NCAA College Basketball: History of the Washington Huskies

The Washington Huskies field a basketball team that plays at the Division 1 level of college basketball. The team plays in the Pac-10 conference. Over the years the team has managed to field teams that have been solid, but they have never been quite what was hoped for by the fans.

The team has never won a National Championship in the history of the school. They have had success in the NCAA Tournament at times, but they have never been able to go past the Final Four portion of the NCAA Tournament.

Despite the fact that the team has never found the success on a national level that they hoped for, they have been a successful school. They have won many, many conference championships over the years to show their success.

The success really started in the 1920's for the team. The team was easily the most dominant of all of the teams in their conference in that decade and was able to bring him the conference championship 4 times in that span.

That start in the 20's really paved the way for even more success in the 30's. The team started off the 30's with a stretch of three straight conference championships from 1930-1932. Those three straight conference championships contributed to the 6 total championships that they had over that decade. That decade may have been the most successful decade for the team in their history.

Although people were winning conference and national championships before the NCAA Tournament came around, they weren't as meaningful. The NCAA Tournament brings a certain excitement to basketball that was never found before it was created. The Huskies got their first taste of that excitement in the 1940's.

In 1943 the team won the conference championship and managed to qualify for the NCAA tournament. This was the first of 15 appearances that the school has made in the tournament over the years. Unfortunately the team was not able to advance to the 2nd round of the tournament.

The 1950s brought tremendous success for the team. In 1951 and 1953 the team managed to qualify for the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. In 1953 the team even managed to go all the way to the final four before they fell.

In 1984 the team found a ton of excitement in the tournament. The team had won the conference championship and went into the tournament with some momentum. They managed to advance not only past their first opponent, but their second as well. This left the team in the Sweet 16 for the first time in the history of the school.

The team has recently become even more successful. Over the last 15 years the team has managed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament 7 times. It seems like just about every time that the team makes the tournament they are able to make a run. Of those 7 appearances they have won at least one game in the tournament 5 times and they have advanced to the sweet sixteen 4 times. The last took place last season and left the team excited for what might come in 2011.