| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010 1:03 pm |
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Sports 
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Pondexter is the last Dawg standing Quincy Pondexter is the only remaining member of the UW men’s 2006 recruiting class SEATTLE — They used to sit around in a University of Washington dorm room, sometimes all four of them together, and talk about what was to be.The Pacific-10 Conference titles. The Final Fours. The dynasties. The members of UW’s 2006 recruiting class had the college basketball world in front of them, out there for the taking. “We wanted to pick up and leave our mark on Husky basketball,” said Quincy Pondexter, one of the members of that four-man class. “We all had talent, and we were all really hyped. We wanted to live up to those expectations right away and be one of those North Carolinas, one of those Dukes, a team that was in the Final Four every year. “Unfortunately, it didn’t happen that way. But they were some great times back then.” Four years later, Pondexter is all that remains of that class. Spencer Hawes took his game to the NBA after just one season. Phil Nelson, a talented swingman from Oregon, faced the 2009-10 Huskies earlier this week as a member of the Portland State men’s basketball team. And Adrian Oliver, who followed Nelson’s lead in transferring out of UW, will play against the Huskies tonight in the San Jose State backcourt. The most remarkable thing is that, three years after 75 percent of that class left for greener pastures, the Huskies are already back on track with a national No. 14 ranking. UW coach Lorenzo Romar said this week that the early departures of Hawes, Nelson and Oliver set the program back “for about a year.” But the improvement of guard Justin Dentmon as a senior last season, the emergence of Pondexter, and back-to-back recruiting classes that included high-scoring guard Isaiah Thomas and McDonald’s All-American Abdul Gaddy have put the Huskies back in the hunt for another Pac-10 title. “Thank goodness Justin Dentmon stepped up last year,” Romar said. “If he doesn’t step up, we don’t win our league. Quincy started to step up last year. Things start to happen. If everything was the same, without those (2006 recruits) here, and nobody stepped up, we really would’ve been in trouble. But some guys stepped up. So it didn’t take us too long.” Now only Pondexter remains, and he’s playing like a man trying to carry the weight of an entire recruiting class on his shoulders. The senior team captain was named MVP of the Huskies’ three-game, season-opening Athletes of Action Classic last weekend, and his 29-point performance in just 27 minutes of action Sunday night marked a career-high scoring output. Pondexter has gotten off to such a hot start that Romar is already giving him All-America expectations — and comparing him to one of the best players in school history. “How does that compare on a national level? He’s playing as well as anyone,” Romar said Tuesday. “As I say that, it’s a little scary, because I remember saying those same words about Brandon Roy his senior year, around this time.” The Roy comparison is deeper than just a statistical one. Like Roy, Pondexter was a sought-after recruit who fully expected to be playing in the NBA before his college eligibility expired. And like Roy, Pondexter’s college career progressed most slowly than expected. Both players came into their own as seniors. “I had no idea the path was going to be what it was, but I’m blessed to have lived it,” Pondexter said. “Brandon Roy is the best role model any kid could have. There’s nobody better, to me, than him in his four years here.” The other members of Pondexter’s class didn’t wait to see how their UW careers might finish. Hawes went to the NBA as a lottery pick. Nelson couldn’t see much playing time in his future at UW. And Oliver, who led SJSU in scoring last season, wanted to be a go-to scorer. “Adrian’s been the man all his life,” Romar said of the 6-foot-4 guard who faces the Huskies tonight. “And he should have (been); he’s really good. And in our situation, it wasn’t happening overnight.” Romar said that transfers are difficult for a coach to take, no matter the reason. “When it doesn’t work out for them, you feel like maybe you failed them somehow,” he said. “You hate that.” Pondexter actually considered transferring as well, although, he said this week, it was only “for a second or two.” His career got off to a slow start, leading Pondexter to start wondering if UW was the best place for him. “Quincy went through a period early where (he felt like) it was kind of everybody else’s fault,” Romar said. “Then he went through a period where he thought: I’ve got to do some self-inventory and work through some things. And then he started working his tail off. That’s when things took off.” During those dorm-room conversations of his freshman year, Pondexter never thought that he’d be the only one left three years later. If anything, he thought he might be the one to go to the NBA early. But after Hawes jumped to the NBA, Pondexter continued to float in relative obscurity as a role player on recent Husky teams. He has watched the last two NBA drafts and had thoughts of what-if, but Pondexter doesn’t let it get him down. “I think, man, that could’ve been me,” he said this week. “I could’ve had a car; I could’ve had a house. I could have been overseas if it hadn’t have worked out (in the NBA). “But everything happens for a reason. I’m happy to be here right now leading this team. It means the world to me representing Husky basketball.” |
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