University of Washington basketball coach Lorenzo Romar freely admits it: If it weren't for Scott Suggs, the UW guard from Washington, Mo., the Huskies wouldn't be playing St. Louis University on Sunday morning at Chaifetz Arena.

The Huskies seldom venture on to an opponent's court at this time of year — this is just the third true road game in November in Romar's 10 seasons in Seattle. But when Suggs left the Midwest for the Emerald City, the plan was to have him come back and play a game in front of his hometown friends and family.

The irony, of course, is that after all that, Suggs won't be playing in the game.

At the start of training camp in October, Suggs suffered a stress fracture in his foot which will keep him out of action. He needed surgery and will be out another three or four weeks.

"It's definitely not what I wanted," Suggs said. "Originally, we didn't know how severe it was, and we were thinking three, four weeks in a boot if I stayed off my foot. I looked at the schedule, and we would have been good if that had been possible. But I had to have surgery. It's disappointing, but I had to do the surgery."

That Suggs would miss this game was "one of the first things I thought," Romar said. "We planned on this time, but he won't be able to experience it. In another three or four weeks, he could."

It's a double homecoming for this game, with Suggs coming back to the region where he grew up and Romar coming back to the school where he coached for three seasons. Much has changed at SLU since Romar left in 2002. His first year at SLU, 1999-2000, was also the last time the Billikens went to the NCAA Tournament, when they pulled off the Miracle in Memphis, winning four games in four days as the No. 7 seed to take the Conference USA tournament. Back then, Romar's office was just off the practice court in antiquated West Pine Gym and the Billikens played games downtown at Scottrade Center, which was called Savvis Center at the time. Now, SLU has its ultramodern Chaifetz Arena, with half the seats of Scottrade but twice the ambiance.

Romar left SLU after three seasons — he said he "rented out" Charlie Spoonhour's office — to return to the school where he had played college ball and because of that, years later, Suggs also went to Seattle. Romar and Suggs first met in St. Louis when Suggs was 10 — Romar beat him one on one — and the two stayed in contact. As Suggs developed into one of the area's top players — he was an All-Metro selection and Mr. Show-Me Basketball as a senior — Romar always had the inside track on getting him.

Suggs is now a senior, and though he has started only 10 games in the previous three seasons, his time at Washington has been productive. Washington has gone to the NCAA Tournament all three of his seasons and, with a talented, athletic team, is expected to go back for a fourth time after this season. Last season, Suggs averaged 7.4 points and shot 45 percent on 3-point shots, the third-best mark in the Pac-10.

"Last year was probably his most productive year," Romar said. "He came into his own. He made shots and was a good defender. It's crazy how these things happen. Terrence Ross and C.J. Wilcox are playing exceptional right now as wings, and Scott was playing just as good as any of them before he got hurt. He's one of our tri-captains and has done a great job leading in spite of being out. He's been like an extension of the coaching staff."

Meanwhile, Romar has had smashing success at Washington, where he is the dean of Pac-12 coaches. His teams have made three Sweet 16 appearances, won three Pac-10 tournament titles and a regular-season title. Romar has averaged 21.7 wins per season, and though the expansion of schedules has contributed, he has four of the seven highest single-season win totals in school history.

"He's done a great job at Washington," SLU coach Rick Majerus said. "He's an outstanding recruiter; his talent level is second to none. They've eclipsed UCLA and USC. I always say recruiting to UCLA is like recruiting an alcoholic to a New Year's Eve party. But best of all, he's put the student-athlete in a position to graduate."

Regardless of how this game came into existence, this is by far the best nonconference opponent that will come into Chaifetz this season and, other than Xavier, figures to be the toughest team SLU plays this season. The Huskies (3-0) average 83.0 points, one of the highest averages in the country. Their starting guards are 6-3, 6-5 and 6-6, which will mean tough matchups for SLU, and all of them can handle the ball.

"They've got a terrific fast break, excellent speed and athletic ability," Majerus said. "There's almost no weakness in their club."

SLU (2-0) will need its defense to play the way it did against its first two opponents. The group has gotten Romar's attention.

"They're a phenomenal defensive team," Romar said. "I don't know if we'll play a defensive team as good as them this year. At this point, from looking at the footage, they're almost flawless on the defensive end. They're playing together, they know their roles. You can see they understand what they're doing early in year. That stands out."