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By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- All Washington is hearing on the eve of its first game of the NCAA tournament is about its opponent.
"Everyone is saying we're the most likely team to be upset," Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar said Wednesday.
The fifth-seeded Huskies take on Utah State on Thursday in the Washington Regional. Since 1985, at least one 12th-seeded team has upset a No. 5 seed except for 1988 and 2000, when the Aggies lost as a 12th seed.
Romar attributes the upset chatter to Washington's loss to Oregon in the Pac-10 tournament, which ended the Huskies' eight-game winning streak and dropped them five spots to No. 17 in this week's rankings.
"Maybe the feeling is that if we lost that game, we're susceptible to losing another one," Romar said.
With college basketball's what-have-you-done-for-me-lately mentality, Washington's earlier victories over Gonzaga and UCLA have been forgotten.
"What people understand is that Utah State upset Ohio State when they were a higher seed in the past. They took to Kansas to the wire and almost beat Kansas a few years ago," Romar said. "Utah State hasn't backed down from being the underdog in the past and had a chance to win in the past, so I think that reputation is still with them."
Utah State surprised Ohio State in overtime as a 12th seed in 2001 -- their last win in the tournament.
"Every year, there seems to be a 12 seed beating a 5," Utah State's Nate Harris said. "If it could be us that would be great."
The Aggies are 4-12 all-time in first-round games, losing to Arizona last year.
They have won seven of their last nine games, but lost in overtime to Nevada in the WAC tournament title game, leaving some to grumble that Utah State should have been left out of the NCAAs this year.
"What I find really ironic is we were one of the teams everybody said didn't belong, then all of a sudden, we're the upset special," coach Stew Morrill said. "How the heck does that work? It shows you how crazy it is. I don't think Washington looks at us and says they're the underdog."
Maybe not quite, but Pac-10 player of the year Brandon Roy likes his team's lower profile compared to last year when the Huskies earned the first No. 1 seed in school history and lost to Louisville in the final 16.
"I feel like it's less pressure," Roy said. "People aren't picking us to do well. We don't have as many individual stars as last year, but we play more as a team.
"I was always a fan of underdogs. It has its advantages. People don't expect very much out of you."
Roy is averaging 19.9 points -- second-best in the Pac-10 -- and his 4.1 assists lead the team, so he can expect a lot of attention from the Aggies.
"You hope that your whole team helps defend Roy," Morrill said. "We have to possibly double him. It's not going to be one-on-one and if it is, we're probably in trouble. They've got a lot of other good guys he can pass to."
Utah State counters with Harris, who averages 17.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists, while shooting 62 percent from the floor and 62 percent from the line.
The Aggies, who finished tied for second in the WAC, had to wait in suspense at Morrill's house last Sunday to see if they would get in the tournament.
Now, they'll see about giving Morrill his second NCAA tourney victory in eight years at Utah State.
"That is something we would love to get started," Jaycee Carroll said. "That would be something for coach Morrill. He deserves to have a couple wins in the NCAA tournament."
Recalling their upset of Ohio State, Morrill smiled and said, "We'd sure like to do it again."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-03-15-06 2138MST
