The Washington Huskies saw their 2015-16 season come to a close this past week with their loss to top-seeded Oregon in the Pac-12 conference tournament. There's no shame in losing to a top-10 team and possible no. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, and they were able to at least advance ot the second round after beating Stanford, which is a positive. But they're conference tourney performance was a small chasm of their season as a whole: up and down.
If we harken back to the start of the new year, the Dawgs were riding high at the top of the Pac-12 standings, and then their youth showed. They went through what could be an expected swoon, ending the season on a down note. But there question remains, was their season a success? The short answer is yes. Although Huskies fans have to sit through another March Madness without the Huskies, if their results are put in perspective there are a lot of positives.
As mentioned, this team is young, next year they will only lose one significant player - unless someone heads to the NBA early, which is highly unlikely. Granted that one loss is the conference's leading scorer, senior Andrew Andrews but freshman like Dejounte Murray have proven that they are capable to taking on Andrews' mantle. The role Andrews played as a senior leader and offensive leader did wonders for the development of the team's underclassmen. By assuming the pressure of being "the guy," Murray and co. were able to focus on their complimentary roles and adjust to the college game. Not to mention, they got to see first hand how to be a leader through Andrews' example.
Therefore when put in perspective, one can't help but be excited about next year. However that means the pressure will be on Lorenzo Romar, and any slippage will result in his seat getting hotter and hotter. Next year must be tournament appearance or bust for Romar, because another year without any dancing is too much to stand for this basketball program. He's shown he can recruit, but when he's been able to get keep Seattle's top prep stars in town, he doesn't have a good track record of turning it into W's. Spencer Hawe and Tony Wroten, now in the NBA, missed out on the tournament in their lone year in Montlake. Romar can't afford to let another top Seattle laden class go without a taste of March.
The future is bright, but with it comes added pressure. Will the young Huskies mature enough between now and then to handle it?
Photo: Flickr/Dave Sizer
