Brandon Roy
Brandon Roy
Brandon Dawayne Roy is an American retired professional basketball player who played for the Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves in the National Basketball Association. He was selected sixth in the 2006 NBA draft, having completed four years playing for the Washington Huskies. His nickname was "B-Roy", but he was also referred to as "The Natural" by Trail Blazers announcer Brian Wheeler. On December 10, 2011, Roy announced his retirement from basketball due to a degenerative knee condition, though he...
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth23 July 1984
CitySeattle, WA
That was a gut check. That's what we were looking for after the last two weeks.
Last year we had huge confidence because teams didn't know how quick we were or how fast we were going to play.
Last year, with a No. 1 seed, we might have gotten a little relaxed. Now everybody's hungry. I think we have more fight.
We've got a lot of experience. When I was a sophomore, we were just excited to be there. Last year, being a one-seed, we just wanted to live up to expectations. This season is fun because no one is really saying much about us. We have the chance to go in there and surprise some people. We almost get to play the underdog role.
It's always possible that we can get better than last year, but it's still too early to say that.
It's different. Last year, our chemistry was extremely high. You see it now, there are stretches where we don't have a lot of chemistry.
When we won here, Salim Stoudamire didn't play. To take him out of the equation is doing a lot. Last year, he played and we didn't win.
This means a lot. This is my last go-around. I don't want to go out a loser. I want to go to the NCAA tournament. We could be the first UW team to go three times in a row since I don't know when. So this is all stuff I want to be part of.
I think we just want to keep playing good basketball. We don't want to go the Pac-10 tournament and have a terrible game and have that be the last thought on our minds heading into the NCAA tournament.
Hopefully we can repeat what last year's team did and win the Pac-10 tournament. But the goal of chasing last year's team is over. We feel like this team can do some special things in the NCAA tournament.
I remember sitting here last spring saying I want to leave out of here through the front door and not sneak out the back window.
In the first half, I caught myself just running up and down the court thinking too much that this is my last game.
We just totally turned the page on that Thursday game. It was important not to come in here and worry about making shots, and we did a good job of that.
We're going to be a threat, inside and out.