March Madness Poll
by John Berkowitz on Mar 17, 2010 12:43 PM PDT
12 comments
How deep will Washington go in the big dance this season?
Nobody out there expects Washington to last very long in this years tournament. They all say the Pac 10 is weak and they have a point since only two Pac 10 teams are dancing this season. All that being said I think the Huskies are peaking at just the right time.
Marquette is a battle tested opponent from an elite conference but I think this game is going to go down to the wire. For some reason I think Washington will surprise the experts this season and advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Anyone will tell you that if you get that far anything can happen. Once the momentum starts building a cinderella from a major conference can keep advancing if they play their cards right.
So what do you guys think?
Is Washington a one and out team like ASU was in the NIT last night or are they going to do something special and keep us all on the edge of our seats for the next couple of weeks?
12 comments | 0 recs |
Ducks make it official
by John Berkowitz on Mar 17, 2010 4:54 AM PDT
14 comments
Oregon made the firing of basketball coach Ernie Kent official yesterday. Kent was the winningest coach in program history with a 235-173 record since was hired in 1997. Kent was a good coach who did well at a place where it is hard to recruit top basketball talent. He led his team to two elite eight appearances during his tenure at Oregon. If there was any real knock on him it was inability to keep what litte top flight in state talent from attending other schools.
Oregon wil open a fancy new arena next season and you can expect the Ducks to try to make a run at Gonzaga head coach and Eugene native Mark Few to start the search off. Another named mentioned was former Sonic head coach and all around coaching vagabond PJ Carlesimo. Louisville's Rick Pittino is another name I have heard bandied about in the press. The thinking on that one is maybe he wants a fresh start after it became public he has an affair and was then blackmailed.
I think Oregon made a mistake by firing Kent who has been on shaky ground ever since details of his own maritial affair became public a few years back. Kent was first first all an Oregon alum who had played under Dick Harter as one of the infamous Kamikaze Kids. His roots at Oregon are deep just like Washington's Lorenzo Romar's are. It is tough to replicate that type of loyalty and commitment when you are out shopping for a big name.
Anyway it is hard to a believe a guy that took his team to the elite eight twice over the past ten or so years is out on the street looking for a job. If Kent wants to continue coaching he should have no problem finding another job. As for Oregon they shouldn't have too much trouble landing a competent new coach. The new arena will be an attractive recruiting draw and should give the new coach a running start. Too bad they didn't give the guy who got them there a shot at that run.
14 comments | 0 recs
UW got a better draw than Cal or Gonzaga
by Ben Pearson on Mar 16, 2010 12:58 PM PDT
1 comment
UW is finally living up to their potential, which makes them a very dangerous #11 seed. I feel bad for Marquette. Look at some of the other 11 seeds. UW is one of the hottest teams in the nation and gets to stay close to home (San Jose). If they can get past Marquette, I'm sure they can beat New Mexico as well.
Isaiah Thomas and Quincy Pondexter form one of the most potent 1-2 punches in the nation, but if they don't get help from someone else it will be hard to advance.
theleftcoastbias.com breaks down UW's chances and the other teams from the west.
http://theleftcoastbias.com/?p=1751
It's a down year for the Pac-10 but the West still has many teams dancing, can't wait for it all to unfold. Who do you guy think has the best chance to make it to the final four? New Mexico? BYU? or the Dawgs?
1 comment | 0 recs
Questions and Answers
by thecassino on Mar 16, 2010 11:45 AM PDT
15 comments
Did a Q&A with our sister SBNation site: AnonymousEagle. I'll fanshot to the questions I answered when they get them posted, but for now, enjoy:
1) How has this season been for Marquette, and what were the expectations coming into this year?
