Matt Zimmer: Loss to Washington humbling, but Jacks' 2026 run another one worth celebrating

Mar. 21—FORT WORTH — Five minutes in, we were all thinking the same thing.

Wow. They're gonna do it again.

Add the Washington Huskies to the list of major college basketball programs to make the mistake of underestimating Aaron Johnston and the Jackrabbits, only to get sent home early in the NCAA tournament.

Right?

Well, no, as it turned out.

Washington beat the Jacks 72-54, ending the careers of SDSU seniors Brooklyn Meyer, Madison Mathiowetz and Ellie Colbeck. They were appearing in their fourth NCAA tournament in four years, going for their third win.

And while the Jacks certainly could have played better, they boarded a plane back to Brookings not because they choked or failed to show up. They went home because Washington was just the better team. The 6th-seeded Huskies looked unprepared and out of sorts for the first few minutes, and the 11th-seeded Jackrabbits, a team with more tournament experience, looked ready and confident.

They went right to star center Brooklyn Meyer on their first possession. Layup. Boom. 2-0.

Back to back 3s from Emilee Fox and Hadley Thul made it 8-3.

Then it was a Meyer layup and-1.

Another Meyer layup.

13-3. The Jacks were rolling. Meyer looked like she could go for 50. The Huskies looked stunned.

But being stunned is one thing. Panicking and committing further mistakes to make things worse is another. And the Huskies did not do that.

They have a smart and accomplished coach, too, and when the first timeout of the game hit with four minutes to go in the first quarter, Tina Langley simply reminded her team what they'd talked about in the days leading up to the game.

They knew SDSU was going to be good. They knew they weren't going to be intimidated. They knew Meyer was as good as any post player they'd faced in the Big Ten.

But they hadn't spent the first few minutes of the game doing the things they'd determined they'd need to in order to beat the Jacks.

"That's obviously not the start that we wanted," said Huskies guard Avery Howell, who had 30 points and nine rebounds to carry the Huskies (22-10) to the win. "But we knew if we dug in on the things we needed to focus on, just going back to the scout and preparation that we've done since we've known who we were playing — just going back into that."

The Huskies were a different team coming out of the timeout. They started getting in passing lanes. They intercepted or deflected passes. They made it harder for them to get the ball to Meyer. They disrupted shooters. And they got most of the rebounds.

And the game changed quickly. A 12-2 run to close the first quarter made it 15-15 going to the second.

"I think we just knew how we have been practicing," Langley said. "We knew we were capable of playing the specific style of defense that we wanted to play today, so it was just reminding them. Reminding them of the scout. Reminding them of the way we wanted to play."

And Washington just kept adding to their lead. It was 38-24 at halftime, and by the end of the third it was 61-43.

"We came out hot in a sense and we hit some shots," Mathiowetz said. "Got some stops on defense and then I thought we kind of let up a little bit. They got some offensive boards. They cleaned up missed shots and we didn't box out and make those stops that we needed to and that allowed them to open up and go on a run from there."

It meant the end for one of SDSU's greatest all-time players. Even as it became apparent the Jacks were going to lose, Meyer's moves in the paint continued to pay off. She tied Myah Selland's program record for points in an NCAA tournament game with 29 and she did it on 20 shots (making 13 of them). She hit a 13-foot jumper with a couple minutes left, her final shot as a Jackrabbit, and moments later Johnston removed her for the final time. It wasn't the ending Meyer wanted, but she went out with a bang, even in a losing effort.

"I think if you look at statistics and wins, championships, post-season, I'm not sure there's been a better four-year run," Johnston said. "It's not all been our three seniors. They were freshmen once and had some pretty good seniors in front of them, so they were part of some really good teams, but they kind of kept things going and then when it became their year as seniors, they really carried a big load for us this year. So you have the numbers, which are good, but I just keep going back to as people they're just unbelievable people. They've been great leaders throughout their time at SDSU. They want to know what they got to do to be great. They never offer excuses, even here today. They don't point the finger anywhere. They just take a lot of accountability and ownership for what happens in our program."

The Jacks have now been to 14 NCAA tournaments in 18 years of being eligible. That's even more impressive than it sounds.

Next year won't be as "easy" as the last four have been. SDSU finally lost to a Summit League opponent this year, twice, and with Meyer and Mathiowetz graduating there's no telling what the Jacks roster will look like next fall.

That's for Johnston to worry about. There's plenty of talent that could return, but there isn't an obvious alpha like Meyer was, or Selland or Macy Miller before her.

And that's something AJ and the rest of us can worry about later. This program will surely bounce back, even if next year is shaping up to be more challenging than have been the last four.

For now, it's worth taking a moment to recognize what Meyer, Mathiowetz and Colbeck accomplished.

"I think if you look at statistics and wins, championships, post-season, I'm not sure there's been a better four-year run," Johnston said. "There's maybe been some equal to it but I don't know that there's been a better four-year run. And it's not all been our three seniors. They were freshmen once and had some pretty good seniors in front of them, so they were part of some really good teams, but they kind of kept things going and then when it became their year as seniors, they really carried a big load for us this year. So you have the numbers, which are good, but I just keep going back to, as people they're just unbelievable people. They've been great leaders throughout their time at SDSU. They want to know what they got to do to be great. They never offer excuses, even here today. They don't point the finger anywhere. They just take a lot of accountability and ownership for what happens in our program."

Four years, four Summit League championships, four NCAA tournaments and two tourney wins?

Hard to imagine a better legacy than that.