Boise Bits - Day Two: Will the Zone Break the Huskies Washington coach Lorenzo Romar didn't like when he was asked about his team and the struggles they've had with zone defenses this season. The bottom line is that the Huskies have been vulnerable when teams have run effective 1-3-1 and matchup 2-3 zones. The Huskies struggled against zone defenses in three of their five losses in addition to some wins over weaker conference opponents. UW shot 38.6 percent in a 66-48 in a win over rival Washington State, 38.6 percent in a 91-82 loss at Arizona, 41.2 percent in a 90-73 loss at Oregon State and 42 percent in a 77-67 loss at Stanford. The common denominator in those games was the ability of the opponent to run a zone defense. "To be honest with you we played Arizona three times this year and they used 1-3-1 every time, but we won two-of-three. I think because the game we lost to them maybe more was made of that than anything," an annoyed Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "If someone wants to zone us, they can zone us. Put it like that." He may have a point. UW did defeat the No. 3 seed in the Chicago Regional Arizona in two of their three meetings and undoubtebly defeated zone defenses in many of its 27 wins this season. This however has not stopped first-year Montana head coach from implementing some zone defensive strategies for the Griz in Thursday NCAA tournament matchup with Washington. "We're going to have to play a little zone for sure to be successful. A little bit of changing defenses to try and keep them off guard," Krystkowiak said. "We'd be fooling ourselves to think that we'll be able to play straight-up man-to-man and be successful over the whole game." We'll just have to see how Washington handles the Grizzly zone. GAME NOTES: This will be the 49th meeting between Washington and Montana…the Huskies lead the series 39-9, however Montana has won three straight and five of the last six meetings…the Huskies and Grizzlies have not met since 1994…first meeting at a neutral site. Both schools faced Gonzaga, Eastern Washington and Stanford in the regular season…Gonzaga defeated Montana 78-62 (Nov. 21) and Washington 99-87 (Dec. 1)…Washington defeated Eastern Washington 89-56 (Dec. 5)…Montana defeated Eastern Washington three times including a 58-48 victory at Missoula (March 5) in the opening round of the Big Sky Tournament…Montana lost to Stanford 84-66 (Dec. 23) while the Huskies went 2-1 against the Cardinal, splitting two regular season meetings and claiming a 66-63 victory (March 11) in the Pac-10 Tournament. WASHINGTON NOTES: Washington has lost its last three tournament games by a total of four points…a 102-100 loss to UAB in the first round in 2004…lost to Miami (Ohio) 59-58 in 1999 first round game…lost 75-74 to Connecticut in Sweet 16 in 1998. --UW is 9-4 against the 2005 NCAA Tournament field. --Huskies are making 12th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament…Second consecutive trip for Washington. --Washington is 6-0 in games played on a neutral floor this year including wins over Utah, Oklahoma and Alabama at the Great Alaska Shootout and Arizona State, Stanford and Arizona at the Pac-10 Tournament. --Third Pac-10 team in three years to secure a No. 1 seed…Stanford 2004…Arizona 2003. MONTANA NOTES: Griz making sixth appearance in NCAA Tournament after winning Big Sky Conference’s automatic bid…1-6 all time in tournament games…lone win was in first tournament game, a 69-63 win over Utah State at Pullman, Wash., in 1975. --First year head coach Larry Krystkowiak guided Montana to first winning season in three years…second Griz coach to lead team to NCAA tournament in first season (Blaine Taylor, 1992)…last season, Krystkowiak was the head coach of the Idaho Stampede of the CBA, guiding the team to its best record in franchise history. --As a Montana player, Krystkowiak was 2-0 against Washington, winning 72-65 Jan. 3, 1983 at Seattle and 78-65 Dec. 23, 1985 at Missoula. --Montana has never left the West to play an NCAA tournament game…second trip for the Griz to Boise in Tournament play…lost to Florida State 78-68 in 1992. --Four of the last five teams to defeat Montana in the tournament have reached the regional final. --1975 lost 67-64 to UCLA in the second round…Bruins won national championship. --1991 lost 99-65 to UNLV…Rebels advanced to the Final Four. --1992 lost 78-68 to Florida State…Seminoles advance to Sweet 16. --1997 lost 92-54 to Kentucky…Wildcats advance to championship game. --2002 lost 81-62 to Oregon…Ducks reach regional final. --Montana player John Seyfert was recruited by and played for Washington Head Coach Lorenzo Romar at St. Louis. The following is a schedule of events for Montana's NCAA tournament Wednesday media/practice day. Practice session: 1:10 p.m. Players press conference: 2:00 p.m. Larry Krystkowiak press conference: 2:15 p.m. Dinner: 6:00 p.m. Wednesday audio report - Montana Coach Krystkowiak on media day and the hype surrounding the first-round game: AUDIO Coach Krystkowiak on Wednesday's pratice and the status of center John Seyfert who went down with an ankle injury: AUDIO Coach Krystkowiak on playing a zone defense against Washington: AUDIO Sophomore forward Matt Dlouhy on Wednesday's media day and how the Griz plan on focusing on tomorrow's game: AUDIO Freshman guard Matt Martin on the NCAA tournament experience and playing an early afternoon gamee: AUDIO Wednesday audio report - Washington Coach Romar on the Huskies' mindset going into the NCAA's and the matchup with the Griz: AUDIO Coach Romar on the effectiveness of the 1-3-1 zone against Washington: AUDIO Nate Robinson on the momentum gained on winning the Pac 10 tourney: AUDIO Nate Robinson on earning the No. 1 seed and the matchup with Montana: AUDIO