Yeah, the Huskies’ won tonight at Tulane in a sloppy game in front of a tiny crowd.

But what I and most of the team will remember more about this Tuesday in New Orleans was going to James Carville’s house for dinner and talking in his living room after the game.

The political commentator and strategist that got Bill Clinton elected president hosted the Huskies at his huge home a few blocks from the Tulane campus in the city’s Uptown neighborhood.

Man, did Carville put out a spread for the Dawgs. Crawfish etouffee. Red beans and rice. Gumbo. Shrimp. White chocolate bread pudding. It was a Cajun feast.

The connection that got the Huskies here: The 69-year-old Carville has known UW athletic director Scott Woodward since Woodward was six years old in Baton Rouge, La. Woodward’s his father was Carville’s dentist.

“I’d do anything for Scott,” Carville said.

The company and hospitality were as good as the food. Carville’s never one to shy away from an opinion or point of view – especially, I can presume, while inside his own house. Wearing a Tulane cap – he is also a lecturer at the school, on top of his television commentary on politics, his book writing and his marriage to Mary Matalin – Carville sat in a big chair in his living room.

With Woodward sitting to his right, coach Lorenzo Romar on his left and players to his front on couches and chairs, Carville talked about his views on U.S. soldiers returning from war. On how Israeli society differs from ours, because of that country’s better synergy of its military with its society (thanks to mandatory military service). On what a great coach Romar is, and how fortunate the Huskies are to be to have him as a mentor – and to have a great school such as Washington from which to get a degree.

When Woodward mentioned to Carville by way of introduction that I graduated from West Point, Carville took me upstairs to show me family pictures of his days as an enlisted man in the Marines. I asked him what his military specialty was when he was a corporal.

“Gruntin’. And eatin’,” he said in his native Cajun drawl. “It wasn’t like I had any rank or authority.”

Back downstairs, as players chowed on the catered spread, Carville told them the story of a mother during a public event telling Clinton during his presidency that her daughter wanted to someday become president. Carville said Clinton gave that mom two pieces of advice, which Carville then passed on to the Huskies.

“Study hard. And meet as many people as you can that are not like you.”

“In life you have to sometimes force yourself out of your comfort zone,” Carville told the Dawgs, with Romar nodding his head next to him. “Y'all are basketball players, and that’s good, you have to do it during the season. But go out. You are at a great school. Learn everything that you can, not just in the classroom but from all the other kids that go there and the experiences that you have and go forward.

"Remember that: Just study hard and meet as many as you can that aren’t like you.

"OK,” Carville concluded by clapping his hands together, “that’s enough lecturing.”

Romar presented Carville with a UW polo shirt – “purple, like LSU,” the Louisiana State grad said, approvingly – plus a white Husky basketball T-shirt and players-style, oversized game shorts, “for when you go to the gym and call, ‘I got next!’” a smiling Romar told his host.

My few minutes talking military experiences and leadership with James Carville at his home tonight in New Orleans.

As the Huskies left to get back to their downtown New Orleans hotel and a 7 a.m. trip Wednesday to the airport for the long trek home through Atlanta, point guard Andrew Andrews immediately took Carville up on his advice. The redshirt sophomore introduced himself to Carville, and asked if he could have a copy of his new book “Love and War” that Carville had been discussing earlier. When Carville heartily said sure and handed Andrews the book, Andrews asked Carville to sign it, right there in his kitchen.

“Getting to know people who aren’t like me,” the native of Portland, Ore., said, making the native of Carville, La., laugh as he signed the book.

We all get wrapped around wins and losses. But this team is having experiences far beyond the court – visiting the World Trade Center bombing site in New York, going to dinner Monday night at teammate Jernard Jarreau’s family house in East New Orleans that was rebuilt after being destroyed by Hurricane Katrina – that are enriching their lives.

Tonight with James Carville was the latest one. And it was remarkable. Not your average, mid-season, weeknight college-basketball fare.