Photo Credit: University of Washington

Longtime basketball coach Marv Harshman passed away Friday morning at age 95. Harshman went 642-448 in 40 total seasons as a head coach at Pacific Lutheran, Washington State and Washington. 

Harshman was elected to the Husky Hall of Fame in 1985, following his coaching stint at UW from 1972-85 where he led the Huskies to three NCAA Tournament appearances. 

Harshman graduated from Lake Stevens High School and Pacific Lutheran University, where he was a standout athlete, before joining the Navy.

Photo Credit: Chris Pietsch/Associated Press

This episode of "CNN: Inside Africa" was passed along by the University of Washington, and highlights Aziz N'Diaye and other Senegalese players "transforming their lives through basketball." The video is split into three clips, which can be found at the following links.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2013/01/28/inside-africa-senegal-basketball-a.cnn

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2013/01/28/inside-africa-senegal-basketball-b.cnn

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2013/01/28/inside-africa-senegal-basketball-c.cnn

Photo Credit: Dean Hare/Associated Press

Game Summary

Washington jumped out to a 21-4 lead in the first 11 minutes thanks to tenacious defense by Desmond Simmons on Brock Motum and an aggressive Abdul Gaddy. The Huskies team defense was better than it had been all season while Gaddy and Andrews were able to force WSU to respect their driving ability, leading to three pointers from C.J. Wilcox and Scott Suggs. During this span Dawg fans saw Shawn Kemp Jr. send home two thunderous left-handed dunks that inspired many comparisons to his father (as we've come to expect from every Kemp Jr. slam). Following this lead, UW slowly sunk back into old ways as the Cougars were able to pull within 7 come halftime. The 6'10 Motum had just 4 points at the break.

Initial (Over)Reactions

Washington fans got to see just about every side of the Husky's tonight. UW, despite playing only seven guys, finished with a gutsy 84-73 win in overtime against a streaky Big East foe. The Huskies raced out to a big lead with a 17-0 run in the first eight minutes, aided by 8 points and 2 assists by a very confident Abdul Gaddy during Washington outburst. UW continued their strong play and went into the half up 49-33. This was an incredible side of the Huskies. Washington was swarming defensively, jumping into the passing lanes and picking up 17 points off turnovers. Abdul Gaddy and Andrew Andrews looked very confident handling the ball. The confidence spread throughout the court on the offensive end, as Husky players were able to knock down jumpers and a run a reasonably effective high-post offense.

UW went into tentative and awkward mode in the second half. This allowed Seton Hall to attain a flow to their offense and resulted in the game being tied at 56 with nine minutes left. Romar called a timeout. A 16-point half-time lead had completely evaporated. The Pirates continued to momentum after the timeout by knocking down consecutive threes that put UW down six. Seton Hall kept that six point lead until only four minutes remained. Fans had effectively seen both sides of UW. The good, confident one and the tentative, awkward one. It is absolutely not a coincidence that Gaddy played confident in the first half and tentative in the second. Keep that in mind as the season goes on.

The Basics

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Initial (Over)Reactions

I feel sick. Anyone who cares about the University of Washington men's basketball program should feel sick. This was Albany's first victory over a BCS conference team since they moved to D-1 in 2000.  I'm going to attempt to write something coherent, but it is extremely difficult to describe my frustration and put all of UW's struggles into words.

Alaska Airlines Arena was flat tonight. Sub-par student section. Sub-par non-student section. Within five minutes of the game Scott Suggs went down. Hard. Suggs took an elbow to the side of the head while running back on defense (I see absolutely zero reason why the elbow went up in the air and am still baffled as to why nobody seems to be talking about this action) and, while falling, took a knee straight to the back of the head. Suggs laid motionless for around ten seconds before attempting to get up. He almost lost his balance while standing up and proceeded to take two steps in completely opposite directions before being helped off the floor. If there was anyone interested in being especially loud before the injury, they certainly were no longer interested following the blows to the head. I would like to say that UW should be viewed as a team that protects its' home court. A home court is not a home court when the crowd provides minimal momentum to a game. The fans in Alaska Airlines Arena seem to wait for the players to do something before getting excited, whereas fans are loud and proud from the get-go at schools such as Gonzaga and New Mexico. On to the game itself.

The Basics
6:30 P.M. PST. Pac-12 Network. Alaska Airlines Arena

Ideas

Loyola of Maryland's mascot is the Greyhounds. Albany's mascot is the Great Danes. Man, there have been a lot of dogs in Seattle recently. Also, Albany's mascot is a dog (clearly) and their colors are purple in gold. Coincidence? I THINK NOT. The University of Albany wants to steal the University of Washington's identity. This game just became that much more important. There are simply too many story-lines tonight folks.

Editor's Note: We are pleased to have Riley Peschon of "Welcome to Romarville" back for Huskies basketball coverage again this season. Be sure to check out his site as well for tons of UW content: welcometoromarville.blogspot.com

Initial (Over)Reactions
The first half of this basketball game was god-awful. I only watched the first half of this basketball game. Sigh. This is what happens when sports coincide with school. The Huskies turned the ball over 11 times and had just three assists on 12 baskets in the opening 20 minutes of their 2012-2013 campaign. Great way to start the season? No. Somehow the Dawgs were up two at half-time, despite Loyola guards being able to simply waltz to the hoop for layups against one-on-one defense on multiple occasions. This is what happens when I only watch one half! Apparently the second half kicked ass, so really I shouldn't be judging anyone or anything!

                                                                                Photo Credit: Tiger Tailgating

The Washington Huskies are a 24 point underdog on many betting lines heading into tonight's showdown in Baton Rouge with the LSU Tigers. What do the Huskies have to do to shock the nation's 3rd ranked team. Here are a few keys to the game, plus a prediction.

Friday, June 29^th, will go down as a huge day for the University of Washington’s 2013 recruiting class. Thanks in large part to the work of former California Golden Bear coach Tosh Lupoi, UW received commitments from seven athletes at their Rising Stars prospect camp. Lupoi, known to be a recruiting guru, also helped shore up the 2012 class at the 11^th hour; his most notable acquisition being Scout.com’s #3 overall prospect, Shaq Thompson.

Daeshon Hall, Lavon Coleman, Elijah Qualls, Andrew Basham, Caleb Tucker, Damore'ea Stringfellow and Poasi Moala made the decision to commit all at once in Seattle, a tactic Lupoi used while at Cal to bolster excitement around the program.