The Monday Morning Wash
by John Berkowitz on Mar 15, 2010 8:17 AM PDT
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PrintThis 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.
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Masoli is very lucky he is not at UCLA
Felony and you are history, as it should be. JohnB didn’t you quote Belloti as saying a felony and he (Masoli) would be gone? If true once again UO lives up to their words. Talk the talk, walk nothing.
I quoted it earlier last week if memory serves me correctly.
by John Berkowitz on Mar 15, 2010 9:15 AM PDT up reply actions
Misdemeanor
I think he plead it down to a misdemeanor. Same crime, just a better lawyer for a repeat offender. Its OK to lie to the police and the court, but just kind of OK to lie to the coach, who now has to go on the radio and receive his apology.
It did end up being plea bargained dow to a midemeanor…but he lied every step of the way.
by John Berkowitz on Mar 15, 2010 9:16 AM PDT up reply actions
Looks like bettors are favoring MU
Just geting my early line bets in. If your a bettor I see some good lines.
5dimes.com line opened with MU a 1.5 favorite. It hasn’t even been up 20 hours and it’s already moved with MU to 2.
Texas A&M is 2.5 point favorites over a terribly overrated Utah State, I also took Georgetown and 13 points over Ohio.
I see some money to be made
I still can't decide on Utah State
kenpom says terribly underrated. Georgetown should blow out Ohio and the line sliding away from UW seems odd considering how closely matched the two teams should be.
RECRUITING
i don’t see how this is going to help their recruiting. Never understood why anybody would want to go there anyway? Maybe Oregon is the only school offering?
Fairness
So the other kid commits the crime with him, admits it to Chipperand gets kicked off the team. Tell me if I am wrong on that. If true these guys are worse than I thought.
Yet the Oregon fans will tell you there is not a double standard.
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON"
Of course he was
anything else would look like a double standard.
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON"
Anybody noticed
The Butler kid from UM has a 131.5 ORtg! Unreal…#3 in the country. We’d better throw Holiday on Hayward and hopefully Q can shut this kid down.
by B Money on Mar 15, 2010 12:32 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
Those stats are interesting
For anyone else interested: MU’s team page
He only uses 20% of possessions and 17% of shots, but has an unreal ORtg. He’s incredibly efficient when he does have the ball, it appears.
by Brian Floyd on Mar 15, 2010 12:40 PM PDT up reply actions
Isn’t Hayward their post? They don’t really play anyone taller than 6-6, 6-7, so MBA has to guard someone. They have a lot of good outside shooters, so Holiday probably will spend his time guarding someone else – Butler (if QPon doesn’t take him) or Johnson-Odom.
Yeah but he's like Q in that he's a wing post
at least in my scouting report. He can step out on you and drain 3’s. MBA can handle him, but he might end up making him look silly if MBA chases him out there. I don’t recall…how’s our zone look?
The matchups will be interesting
From the looks of it, MU is a team with a PG, and 4 wings.
And I just saw what B Money said. Wing post would be a good way to put it. There really isn’t an inside presence from what I see.
Yup. Saw that.
He can score from anywhere, and doesn’t turn the ball over (which helps a lot for a players ORtg). Hayward is the more important offensive player though, the offense runs through him.
KUDOS to Coach Romar
In early January I said rather than dissect this team`s (and Romar`s) rollercoaster performance every week, I was going to let the results speak for themselves. As consensus favorites in a down year only a NCAA bid would make this season a success. Mission Accomplished. I give Romar complete credit for sorting out the Gaddy/Overton situation on the fly and finding a working regular rotation. The solutions weren`t perfect but excellent coaches can pull successful seasons out of the fire. Romar is an excellent coach.
by 206 on Mar 15, 2010 1:39 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
Masoli isn't suspended...
He’s just red shirted. I can’t call it a suspension if he’s not even going to lose a year of eligibility.
Chip said he’s putting him in charge of stats because of his access to computers. As a Duck, that was a painful joke to make but I couldn’t let it slide. I have been trying to figure that out as well. He’d be so far down the priority list that I can’t see him taking snaps away from someone else in practice, but nobody has said whether or not he is actually allowed to be there.
