UW's Pondexter 'fasted' after previous snub

By GREGG BELL AP Sports Writer

Story

Summary

So Quincy Pondexter didn't win the Pac-10 player of the year award despite setting a record this season for most player of the week honors.

Story Published: Mar 9, 2010 at 10:40 PM PST

UW's Pondexter 'fasted' after previous snub

Washington's Quincy Pondexter, center, pulls in a defensive rebound against Oregon's Malcolm Armstead (11) and Jeremy Jacob (23) during the second half of an NCAA basketball game in Eugene, Ore., Thursday, March 4, 2010. Pondexter had a team high 34 points in Washington's 86-72 win. (AP Photo/Greg Wahl-Stephens)

SEATTLE (AP) - So Quincy Pondexter didn't win the Pac-10 player of the year award despite setting a record this season for most player of the week honors.

Washington's only senior and the conference's second-leading scorer was effusive in praising the coaches' selection of the winner, Jerome Randle of league-champion California. And besides, Pondexter's been snubbed before.

At least this time he won't be changing his diet and just about starving before getting over it.

Pondexter starred at San Joaquin Memorial in Fresno, Calif., before he bristled at getting passed over for the prestigious McDonald's All-America high school team, for what the then-relatively immature teen saw as inferior players.

Pondexter was so mad at the fast-food giant he boycotted the golden arches for three-plus years, until he played in last summer's World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia.

"This is a true story: I used to eat McDonald's every day for breakfast before high school (classes). And I didn't eat it from that day (the team was announced) until I was in Serbia and we had no food in the cafeteria I would be able to eat," he said. "I didn't eat the first two days, and my teammates kept going to McDonald's.

"I ended up biting it," he said, throwing up his hands and slapping them on his thigh. "I couldn't die. It came down to that point - it was either death, or McDonald's."

Just what was it in those Serbian dishes that forced him down from his personal stand?

"Oh, my gosh! I have pictures on my phone," he said, his eyes wide. "The first day we got there, it was this soup that looked like the most ... it looked like it had pigs' eyes in it. And there was this green paste. It looked like Gak - you know, kids used to play with Gak, the little green (puttylike) stuff. I was like, 'What's that?' They were like, 'That's your spinach.'

"I starved a couple days, ate bread, water. It was like fasting. Then I went ahead and got some McDonald's."

It's high time for another personal stand by Pondexter, this one for the scorer averaging 20.2 points per game to re-prove himself in the conference tournament beginning Thursday night against Oregon State (14-16, 8-10 Pac-10).

How well the All-Pac-10 swing man plays will largely determine whether Washington (21-9, 11-7) can get the two wins - and possibly three, with the tournament title - it needs to earn a second consecutive berth in the NCAA tournament.

Nine wins in 11 games shows the previously ranked Huskies are peaking at the right time. But the Pac-10 has been so down all season that one bid could be all the conference gets to the NCAAs.

"Our goal is to win this tournament," Pondexter said. "At that point, there's no more questions of whether you are a 'bubble' team or not."

Pondexter began his rise to the elite on the West Coast at this time last year. He soared in the Pac-10 tournament even though the Huskies could not turn their regular-season title into a weekend one. He roared in the NCAA tournament, helping Washington to an opening-round win over Mississippi State and then leading a ferocious comeback against Purdue that fell just short.

He is still fueled by memories of not making the NCAA tournament - and not even the second-rate NIT - as a freshman.

"Coach Romar brought it up last week in film session," Pondexter said. "We were all dressed for practice. ... I remember Coach just saying, 'It's over.' A few guys had to go home and just reflect. A few guys just shot. It was such a somber moment, a somber day for our team.

"We don't want to have that feeling ever again."