Huskies hit the road

by John Berkowitz on Jan 28, 2009 12:53 PM PST Comment 12 comments

The Washington Husky basketball team plasy six of their next eight games on the road. They will visit such hostile places as Tempe, Tucson, Palo Alto, Berkeley, and Westwood, and Los Angeles.

How the Huskies fare on these road trips will go a long way in determining how they will finish the season. The golden rule during this crucial part of the season is to do no worse than split on the road to finish the season.

The next two weekends the Huskies travel to Arizona and the Bay Area. They need to at least split. A 1-3 finish would be tough to recover from if you are playing for a conference championship. If Washington continues to sweep or goes 3-1 chances are they will finish on top of the conference.

Coming up on Thursday are the Arizona Wildcats who are struggling after the retirement of Lute Olsen. The Cat's are only 12-8 this season and are trying to avoid the league basement which is inhabited by the Oregon Ducks. Washington needs to come in and take this one. On paper this has to be a 10-15 point victory and I have a lot of confidence that it will happen.

On Saturday the Huskies face up an up and coming Arizona State squad for the first time this season. Herb Sendek's Sun Devils have been in the top 25 for most of the season. James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph lead the Sun Devils. Harden is one of the best players in the conference. This will be a tough contest against a team that can beat anyone on most nights.

I have seen ASU beat up some people this year. This game is a real toss up that will test them as much as they have been tested this season. ASU is a real good team and it will be tough to beat them on their home court.

If UW can sweep in the desert I am going to get a pretty good feeling about this teams chances.

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The Arizona Game is HUGE!

Don’t go telling me that I have it backwards fellas. I know how good the Sundevils are, arguably the best team in the Pac 10 and that Arizona has seen better days. But lets take a closer look at what is at stake.

We open Thursday night at Arizona, followed by the pivital game vs. Arizona State this weekend. Here is what I am saying- if we lose the Arizona game, which is perceived as the easiest contest for the next 2 weeks, we will be climbing a steeper hill. A win vs. Arizona could set us up for either a split or a sweep in the desert. A loss to Arizona would either set us up for a split or us getting swept in the desert. We can’t get swept on the Arizona trip. This is why I firmly believe the Arizona game is far more important then the Arizona State game.

Let’s tackle Cal and Stanford next week. But the Arizona game is the crucial contest.

Go Huskies! WOOF!!!

by crazidawg on Jan 28, 2009 2:03 PM PST reply actions

Win them all!!!

There is no reason we do not win at Arizona tomorrow. We need to win them all, no let down.

by bigdave967 on Jan 28, 2009 2:15 PM PST reply actions

The WSU win on the road would be a helpful reminder

Their could be a reason if we lose tomorrow night. Although Arizona is not the Arizona we remember, but don’t think for a second that this would be a huge win for them. I see them playing with a lot of pride and pushing and pressing us harder then most believe. On paper we should win this game. But the games are not played on paper, ain’t that right thecasino?

I think we do have a good chance of beating the Wildcats for one reason. We finally found a way to beat the Cougs and on the road. If we can figure out how to beat WSU on the road, then surely I feel more comfortable with our chances of going in and beating Zona. It took us about 5 games to figure out how to beat WSU’s slow temp game. Now WSU is still WSU, but their basketball program has created problems for us and everyone else in league. Winning at Pullman was a great victory no matter where they finish in league.

by crazidawg on Jan 28, 2009 2:26 PM PST up reply actions

Kenpom's predictions are amazingly accurate.

I was just showing them to anybody who was interested. No need to be a dick.

by thecassino on Jan 28, 2009 2:30 PM PST up reply actions

Kenpom's projections:

73-70 win over Arizona (60% chance of winning)
71-64 loss to ASU (24% chance of winning)

by thecassino on Jan 28, 2009 2:16 PM PST reply actions

I think Arizona has only lost two games at home all season ...

… their struggles are on the road. This game is very dangerous for the Dawgs. I do not concur that this is a 10-15 pt victory and, in fact, I’ll be very relieved if we can pull out even a one point game. This is especially true if MBA is not able to go. Let’s no’t be overconfident.

"Greed is Good."
So is Rudy.

by Gekko Mojo on Jan 28, 2009 2:28 PM PST reply actions

I agree 100% Gekko. The Arizona game is the swing game and it has danger signs written all over it. Then come Saturday (win or lose to Arizona) the Arizona State game is the pivital game for us.

Man I really pissed off thecasino guy! What is his purpose other then spamming?

by crazidawg on Jan 28, 2009 2:37 PM PST up reply actions

No matter what

there is no reason for us to lose any game the rest of the year. I attribute the early season struggles to a team trying to find its identity with a mix of young and old talent (FT % too). Things are starting to click right now. I am not saying we WILL win the rest of them but there is no reason to think we won’t. No let up!

by bigdave967 on Jan 28, 2009 2:50 PM PST reply actions

Agreed

Yes I agree. This Husky team is hitting its stride. It has great chemistry and we don’t drop off in talent if we go to the bench. I like this team almost as much as the No.1 seed team a few years ago.

But along the way their are trap games, pivital games, and swing games. Our trips to Arizona and Arizona State are games of this magnitude. The last thing we need to do is go in there with swollen heads and egos. We are the hunted now and every Pac 10 team will be gunning for us from this point forward. We need to focus and play like their is still a lot to play for. You don’t win Pac 10 championships by being on top of the league standings in the middle of the season. You win the Pac 10 championship by being on top at the end. How many times have you seen a team just kick ass early on and through out the middle of the season and fall apart to close out the season and don’t qualify for the NCAAs? Happened to Clemson last year. Let’s not be this years Clemson Tigers. The Arizona contest is HUGE!

by crazidawg on Jan 28, 2009 3:10 PM PST reply actions

With you on this one Crazi.

You need to prepare for every game like its win or go home…no let up! Lets go UW!!!!

by bigdave967 on Jan 28, 2009 4:24 PM PST up reply actions

Gant?

Gant is someone that I’d like to see get more involved. His shots haven’t been falling for him and that comes with experience. I like that he is taking his shots and playing great perimeter defense when we are faced with a perimeter big guy that can hoist up 3’s. Yet I would love to see us use his athletism.

No gripes about how the team is playing, but for pick-me-ups and for showcase abilities wouldn’t it be awesome to see Dentmon or Thomas loft something towards the rim for Gant to slam home? I want to see Gant set up for some back door alleyoops. As an athletic youngster who is progressing towards something great, it would definitely add to the out of control atmosphere at Bank of America Arena. Who’s with me on Gant?

Go Dawgs! WOOF!!!

All I saw was purple

by crazidawg on Jan 28, 2009 5:08 PM PST up reply actions

I agree with you again

Of the couple of games I have watched I noticed that they have very little Big-Time-Rim-Rattling Dunks. In fact I dont think I saw more than one dunk againist UCLA…dont get me wrong, I love the win more than anything else but sometimes you need that big SLAM to get the team going and get the crowd either in it (at home) or out of it (on the road).

by bigdave967 on Jan 28, 2009 5:35 PM PST up reply actions