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TagsA couple of friends are working on "Chicago Time" today--starting at 7 and leaving at 4, as mandated by a munificent employer who wants everyone to be able to catch today's Husky game. They may regret being given that chance, because from everything I'm reading about West Virginia, the Husky game could end up looking like a scene from Deliverance.
The Huskies struggled against taller teams this year, and West Virginia is the tallest they've played yet.The Mountaineers may start a lineup of players all above 6'7". That would make their shortest starter taller than all but one Husky. ("I'll bet you can squeal like a pig. Weeeeeee!")
At 5'8", Husky star Isaiah Thomas is used to guarding taller players. But a foot taller? ("What we, uh, 're-quire' is for you to get your asses away from the basket.")
The hope is that UW will outquick the Mountaineers. In an excellent game preview in today's P-I, Todd Dybas notes that against the all-forward lineup, Cleveland State's 6'2" Norris Cole scored 29 points. This being college basketball, anything can happen. But oddsmakers have West Virginia as a 4.5-point favorite for a reason. Still, I think the Huskies will keep it close, and the game will be quite the .... DUEL! Cue the music!...
Coach Lorenzo Romar has struggled to determine the right mix of playing time for his team all season. Last night against Oregon State, the struggle continued. With the Huskies in danger of suffering a loss that would sink their NCAA tournament hopes, Romar made starting shooting guard Isaiah Thomas his primary point guard, sitting both members of his point guard rotation. Elston Turner slotted in at shooting guard and played 23 minutes, his most since January 8.
The bigger lineup helped the Huskies dominate the boards. Giving Thomas total control of the offense gave him freedom to find space in the Oregon State zone. And, generally, it let Romar have his best players on the floor longer. The result was a 37-point second half that gave UW the win.
Basketball coaches from the pros down to CYO ball are known to shorten their rotations--that is, give the bench players less playing time--when the playoffs come. Perhaps Romar is moving in that direction. It's time.
With every game do or die, Abdul Gaddy shouldn't see meaningful minutes again this year. The highly-touted freshman has had his chances to make an impact, and has had valuable playing time that will help him develop into the NBA prospect he's supposed to be. But right now, he hurts the team when he's on the floor.
Venoy Overton should keep his role as off-the-bench disrupter. But that only works if he's got the energy, so he can't see more than 20 minutes a night.
That leaves Thomas as the Dawgs' primary ballhandler, spelled when Overton comes on. This is a role that Cal's Jerome Randle rode to a Pac-10 Player of the Year award, with energy guard Jorge Gutierrez in the Overton role....
ASU's Derek Glasser Gets the Dawgpack Treatment (Photo via Twitter, @UWDawgPack)
At Hec Edmundson Pavilion, with a full student section behind them, the Washington Husky basketballers are as dominant as John Wooden's UCLA teams. In Seattle, the Dawgs bombed Pac-10 leaders Cal by 15 points. They crushed Pac-10 second placers Arizona State by 23. They dropped a 56-point second half on cross-state rivals Wazzu, and a 123-point game on crosstowners Seattle U.
Washington has won 16 of 17 games at home this year. But something happens on the road. Away from Hec Ed, the Dawgs are winless in six games. That ASU team the Huskies crushed here Saturday? Lost to 'em by 17 in Tempe.
Why the difference? On the road, the Huskies start the same guys, have the same coaches, play by the same rules--and flop. The one principle difference, it would seem, is the Washington fans--specifically the rowdy student section that goes by the name "The Dawgpack." Pac-10 players generally agree that Washington has the best crowd in the league. Oregon coach Ernie Kent has called The Dawgpack the best student section in the country.
The Dawgpack stands the entire game. When the opposing team is on offense, they keep up a constant shout, unnerving players and making it hard for them to communicate. When opposing coaches attempt to shout out instructions, they yell to drown him out. They pick on opposing players, like when they chanted "Mich-ael Cera!" at Cal's Nikola Knezevic (who does sorta look like him). A sign at Saturday's game had a photoshopped image of Husky guard Venoy Overton with his arm around the mother of hated ASU guard Derek Glasser. The sign read "Mr. and Mrs. Overton." With Glasser scoreless midway through the second half, UW fans held their hands in the shape of a zero and derisively chanted "Der-ek, Der-ek."...
