Huskies Resent the Woofing

On the eve of the NCAA tournament, it’s still hard to figure who’s more surprised and affected by Washington’s being awarded a No. 1 seeding -- the Huskies or the rest of college basketball.

Make no mistake about this, though -- Washington (27-5) is using its top-seeded status in the Albuquerque Regional as motivation rather than celebration. The Huskies still view themselves as second-class citizens as they prepare to face 16th-seeded Montana (18-12) today in Boise’s Taco Bell Arena.

“Being a No. 1 seed, we didn’t ask for that,” senior guard Will Conroy said. “We didn’t go beg to be a No. 1 seed.

“We’re underdogs. I don’t care what seed you slap us with. We’re not going to be the hunted; we’re going to be the hunters.”

Only in Seattle would the headstrong Huskies feel slighted by national recognition. Then again, analysts have been criticizing the selection committee’s anointing of the Huskies as one of the four top dogs in the Big Dance from the moment the brackets came out.

Washington is exciting, sure, critics say. But the Huskies are considered too temperamental, too unstable, too frenetic to be a serious contender.

Maybe there is something to the Huskies’ arriving in Boise with a chip the size of an Idaho spud on their shoulders.

“Our backs have been against the wall so long,” third-year Coach Lorenzo Romar said, “it’s just a standard way of life for us.”

Washington responded well to its self-imposed challenge this season, following a regular-season runner-up finish to perennial Pacific 10 Conference power Arizona with a Pac-10 tournament title won decisively over the Wildcats.

“We didn’t know what seed we’d be or where we’d go,” junior point guard Nate Robinson said. “We thought we’d be second or third, but when they slapped us with a No. 1, we were like, ‘Yeah, let’s go.’ ”

Then came the outcry.

“That’s like someone coming over to your house and taking food off your table,” Robinson said. “That’s not respecting us.”

In fact, it was Arizona Coach Lute Olson who had suggested that a No. 1 seeding was still in play. Little did he know it was Washington, which has won five of the last six meetings with Arizona, that would snag its first top seeding.

“[That] was the biggest surprise to me,” said Olson, whose Wildcats (27-6) are No. 3 in the Chicago Regional and face No. 14 Utah State (24-7) in a first-round game today, also at Boise.

“But I think it’s great that their schedule has been tough enough to warrant that ... and I’m certain that the national exposure with [the tournament title game] on TV all over the country ... made a huge difference for them, and I’m very pleased for them.”

Likewise, the Huskies said they would root for their rivals, what with Pac-10 pride at stake.

“I called Salim [Stoudamire] yesterday,” Conroy said of Arizona’s fiery guard. “He must still be mad at me. He didn’t answer, and he didn’t return my call.”

With No. 16-seeded teams a combined 0-80 against top-seeded teams since the tournament expanded in 1985, the Huskies should more than answer their call.