Friday In San Jose

The Husky basketball squad just returned to the team hotel after practice and the NCAA mandated media session.

Practice was about 90 minutes long and the team spent the majority of the time working on preparing for New Mexico and getting a feel for the HP Pavilion rims and depth perception. The first 60 minutes were very focused and spirited, but the last 30 minutes were much lighter.

The final 30 minutes was spent playing four-on-four with Romar splitting the groups into gold and purple teams. The purple team consisted of Darnell Gant, Justin Holiday, Elston Turner and C.J. Wilcox, while the gold team was Tyreese Breshers, Scott Suggs, Abdul Gaddy and Clarence Trent. The games were full court and were played to five.

Quincy Pondexter, Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Venoy Overton watched from the sidelines. Overton even picked up one of the CBS headsets and called play-by-play, which drew plenty of laughs from players, coaches and NCAA Tournament staff members hanging around the arena.

The purple team won the first game, but the gold team won the second game. Coach Romar tried to stop practice after that, but the players insisted on playing once more to determine the winner. Purple came out on op in the final game to take home the 4-on-4 crownd for the day.

After practice, the team went to their dressing room and enjoyed a tasty lunch of In-N-Out burgers - always a favorite amongst the team (and staff too!). Pondexter, Bryan-Amaning and Overton had to scarf their food down quickly as they went to the podium for media interviews.

It was rather crowded in the UW lockerroom, keeping the guys very busy and entertained.After 3:50, the Huskies boarded a bus and were given a police escort home. On the way to the bus, the players stopped and chatted with the two officers who were leading the players home. Clarence Trent even mounted the motorcycle and turned on the siren and flashed the lights!

Make sure you check out the preview of tomorrow's game, where there are lots of useful links to quotes and audio from the day's events.