Down to the final minute they went, Gonzaga and Washington trading big plays and clutch shots. They had the crowd roaring, standing, jumping and calling for more. On Sunday night, a percolating Alaska Airlines Arena was the place to be, not in front of a TV set somewhere watching the Seahawks get manhandled.

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During a practice this month, the University of Washington Huskies men's hoopsters momentarily set up in their trademark 2-3 zone defense with 7-1 Brian Penn-Johnson,  6-9 Isaiah Stewart and 6-9 Hameir Wright in the back, and 6-6 Nahziah Carter and 6-6 Jamal Bey out front.

Most NBA teams can't do vertical like that.

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As the waterfall of oohs and aahs washes over the latest Huskies football hero, QB Jacob Eason, it is important to note, before his legend swells beyond recognition, that the most impressive pass he threw fell incomplete.

In Saturday's 47-14 walk-over (box) of Eastern Washington at Husky Stadium  -- the Big Sky Conference foe that University of Washington coach Chris Petersen tried in vain to hype into Notre Dame -- Eason in the second quarter had to corral a bad snap in shotgun formation. At the UW 35-yard line, he stepped to his right for a clear view of WR Aaron Fuller streaking down the sideline, beating single coverage.

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It wasn't possible to determine whether Chris Petersen was wearing burlap underwear. Just seemed like it.

"Timing is a little bit awkward," he said quietly. "I think that was a bit surprising."

Actually, it was the Huskies football coach who seemed awkward Monday, answering questions for the second time in four months about a quarterback wanting to leave his high-profile program to get more playing time elsewhere.

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In its ongoing pursuit to remain a relic from 19th-century Britain in 21st-century America, the NCAA has fired a shot across the bow of California state legislature that is advancing a bill to compensate college athletes by 2023 for use of their likenesses.

Mark Emmert, the former University of Washington president now in charge of rolling the NCAA's rock up a steep hill, wrote a letter of complaint last week strongly suggesting that if the bill became law, California schools would be prohibited from participating in NCAA events, including and especially four members of the Pac-12 Conference -- USC, UCLA, Cal-Berkeley and Stanford.

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Of all the nuisance things that have attended the Pac-12 Conference's full sellout of its breadwinner football enterprise to the demons of the television schedule, the 7:30 p.m. kickoff is the worst. And not just because it inconveniences me or my media colleagues, who manage to handle 7 p.m. starts for baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer games with only modest whimpering.

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It was over in warmups.

Watching North Carolina at one end of the arena in Columbus, and Washington at the other. After five minutes, any discerning follower of basketball could tell. There was almost no way to imagine that the Huskies were going to win their second-round game that Sunday afternoon in the NCAA men's basketball tourney.

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Huskies coach Mike Hopkins has taken his recruitment skills to the top tier of men's college basketball. The announcement Wednesday of the signing of Jaden McDaniels, a 6-9, 185-pound forward from Federal Way High School and one of the nation's premier prep players, to pair with another five-star recruit, 6-9, 245-pound forward Isaiah Stewart, signals a new frontier for UW hoops.

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The college basketball nation is recognizing what the Pac-12 Conference has known for the past couple of years -- Matisse Thybulle is the best there is when it comes to defense.

The University of Washington senior swingman was named winner of the 2019 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award, beating out some higher profile competitors such as Brandon Clarke of Gonzaga, De’Andre Hunter of Virginia and Zion Williamson of Duke.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For as much as fans thrill to the memorable upset, the NCAA Tournament is filled with many more routine routs of the sort witnessed Sunday at Nationwide Arena.

Tourney seedings expose the many layers of college basketball, even among the 68 teams that are, more or less, the best of the 330-plus outfits eligible to participate in the amusement.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- As someone who freely admits he's "49 going on 14," Mike Hopkins at the moment is all Disneyland, horse rides and slip-n-slide. In his second year as a college basketball head coach after a two-decade apprenticeship, his giddy meter has pinned the needle.

"We're in March Madness playing against North Carolina," he said, beaming, Saturday afternoon. "I mean, is there anything better?"

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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The wheels weren't exactly coming off. But as Washington's 12-point halftime lead shrunk to 54-53, a few lug nuts seemed to be visible on the Nationwide Arena floor. After a grim first half, Utah State was making its run in the NCAA Tournament opener.

That's when the lessons of December paid off.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For a gregarious guy who has been to 18 previous NCAA Tournaments as an assistant coach at Syracuse, Mike Hopkins was unusually low-key, maybe even tense, as the Huskies head coach lingered Thursday here around a milestone  -- Washington's first appearance in the Big Dance since 2011.

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Two ways to look at the University of Washington's first appearance in the NCAA men's basketball tournament since the simpler days, back when the FBI wasn't the the principal force in college basketball.

From 30,000 feet: Sunday's selection marks an astonishing accomplishment, given that two years ago, following a 9-22 season and the firing of coach Lorenzo Romar, the program looked as bleak as Australia's Outback in The Road Warrior.

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BY DOUG DROWLEY

LAS VEGAS - For one night, just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Washington Huskies.

The silver lining was that the Huskies' 68-48 loss (box) to Oregon Saturday night in the Pac-12 Tournament title game at T-Mobile Arena was not likely fatal to their bid for an NCAA Tournament berth.

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BY DOUG DROWLEY

LAS VEGAS - Decades have passed since the Pac-12 has seen the feats Matisse Thybulle and the Washington Huskies have produced this season. The Pac-12 wasn’t even the Pac-12 the last time such things were accomplished.

Team-wise, the biggest thing Friday night at T-Mobile Arena was that No. 1-seeded Washington advanced to its first Pac-12 Conference tourney championship game since the 2010-11 season with a 66-61 semifinal victory (box) over the Colorado Buffaloes.

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BY DOUG DROWLEY

LAS VEGAS - The sigh of relief covered the entire 1,700 miles from southern Nevada to Seattle.

Despite controlling the pace almost from start to finish, the No. 1-seeded Washington Huskies needed a mistake from eighth-seeded USC with five seconds to play to ensure a 78-75, first-round Pac-12 Tournament victory (box) Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena.

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After a relatively easy dispatch of ninth-seeded Arizona 78-65 Wednesday in the opening game of the Pac-12 Conference men's basketball tourney in Las Vegas, eighth-seeded USC draws No. 1 seeded Washington at noon Thursday in a quarterfinal matchup.  The Huskies beat the Trojans 75-62 in the teams' only meeting Jan. 30 at Hec Ed.

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Big awards day for University of Washington men's hoops.

The Pac-12 Conference announced Monday that sophomore guard Jaylen Nowell was player of the year and coach Mike Hopkins repeated as coach of the year, as did senior Matisse Thybulle for defensive player of the year.

Since the inception of the defensive award 16 years ago, it's the first time all three awards have gone to the same school in the same season.

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Matisse Thybulle and Jaylen Nowell, dominant forces that led the Washington Huskies to the Pac-12 Conference regular-season championship, were named to the 10-member All-Pac-12 first team Monday, as was Washington State's Robert Franks. UW's Noah Dickerson was an honorable mention. It was the fifth time in Pac-12 history UW had three selections.

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