Washington Basketball Madness hopes down to final 3 game stretch
By Cody Tyo
What the Huskies have to do
There’s no obvious formula. The talking heads will continue to make bracket projections that include the Huskies on the bubble — typically in the “first four out”.
Hopkins has emphasized to his team the importance of playing the next game. He wants his staff and players to compete every night and win every game they can — always focused on improving each night.
That recipe led to success in the early part of conference play.
UW is matched up with Cal Saturday night in its final road game of the regular season. Washington downed the Golden Bears in their last face-off in Seattle earlier this year, but enters this one with a whole lot more on the line.
After the Huskies deal with Cal, they return home for a home series finale against Oregon State and Oregon. Those two schools ignited the UW skid, as Washington left its Oregon road trip two weeks ago empty-handed.
If Washington can find a way to win-out in its last three games, it likely has a chance to break through the bubble and into the tournament. Other Pac-12 teams, including USC, UCLA, and Utah, will be directly competing with Washington. That competition does not stop at seeding in the Pac-12 Tournament, but also for bids to the NCAA tourney. All four teams are now in the bubble.
What the current projections say
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi slots Washington as the third team out of the tournament — after UCLA and Texas. USC is the last team in Lunardi’s field.
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Jerry Palm of CBS has Washington as the first team out of the tournament, followed by Texas, Baylor, and Louisville. Palm includes both UCLA and USC in his last four teams in. Washington Rating Performance Index, or RPI is currently .575, good for a ranking of 54 — with some potential to rise with the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament.