Washington schools encounter unexpected success

If you look at the season Gonzaga is having, it is one that many expected. But one surprise in college basketball has been the performance of other Washington state schools. The Washington Huskies are looking to finish as high as second in the Pac-10 and still have a chance at the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1999. The Cougars are looking for their first season at .500 or better since 1996 and Eastern Washington University is atop the Big Sky and looking for the school's first ever trip to the NCAA tournament. These are all reasons, as Craig Hill of the News Tribune writes, to start following college hoops in the state of Washington.

Hopefully the success of these programs will help keep all of the Washington state high school standouts in Washington. Most recently, the Huskies missed out on the opportunity to land Bremerton star Marvin Williams. Williams chose the University of North Carolina, obviously the more historic and passionate basketball program. But with the successes of these programs in the ongoing season, a change could be just around the corner.