Washington is hot.
Arizona is not.
The Huskies have won 10 of their past 12 games. The 17th-ranked Wildcats have lost two out of the past three.
As uncommon as it may seem for Arizona (18-8 overall, 10-7 Pac-10) to not be one of the Pacific-10 Conference’s top two teams, the team is showing signs of life.
After losing two straight, Arizona made sure not to lose to the conference’s seventh-place team in a 72-60 victory against Washington State on Saturday.
Salim Stoudamire was back in a Wildcat uniform after being suspended for “failure to meet team responsibilities,” Arizona head coach Lute Olson said. He scored 21 points against the Cougars Saturday, giving the Wildcats a boost.
Stoudamire did what Olson asked in his return: play defense.
Stoudamire held Washington State’s Marcus Moore to five points. The Washington State guard had scored 36 and 29 points, respectively, in his last two games against Arizona.
“I went in and talked to Coach O and he wanted me to get out there and hold him under 10 points, and I did that,” Stoudamire said.
Arizona played poorly in the 89-84 loss to Washington on Thursday and Olson actually apologized.
“I apologize for it,” Olson said. “The coaches apologize for it. The thing that’s getting old is the lack of our
ability to inspire guys to play like their life depended on it. That’s been a tradition of Arizona basketball — guys play hard. You get beat sometimes, but it’s not because we didn’t play hard. This team has gotten beat because it doesn’t play hard.”

Traffic jam
With just one weekend of conference action remaining, feelings are becoming tense regarding who will be in and who will be out of the Pac-10 Tournament.
Three teams — Oregon, USC and UCLA — are in a tie for fifth in the conference with 7-9 league records. Oregon plays USC and UCLA this weekend, making things even more interesting.
Oregon State (11-15, 5-11) also faces USC and UCLA.
Only eight teams advance to the Pac-10 Tournament. Washington State, Oregon State and Arizona State hold down the bottom three spots in the conference. The Sun Devils are the only team in the conference mathematically eliminated.
Stanford (25-0, 16-0) is guaranteed to hold the top spot come tournament time, which begins March 11 in Los Angeles.

Roy receives weekly honor
Washington guard Brandon Roy was named the Pacific-10 Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week on Monday for the week of February 23-29.
Roy led the Huskies to their first road sweep of Arizona and Arizona State in two decades. Against Arizona, Roy had eight assists and 12 points in the upset win.
Two days later, against Arizona State, the Seattle native led the team with 18 points, five rebounds and five assists. It is the first weekly honor for Roy.

Washington is rolling
With a conference record of 10-6, the Huskies have recorded their highest win total in Pac-10 play since posting a 10-8 record in 1999.
Even more impressive, the Huskies have not held down the second place conference position this late in the season since the 1985-86 season.
Washington faces Cal on Thursday and No. 1 Stanford on Saturday. The Huskies are 1-26 all-time against No. 1 teams, beating UCLA, 69-68, in 1979.