Why the Huskies COULD Win Out

There seems to be at least a little interest in this topic so I thought I’d try to explain.  Joe, Dan, and me seem to be in agreement that the Huskies very well could win the rest of their regular season games (I haven’t talked to Matthew about this but I think he probably feels the same).  We know that the Huskies have 3 more road games.  We know that they’ve only won one road game out of eight.  We know they are as inconsistent as Pac-10 refs. But I’ll explain why we think this.

When I was young I played basketball and baseball.  My dad was my coach and I loved playing these sports to say the least.  I would practice and practice, not because I was supposed to but because I wanted to.  But no matter how much I practiced dad would tell me that sports were 50% physical and 50% mental.  You could have all the physical skills in the world, but without the right mindset (the mindset that you would make a shot, throw it where you’re supposed to, and that you’re going to win) you wouldn’t be a good player.  All year the Huskies have had this mental problem in which they couldn’t play anywhere near their potential on the road.  Now, they finally won a road game and maybe that problem is gone.  Maybe not, but the Huskies are clearly a better team than their 1-7 road record and now that they’ve got the monkey off their back.  Their mindset might be in the right place now. 

So lets take a look at the next 5 games:

Feb. 18th, home against USC-  This game scares me.  I know the Huskies play like a top 15 team at home but, for whatever reason, it seems like we never match up with them.  They are pretty athletic and completely dominated us when we played them at home.  I think we win this game but not that easily. 

Feb. 20th, home against UCLA-  We should win this game for many reasons.  UCLA is not very good, it’s senior day, national TV, sold out arena, college gameday is there, and we should’ve beat UCLA on the road.  Count this one as a win.

Feb. 27th, @WSU-  It’s hard to win on your rivals home floor and this is probably our toughest road game left.  WSU has had these 2nd half collapses and it would seem like they’d play a complete game sometime but I think their young team is tired.  This game is a toss-up for me.  We match up pretty well with them but it’s their last home game, which makes for a pretty hostile environment. 

Mar. 4th, @Oregon-  Since beating the Huskies at Hec Ed. Oregon has lost 8 of it’s last 10 games.  The Ducks suck but if they’re going to be fired up and ready to win a game it’ll be this one.  Oregon fans don’t like UW (much like we don’t like them) and they will make it a tough place to play.  Even with this I think the Huskies will avenge their only home loss of the season and win this game. 

Mar. 6th, @OSU-  Oregon State is not a tough place to play.  The Beavers can take people by surprise though with their quirky schemes.  On paper we should have no trouble with Oregon State but that’s why they play the game.  OSU is bad and we should win this game but we have to be ready to go and can’t take it easy this game.

If the Huskies have really turned a corner with this road win then they could very well win the rest of their games.  Unfortunately, that’s a big if.  If the Dawgs win out they should lock down a spot in the tournament, if not they’ll have to do some work in the pac-10 tournament.  Regardless of what happens, it makes for an interesting 3 weeks.  I hope they’ve turned the corner.  As one of my favorite bands writes “Just hoping makes me better for it.”

Andrew