Regina Rogers leads resurgent Lady Huskies

I used to watch the Huskies women basketball team with a lot of regularity. I even used to attend a game or two when I used to live in Seattle. I enjoy women's basketball because of the overall teamwork, defense, and most importantly passing that has become more or less absent in the men's version of the game.

I have to admit that the height of my UW women's basketball fandom came during the Giuliana and Gioconda Mendiola years. Those girls were just amazingly tough on and off the court. They both played a solid brand of ball that was to fun to watch.

The program declined a bit after they graduated and Todd Turner fired June Daugherty after another NCAA Tournament appearance to pick up the buzz of a Tia Jackson that never quite developed. The program has been in turmoil ever since and I really haven't paid too much attention to it until now.

This year I have a couple of reason to watch again when a game is televised on ROOT. Those reasons are new head coach Kevin McGuff and senior center Regina Rogers who happens to be the daughter of former Husky DE Reggie Rogers.

The Huskies are off to a 7-2 start and Rogers is leading the team with an average of 18 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. I am not sure how far the Huskies will go in their first season under Coach McGuff but is safe to say that they will end up going as far as Regina Rogers takes them.

Conditioning has been her main challenge while at Washington (she spent her first two years at UCLA) but she is now playing an average of 27 minutes per game this season and that should increase when conference play starts after Christmas.

Even though you can categorize her as a big bodied post she still can handle the ball like a point guard when needed. She is an incredible athlete just like her father Reggie, her late uncle Don, and her maternal uncle Chet "The Jet" Dorsey who was once a Husky basketball player too.

This is her final season at Washington and everything is starting to come together for her. If you get a chance to watch the team on TV this season do it because she is a special type of athlete whose best games are out in front of her.