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If there was ever a do or die week for the Huskies and its chances of making it back to the NCAA tournament, this might be it with two games in Oregon this week.
The Huskies dropped two disappointing games at home against Stanford last Wednesday and then to Cal on a last-second buzzer beater on Super Bowl Sunday. Although I contend that if you lose a game on Super Bowl Sunday, did it actually happen? Let’s face it, the Cal loss pales in comparison to what went down later that night.
In fact, the Seahawks have probably helped shield the heat that this team might have for how Romar's crew has imploded. But for the city’s preoccupation with the football team, more criticism of how this team has fallen off would be heard and written about. By the way, can someone explain why the Hawks didn't run the ball in from the 1?
If they could have swept the Bay area schools at home last week it would have helped with the Huskies’ chances of righting themselves as they head into this road trip.
With the losses last week, the Huskies fell to sixth in RPI strength in the Pac 12 behind Arizona (4), Utah (11), Stanford (32), UCLA (61) and Oregon (69). The Huskies are now down to 74 in RPI per ESPN. They sit 10th in the conference.
Let’s face it; the Dawgs are in dire need of a huge winning streak. They are 5-7 in their last 12 games and have a 3-6 conference record with 5 of their last 9 regular season games left on the road. It doesn't look good from here.
Even Jerry Palm of CBS Sports, who has looked favorably on the Huskies in his Bracketology prognostications has the team as the last team on his "First Four Out."
Chris Dobbertean of SB Nation still has the Huskies teetering as he has them in his "Next Four Out."
Joe Lunardi of ESPN does not have the Huskies in the tournament or in the first 8 teams out of the tournament.
Frankly, the Dawgs need to string together wins especially teams with similar RPIs like Oregon and Oregon State. If Romar can get his team to sweep the Oregon schools, we can focus on a big Friday the 13th against Arizona.