Dot Dot Dawg: No Sweet 16 This Year

The Seattle Times — Huskies’ magic dries up as North Carolina gives UW another early exit from NCAA tournament

Percy Allen’s dispatch from yesterday’s Washington Huskies loss in the round of 32 focuses on how UW’s four-man senior class dealt with the disappointing end to their season, on a day in which Washington’s defense simply couldn’t hang with a North Carolina Tar Heels offense as potent as any in the nation.

The Seattle Times — One sad day doesn’t change the solid foundation these Huskies have built

Matt Calkins urges readers to look beyond the pain of Sunday’s blowout loss to the Tar Heels, and instead focus on the positive steps Mike Hopkins’ team took this year in laying the foundation for future success:

Two years ago, the idea of Washington making it to the second round of the NCAA tournament was far-fetched if not outright absurd. Same with it running away with the Pac-12 title or winning 15 straight games at home.

But the Huskies did all those things — reinventing their program and reinvigorating their fan base. How dejected could they really be?

The Oregonian — Pac-12 problems won’t go away until the commissioner does

John Canzano’s latest broadside against the Pac-12 commissioner levies accusations that Larry Scott misled conference fans when characterized Pac-12 senior vice president Woodie Dixon’s interference in football officiating as an isolated incident. Rather, it appears that Dixon had previously attempted (and perhaps succeeded) at inserting himself into officiating decisions, according to Jon Wilner’s earlier reporting. In short: this is going to get a lot worse before it starts to get better.

Dots

• The latest episode of the Podcast of Champions focuses on the state of Washington’s football program in advance of spring camp.
• Stewart Mandel mentions Jacob Eason as a candidate to draw some early season Heisman attention if he’s able to get off to a hot start.
• Bama’s assistants have a payroll in excess of $7.5 million, including a $1.55 million salary for offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian.
• The Husky baseball team swept a three-game home series against the visiting USC Trojans over the weekend, to improve to 14-5 (5-1) on the year.
• The Daily’s Josh Kirshenbaum details the No. 7 women’s softball team’s 14-2 blowout victory over the Ducks in Eugene on Sunday.