Coach Lorenzo Romar held a teleconference today with local media and touched on a variety of issues before the Huskies depart tomorrow for Monday's game against defending national champion Kansas in the semifinal of the CBE Classic at Kansas City's Sprint Center.

No big news other than reserve Matthew Bryan-Amaning may finally make his season debut after missing the past three games because of leg injuries suffered in a fall two weeks ago. MBA will attempt to practice without restrictions tomorrow and if all goes well, he'll play Monday.

Romar said he's not talking to the Huskies so much about the Jayhawks, but more about playing a 40-minute basketball game. So far, the UW has looked good in spurts during a 2-1 campaign. It had a great first half on Tuesday against Cleveland State and a great second half on Thursday against Florida International. Obviously, the season opening loss at Portland was horrible.

After the past two games, Quincy Pondexter has put in extra time on the court and Romar believes the workouts are therapeutic. He said: "Quincy can be very critical of himself and if things aren't going like he'd like them, sometimes go get in that gym and just get lost in working out sometimes it allows him to clear his mind."

On Kansas, Romar noted 6-11 center Cole Aldrich calling him a "good basketball player" and a "wide body." He also mentioned junior guard Sherron Collins who can "take over games at times."

"They believe that they can win because they've won," Romar said. "They're system is their system. But when you lose a Darrell Arthur, Mario Chalmers (and) Brandon Rush all in the same year, you're going to be a little bit of a different team."

Romar said Washington has made significant progress defensively, alluding to UW's ability to hold CSU to 31.4 percent shooting and FIU to 33.3 percent. He also said the team needs to cut down on its turnovers. UW is averaging 19 turnovers in three games. The goal is to limit TOs to 13 or fewer.

Romar raved once again about Justin Holiday, who has been a star off the bench.

As for Scott Suggs, who made his season debut Thursday, the coach downplayed the freshman's appearance, which wiped away any chance of redshirting. "I don't think we've gone in other years where guys on the team never got to play at all. If you look at the other six years that we've been here, I think everyone has played in the preseason. I don't think we've ever gone a preseason where guys don't get in at all. I didn't see where it was anything magical about him getting in the game. He just got in the game."

Finally, on Artem Wallace, Romar said the senior center who is recovering from a knee injury is "probably a step slow from where he was." The knee is stable, however, Wallace's conditioning needs to improve.