About last night
by John Berkowitz on Feb 27, 2009 1:38 PM PST
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PrintLast night was pretty special and the game from start to finish really had an NCAA tournament game quality and atmosphere to it. I was actually exhausted after the game because I really put a lot of emotional energy into watching and blogging it.
If you are a Seattle sports fan you have to be starved for that type of action and it will repeat itself on Saturday when we face Arizona and next week when we conclude the conference season against WSU.
After that we have the Pac 10 tournament which serves UW as more of a warmup for the NCAA tournament because right now all we have to wonder about is where the Huskies will end up being seeded. Seeding of course is still crucial because it plays a major part in determining how deep the team will go in the tournament.
One team to keep a sharp eye on right now is WSU. Tony Bennett has the Cougars playing their best ball right now and with their backs against the wall they need to win out to have any consideration for the tournament. Even if they do that it may take a Pac 10 tournament win to get them in the field of 64 plus 2 again.
Beating Arizona on Saturday is going to be no small matter either. If you remember last time these two teams played Arizona matched up very well with Washington using their big three. Home court is a huge advantage for Washington but the Wildcats also have their back to the wall now so expect a maximum effort from Arizona on Saturday.
If your a fan sit back and enjoy the moment because as you know following sports in the Seattle area lately hasn't been a rewarding experience. UW being in a position to win their first outright league basketball championship since 1953 is a special moment. Enjoy it because if it took 55 years to get to this place we may not be alive next time it happens.
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Nic Wise
WSU gave us a blueprint as to how to defeat Arizona. Stop Nic Wise. The offense goes thru Wise and from our last encounter with the Cats, we couldn’t stop him. WSU was able to slow down Wise and it hurt them in the 2nd half.
At this point of the Pac 10 season, it is apparent that Venoy Overton is the best ball pressure defender in the league. I think it is crucial that we blanket Wise with a mix of Overton and Holiday. We’ve got to disrupt Wise’s game.
Don’t think I’ve ever heard something that loud in a basketball arena before. It was jaw-dropping special as to how intense the atmosphere was at HecEd. Good job Dawg Pound dudes- keep it up. We’ve got to continue to annoy the hell out of our opponents both on the floor and in the stands. I’d like to ask you all to turn up the noise even another notch. If I didn’t think you could, I wouldn’t ask. Bring the HEAT!
Go Huskies! WOOF!!!
All I saw was purple
Romar era
I’d like to think that Romar has us in a position to be competing for the Pac-10 title in 2 out of every 4 seasons so I don’t think the next chance at an outright title will be too far off. The stability and success he has produced in recruiting should continue to improve the program to the point where we’re in the race almost every year.
Ucla will always be Ucla but...
Could it be that a Romar-led Washington program will take over as the second best national elite Pac 10 basketball program now that Lute has retired? Now casino and I differ in opinion about the Wildcats. Although I respect casino’s opinion, I disagree with him that Arizona is still Arizona. Hill, Budinger, and Wise are the last good crop of Lute Olsen recruits. I see a trend of medicracy in Tuscon on the hardwood floor. Is Pennell going to be the Cat’s coach long term or is he just the flavor of the month this year?
Regardless Zona use to be a rock solid program and it continued in that fashion for 20 to 25 years. Nowadays Washington appears to becoming the solid program under Romar. 4 of 6 seasons NCAA tournament appearances, No.1 seed in NCAA, 2 sweet sixteen appearances, and a Pac 10 title on its way. The depth of recruiting under Romar is growing. I see good things happening here on the hardwood floor as long as Romar stays and the UofW supporting men’s basketball.
All I saw was purple
They're not still what they used to be
I agree with that. They still to have a lot of talent left over from Lute’s days though. And after this season, they are going to be hurting, assuming Budinger and Hill leave, which is almost a certainty. They have no recruits for next year. They’re probably going to miss the tournament next year, and I don’t know if they recover from the botched coaching switch or not. It won’t be easy.
I don't agree with this
The Huskies are now in a position where they can compete for the Pac-10 title every year. The past couple of years we were hurt by one huge recruit never enrolling (Martell Webster) and the next year’s recruiting class didn’t live up to it’s height (Hawes only stayed a year, no contributions from Oliver or Nelson). Romar has been able to get great talent into the program; guys who are athletic and skilled and can run in his system, and in the next few years there could be a few big gets who take the program to a national contender (Abdul Gaddy, Demarcus Cousins, Josh Smith, Tony Wroten). Romar has been pretty shrewd in recruiting the past couple of classes by landing a couple high impact players with slight flaws (Thomas’ height, Gaddy’s age) that will keep them in the program for at least a couple of years.