This season has aged most of us in dog years. It started off with surprising victories over Xavier and Michigan in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando ... followed up by Marquette gacking away a home game against ACC bottom feeder NC State. The Big East season got off to a rough start, as Marquette lost on a buzzer beater at West Virginia, then lost twice to Villanova (in a week span) by a total of four points, and, last and certainly least, a loss on another buzzer beater to an absolutely wretched DePaul squad that would've struggled to win a game in Conference USA. Since then, things have picked up, but it hasn't been easy: three straight road games that went to OT (all Marquette wins), followed up by two down-to-the-wire games in the BEast tourney. The boys have kept us on our toes, that's for sure.
Expectations were very low coming into the season; there was little, if any, talk of going to the Dance. We lost three Seniors from last year's squad, each of whom was a 1500-point (career) scorer. We had one returning starter and about eight new faces, and then, in September, our freshman point guard blew his Achilles. Soon after, our only big guy broke his foot, and then, in December, our freshman power forward quit the team because his dad got pissy about the way the kid was being used in the offense. After all that, I think I can safely say: nobody (least of all me) saw this one comin'.
2) What is Marquette's defense like, and who are its best defenders?
Typically, Marquette will go straight up man-to-man on defense. Occasionally, we'll throw out a token 1-3-1 full court press, but I can't remember a single time we've forced a turnover with it. Coach Buzz likes to double down on paint touches and rotate help if there's a kick-out from the post. And you'll notice, on a high screen at the top of the key, we'll sometimes send both defenders at the guy with the ball. Coach Buzz calls that "monster," probably because he's kind of crazy and likes yelling "MONSTER! MONSTER!" on the sideline.
Our best defender is probably Lazar Hayward, if only because he's usually guarding a guy who's three to six inches taller than him and doing it competently. Senior guard David Cubillan has his moments, too; in the Big East tournament, he was on 'Nova's Scottie Reynolds like a Milwaukee housewife on a beer brat, and Reynolds only went 4-10 from the field. But, despite their lack of height, Cubillan and Maurice Acker aren't exceptionally quick and can struggle keeping their men in front of them.
3) Marquette is an excellent three point shooting team. What do they do when the deep ball isn't falling?
We lose. Kidding aside: our offense is predicated on getting a touch in the paint, then working the ball around to the open man. If the open looks aren't falling, we're in trouble, because, outside of Darius Johnson-Odom and Jimmy Butler, we don't have many guys who can create on their own.
4) That Dwyane Wade dunk on Anderson Verajao was awesome, wasn't it?
(Nods)
5) If you were gameplanning against the Golden Eagles, what would you do?
1) Work the paint. (2) Make us run as much as you can, because we only play 7 guys with regularity. (On a related note: if you can get Acker or Cubillan in foul trouble, that'd certainly help your cause, since they're our primary ball handlers.) (3) Work the paint.
6) What were the biggest surprises/disappointments for Marquetter this year?
The biggest surprise was finishing fifth in the meat grinder that is the Big East. As far as players go, it's probably a tie between Johnson-Odom and the senior guards, Acker and Cubillan. DJO is a JUCO transfer, and Coach Buzz told anyone who would listen that the guy was a dynamic offensive threat. And he was right. Acker and Cubillan were bit players for the last couple of seasons, and we didn't expect either to get big minutes this year. But they've blossomed this season, and the offense goes stagnant when they're not in the game.
The biggest disappointment, as far as games go, had to be the loss to DePaul. I can't overstate how bad that team is. Think of the worst team in the Pac-10, multiply it by 20, and you'll be in the neighborhood of how epically awful DePaul was. I'm getting pissed just thinking about that game, so I'll move on.
Individually, the biggest disappointment was Jeronne Maymon, the aforementioned power forward who quit the team in December. During his recruitment, the kid had red flags all over him, not the least of which was his maniac father, who thought Junior was a one-and-done, surefire lottery pick. Predictably, Papa got pissed when the offense was being run through our best player instead of his undersized, athletically-limited son. So they packed their bags for Tennessee, with Papa Maymon firing a: "They didn't want to play the game right, so now we're going to watch them lose every game" barb on his way out of town. It wasn't a good scene for anybody.
7) Score prediction?
