A Husky broadcaster explains why one metric should change how fans view Washington

The Washington Huskies had an impressive surge in the net rankings. They jumped from 57 to 47 overnight after beating Northwestern. Their resume is starting to look more and more like a bubble team, and some good news is coming. The schedule gets dramatically easier as the team finally gets moderately healthy.

Tony Castricone, Husky broadcaster, dropped a metric on X (see below) that should give Washington Husky fans some hope for the rest of this season. The Huskies have played the toughest conference strength of schedule so far this season. In all of college basketball, not just in the Big Ten. During that stretch, they went 4-7.

Castricone wrote, "Dawgs have a great opportunity to surge down the stretch. 4 wins in that 1st 11 is actually a pretty solid foundation!" He's not wrong, as Washington had five opponents in the top 15: Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Purdue, and Illinois. The schedule opens up dramatically to close the season.

Washington Huskies are surging and could make a big statement for bracketologists in the remaining games

Related: One overnight metric shift suddenly put Washington on the NCAA Tournament bubble

The Huskies have nine games left in the regular season and then will head into the Big Ten Tournament. In that time, they mostly play quad-2 or 3 opponents. They have two final quad-1 games: the next two are at Iowa (NET 20) and UCLA (NET 44). The only other opponent that could end up being a quad-1 is Wisconsin, which is sitting at NET 41.

The rest of the way is the easiest schedule in the Big Ten as they face Penn State (NET 130), Minnesota (NET 83), Maryland (NET 170), Rutgers (NET 159), USC (NET 48), and Oregon (NET 116). Add back in Iowa, UCLA, and Wisconsin, and if the Huskies got 7-2 to close out the season, that would be great for their tournament chances.

The next two games against Iowa and UCLA will determine whether they are a legit contender or a pretender this season.