The University of Washington men's basketball team has been on quite a roll lately. Heading into their Saturday home match-up with the Bears of UC Berkeley, the Huskies had won nine games in a row, including their first two Pac-10 conference games. They were winning with swarming defense and great rebounding, lead by senior John Brockman, second in the conference in rebounding at over 10 per game.

The match-up with the Bears, also undefeated in early conference play, lived up to the early season hype surrounding both upstart teams. The game went into triple overtime, and, although the Huskies were leading or tied the entire game, the Bears eked out a three-point road victory. They were helped by timely three-point shooting, second chance points... and two dubious foul calls at the end of the second overtime period. With the Huskies leading by four and time running down, UW's Justin Holiday was called for a foul on a three point shot by Jerome Randle, even though replays showed Holiday never touched Randle. Then, with less then two seconds remaining and the Huskies leading by three, a foul was called on what would have been a meaningless two point lay-up by D.J. Seeley. This is the time and situation of a game when the referee needs to swallow his whistle; unfortunately for the Huskies, the foul was called, the tying free throw was made, and the game was lost in the next overtime.

Mental Errors Hurt Dawgs

That being said, the Huskies did themselves no favors—they missed some important free throws down the stretch, specifically when Justin Dentmon, who was solid all game from the free throw stripe, missed two of his last four free throw attempts. Furthermore, Isaiah Thomas should have been nowhere near Seeley when he went for the meaningless put-back from a badly missed three pointer. The fact that Thomas made contact at all is a huge mental error that the young point guard will have to avoid in future games.

That the Huskies couldn't defend their home court in front of a raucous crowd is definitely a set-back for the young team. Their next game is against traditional conference power Oregon; even though the Ducks are having a down year—6-10 overall and winless in Pac-10 play—they always get up for the UW and play their northwest rivals tight. A win over Berkeley at Bank of America Arena would have given them a great boost going into their road trip to Oregon.

Positive Signs Even in the Loss

In the end, however, there are many good things that can be taken from this game from the Huskies' standpoint. Just the fact that Thomas, a freshman, was in the game during crunch time is a great sign for his ongoing growth as a leader on the team; he will learn from his mistake and come back stronger, this year and in years to come. What's more, Brockman continues to establish himself among the elite players in the conference, pulling down 18 rebounds for the second straight game. And the team's steady improvement as the season has progressed bodes well for the remainder of the conference schedule. Even with the heartbreaking loss, the Huskies proved that they aren't going anywhere, and re-established themselves as one of the top teams in the Pac-10.