These past few years, the Washington Huskies have run a successful program.

And by past few years I mean the disappearance of the Pac-10. As in no top-25 team for most of the 2009-10 season. As in a national coming-down-upon in which everyone has seemed to rip the Pac. And rightfully so. It’s simply been abysmal.

So while all of that was happening, the conference was up for grabs and Washington did a pretty good job of capitalizing. They won a Pac-10 title (2009), two tournament titles (2010, 2011) and put four players in the NBA (since 2007). They’ve been a good program.

Perhaps it goes overshadowed that Lorenzo Romar teams also went to back-to-back sweet sixteens in 2005 and 2006. They spat out Brandon Roy and have been a solid program under Romar – producing just two sub-.500 campaign in nine seasons at his alma mater.

He wins to the tune of 68% and he pulls in talent. UW has had a top-25 class in five of the last seven years. They maintain a talented cupboard, that’s never been in question.

Until now.

With at least two scholarships coming off the books and likely more by way of NBA draft or inevitable transfer, the Huskies will watch the early signing period come and go without a commitment.

I’m not writing Washington’s death certificate nor do I think Romar is writing one. By many accounts he’s doing well with the class of 2013 but why stockpile for the future? This ain’t y2k but it certainly doesn’t look too good.

Arizona and UCLA have secured top-10 talent for 2012 and Stanford, Cal, Oregon, and Colorado each have top-100 commits.

As I said earlier, UW had a nice window in which they could become the conference elite. They took advantage of it and got themselves some trophies, but not couldn’t quite make the leap to elite.

Although the conference has run into a dry recruiting spell, perhaps that’s starting to effect the Huskies more than others. Maybe it starts at home? In six of their last seven classes, UW has had at least one 4-star recruit from Washington or Oregon (only one from Oregon). Percy Allen – the excellent Seattle Times reporter – notes that the local prep stars haven’t exactly shined bright. The top rated Seattle prospects may not be good enough for UW, in which case Romar is making the right move.

Washington is putting a lot of eggs into its 2013 basket which is fine – there are no doubt some talented players in that class – but if they miss eaither of their major spring targets (Anthony Bennett and Zena Edosomwan) 2013 could turn into a rebuilding class versus reloading.

There’s a lot of time and a lot of recruiting to be done but UW’s seat amongst the western elite may quickly be closing.

Now’s the time to try and get back in there.