Huskies’ Win Is Highly Unusual

Surprise, surprise. Quincy Pondexter was the hero Thursday for the Huskies in their first-round NCAA game. Consider it a victory for a seemingly dying breed: A really good college player who is a fourth-year senior.

What? He’s not in the NBA yet? Must be something wrong with him. But Pondexter has gone from 10.7 points a game as a freshman to 9.9 to 12.1 to 19.8. He really took off in the middle of his junior season.

During last year’s NCAA games in Portland, coach Lorenzo Romar pointed out how that used to be the norm. It used to be that guys would come into college, play a little as a freshman, contribute a little as a sophomore, become a starter as a junior and maybe a star as a senior.

Pondexter became a star as a junior, but even that is unusual in this age of one-and-done players. And it’s kind of nice to see. It’s nice to see a player persevere and develop and make a long-term contribution to his team.

I don’t know whether Quincy Pondexter will be an NBA player. But he has grown into a tremendous college player, and that still should count for something.