SEATTLE (AP) - Seven consecutive wins at home over weak opponents had Washington wondering just how much it was improving.

But the eighth consecutive win - on the road at Washington State, which had beaten the UW seven times in a row - has these young, growing Huskies (10-3) believing in themselves entering Thursday's Pac-10 home opener against Stanford (11-1).

Team leader Jon Brockman says a swagger has returned to practices this week.

"Which is good," he said, remembering his team was flopping at 2-3 just six weeks ago.

He and other players now speak of balancing confidence against cockiness. No one was talking that way after embarrassing losses at Portland to begin the season, and then to Kansas in a rout on national television in Kansas City on Nov. 24.

"We won on the road, in conference," coach Lorenzo Romar said Tuesday. "More than anything, that has us excited."

Washington's 20-point win last weekend at its biggest rival was the first time in four seasons the Huskies won their first conference game on the road. That was the season Brandon Roy ended up as Pac-10 player of the year and the Huskies went to their last NCAA tournament.

Last season, Washington started 1-5 on the road in the conference and ended up 16-17 overall. The season before that, the Huskies started 0-5 away from home in the Pac-10. That also ended with Washington being left out of the NCAA tournament.

The victory over Washington State came without a huge game from Brockman, who finished with just 10 points and four rebounds. With strong outside shooting by surging guards Justin Dentmon and Isaiah Thomas, plus Quincy Pondexter becoming a force inside, it was by far a more complete win than any of those at home over Texas Southern, Eastern Washington, Montana and Morgan State.

Those were the not-so-tough tests Washington got immediately before conference play began.

Romar said his players aren't cocky about their win streak.

"You kind of feel like, 'You know what? We're not bad. We need to really work and make sure we can accomplish our goals. It's a possibility,' " Romar said.

As Pondexter said of the 17 games that remain before the conference tournament, "We know it's a long season."

The Huskies see a key factor in their recent turnaround: A changed attitude toward more sharing on the offensive end following the jolting, 19-point loss to Kansas that Romar likened to "rock bottom."

"We threw all our money in the middle and said 'Share it,"' Romar said. "It was a mind-set and a conclusion we came to as a team."

Opponents are also coming to new conclusions about Washington's recently improved outside shooting. It is causing them to stray from the universal plan of packing zone defenses inside on Brockman.

"I'm sure when teams start scouting us from our recent games, that will change more and more," Brockman said of the collapsing defenses that have kept him from a monster season so far.

Stanford presents a new challenge. The Cardinal no longer have the 7-foot Lopez twins around to rely upon inside. They have both left for the NBA.

"It's going to be different," Brockman said with a grin. "For two years it was like one's guarding you and as soon as you got past him, the other was there waiting for you."

New coach Johnny Dawkins has transformed Stanford out of half-court patience into a running, freewheeling team. That will make Thursday the first Huskies-Cardinal game in years to match similar styles.

As Stanford's 30-point loss at home to then No.-17 Arizona State in its conference opener last week showed, the Cardinal's transition to its new path is ongoing. It was Stanford's biggest Pac-10 loss since a 90-58 defeat by Arizona in 1998.