This is exactly why I am hoping he just transfers at this point. Someone else will take him, and with his limited (or nonexistent?) NFL prospects, he is not the kind of guy that is going to do much for himself just working out and practicing. He really needs to be on the field to do himself much good from here on out, and having him hang over the team doesn’t seem like it would do anyone much good.
netminder
I think the scenario of a mid season return by Masoli is a real possibility.
by John Berkowitz on Mar 16, 2010 4:53 AM PDT up reply actions
I don’t think there is. I can’t remember where it was, but I thought I read something that said Chip Kelly specifically mentioned that there was no return possible this season. I think there is a big difference between this and the Blount situation in the way the decision was made, the legal circumstances, and the fact that now Kelly has had the chance to see how a hasty decision plays in the media. I would say there is zero chance he is on the field this season.
It's going to be very tough to believe that after last season.
Especially if he is allowed to practice in any capacity.
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON"
You can’t take the Blount situation as a measuring stick for everything else. I can understand why one would think that, but I think if you really take a moment and look at the entire picture here, it does not make sense that he would allow Masoli back at all this season.
From a public relations standpoint it would make no sense to do so, so even if somewhere in the back of his mind he wanted him back on the field, it would be an incredibly stupid decision to do so. The Blount decision was probably made too hastily, and he admitted later that he doesn’t make decisions in a vacuum and reconsidered his original decision. In general, his move to reinstate Blount was well received in the media as most people thought the original season-long suspension was too harsh. He has been mostly praised for giving Masoli the boot, and bringing him back would only stir the pot with the media and unleash a firestorm of columns and editorials questioning the Ducks even more so than at this moment.
Would you really place a bet that Masoli is back this season? I live in Seattle, and I’m already digging into my wallet to see just how much I can put on it. I would put a serious chuck of change on the line that says Masoli is not back during the 2010 season. There’s just no way you can look at this objectively and think that would be the case.
Then why didn't he just get kicked off the team??
I don’t understand why you suspend him for the entire season, yet you don’t kick him off the team. If I were a betting man, I’d bet everything on Masoli being back in 2010.
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON"
Because keeping him around still allows them to sell us on the “student-athlete” line that we are all supposed to believe. They can say that they want him to at least continue his education, and possibly learn from this to become a better person. I’m not defending nor critiquing what they are doing, just going by what seems apparent.
Chip Kelly would create a nightmare for himself by letting him on the field this season. He told Sporting News ( http://www.sportingnews.com/college-football/article/2010-03-12/masoli-suspension-could-ground-ducks) that he would in no way offer Masoli the chance to be reinstated during the 2010 season like he did with Blount. I think you’ve got this one dead wrong. One would have to imagine that given the recent scenario, there are more people involved in the decision making process. I can’t imagine that Chip is making this decision with a whole lot of autonomy either. With this much national scrutiny on the line, we’re way past the days of a Blount jab to the jaw.
Because keeping him around still allows them to sell us on the "student-athlete" line that we are all supposed to believe. They can say that they want him to at least continue his education, and possibly learn from this to become a better person. I’m not defending nor critiquing what they are doing, just going by what seems apparent.
If that’s what it really is, then keep him on scholarship but suspend him from the team for the remainder of his career. Don’t even allow for the possibility that he could return to the team in 2011.
Wait, now I have to argue with someone else named Kirk. This could open up some sort of black hole underneath my computer desk…
Actually, that’s a really good point. I guess in the end we can come to expect that his sort of transgression will result in a year off the team with a chance to come back the next year. It comes down to whether or not you think that’s the right move. I just know there’s no chance in hell he comes back this season. I suppose this is setting the precedent that someone in his situation gets a second chance the next season as long as they have had no prior incidents while at UO. That’s a whole different debate, and obviously one that has no real good answer.
By the way
I’m wonder if Oregon fans will now agree with my argument that Masoli is a thug, any thoughts?
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON"
I don’t think anyone is going to call him a model citizen. We all knew about his past, but I think people tried to reserve judgment. It was easy to sort of see what he did on the field as far as how hard he played and the way he put his body on the line when he needed to and think of him as maybe a better guy than he was.
When the incident initially happened, I remember being on the phone with my friend who is also a Duck fan. We both sort of agreed that it was no stretch of the imagination to think that Masoli did do something, even if there wasn’t any solid evidence that we knew of at that point. As much as it sucked to admit it, there was definitely something that just felt believable about it.
MAKES SENSE
I think the disruption to the program if they bring him back this year or next would tear it apart. I personally think he will be gone of his own volition.
Doesn’t fit the student part of student athlete!!!
Masoli
Didn’t the kid have a history before this incident? If that’s the case, it would be totally understandable that he isn’t cut any slack. You give second chances to kids who have a clean slate. That’s my view anyway.
Washington Husky Football-Undefeated 1991 National Champions 12-0!
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