Dollar's Redhawks Must Win Tonight to Reach His Goal
Both Washington and Seattle University's men's basketball teams had lofty goals for the season.
"We can make it to the Final Four," Washington's star guard Isaiah Thomas told reporters in October. "We're that good. That's our goal."
Seattle U coach Cameron Dollar, whose team isn't eligible for the NCAA tournament, set his sights on the finals of the second-tier National Invitational Tournament, held in New York City. "We will be playing and competing at a high level to get to Madison Square Garden," said Dollar when he was hired in April.
But as things stand in January, neither team would even make the field of their targeted tournaments.
So while the "storylines" of this game are rather interesting--an in-city rivalry, Dollar coaching against former boss Lorenzo Romar, Seattle U star Charles Garcia facing the school that rejected his admissions application--the simple truth is that the team that loses this game can forget about reaching their goal once and for all.
For Washington, a home loss to the D1 transitioning Redhawks (ranked #224 in the all-important RPI) would read like a felony conviction on their NCAA tournament resume. All hopes of an at-large bid would be dashed, and even if they made the tourney by winning the Pac-10, they'd have an unattractive seed and a difficult road to the Final Four....
Been a tough year for British national Matthew Bryan-Amaning. Expected to fill the rebounding and scoring void left by Jon Brockman (who scored a career-high nine points Tuesday night vs. Orlando), "MBA" has struggled, losing his starting job.
But last night in the Huskies' blowout win over Stanford he provided what will likely be the most thrilling moment of this season, when he unleashed a monster fast-break dunk, posterizing Stanford guard Drew Shiller. The dunk brought Hec Ed fans, including this one, leaping out of our seats in celebration.
Look for the dunk at the 1:13 mark of this UW Daily video recap of the game.
As for the game, you'll note Quincy Pondexter's absurd statline--27 points on 16 shots!?--and think that he dominated the game. In fact, Q scored just 2 of the Huskies first 19 points. The catalyst for this performance was the offensive aggression of other Dawgs, especially freshman guard Abdul Gaddy. Gaddy showed the basketball smarts he's been lauded for, slicing through Stanford's zone and finding open floaters twice in the first four minutes.
Gaddy making himself a threat opened up the floor for Pondexter, who seemed to be the focus of the Husky defense.
The Husky stars can't go unnoticed, though for Isaiah Thomas it was his effort on defense that keyed the win. Matched up on Stanford's sweet-shooting Jeremy Green, who dropped 30 on UCLA last week, Thomas was fantastic. He chased Green through screens and double screens all night, and was right on Green whenever he received the ball. Green scored just 2 first-half points.
The Huskies next play Cal Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The game will be on FSN Northwest.
Someday, you will do it. You won't have a co-worker's birthday party, a seasonal gutter cleaning, or brunch with an ex. Someday, you will watch sports all weekend. If, perchance, this is the weekend, here's how it should go:
FRIDAY
5 p.m.: Find a nearby bar with a good happy hour and some decent TVs to watch the Trail Blazers visit Cleveland on ESPN. Can Roy outshine Lebron?
7 p.m.: Start drinking water, you've got to get in your car soon.
7:45 p.m.: The Blazers game ends just in time for you to make your way to a local high school hoops game. Maybe you go see your alma mater, maybe you just go somewhere nearby. Most games start at 8 p.m. on Friday, here's the full schedule of games.
SATURDAY
9 a.m.: Oh boy is this an exciting day of college hoops. Chomp some cereal while watching Kentucky point guard John Wall, sure to be the first-overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft. Haven't seen Wall yet? Here's a taste. The Wildcats play Indiana, the game's on CBS.
11 a.m.: Your Washington Huskies face their toughest test of the year, facing undefeated Georgetown in the John Wooden Classic in Anaheim. Georgetown big men Greg Monroe (6'11") and Julian Vaughn (6'9") comprise the best front line the Huskies have seen this year. On the other hand, Isaiah Thomas and Quincy Pondexter are the most talented scorers Georgetown have yet seen. Game's on FSN.
