The Monday Morning Wash
by John Berkowitz on Mar 23, 2009 11:11 AM PDT
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PrintThe Washington basketball team went down against Purdue 74-72 in a tough afternoon game on Saturday. Washington fell behind in the first half and really didn't get the Boilermakers figured out. In the second half they made a valiant comeback led by Jon Brockman and Isaiah Thomas but fell short in the last seconds of the game.
We could sit around and analyze this game for hours but we all saw it and we all know what went wrong. Purdue simply played smarter longer than Washington did. JuJuan Johnson was the MVP in this one. Washington never was able to match up well with him. The Purdue guards and a quick whistle kept things even out on the perimeter.
Looking ahead to 2009 this team will have a different look being led by Quincy Pondexter and Isaiah Thomas. The Huskies loose Jon Brockman, Justin Dentmon, Artem Wallace, and probably Jose Wolfinger.
Brockman is the guy who is going to be hardest to replace. Matthew Bryan-Amaning will be assuming his role next season. Gant will start a second straight year in a more expanded role. Pondexter is going to be counted on to put it in the hoop every night.
Isaiah Thomas will continue to improve and look for him to get the ball a lot more during crunch time. I imagine he will keep working on his outside shooting and you usually see a nice jump in the second year.
Either Abdul Gaddy or Elston Turner will start beside I.T. giving UW a larger profile at the guard position. Both of those kids can shoot so you hope they develop into better long range threats than Dentmon. I think we all liked what we saw out of Turner and Gaddy is one of the top recruits in the country.
The bench will be deeper and better. Overton, Holiday, and Suggs return. Charles Garcia, Tyreese Breshers, and Clarence Trent help beef up the front line. Gaddy and CJ Wilcox add a couple of shooters in the back court.
It looks like another tournament team to me but I think the missing piece to take it to the next level is Josh Smith. You add a big presence like him to the middle and I think UW can go very deep in 2010.
Following the Tournament forward
Arizona is the only Pac 10 team left and that is perhaps getting to luck of the draw playing Utah and Cleveland State. The state of Washington still is represented with Gonzaga facing off against North Carolina.
UConn Vs Purdue
I have to with UConn in this one and the other Huskies may be the only team that gets out this tournament without a loss.
Memphis vs Missouri
I have to go with Memphis.
Villanova vs Duke
I like Villanova in this one, They came out and dominated last time theyw ere on the floor against UCLA.
Pittsburg vs Xavier
Very tough one to call so I go with the undedog Xavier.
Louisville vs Arizona
The Pac 10's ride in the tournament stops right here.
Michigan State vs Kansas
The Jayhawks will not go back to the final four this year.
Oklahoma vs Syracuse
I like what I have seen of Oklahoma so far. They are playing like a #2 seed.
Gonzaga vs North Carolina
I think the Zags will surprise some people and upset UNC on Friday. Gonzaga can put some points up on the board and they have lots of weapons.
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Josh Smith?
I’ll bite and show my ignorance, who is Josh Smith and is he considering UW?
Smith
Josh Smith is a 6’9 270 pound center from Kent, Washington who is rated the #2 recruit in the country at the post position in 2010. He is a load!
by John Berkowitz on Mar 23, 2009 11:32 AM PDT reply actions
I believe Josh is a VERY STRONG lean to UW.
I’m kind of suprised he hasn’t commited already as he is at every UW home game.
He's got UCLA on his radar too, as well as Louisville
We’ve got an excellent shot, as IT and Gaddy are friends with him and have been doing some recruiting for Romar, but those two schools are powerful recruiters.
http://www.spartyandfriends.com/
As long as you guys have Thomas you have a chance against anyone
Point guard play can trump almost anything.
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boliermaker Blog
Thomas will probably yield the point guard role to Gaddy next year
And Thomas will be able to concentrate solely on scoring. The hope is that he can improve his shooting and become the beneficiary of Gaddy drawing attention, much like Dentmon was helped by Thomas’ arrival.
http://www.spartyandfriends.com/
you might be right ...
… but I’m guessing that Turner is going to emerge as the starter at the two. His length and his stroke make him a very difficult matchup for teams that might try to play zone in order to counter our attacking style. We haven’t had a shooter like him since Tre (Tre was probably a little taller, but Elston may be a better shooter). Suggs is the wildcard. He might be able to rotate with Holiday and Gant at the 3, but he is probably a more natural 2. If he gets himself into the rotation, we may not see all that much of Gaddy in year 1.
