For all the hype, the 'renewed rivalry' is a let down for the second year

It's not quite what I'd call a cross-town rivalry yet.


Last year, in a game dubbed "Renewing the Rivalry," a game that UW only played to fill an empty spot in their schedule, ended in an 87-60 Redhawk loss.


This year was supposed to be different.

Going into the game, several sources speculated that Seattle U might have a few advantages over the Huskies; Charles Garcia and Cameron Dollar.

Garcia had signed with the Huskies but did not meet the school's transfer requirements. Though Seattle U is not eligible to win statistical awards, Garcia would be 20th in scoring; he averages 20.7 points per game.


UW's sophomore guard Isaiah Thomas told The Daily of Garcia, "He would have been great. He's a good player. He would have made it a lot easier for me, Quincy, anyone on this team. When I first saw him play, I was like, ‘Man.' That's all you can say."


And Dollar not only knows the ins and outs of Lorenzo Romar's coaching style (Dollar coached under Romar for 10 years prior to being hired as Seattle U's head coach), he knows the ins and outs of each player on UW's roster. He helped recruit all of them.

Tweets were flying left and right with predictions about the outcome of "The Battle in Seattle."

UW came charging out, taking an 18-0 lead. It took Seattle U more than five minutes to get on the board. Seattle U trailed 61-20 at halftime. In the final minutes of the game, only four Redhawks were seen on the court because the rest had fouled out. And it all came to a depressing 123-76 end. 
This 47-point win was the largest margin of victory among all 25 games played between the two schools. The series began in 1953 but took a 29-year hiatus until 2009's "Renewing the Rivalry" game.

Maybe next year's match-up at KeyArena will end differently? We can only hope.

Perhaps a little less pre-game hype will do the trick. But with next year's game being the first match-up between the schools at KeyArena in more than 30 years, less hype is probably out of the question.

Taylor may be reached at sports@su-spectator.com