Yes, I Was Wrong About the Washington Huskies

In my NCAA Preview, I (informally) ranked Washington behind both Utah and Oklahoma.

The Huskies are certainly better than both those teams right now. Though, in my defense, Washington gave up 23 and 12 to Andrew Bogut, who went 8-8 from the field, and 39 points to Kevin Bookout and Taj Gray, who shot a combined 15-21 from the floor, doing nothing to allay my fears regarding their post defense. Shooting 53.8% and 39.5% from the three-point line will compensate for a host of sins.

They capitalized on those wins by beating Alabama (another team I didn't trust in the preview, though I'll stick by that assessment for now) to take the Great Alaska Shootout.

Nate Robinson's tournament line, to be considered as his initial submission for the Player of the Year award: 21.3 PPG, 3.67 RPG, and 5 APG with 5 steals, two blocks, and only six turnovers while shooting 59% from the floor, 57% on three-pointers, and 83% from the line.

Chris Paul, Wayne Simien, and Hakim Warrick have all played well so far this year, but if Robinson had played on TV before midnight last week, everybody would be talking about him.

With Arizona putting up a mere 121 points in 85 minutes at Madison Square Garden following the bad loss in Charlottesville, even this doubter now sees Washington as the clear favorite in the Pac-10. Very few good teams shoot 34% from the floor over the course of a week.