It gets a little mind boggling when you start to try to figure out what the rotation will be and who will play where. The key things we don’t know are how much offense will Overton develop (he’s already our best defensive player), how ready for playing time will Suggs, Bresheers and Turner be, and how much can Gaddy contribute right off the bat. I wish I had a crystal ball.
"Greed is Good."
So is Rudy.
Gaddy will play right away.
My guess goes something like this:
At the 1) Gaddy, Overton
2) IT, Suggs, Wilcox
3) Holliday, Turner, Trent
4) Pondexter, Gant,
5) Amaning, Bresheers, Garcia
That is how it is set up to go down
Interesting you are suggesting what boils down to be a four guard offense. I think they will play that way at times but this team will give opponents plenty of different looks.
Gaddy is a true point guard and that is where he will start off freeing IT to be a scoring guard. Overton, Gaddy, and Thomas can all play the point so UW will be able to throw lots of different combinations at teams.
1. Gaddy, Overton
2. Thomas, Turner, Suggs, Wilcox
3. Pondexter, Holiday
4. Gant, Breshers, Trent
5. Amaning, Garcia
by John Berkowitz on Mar 24, 2009 8:29 AM PDT up reply actions
I see Pondexter & Gant as more of a power forward
type players in our offense as both handle the ball good but not exceptionally well and both seem to feel most comfortable shooting the ball from about 15 feet in. Pondexter would help himself out for the draft immensly if he can show scouts that he can hit the three consistantly as Roy did his senior year.
The key for UW is flexability and Romar has a TON of it as just about every player can play multiple positions.
I think it is unlikely that Gaddy starts
… mostly because true freshmen are notoriously poor defenders. Gant on the bench with a very small backcourt is not a recipe for success. You don’t always start your five best – you start the five most cohesive.
On top of that, Turner is a two. Given his size, he’d struggle with some of the bigger, more physical threes in the Pac 10 if he were expected to play them when he rotates in. So, when building your rotation, you have to figure him as a guard not a forward.
The rotation is at most a 10 player rotation. Given that, here is what I’d guess (though this would be a fun debate)
Guard rotation: IT, Overton, Turner, Suggs, Gaddy
Swing rotation: Suggs, Holiday
Forward rotation: Pondexter, MBA, Gant, Holiday, Breshers
That’s ten guys with Gaddy and Breshers being 9 and 10. Trent, Wilcox and Garcia are the odd men out.
Now you get into the what-ifs. What if Garcia if physically ready to go (and he very well could be), whose rotation spot does he take? Breshers? What if Gaddy is a stud from day one? Who does he bump to the end of the guard rotation? Suggs? … and so on.
I really have no idea how it ultimately goes down. I do know that Lorenzo is not going to put his weakest defensive unit out as his starting 5. This means Gant is likely in and that either Turner or Venoy have a real shot at joining IT in the backcourt. There are a number of very plausible scenarios where Gaddy is at the end of the guard rotation.
"Greed is Good."
So is Rudy.
You don't sign blue chip players
And have them sit on your bench being your 9th player. He wouldn’t be one of the top players nationally if he couldn’t come in and be a big time contributor.
Here are some point guards who Rivals had ranked similar to Gaddy:
Kemba Walker
Jerryd Bayless
Nick Calathes
Mike Conley
And here are some point guards who Scout had ranked similar to Gaddy:
Derrick Rose
Sherron Collins
Javaris Crittenton
Gaddy will absolutely come in and play right away, most likely as a starter. There is zero chance that he is at the end of the guard rotation if he’s healthy.
http://www.spartyandfriends.com/
Agree 100% Cassino
As for Turner, Romar plays a 3 guard system most of the time. Turner tends to be kind of a tweener as on offense he could play the 2 or 3 but on defense he is about 2" too small to guard a bigger 3 and not quick enough to guard a 2. So either he steps up his D and guards the 2 or I see him more apt to guard a 3 depending on who it is.
He's not moved there, he stays there
Unless he can show that he’s improved significantly between this year and next, and has put on about twenty pound of muscle. The shooting guard position is more crowded than point guard with Thomas, Turner, Suggs and Wilcox all playing there, and the minutes just don’t look like they’ll be there for Suggs and Wilcox.
http://www.spartyandfriends.com/
maybe you are right.
