As we try to withstand the dropping December temperatures, and after the selection committee has selected their field of four for the College Football Playoff, we wait. Chris Petersen's Huskies did their thing on the gridiron, and now we have to wait until the end of the month to see how they stack up against the the evil empire Nick Saban has built in Tuscaloosa at the University of Alabama.

However, just a few steps from Husky Stadium Lorenzo Romar's Huskies are getting started on the hardwood. Unfortunately they do not have any Jake Browning equivilents that might carry them into the NCAA Tournament come March, and possibly save Romar's job.

Romar has now gone four straight years without making an appearance in the Big Dance, and so far it looks like this won't be the year he breaks that streak. Gone are Dejuonte Murray and Marquisse Chriss, having left for the NBA. Still, this Husky team like last year's boasts young talent, with freshman Markelle Fultz leading the way. 

Fultz like many UW freshman before him comes in highly heralded. From the state of Maryland, he was rated in the top 10 of every major recruiting service last year and the 6-foot-4 guard has come on strong in the Huskies' first seven games, shooting 54 percent from the field and notching triple-doubles and double-doubles left and right.

Despite Fultz's performances, the Huskies are only 4-3, and just lost twice in a row to Texas Christian, hardly the basketball powerhouse. Support Fultz would be sophomores Malik Dime who ranks in the top 15 in the country in blocks and Noah Dickerson is nearly averaging a double-double.

Looking at their 4-3 record, it's actually worse than it seems as they have not played any ranked teams and even lost to Yale in their first non-exhibition of the year. 

Now a date with 8th-ranked Gonzaga looms in Spokane on Wednesday, renewing the cross-state rivalry that has not been played since 2006. Last season the two teams played in the Battle 4 Atlantis preseason tournament, although that was a game niether team scheduled, and Washington lost that one 80-64. 

No one knows why the two schools stopped playing each other, especially as the Huskies were in the midst of their glory days of top recruits, NBA prospects and NCAA Tournament appearances. Gonzaga has kept up its perennial postseason player status, having run their streak to 19 straight years and added lite Eight appearance in 2015. 

It seems each program are headed in divergent paths, nonetheless let's hope the revival of the rivalry can help revive the Husky program.

Photo: Flickr/Dave Sizer