Q&A: Lorenzo Romar guides Washington to top of Pac-12

Lorenzo Romar’s Washington Huskies men’s basketball team became champion of the Pac-12 Conference’s regular season when Stanford upset California, 75-70, on Sunday.

The Huskies are probably headed to the NCAA tournament no matter what happens during the conference tournament this week at Staples Center, but Romar would like his team to guarantee its own place.

Washington, 21-9 overall and 14-4 in Pac-12 play, has won 13 of its last 16 games The Huskies are led by sophomore guard Terrence Ross, who averages 15.3 points and 6.6 rebounds, and freshman guard Tony Wroten, who is averaging 16.3 points and 3.7 assists.

Romar, who on Monday was announced as the Pac-12 coach of the year, was an assistant to Jim Harrick during UCLA’s 1995 national championship season. Pac-12 regular-season and tournament titles would raise his profile at a time when UCLA Coach Ben Howland is under scrutiny because of a disappointing season and allegations he has lost control over some of the players in his program.

Your season’s body of work includes a two-point loss to Marquette and a six-point loss to Duke, your Pac-12 run and a loss to South Dakota State. What do you take from that?

“That schedule allowed us to do some growing. Those big road games on a big stage that we faced were meant to look toward the end of the year, and I believe it helped us during the conference games. Going different places, taking on those quality opponents is a good thing.”

Can you recall the conference being so down? And, because of that, was the competition you faced enough to make you feel confident about your chances in the NCAAs?

“I’d never think there would be a day when only the league champ is guaranteed a spot. For there to be any doubt this late about us getting more than one entrant is staggering. But when you consider how much talent we’ve lost in this league over a three-year period … it reminds me of when [Coach] Bobby Cremins at Georgia Tech lost Kenny Anderson at point guard to the NBA. That was OK because he still had Stephon Marbury. And when he left, that was OK because he still had Dion Glover. But when Glover left, that was it. Cremins couldn’t win anymore. That’s what’s happened in our league. So many players have been leaving early. The farmers came and picked all the fruit out of the garden. Now it has to grow back.”

Will it start returning to normal next season?

“Multiple teams are young and a couple, UCLA and Arizona, will be very good. The perception is it was down, but there are quality teams in this league that will put us to the test right now, as we just saw. (Washington was upset by UCLA on Saturday at the Sports Arena.) It’s hard to predict what will happen with Oregon playing very well and UCLA, which was picked to win our league, rounding into form.”

Does anyone have anyone better than Terrence Ross?

“I think he’s the most talented, given his ability to knock down threes, rebound, score over the top of you and block shots. Tough, tough player.”

Are there concerns about relying on a freshman guard (Tony Wroten) under the increased pressure of the postseason?

“He’s smart, ambitious, a man. He’s learned on the fly what he can and can’t get away with. It’s trial and error, but he does that in a full-bore, relentless manner. I don’t know that I’ve done anything, or said anything, special to him. He’s watched Terrence, [sophomore] C.J. Wilcox, [junior] Abdul Gaddy and guys who’ve left the program — Brandon Roy, Jamal Crawford — have told him what to expect. The more he plays, the more he sees those guys know what they’re talking about.”

You just lost to UCLA. Does it appear to you as if Ben Howland has lost control of that program?

“No way. You can have an individual who’s tricky and difficult to coach, but Coach Howland made a decision there. If you shined a microscope on similar programs, you’d have similar problems. But that one’s at UCLA, so there’s more to it. What I remember of Ben are those three straight Final Fours he played in, and what they did to us [Saturday]. He’s fine.”

If the situation at UCLA heads further south, the Bruins may be in the market for a new coach. Would that job appeal to you?

“I’m never looking anywhere but Washington, and I maintain this is where I want to be.”

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

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