Husky Hoops Fans Hoping for a First-In-a-Lifetime Win

Husky fans celebrate the team's last Elite Eight appearance

Unless you are old enough for senior discounts (lucky!) you've never lived when a University of Washington basketball team made the quarterfinal round of the NCAA tournament. Not since 1953 has UW made what's now called "The Elite Eight." But they will achieve that status if they win Thursday's regional semifinal against West Virginia. Longtime Husky fans like me are counting down the hours...and expecting the worst.

We've cracked open this door four times since '53, each time getting it slammed in our faces. Shall we review the litany of failure? Oh why not:

1984: The Detlef Schrempf-led Huskies lose 64-58 to Dayton. The Dawgs, hurt by foul trouble to starters Alvin Vaughn and Christian Welp, went seven minutes without a field goal in the second half. I listened to this game on a transistor radio at some church function. I may have said some extremely non-churchy-words.

1998: Oh nightmare. After Donald (son of Slick) Watts hit a three-pointer to give Washington a one-point lead with 33 seconds left, UConn's Richard Hamilton grabs a rebound, and, falling backward, sinks a bucket at the buzzer to beat UW 75-74. I watched this game at friend's dorm room. After Hamilton's shot went through, he said to me: "Well, I'm really glad I don't care who won this game." That guy now lives in Connecticut, so he got his comeuppance.

2005: The #1-seeded Huskies fall 93-78 to a hot-shooting Louisville team. Tight officiating hurts the Huskies, as star scorers Nate Robinson and Tre Simmons sit much of the second half with foul trouble. Robinson, playing his last game as a Husky before leaving for the NBA, had just one field goal. I watched this game at The Attic in Madison Park, where my friend David and I exchanged lots of "what do you do?" looks the whole game.

2006: Oh nightmare again. JENSEN! This 98-92 overtime loss to UConn is the reason there's a Facebook group called "Mike Jensen Cost Us a Trip to the Final Four." Deeply unfair, as Jensen's defense in the previous round against Illinois was the key factor in a late Husky run. But, yes, Jensen did commit one of the great blunders in local sports history, fouling a dude who was laying a ball in to give UConn the one point they needed to push the game into OT. I watched this game in the basement of my house, and just got absolutely drunk after to salve my pain. My roommate threw a garbage can down the stairs and chased a raccoon down our alley.

So what's at stake? At least some recompense for the anguish we Husky fans have suffered since the second month of the Eisenhower administration. The game, about which more later, is Thursday in Syracuse at 4:27 p.m. PDT.