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Defending the crown: Washington men open Pac-12 play at home against UCLA

After one upset win over a ranked team, two preseason games, three defeats, four foreign exhibitions and over 30,000 miles of travel between trips to Italy, Texas, Alaska, Canada and Hawaii, Mike Hopkins has a pretty good gauge of the Huskies.

Yeah, Washington is still relatively young even in college basketball where teams regularly hit the reset button.

And half of the Huskies, including three starters, have never played in a Pac-12 game, which might seem unsettling as Washington (10-3) opens conference play at 7 p.m. Thursday against UCLA (7-6) at Alaska Airlines Arena.

But after five months, Hopkins believes UW players should have a strong sense of who they are, their strengths and deficiencies, and know how they need to win games.