Washington Huskies Basketball: Alumni Game A Huge Success From A Fan’s Eye
Christian Welp is introduced before the Legends Game at Alaska Airlines Arena. Welp’s purple team beat the white team 27-22. Photo by: Evan Webeck/The Husky Haul
In just an 11-year period at the UW, Lorenzo Romar has been able to turn plenty of prospects into professional players. The best of the best of the Romar era were on display at the UW Alumni Game last weekend at Alaska Airlines Arena. With no way to see NBA players come to Seattle during the season, I jumped at the opportunity to see UW’s finest come back to their home court.
Romar has sent 12 players to the NBA during his time at UW and all were in attendance, along with many other alumni who have played professionally overseas.
Besides the Alumni Game, the event included a Legends Game, bringing back UW greats from the late-50’s on. Each decade was represented in the event and there were many more alumni in attendance.
It was great to see that all the alumni still come back to support their program no matter where they have gone. Everyone sticks to the motto, once a Husky, always a Husky.
Coach Romar even made an appearance during the Legends Game, and he can still play. Romar hit his first three 3-pointers, threw a share of no look passes and finished as the MVP with 11 points. Even at 54 years old, Coach Romar has still got it.
Going to the arena, I was expecting a crowd of around four or five thousand, but that prediction was out the door when I walked inside. Not a single ticket remained when the event started, and there was not much seating to be found once inside. Many times it was announced to move as close to the middle as you could to allow more people seating. I was hoping to sit in the lower bowl, but it was full when I arrived 30 minutes before the event started.
The recruits who were in attendance must have been impressed by the amount of fans and the support shown to past and present players, and with the amount of UW alumni playing in the NBA, how can you not have UW as one of your top choices? Even with the recent struggles of the program, Husky fans still support Coach Romar and the past and present players. As Husky fans, we believe in the program and know that more success is in the future.
For those who weren’t at the event, you missed a day filled with dunks, laughs, memories (Isaiah Thomas’s reenactment of “cold blooded” was priceless), and a true showing of what it means to be a Husky.
Going into to my first year at UW this fall, I can’t wait to become a part of the family, be at the opening of the new Husky Stadium, and see the basketball team return to the NCAA tournament. With the great response the program got from this year’s Alumni Game, I hope to see it return in the future.