… but I can’t recall a time when UW had the luxury of rolling out two 6’5" ish shooters in the same rotation. Few teams in the Pac 10 can compete with that if both guys are stroking it. I’d also remind you that Suggs was an ESPN100 recruit. I don’t think he’s going to roll over. Plus, Suggs is one of two guys you could shift to the three and feel comfortable that he has the tools to compete on both ends. That’s a big stretch for ET.
Its a tough call. I don’t think Gaddy will have anything handed to him in terms of a job. His competition is tough and he’ll have to earn it. If he plays D from the get go, there won’t be a problem.
"Greed is Good."
So is Rudy.
Romar has said Suggs is "an All-Pac-10 talent"
So yeah he’s definitely got the potential. His height and length are fantastic, so if he can play the three that would be huge for the versatility and depth of the team over the next few years. Just needs to add some strength to defend the position.
And while we’re talking about height, Gaddy goes 6’3", so he may not have as much problems making entry passes as Dentmon/Thomas/Overton did this year. He won’t have anything handed to him, true, but after having seen him play I feel like he could have legitimately been the 3rd guard on this year’s team.
http://www.spartyandfriends.com/
ok - if you like Suggs getting minutes ...
…. then what does your rotation look like? You saw what I thought – but who really knows? could be a too much talent situation!
"Greed is Good."
So is Rudy.
I like Suggs getting minutes but I'm not convinced he will
Guards:
Gaddy/Overton
Thomas/Turner
Wing:
Pondexter/Holiday
Bigs:
Gant/Breshers
Bryan-Amaning/Garcia
And I’m not entirely sure that MBA starts next year. He has his moments, but he makes a lot of bonehead turnovers and extremely foul prone, and hasn’t shown that he can be consistent against Pac-10 opponents.
I’m pretty sure Wilcox will redshirt.
http://www.spartyandfriends.com/
Looks like we agree that the
big question is how ready is Suggs. I also think that Breshers is a big question mark. If he is not ready to go with big minutes, I could definitely see us going to a small ball where we use Suggs more in a 3 role and occassionally shift Gant to PF.
another question revolves around Quincy. He may push Romar hard to allow him to play more on the perimeter so that he can raise his NBA stock. If he can develop a consistent jumper and Romar puts him on the wing, that could really mess with our rotation projections.
Too many variables. Next year will be really fun.
"Greed is Good."
So is Rudy.
Thanks for the Josh answers
He sounds like the perfect fit. Probably only one scholarship in 2010 (QPon’s, assuming that Joe W leaves this year) and we need a big man. Romar will have to be very picky with only one or two scholarships.
Smith is a jr right now so 2009-2010 will be his Sr year. He can't show up at UW until 2010-2011 season.
Its between UW and UCLA, and since both teams went out in PAC 10 and NCAA tourney in same rounds, the young man will have quite a decision. I hope he decides to stay home to let his friends and parents see him play nightly. Lorenzo also offered another big man in same class as JS.
What's the prognosis on Breshers?
Is his injury going to be a continued problem?
Given his body type being closest to Brockman, I hope that he tries to live in his jock as long as John stays on campus, and soak up as much as he can.
Early word is that...
Breshers is 100% healthy, is very competative with Brockman in practices and is bigger with a better vertical leap than Brock. We’ll see.
The Future Looks Bright
I don’t think we fall off at all next season. We’ve got a great core of the team coming back and I think we might be a little more athletic down on the low post next season- not that Brock wasn’t athletic.
When Brandon Roy graduated we all assumed the team would come back the next season in full stride- didn’t happen. Why? Although we had John Brockman we didn’t have a lot of seasoned guards. Dentmon played in the shadow of Roy and Applebe was more or less a long range shooter. This offseason we’ve got great guard play coming back in IT, Overton, Holiday, and Turner- that’s going to be crucial in keeping pace next season as to what the team had accomplished this year.
In the low post we’ve got QPon, MBA, and Gant coming back. Not sure which way coach Romar is going to go. We could go with a 3 guard offense or a two guard offense. However it plays out I love Gant’s potential and he should blossom into a great offensive role player next season. This year not so much, but next year I love the idea of having someone other then QPon having the ability of playing above the rim.
It looks like coach Romar is recruiting well and that is what it’s all about. Look at Coach K at Duke. I think the Dukies have overachieved in the last few years. You notice it often these days at Duke because of their sudden early exits in the tournament. Not a lot of big time talent in Durham these days and it shows- it’s all about recruiting.