Looking at the conference: Arizona, Arizona State, Washington State, UCLA and Stanford are all going to be losing a ton of talent and will likely be worse next year.
Cal and USC could be better or worse, but it’s entirely dependent on early entries.
Oregon State and Oregon will be better for sure.
Next year is UW’s for the taking, and the future of the conference looks like it’s going to be UW/UCLA for years to come.
Good point
I think the Hawes season was a waste of time. For him and us. Clearly his style of play was not condusive for Romar’s style and we saw that with the up and down season we had. However I think if Oliver and Nelson would’ve stuck around I think they could’ve impacted this program as juniors and seniors. They were part of the QPon class and look at what QPon is doing as a junior! The kid has grown up into one of the most special players this program has seen in the last 10 to 15 years. I would argue that Oliver and Nelson would’ve blossomed just as much as QPon has, but we’ll never know.
How’s Romar’s 2010 class look?
All I saw was purple
Still a little early to tell
It revolves around Josh Smith though. He’s looking at UCLA too, so losing him to them would be a double whammy. Isaiah Thomas and Abdul Gaddy are both friends with him though, and from what I’ve heard they’re doing as much to recruit him as anybody, so that’s an advantage we have in that area.
Beyond him it looks like a typical Romar recruiting class, but I believe (and John, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong) that there are a lot of scholarships available for that class.
Romar has no problem clearing space
Sit on the bench at UW or get come playing time with his coaching buddies at Portland State or Seattle U..
by John Berkowitz on Feb 27, 2009 4:33 PM PST up reply actions
Doesn't seem like there's space to be cleared though
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
Justin Holiday
Venoy Overton
Would be the seniors to be
Isaiah Thomas
Darnell Gant
Scott Suggs
Elston Turner
Would be juniors to be
Tyreese Breshers
Abdul Gaddy
Clarence Trent
C.J. Wilcox
Would be sophomores to be
That’s 11/13 scholarships. The only one who seems likely to leave early would be Thomas, so unless someone leaves I don’t think there’s going to be any more space. That’s an excellent crop of talent. I don’t want to lose any of those guys though.
Side note, am I correct in thinking that there is next to zero chance of Charles Garcia qualifying? Last I heard, he wasn’t at Riverside any more.
Garcia
He isn’t playing basketball this year so he can concentrate on his studies. Still in school not at Riverside playing basketball.
by John Berkowitz on Feb 27, 2009 6:15 PM PST up reply actions
Well supposing he does qualify
That puts us at 14 scholarships for next year. Any inside info as to how that’s going to be resolved?
Cousins
Hopefully Wolfinger’s spot will be taken by DeMarcus Cousins. And if this happens there are even less scholarships.
I don’t think the major problem with the Hawes season was so much his style of play not meshing well with Romar’s system – the problems (IMO) were that the rest of that roster was not very good at getting the ball into the post, and with Hawes being injured and sick for a large part of the season. Hawes was pretty mobile and got up and down the court pretty well for a big guy.
If that team had a guard that knew how to feed the post effectively, that team would’ve been a lot better.
It’s improved this year with IT, and Gaddy should rate as an improvement as a distributor over Dentmon, though it’s questionable whether he’ll match Justin’s offense right off the bat.
He himself may not match it
But with a true point guard the offense will benefit as a whole, so I think that the net gain from that will be positive. It’s amazing to think that we haven’t had a true point guard in the program since Will Avery.
Arizon's impossible to get a read on
Great talent, and it’s crunch time on the schedule. But they proved last night (once again) that they are an absolutely horrid team on the road. Part of it is due to their lack of depth. They have some really good players, but not enough; Budinger, Wise and Hill have to play just about every minute of every game and their legs are starting to leave them at this point. Anybody watching last nights game saw this as balls were coming up short frequently, and even a few airballs when you wouldn’t have expected them.
It could be a tough game. It could also be a blowout. Neither would surprise me.
Let's hope that we have some legs left tomorrow
Despite some less than perfect offense, both teams last night were incredibly intense on D, which brings me to a question: Can anyone explain the Pac-10 interpretation of player control displacement?
The NCAA rules (Rule 10, Art. 5) quote: “A player shall not use the forearm and hand to prevent an opponent from attacking the ball during a dribble or when trying for goal.”
Everyone on ASU last night was dribbling like grade school kids on a playground, arm-bar extended. And from my seat, this led to a lot of hooking and clearing.
I realize that this sort of thing is tolerated to some extent in post play, but it looked ridiculous out front. Cheers to our guys for dealing with it as well as they did.