If Marquette's season has taught me anything, it's that the game will be close and I'll be working on my fifth brandy Old Fashioned by the 5 minute mark of the second half. I hate score predictions, so I'll cop out: if we're hitting our threes and slowing the game down, Marquette by 5. If the Huskies get out in transition, we won't be able to keep up, and you'll win by 5.
15 comments | 0 recs
Spring Outlook - Tight End - Taking it up a couple of notches
by John Berkowitz on Mar 16, 2010 7:00 AM PDT
16 comments
Washington has the reputation of being TE University but during the Willingham years that all fell by the wayside. The recruitment of Kavario Middleton and Chris Izbicki was supposed to get things back on the right track but in 2009 this group was still receiving a mixed set of reviews.
Jr. Kavario Middleton is the starter going into spring practice. The kid has great hands and can catch the ball but he isn't known as the hardest worker or most precise blocker. He also is capable of concentration lapses out on the field which results in drops. The hope is this is the year that Kavario puts it all together in the weight room, film room, and out on the field.
Jr. Chris Izbicki finally found the field last season after escaping Ty Willingham's dog house. He was starter 1-B last season and had a solid but unspectacular season. Izbicki is never going to live up to the hype he had in HS when he was considered one of the three top HS TE's in the country but he will contribute every game for the rest of his career. The hope for him is that he will continue to develop better hands between now and fall.
Sr Dorson Boyce didn't get the opportunity to play much last season and the JC insurance policy that Sark brought in with his first recruiting class will be hard pressed to see much of the field this year unless some injuries happen in front of him. Boyce isn't a bad player but he doesn't have the size of the kids playing in front of him.
Rs Marlion Bennett will compete for playing time this spring at TE. He is more of a hybrid slot type of guy since he is shorter than a traditional TE. The coaches like the tools he has and it will be interesting to see how they use him in 2010.
In the fall Bothell's Michael Hartvigson will arrive to compete for immediate playing time. It will be tough to find that immediate playing time with a couple of juniors ahead of him but the coaches feel that he will develop into the total package. He has great hands, blocks well, and runs pretty good. That is what you are looking for in a TE. They guys ahead of him haven't shown they can do all three things well at the same time and that is why he will compete for time.
I think going into 2009 the Huskies are solid enough at TE. The big question is will Kavario Middleton develop into an NFL type prospect sooner than later. He needs to get his A game on because time is starting to run short and there are a lot of dollars on the table if he can put it all together.
Look for UW to bring in at least one TE in the 2011 class.
16 comments | 0 recs
The Monday Morning Wash
by John Berkowitz on Mar 15, 2010 8:17 AM PDT
41 comments
This has been a tougher than average year for Lorenzo Romar. The season started with the grand expectations of high initial rankings but by mid January it looked like his young team was going to underperform all the way to the NIT if they were lucky. In many ways it was mirroring Quincy Pondexter's first season at Washington. A young team full of young five star recruits that wasn't playing to its potential.
As Washington's star began to fade so did the rest of the Pac 10. The bracketologists were predicting that maybe only one or two Pac 10 teams would make the big dance this year. Washington was on the bubble going into the Pac 10 tournament while Cal and ASU were the likely squads to move on. The Huskies took care of business winning three in a row which removed all doubt and knocked the Sun Devils into the NIT.
Lorenzo and his squad picked up a lot of criticism on the way to the teams fifth tournament berth in the last seven years. Many felt that the team was suffering a hangover from the loss of assistants Cameron Dollar and Ken Bone over the last couple of years. Lorenzo could recruit with anyone but he couldn't teach the half court offense well without Ken Bone and pressure defense without Cameron Dollar.
The true judgement of any piece of work in progress in any trade is the finished product. By guiding his young team to its fifth tournament appearance in seven years Lorenzo Romar is on a roll that is unprecedented in the annals of Washington basketball.
This team worked hard and corrected a lot of problems to get this far. I would say that of all Lorenzo's teams at Washington this was among his most challenging. I think he did one helluva job pulling this team together for the second half of the season stretch run. These guys finished strong and are poised to go as deep as any of his teams have in the tournament this season.