1 p.m.: Roll down towards KeyArena, where Gonzaga will play Davidson at 4. (Buy tickets here.) While you drive, flip on ESPN 710 to hear Dave Grosby's call of the Seattle U/Eastern Washington game, live from Cheney. Can Seattle U's Charles Garcia take over the national scoring lead? He's second at 26 ppg right now, one point first-place Aubrey Coleman of Houston.
1:30 p.m.: You've got a few hours before the Gonzaga game, so head over to Winterfest at Seattle Center to see an exhibition by the Hot Dog USA Jump Rope Team. Afterwards you can take a spin on the ice rink for just $5 (plus a $2 skate rental).
4 p.m.: Two seasons ago, Davidson bounced Gonzaga out of the NCAA Tournament behind 40 points from Stephen Curry. Curry's in the NBA now, so the Zags have a good chance of exacting revenge against 2-6 Davidson (one of their wins came against "Fredonia State," which I think is from a Marx Brothers film).
5:30 p.m.: Check your web-enabled phone to see who won the Heisman.
6:30 p.m.: The Zags game is over. I give you two choices:
a) Drive down to Kentridge High to see one of the best high school hoops games of the year. Kentridge and guard Gary Bell, Jr., host defending state champs Federal Way at 7:30 p.m., or,
b) Back to WinterFest to check out the trains and get some dinner. (And maybe an Orange Julius). Kill time until the 9:30 p.m. showing of SonicsGate, the documentary about the Sonics' departure from Seattle. Everyone who comes to the one-week run of the show will get a free DVD of the movie. You want to get there early because Sonics legend Slick Watts will be at tonight's showing.
10:30 p.m.: That was a nice day. Drive home and rest for FOOTBALL SUNDAY....
I have two new rules in the wake of Seattle U's high-five-inducing upset win over Fresno State at KeyArena last night.
1) Never Doubt Elgin Baylor
Before the game, NBA Hall-of-Famer and Seattle Uer Baylor, standing next to his stunning wife on the court now named for him, addressed the crowd. He urged the fans to cheer boisterously for the Redhawks. Baylor said that players perform better when they hear the fans' support.
Baylor was right, because I'm at a loss to explain how a short SU backcourt rotation could've kept up a full-court trap for the final eight minutes of the game, hassling Fresno State into just enough turnovers to give the Redhawks a chance for the winning basket.
2) Never Doubt Cameron Dollar
Fresno State is stronger, faster, taller, and more athletic than Seattle U. So you'd think the last thing you'd do is try to run with them. Last year's Seattle U team, under departed coach Joe Callero, would've tried to slow down the game with deliberate possessions, and attempted to confuse Fresno State with trick defenses.
But under new coach Dollar, a former assistant to UW's Lorenzo Romar, the Redhawks were the aggressors. On SU's second possession of the game, Dollar was barking at his point guard to bring the ball up faster. The Redhawks trapped early and often, and played aggressive man-to-man defense against FSU's NBA-quality athletes.
And when Dollar's players got in foul trouble, got tired, and squandered a double-digit lead? Dollar responded by being more aggressive.
For the final 8:30 of the game, Dollar had the Redhawks run a trapping full-court press. And, to me, the outcome seemed preordained. The short-handed Redhawks would tire, Fresno State would score easy buckets in bunches, foul out SU's best players, and coast to a double-digit win.
Instead, the press paid off right away. Mike Boxley and Cervante Burrell trapped a FSU dribbler and caused a steal that led to an Aaron Broussard three-point play. Then, off a bad pass by the Bulldogs, Boxley hit a three-pointer.
The Redhawks stayed within striking distance from that point on, helped by some extremely generous officiating. And with 1:21 left, the Redhawks struck....
Tomorrow night's your first chance to see the University of Washington basketball team play against another team. The game is an exhibition (and, thus, viewable for the bargain price of $10) against Central Washington University, a team of predominately Puget Sound area kids. If you are any kind of high school hoops fan (and if you aren't, what's stopping you?) you will recognize some of the names on the CWU roster.
