This weekend it was announced that former Husky star Quincy Pondexter will be inducted into the Pac-12 Hall of honor, a reminder of the days when Husky basketball was still as relevant on the court as it is on the recruiting trail. Now their co-hosts at Hec Ed Pavilion are experiencing their own golden age, with the Husky women ranked no. 8 in the country, a season after they played Cinderella at the NCAA Women's Tournament, making it to the Final Four.

Lorenzo Romar has been a marvel recruiting the best talent to Montlake, successfully keeping the Seattle area's best recruits home and bringing in top prospects from all over the West Coast. This year is no different, freshman Markelle Fultz is showing why he was one of the country's top recruits, yet the Huskies continue to limp through Pac-12 play. This year has been especially tough, as the Huskies couldn't even get through non-conference play unscathed, even losing to Yale and TCU (twice).

Fultz likely won't be around Montlake past this spring, as the consensus around him is that he will be a lottery pick come June. This is no new trend, as Romar has continually seen NBA talent suit up for him. Marquesse Chriss, Dejounte Murray, Pondexter, Terrance Ross, Tony Wroten, Isaiah Thomas, and of course the greatest generation of Husky basketball players that included Nate Robinson and Brandon Roy.

However Romar has not found a way to turn that talent into NCAA tournament appearances since Isaiah Thomas was on campus. Meanwhile it seems that the women's program may have found a winning formula. They have a bonafide star in Kelsey Plum and a number of players capable of stepping up in supporting roles. One huge difference that may help the women's team sustain their success is the fact that they don't have to worry about players leaving early. Throughout women's basketball, coaches know that they have the chacne to develop a player over four years, something that is not a shared experience for men's programs.

If we look back at Romar's tournament teams, we see he had juniors and seniors leading those teams. Thomas, Robinson, Pondexter and Roy all stayed through at least their junior seasons and had other veterans such as Jon Brockman, Will Conroy and Abdul Gaddy alongside them.

That is what Romar needs to start doing when he recruits his next class, look for players that can develop over time and be leaders on the floor, extensions of Romar's philosophies. Although with the state of things now, he may not get a chance to recruit those type of players.

Photo: Flickr/Dave Sizer