Before the 2009 finale, 15 seniors will be introduced with their families to what should be a well-receiving crowd at Husky Stadium.

Guys such as defensive end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, linebacker Donald Butler and fullback Paul Homer are ones first-year UW coach Steve Sarkisian has repeatedly said have been critical in laying the foundation for future success. No doubt, their final game Saturday will be a touching moment for players and coaches alike.

But what if it is junior Jake Locker’s last game as well?

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Fans, enjoy a long-lasting, wild tail-gating session Saturday before the UW wraps up its 2009 season against 19th-ranked California.

Might be your last one for a while – at least close to Husky Stadium.

Shortly after the conclusion of the game Saturday, construction on the UW’s six-year “Sound Transit” light-rail project will begin, wiping out a good chunk of the parking lot on the southwest side of the venue.

By June, 600 parking stalls in that vicinity, and close to Montlake Boulevard, will give way to a mass excavation endeavor of six acres, which will eventually be home for an …

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The new men’s basketball polls are out, and Washington has broken into the top 10 of the coaches’ poll. The Huskies move forward two spots to No. 12 in the Associated Press poll.

Here are both polls, in full.

The 14th-ranked Huskies rallied from 12 points down to struggle past Montana, 63-59, tonight at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Junior guard Venoy Overton, who was benched after being late for a morning shoot-around, came off that bench to save the Huskies at crunch time.

On consecutive trips down court in the final seconds, he hit two free throws, blocked an Anthony Johnson 3-point attempt to tie the game, and then provided the final margin with a closing free throw.

“(Assistant coach Raphael Chillious) kept telling me when Johnson crosses over and comes to his left he’s most likely going to shoot,” Overton said. “I kind of timed it right.”

Johnson, who played at Stadium High School in Tacoma, said Overton may have saved the game for the Huskies.

“If he wouldn’t have blocked the shot, I had the feeling it was going in,” he said. “But I didn’t know he had that much vertical.”

UW opened with two new starters: Abdul Gaddy who took Overton’s place, and Tyreese Breshers who played his way past Darnell Gant.

UW scored the first six points, but Montana answered with the next 10 and kept control most of the way, with the Grizzlies’ lead peaking at 12 points with 14:30 left.

Isaiah Thomas hit some key shots during UW’s closing run, and he ended as the Huskies’ leading scorer with 13 points. But those points didn’t come easily: 5-of-16 shooting from the field. Senior Quincy Pondexter also struggled with seven points on 2-of-10 shooting. Overall, the Huskies shot just .308 from the field.

“If we would have shot the ball better, obviously we would have maybe had a little bit of an easier road tonight,” coach Lorenzo Romar said. “But again, I wouldn’t trade the way this game went for anything, because it’s going to prepare us for down the road.”

Now the Huskies move on to their first road game of the season, visiting Texas Tech on Thursday as part of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Challenge.

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Honestly, and not because either Washington or Washington State offensive lines were diamonds in the trenches, I figured each quarterback would have 6-7 seconds to get off passes Saturday in the 102nd Apple Cup.

That’s how much pressure both defenses had been mounting in recent weeks on opposing Pacific-10 Conference signal callers.

The most surprising development in the UW’s 30-0 win over the Cougars at Husky Stadium was the way the defense harassed whoever WSU had in at quarterback, whether it was Kevin Lopina, Marshall Lobbestael or even Dan Wagner.

Easily it was the UW’s best effort of 2009 – …

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Might not be the day to air it out in an Apple Cup.

As expected, a mid-afternoon chill in present in Husky Stadium, with the threat of rain looming.

Looking at the east end zone, the American flag is whipping around like it hasn’t all season. Lots of wind, and the current conditions don’t look like they’re going to blow through, so it could be around for the duration.

How does that alter either team’s game plan? I’d guess, not much. To survive, the Cougars have to run the ball. And all week, the Huskies have really put in time …

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Before clearing the deck for the Apple Cup, here’s an early look forward to the UW men’s return to the court Sunday evening against those Duck-slaying Griz:

MONTANA(4-1)
AT NO. 14 WASHINGTON (4-0)
6 p.m. Sunday, Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
TV: FSN.
Radio: 950-AM
Series: Washington leads 42-9 overall and 28-4 at home. The most-recent meeting was a 75-53 home win by the Huskies last December.
Statistical leaders: For Montana – G Anthony Johnson, 22 ppg and 4 apg; C Brian Qvale, 7.6 rpg. For UW – F Quincy Pondexter, 24 ppg and 12 rpg;

…

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If the Washington players thought it was going to be a breezy dash at practice-dine at Thankgsiving sort of day, they were wrong.

The UW coaching staff had other ideas in the team’s last full practice before the 102nd Apple Cup on Saturday at Husky Stadium.

If players’ heads weren’t in the 90-minute practice, they heard about it immediately, from the top (coach Steve Sarkisian) all the way down the line (Doug Nussmeier, Dan Cozetto, Joel Thomas, Demetrice Martin).

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