you made a public wager last season that the dawgs wouldn't win 4 PAC 10 games. you lost and refused to pay up. now you're back talking trash like nothing happened?

not that i'm surprised, your actions are the same as your hero lute "i walked out on my team" olson. both of you don't keep your commitments and neither of you have much integrity.

Posted by Dave " The Meatball" Armistead

1:58 PM, May 05, 2008

Patience- remind the Meatball with his exact statement made last year with time stamp, ect...and then I will see if I can be a man of my word.

Posted by Ziasudra

2:17 PM, May 05, 2008

Meathead - you are starting to revert to your once-discarded nastiness.
BTW, I understand pseudo- to mean imitation/false something, but what is speudo? Sounds like something you spit out. . . .

Posted by AZ Dawg

4:06 AM, May 06, 2008

I'm a UW fan but lets not get ahead of ourselves by suggesting we would meet up with Kansas.

Like the NCAA tournament 2 years ago (all dressed up with no one to play) or last year's end of season tournament where people were looking at matchups down the road yet we couldn't beat the 1st team we played... at home... who subsequently lost by 20 the next game.

Posted by Dave " The Meatball" Armistead

9:29 AM, May 06, 2008

Thank you AZ Dawg for sparkling this blog with some reality.

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