Can UW still make the NCAA Tournament?

I am no Joe Lundari nor do I claim to be, but it doesn’t take Joe Lundari to see that UW has entered into the bubble zone if they weren’t already a bubble team with their loss tonight to WSU.

UW may have to win the PAC-10 tournament to be able to get into the NCAA tournament. There is a chance, that if they win out and make it through to the championship game and lose to a team like UCLA or Arizona that they could still make the tournament with a record of 22-9 in the regular season and 12-9 in PAC-10 play.

If they lose either to UCLA or USC next week, the chances go from just making a solid run in the PAC-10 tournament to needing to win the tournament. Honestly, the Dawgs should just go into the tournament with the mindset of winning the whole thing to have that certainty of making the NCAA tournament.

The loss tonight looks to have more to do with the fact that the Huskies can get rattled especially when they come out cold. If they Huskies would have scored more than their abysmal 17 points in the first half, say 25, they would have been in it in the second half and easily could have played for the win.

Though, let’s not get into the “what-if” scenarios because those are extensive:

• What if Abdul Gaddy hadn’t got injured for the season?
• What if Scott Suggs had played in this game?
• What if there weren’t rape charges following the team for part of the season?
• What if…..

The “what-if” game can get out of control in crazy. The real question is can the Huskies get their minds set, get focused enough to make a run, and not lose their shot at the NCAA tournament this year? That remains to be seen.

This is a team that can make a run, if they can get hot, start playing together, and get whatever is clogging their mind out. The game against UCLA on March 3rd, will be pivotal to any sort of momentum or run into the tournament.