But let us discuss the Huskies. When we last left them, they had suffered a close loss to Purdue in the NCAA tournament's second round. But I prefer to remember the home win vs. Washington State which clinched the school's first Pac-10 title since the Eisenhower Administration, and watching an exultant Lorenzo Romar cut down the nets. One of my favorite Seattle sports memories.
This year, the Huskies confront life without four-year starter and team captain Jon Brockman. The school's all-time leading rebounder, now playing in the NBA (here he is dunking against the Zombie Sonics!), averaged a double-...
By per-hour sports entertainment spending, you'll have a tough time topping tonight's Hec Ed double feature.
At 6 p.m., the #4-ranked Husky volleyballers play the sun-kissed ladies of #12 UCLA. (Why is volleyball awesome? It is the only sport in which your opponent will have a player from Laguna Niguel named "Dicey McGraw".)
The Dawgs are coming off their first loss of the season, a five-set defeat last Sunday at then-#7 Stanford.
Tickets for the volleyball match are $9 for reserved seats and $6 for general admission, which ensures you a good seat to the main event, the nationally-televised "Midnight Madness" public Husky hoops practice.
The "Midnight Madness," which you can also watch on ESPNU, will feature a dunk contest, three-point shooting contest, and a scrimmage. (Also, and I'm less excited about this, a "team skit" (?) and "student contests.")
The hoops event is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., but that depends on how long the volleyball game goes tonight. At 7:15, the gates of Hec...
The great 2009 Tweeps-Off between Husky hoopsters Matthew Bryan-Amaning (@MBALIVE11) and Isaiah Thomas (@it_thomas) ended this morning with Bryan-Amaning reaching the magic 500 followers mark. MBA passed the mark at 2:36 a.m. today (10:36 a.m. in London, where the British native is at the moment).
As per the bet, Isaiah Thomas will have his head shaved bald--on video, which will be posted to YouTube. Presumably this will happen when MBA returns to the states in a couple of days.
Bryan-Amaning also promised to give a signed jersey to one of his Tweeps should he win. (Thomas had promised to give away his jersey from last March's NCAA tourney game vs. Purdue). Fingers crossed, maybe it'll be me!
New Twitterer Isaiah Thomas and Matthew Bryan-Amaning of the Husky basketball team are in a race to get to 500 Twitter followers (I prefer "Tweeps"). The loser of the battle has to go bald: "Razor clean bald!!!" as Quincy Pondexter, who arranged the contest, puts it.
MBA was originally hesitant to participate: "no1 in london has twitter and IT is the home town kid," he pointed out. But now the battle is joined.
The gamesmanship has begun, as Bryan-Amaning this morning offered team-signed Husky gear to two lucky followers if he wins.
Pertinent Twitter feeds:
Matthew Bryan-Amaning: @MBALive11
Isaiah Thomas: @it_thomas
Quincy Pondexter: @QuincyPondexter
Topic A this weekend for Seattle sports watchers was Saturday's Husky game.
"Its so hype n this football stadium right now!! Let's go dawgs!!" tweeted UW hoops recruit Abdul Gaddy.
"Husky football is back! Not a win yet, but when the team plays all out w/ the Dawg fans screaming no place is like it!" This from Detlef Schrempf.
Cal Bear Justin Forsett was rooting for regional pride: "I need UW to pull out this win tonight for the Pac-10."
PHOTOS!!! Rob Sims tweeted this photo of his brunch at Jak's Grill, which he says is the best in Seattle. Nate Robinson shared a candid of his sleeping brother.
Robinson also has a movie review: "Just saw that movie GAMER, man what a disappointment weak movie."
Terrence Williams was caught in the rain, but that didn't stop him from going to hitting up one of his favorite eateries: Popeye's Chicken.
New to Twitter this week: Husky guard Isaiah Thomas, who you can follow @it_thomas. Thomas revealed that his XBox name is freakyzekey2--go best him in "Legend of Zelda" or whatever...
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