UW Men’s Basketball: Title Time.

Blew the dust off the cameras and lenses (do glass lenses need mothballs?) and packed up the Airport Security for Saturday's Pac-10 game between the University of Washington Huskies and the rival Washington State Cougars.

A year ago, the Washington basketball program seemed to be struggling. After losing two prized recruits to the NBA (Spencer Hawes, now of the Sacramento Kings, and Martell Webster, now of the Portland Trailblazers), some fans wondered if head coach Lorenzo Romar had lost his touch.

One thing I've come to learn while covering sports all these years is that while everyone can speculate, the truth comes out when the teams hit the floor. And this season, Romar showed what a genius coach he is, goading and urging his team to a first place finish and sure NCAA tournament berth.

There were lots of stories lines to make the game interesting. With a victory, the Huskies would claim their first outright league title since the 1950's, while at the start of this season they were picked to finish in the middle of the pack at best.

Also, it was Senior Day at Washington for three players, none bigger (figuratively or literally) than Jon Brockman, a four-year starter and the school's all-time leading rebounder.

Finally, the natural rivalry between the two in-state schools was the culmination of the regular season, and the Cougs wanted nothing better than to play the role of spoiler in the Huskies' own gym.

I arrived at the arena early, in order to set up and test the strobes that hang from the rafters. Using arena strobes gives unmatched image quality (shooting at ISO 200) but there is a huge tradeoff in the speed at which one can shoot. Shooting with the ambient light, you can let your camera run at 8-10 frames per second. Because of recycle time, shooting with strobes only allows you to shoot one frame every three seconds.

Obviously that's a huge difference. And having not shot basketball in awhile, I was more than a little worried about my timing being off.

"The Dawg Pack", as the Washington student section proudly calls itself, showed up early and was busy razzing the Washington State players as they warmed up a full hour before tipoff.

(Nikon D3, Nikkor VR 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 160mm, ISO 200, 1/250th sec.,f4.0 + arena strobes)

During pregame introductions, they waved photos of the seniors as they were announced.

(Nikon D3, Nikkor VR 70-200mm/f2.8 lens @ 125mm, ISO 200, 1/250th sec.,f4.0 + arena strobes)

Each senior entered the floor with their families, and then posed for a quick photo with head coach Lorenzo Romar.

(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 32mm, ISO 200, 1/250th sec.,f5.6 + arena strobes)

Once the ball was tipped, the game was all business. Hard fouls (yes, one was called on this play, Coug fans, despite the "all ball" you might see in this photo) were common, as befitting a rivalry game.

(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm lens @ 42mm, ISO 200, 1/250th sec.,f5.0 + arena strobes)

Husky coach Lorenzo Romar exploded on the officials a couple of times during the first half.

(Nikon D3, Nikkor VR 200-400mm/f4.0 lens @ 400mm, ISO 200, 1/250th sec.,f5.0 + arena strobes)

Washington's tenacious defense, as applied here by freshman Isaiah Thomas, tried to render Cougar guard Taylor Rochestie uncomfortable all day long.

(Nikon D3, Nikkor VR 200-400mm/f4.0 lens @ 200mm, ISO 200, 1/250th sec.,f5.0 + arena strobes)

Thomas, who was named the Pac-10's Freshman of the Year, split the Cougars zone for an open jumper as the Huskies led most of the game.

(Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm/f2.8 lens @ 48mm, ISO 200, 1/250th sec.,f5.0 + arena strobes)

At the final buzzer, the Huskies had claimed a 67-60 win and the conference title. Fans rushed the court and Thomas, the smallest Husky, was lifted by the crowd. Would have liked to have found a better frame of this, but got caught in the fray. I had just popped a frame when I shot this one, so I didn't have the benefit of a full recycle on the strobes. But because I was shooting raw files and not jpgs, I was able to salvage much of the image.

(Nikon D3, Nikkor VR 200-400mm/f4.0 lens @ 240mm, ISO 200, 1/250th sec.,f5.0 + arena strobes)

A ladder was raised and the players and coaches cut down the nets in the traditional manner. Senior Justin Dentmon, who struggled as a junior only to find his comfort zone as a senior, was named the league's Most Improved Player and was named to the all-conference first team.

(Nikon D3, Nikkor VR 200-400mm/f4.0 lens @ 240mm, ISO 200, 1/250th sec.,f5.0 + arena strobes)

Brockman, the foundation of the team, was also awarded all-conference first team honors.

(Nikon D3, Nikkor VR 200-400mm/f4.0 lens @ 200mm, ISO 200, 1/250th sec.,f5.0 + arena strobes)

All in all, a fun day. I love shooting, and just have not been doing enough of it lately as I continue to build the foundations of a freelance business.

(Nikon D3, Nikkor 14-24mm/f2.8 lens @ 14mm, ISO 2000, 1/100th sec.,f4.0)