As far as brackets go despite an eleven seed I think the Huskies lucked out in this area. I think they have an easier road ahead of them than Gonzaga and California. First up is Marquette in what looks to be a toss-up type of contest. UW needs to control the perimeter to beat Marquette to move on. The Golden Eagles live and die with the three and Washington matches up pretty well defenisively with these guys.
I am not sure how deep this team will end up going but one thing is for sure. March Madness is an annual event at Washington and we have Lorenzo Romar to thank for that.
Duck Soup
QB Jeremiah Masoli has been suspended for the season and RB LaMichael James has been suspended for one game by the Oregon athletic department. I agree with the one game suspension for James even though it won't hurt Oregon very much. After looking through the court documents it seems that he is deserving of a second chance. Keep in mind that under Rick Neuheisel TE Jeremy Stevens was only suspended for the first half of one game after driving his car into a retirement complex by Northgate.
The Masoli suspension is something I don't agree with. I think he should have been thrown out of school period. Not only did he commit the senseless crime he also supposedly lied to Chip Kelly when asked about it. By not telling the truth he made Kelly and Bellotti look like idiots. The thinking at Oregon is that he can use this year to redshirt and return to compete for the starting job in 2011 if he hangs around that long.
You have to wonder if they will consider rescinding Masoli's suspension halfway through the season if the Ducks are struggling on offense. Blount was reinstated in November after supposedly being suspended the entire season after his nationally televised post game tirade after the Boise state game.
Once again I think Oregon is sending the wrong message to its players. I also think they have a different set of rules based on a players importance to the team. I think these type of contradictions will continue to cause further problems for the Ducks off the field.
41 comments | 0 recs
11 Seed vs Marquette
by thecassino on Mar 14, 2010 3:35 PM PDT
43 comments
In San Jose. I'll have a look at our pod later, but discuss here.
43 comments | 0 recs
See you in 2011, Masoli. Well, maybe. Thoughts on Masoli's suspension and Sark.
by whiskey chainsaw on Mar 13, 2010 2:35 PM PST
12 comments
Masoli suspended for the year by Chip Kelly.
Am I the only one who feels like Sark would absolutely not put up with this kind of stuff and would nip it in the bud before UW has a multitude of issues in a short period of time?
12 comments | 0 recs
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Next Game
Washington Huskies
@
Marquette Golden Eagles
Thursday, Mar 18, 2010, 4:20 PM PDT
NCAA Tournament - East Region - First Round - HP Pavilion - San Jose, CA
Pacific-10 Conference Standings
(updated 3.17.2010 at 9:10 PM PDT)
| Conf | Overall | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
|
California Golden Bears
|
13 | 5 | 23 | 10 |
|
Arizona St. Sun Devils
|
12 | 6 | 22 | 11 |
|
Washington Huskies
|
11 | 7 | 24 | 9 |
|
Arizona Wildcats
|
10 | 8 | 16 | 15 |
|
USC Trojans
|
8 | 10 | 16 | 14 |
|
Oregon St. Beavers
|
8 | 10 | 14 | 17 |
|
UCLA Bruins
|
8 | 10 | 14 | 18 |
|
Oregon Ducks
|
7 | 11 | 16 | 16 |
| Stanford Cardinal | 7 | 11 | 14 | 18 |
|
Washington St. Cougars
|
6 | 12 | 16 | 15 |
Huskies Basketball Schedule
Next 5 Games
|
@
Marquette
|
Thu 03/18 | 4:20 PM PDT |
Last 5 Games
|
@
California
|
Sat 03/13 | W 79 - 75 |
|
@
California
|
Sat 03/13 | W 79 - 75 |
| Stanford | Fri 03/12 | W 79 - 64 |
| Stanford | Fri 03/12 | W 79 - 64 |
|
Oregon St.
|
Thu 03/11 | W 59 - 52 |
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