All I saw was purple
I've been thinking about going 3 guards too
It depends on the development of the young guys though. Turner should be more than capable of playing big minutes next year and could start alongside Gaddy and Thomas, but we’d need someone to emerge to come off of the bench with Overton. Either Scott Suggs or CJ Wilcox would have to prove that they can play 20 or so minutes a game in the Pac-10.
I feel that it is ultimately more likely that Garcia can come in and contribute immediately, being that he’s a JUCO guy, and Breshers has had a year in the program to adjust to big time basketball as well. If those two guys can team with MBA and Gant then the frontcourt should be solid.
Crazi, I disagree with you about Duke. Gerald Henderson is one of the better players in the nation in my opinion, and every player on that roster was either a 4 or 5 star guy coming out of high school. There’s talent on that squad.
http://www.spartyandfriends.com/
I have a feeling...
Coach Romar is going to have a more difficult time next season tying to figure out playing time and player rotation. We’ve got a lot of core guys coming back along with new players coming in. Should be an interesting offseason. Don’t overlook Holiday. I think a kid like Holiday could just go off in Romar’s system. He needs to bulk up a bit in order to absorb Pac 10 physical play and he needs to find his shot. Another year in the program I think Holiday would flourish in the open court.
I like your suggestion about IT moving over to the shooting guard and opening up the point for incoming Gaddy. One thing is for sure we are going to have better heigth at the guard position next season, which can only help.
Maybe the problem with Duke is that they don’t have the right combinations of personnel. They all look the same and play the same (midsized players that can shoot). However they don’t play very good defense and they have very little presense under the basket. For Duke to continue to win in this tournament they will have to rely on 3 point shooting, and turnovers which lead to easy buckets. I don’t see them defending Carolina, UConn, or Louisville very well. Doesn’t matter they won’t get that far anyway. Villanova is going to wax them this weekend. Duke can’t play physical and Ucla took a beat down from Nova in round 2. Duke is done.
All I saw was purple
Maybe it's just wishful thinking
But I think that next year’s squad will have more depth. So I agree that Romar will have a more difficult time figuring out rotations and such because there just may not be enough minutes to go around. In a way it’s easier to coach when you only have 8 or so guys who can contribute because subbing is pretty simple, but when you’ve got 10 guys it can be a balancing act. Not a bad problem to have though.
Agree that Duke has become too much of a perimeter team. When they were competing for titles more consistently they had guys like Elton Brand, Carlos Boozer and Shelden Williams patrolling the paint, and they just haven’t been able to find one of those guys lately.
http://www.spartyandfriends.com/
John, were you drunk when you posted?!
Gonzaga over UNC! ?
Washington Husky Football-1991 National Champions
Then I'm drunk too!
If Boston College could beat UNC, than I think the Gonzos have a chance too. They’re my pick on this one. (so John, I’m partial to single-malts. . . . what were you drinking?)
Comer4tide to Nico2.0: "How come I've never heard of any of your random songs?"
Todd to Comer: "Because if you had, he wouldn't listen to it. BOOM. Roasted."
Nico to Todd: "Shouldn't you be off voguing somewhere?"
by BixBeiderbecke on Mar 24, 2009 12:32 PM PDT up reply actions
But only the drunk part!
You SERIOUSLY think the zags over UNC?!
by doubledeucedawg on Mar 24, 2009 5:09 PM PDT up reply actions
Holy SH(iny) I(ce) T(ea)
You gave up The Spirits? No, no, no- nope not me. I gave up coffee (I drink it more, and it’s just as bad to our bodies. i think?)
Comer4tide to Nico2.0: "How come I've never heard of any of your random songs?"
Todd to Comer: "Because if you had, he wouldn't listen to it. BOOM. Roasted."
Nico to Todd: "Shouldn't you be off voguing somewhere?"
by BixBeiderbecke on Mar 24, 2009 7:10 PM PDT up reply actions
Coffee...good!
Booze…good!….in moderation of course!
by doubledeucedawg on Mar 25, 2009 7:21 AM PDT up reply actions
Thanks John
Thank you John, for picking Gonzaga over UNC. As a Zag fan, I hope that they win, I am a little cautious though about getting my expectations up for NW teams.
I like Missouri over Memphis. Missouri is underrated.
Josh Normand
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