Cats come calling

"Nobody else cashes any checks in The Bank."

That phrase, referring to Washington's home court advantage at Hec Ed Pavilion, has become common diction in the locker room of the Washington men's basketball team.

The Huskies have won 21 straight home contests heading into tomorrow's match up against No. 9 Arizona. The anticipated showdown of the conference elites will tip-off at 1 p.m. in front of a sold-out crowd.

It was just a few years back that Washington's home court was just a cavernous arena where a surplus of empty seats was a common site -- as was a surplus of Husky losses.

Now fans have a worthy incentive to fill the seats at Hec Ed. The No. 14 Huskies (22-4 overall, 12-3 Pac-10) host the Wildcats (24-4, 14-2) in a game with serious implications for the Pac-10 Championship, NCAA Tournament seeds and national polls.

Today, Husky basketball means so much more to the UW campus. In order to be first in line, students began to erect their tents just minutes after last night's victory over Arizona State, about 40 hours in advance of tomorrow's showdown.

The 2004-05 Huskies are expected to break the program's single-season attendance record of 147,959 tomorrow with another sellout, the team's 10th of the season, also the most in program history.

"I knew that people would support us, but I didn't know that it would be to this level," UW coach Lorenzo Romar said.

Just three years into his tenure, Romar has turned around a program that went 10-20 the season before his arrival. It was just two years ago, with the Huskies facing Arizona in February 2003, Washington gave a glimpse of the team's harnessed talent.

At the time, the Huskies fielded a starting lineup of four current players -- Nate Robinson, Will Conroy, Bobby Jones and Mike Jensen. In that game, the Huskies took the then-No. 2 Wildcats into overtime, where they would end up falling to Arizona 88-85 to a late Salim Stoudamire 3-pointer.

Stoudamire's success from beyond the 3-point line hasn't changed since that night. The guard is now shooting a remarkable 55 percent from behind the arc. Last Sunday, he set a school record with nine 3-pointers in just 14 attempts.

"Salim Stoudamire is the best shooter in the country, there is no question about that," Arizona coach Lute Olson said. "He's the best all-around guard that we've had on both ends of the court."

That puts Stoudamire in a high class of Arizona guards which includes Steve Kerr, Mike Bibby, Damon Stoudamire and Jason Terry.

Stoudamire led the Wildcats to victory over the Huskies earlier this year in Tucson, Ariz. Tomorrow, he will likely need to be on the top of his game again, as his team continues on it's three-game road swing against its toughest conference opponent.

"We think we played well down there, and they had their home advantage," said Washington guard Tre Simmons. "When they come here, it's our turn to have our home advantage."