Happy Happy, Roy Joy

Before the Huskies' 2nd round matchup vs. Illinois, we professed fear at how the Dawgs' freshman point guard, Justin Dentmon, would fare against All-Big 10 senior guard Dee Brown. Dentmon was incredible. He didn't turn the ball over once, and his late four-point-play was the catalyst for the Husky comeback.

The other catalyst--coach Lorenzo Romar, who's rapidly advancing to guru status. With 12 minutes left, and the Huskies down double-digits, Romar told the Huskies that they would win the game, if they could stop Illinois forward James Augustine, who was killing the Huskies inside. Then, reports Bob Condotta of the Times...

"Coach looked at Mike [senior forward Mike Jensen] and Mike looked at him and came to the conclusion that this could be it for him, so to go out there like there is no tomorrow," said UW guard Bobby Jones.

Augustine didn't take another shot.

Other heroes:

--Brandon Roy had 21 points, and scored on a magical scoop shot with 3:47 left to tie the game.
--Jamaal Williams scored 10, and had the best defensive game of his life, with three blocks, two steals, and the late game defensive stop on Dee Brown's last-second three attempt.
--The four seniors all played 30 minutes or more, and along with Justin Dentmon, were the only five Huskies on the floor during game's final eight minutes.

After Brown's shot bounced long off the rim, we hugged and yelled and ran up onto our porch and yelled more. Then we watched our roommate fulfill the promise he made when the Huskies started to come back--that he'd drink five shots of whisky if they won. But we don't think the whisky made him any happier than he already was.

The Huskies--in the sweet 16 for the second-straight year, a school first, can avenge their horrific 1998 regional semifinal loss to Connecticut Friday at 6:45 pm.