Brooks' cheap shot still angers one Husky

LOS ANGELES — Just because an apology is sent doesn't mean it has to be accepted.

So at least one of the Washington Huskies, forward Jamaal Williams, was in no mood Friday to hear that Oregon guard Aaron Brooks has apologized for the forearm he threw that leveled Washington's Ryan Appleby in the first half of Oregon's 84-73 win over UW in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament.

"I just want to see him try to throw one of those elbows at me," Williams said.

Williams was on the floor when the incident happened and had to be restrained by teammate Mike Jensen from going after Brooks.

"It was best that me and him not be in the same area," Williams said. "What he did was out of line. I can understand in terms of being emotional. But to just go out and take a shot at someone's face like that is not acceptable. I don't accept that and I don't appreciate it being a teammate."

Appleby suffered a cut inside his upper lip that required six stitches after Brooks hit him with a right forearm while setting a screen. But after sitting out the last 10 minutes of the first half, Appleby was able to return to the game, apparently suffering no other significant injury.

Brooks, a Franklin High School graduate, was ejected from the game for what officials termed as "fighting" and was not allowed to play in Oregon's semifinal tournament game Friday night against California.

Pac-10 officials said they were not planning to punish Brooks further, though conference commissioner Tom Hansen told the Eugene Register-Guard it was "a vicious blow. It's something we don't want to see in the Pac-10 and we haven't seen in the Pac-10. ... It's a very serious situation but I commend the officials. They handled it the way it should have been handled."

Once banished to Oregon's locker room, Brooks passed some of his time writing letters of apology to Appleby and UW coach Lorenzo Romar. Romar received the letters after the game and gave one to Appleby. Brooks also apologized for the play during a postgame TV interview.

While no one wearing Oregon green was excusing Brooks' actions, many did say he was retaliating for a play on the other end of the floor, where Appleby, while holding the ball, swung his elbows while being defended by Brooks.

"I know exactly why he did it," said UW guard Brandon Roy. "Because he felt like Appleby tried to elbow him."

Appleby, though, said he didn't think he had done much to precipitate the Brooks elbow.

"I don't know," he said. "I didn't think anything went on, you know?"

A TV report during the game indicated Brooks and Appleby had bad blood going back to high school — Appleby played at Stanwood. But Brooks told the Eugene Register-Guard that wasn't true.

"We've never even spoken bad words about each other on the court," Brooks said.

Instead, Brooks said he felt Appleby "took a little shot at me" and that "I felt we were getting roughed up a little bit."

"I'm not going to lie," he continued. "I meant to hit him. But nothing like that."

Brooks said he wrote the letters of apology to make it clear "I would never try to hurt someone like that even though I threw the elbow."

Whatever the case, any UW revenge against Brooks and the Ducks will have to wait until next year.

While Oregon headed on to the semifinals, the Huskies headed home.

They were scheduled to take Friday and Saturday off before gathering Sunday to find out where they will be sent for the NCAA tournament.

Some close to the program speculated the Oregon loss probably will resign UW to a No. 6 seed, which will make for a much tougher matchup than the No. 4 or No. 5 seed the Huskies would have gotten for winning a game or two at the Pac-10 tournament.

Romar felt the Huskies might have gotten worn down by Oregon's physical play. He compared it afterward to the loss to Louisville in the NCAA tournament last year, when a hard hit by Otis George of the Cardinals flattened Bobby Jones early in the game, which set a physical tone and seemed to catch the Huskies off guard.

But as Romar noted, the Huskies didn't lose the lead until there were fewer than eight minutes remaining in the game, long after the Appleby-Brooks incident.

Williams said he thought the Appleby injury hurt UW more in a practical manner "in messing up our rotations."

Roy also said the team's four seniors didn't lead the team well.

"I don't remember anyone saying, 'Let's go, let's get some stops,' " he said. "They were just the tougher team down the stretch. They fought like they had more to play for than we did and it showed."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com