Legit Concern
That and the interpretation of a block/charge call. Clearly Dentmon was in great guarding position when Harden bulled into him. Now Dentmon was not “set”, but according to the rule the defender doesn’t have to be a stutue and set. That is why we have a charge call made when a defender is still moving. It baffles me that they don’t get this call correct more often. Yes it is a hard call, but if the ref looks at the defenders position in relation to guarding the offensive player it is an easy call to make. I think the reason they blow this call now and then is because the ref is fixed at watching what the offensive player is doing. Instead he needs to look at what the defender is doing- easy call if you look at it that way.
In regards to your argument about player control displacement. I think what we are seeing from officiating is whether the offensive player is at an advantage with the hook. If the hook clears a path for the player to make a play then they call it. But if the hook is harmless and not at an advantage then they swallow their whistle- makes sense.
On a different note, I’m not so sure I like us playing for the charge so much. The Pac 10 officials reward the players for becoming a statue in the lane and drawing the charge. But how often do we see us getting screwed in the tournament on this? I don’t like that we are encouraging our players to draw the charge- to me it sets us up for a recipe for dissaster in the tournament. From here on out, I say use it if it’s there, but we’ve got to get into a rythem (sp?) of closing the lane prior to the opposing player taking the lane.
We’ve seen it before, Pac 10 officiating is not on the same page with the national officiating. I see it right now- how often does Pac 10 officials call traveling when the rest of the nation is being more loosey goosey about the walking call.
All I saw was purple
Are they even on the same page as last week?
I haven’t watched enough play from around the country to judge how the block/charge is being called outside the Pac-10. It’s always been a tough call, but I’m surprised that (like other calls) it’s not called any more accurately since we got 3 ref’s instead of 2. Remember the double block/charge call here against USC?
As far as traveling goes, I’d rather see the rest of the country tighten up; I don’t think that the Pac-10 is too harsh in this area. And really, it’s the most straightforward call in basketball—let’s not reduce the game to the fraudulent style of the NBA.
Bottom line: As a fan, I want to know what the rules are and how they they are interpreted. And if I were a player, I’d expect the same, along with an expectation of some consistency. The game may have changed since I played, but it shouldn’t change every week.
Couldn't agree more
Watch a Big East or an ACC matchup and you’ll see maybe one travel called per game. On the other hand we see 3 and 4 traveling calls per game. Now I like that the Pac 10 officials are making the traveling call. The last thing we need is NBA type bendible rules. But what I don’t like is the fact that it makes the Big East and ACC games cleaner, which could translate to the East Coast teams looking more fundamentally sound, therefore should be rewarded w/ higher rankings. The better you look and the better you play is a HUGE part of the equation when voters vote.
O.M.G! It baffles me as to why officials have gone to the block/charge- double foul call. It makes the officiating look bad! One ref has charge, the other has block. What they need to do is huddle and compare notes. This way the lead official could then determine which official had the proper call. When they call a double foul- it is completely nonsense. It can’t be both ways, it’s either a charge or a block. One of the refs in a block/charge situation has to relent his call.
Example:
ref A- responsible for low post
ref B- responsible for perimeter
If ref A is under the basket and has a great look at the play- maybe his call should be the correct call. If ref B is out on the perimeter and has multiple players in his path of sight, it is obvious that he cannot see the play develope as clearly. In this scenario, the play under the basket is ref A’s call. In circumstances like this, should ref B be in any position to make the call? Because if ref B makes the call- it makes ref A look incompetent because ref A was right on top of the play.
One ref has perimeter responsiblity and one ref has low post responsiblity and their responsibility rotates once the ball goes to the opposite side of the court. But make no mistake if two players collide under the basket and the perimeter ref calls a block or a charge, he is virtually in error. That is not his call to make and that is where we have one ref calling block and the other ref calling charge. Follow those officiating princples and we don’t have these silly calls like double foul. REDICULOUS!
All I saw was purple
Thank you John
As a fan of the U Dub (like everyone here) this post brought a smile to my face. UW playing at this level right now is exactly what I, we needed. I almost cried out of pure joy. This is the thing that the politicians dont understand, its more than a game. People not only invest money into this university because of the team but they invest they mind, body and soul too. I love this university and I never have and never will take a class there. If you have you are lucky. I love the purple and gold and I have already called off work for both days of the tournament so that i can make sure that nothing will stop me from watching my beloved huskies take down who ever they play. Now i am ranting but the point is simple…God i love this team!!!
Your Welcome
I think Lorenzo and the kids have more to do with it than me.
I am just a cheerleader! ; )
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