Not so gently into the night
by John Berkowitz on Mar 26, 2010 6:53 AM PDT
44 comments
Against all odds Lorenzo Romar guided his squad to the Sweet Sixteen this season achieving the pre-season projections the experts had for his club. As we all know there were quit a few bumps along the way but Washington finished the last month of the season strong until they bumped into a longer West Virginia squad who put the hammer down on them defensively and on the offensive boards in the second half of last nights game.
West Virginia won last night because they were simply a better team that deserved to go farther. Despite that Washington still had its chances down the stretch but turned the ball over way too many times and couldn't put the ball in the hoop.
The turning point for me was a technical on Lorenzo Romar after a poor officiating call which resulted in a four point WVU swing. Washington was never able to get closer than six points after that. Sometimes a technical can turn the team around and other times it realy doesn't make much of a difference. Mark this one down as the latter.
Going into the game we all knew that this was the type of team that Washington has problems with. They resembled a souped up version of USC who dispatched Washington twice this season. WVU is an excellent well coached squad and they have a pretty good chance of advancing to the FInal Four on Saturday.
Keep in mind Husky fans that even though UW was picked to win the Pac 10 title this season this was a rebuilding season. The absense of a true physical force up front was a missing piece on this squad. MBA finished strong but we needed another banger to compliment him up front in the Jon Brockman mold. We will probably never see another Jon Brockman but this team lacked strength on the boards at time and that will have to be addressed in the off season.
On the outside this squad had growing pains as Abdul Gaddy began the difficult transition of becoming a major college point guard and Isaiah Thomas struggled with consistency. Both those players will be much better next season and Venoy Overton will return to continue harrasing opposing teams as a defensive specialist.
I know a lot of you are thinking that Venoy blew the game last night with his ball handing during the last ten minutes of the game. Obviously that had something to do with the outcome but you can't fault a man for trying to make something happen on both sides of the court. Without Venoy exerting pressure out on the perimeter this team probably wouldn't have been dancing this season.
Ditto for Justin Holiday whose insertion into the starting lineup helped ignite Washington's late season surge. Holiday isn't a big time scorer but he does so many of the little things that help a team win. Look for him to hold on to that starting spot and become more of a scorer next season when someone is asked to step up to fill in for Pondexter.
Speaking of Quincy Pondexter...he had a monster season and will be missed next year but Washington will likely be bringing in three new players who will help fill the void. Only 6'7 PF Desmond Simmons has been announced but it is rumored that 6'9 PF Terrence Jones, 7'0 JC C Aziz Ndiaye, or 6'5 SG Terrence Ross who plays on the same team as Jones will be joining the program. Some say Jones and Ross are a package deal for Washington.
The future is very bright for Washington basketball. I think next years team will once again be a favorite to win the Pac 10 and perhaps even go deeper int this tournament. The next two weekends won't be as interesting with Washington out of the tournament but this program will eventually end up in a Final four under the leadership of Coach Lorenzo Romar.
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Well said John...
There were a lot of things that led to our loss, including being outsized, outrebounded, and even outofficiated, but I wouldn’t shoulder the blame on any one player. Venoy wasn’t the only player who was pressing toward the end of the game, he just shoulders ends up getting blamed when he is the point guard and can’t find an open man to distribute the ball too. UWV did a great job of making themselves look even taller than they already were and got their hands in all the passing lanes.
Too bad we couldn’t make it a great game in the end but the dawgs will be back. I look forward to seeing what happens with our potential recruits. We definitely need a big man or two to help us against the USC and UWV’s of the world.
Now it’s on too football again….GO DAWGS!!!!!
the technical
Johnb, I had no problem with the technical. While it sealed the game, it was understandable. The refs had called charging all game and finally on an obvious charge, they call blocking. I have listened to Lorenzo several times at TYEE events and he does things for a reason. He rarely gets Ts but this year was probably above average for him, usually 1 per season. That said, WVa played well while the Dawgs looked very tight all game except Holiday who came to play on the big stage. This experience will be very good for us next year, esp if we get T Jones. I am still very happy with this teams progression this year.
I had no problem with the technical either
Things like that are calculated to a certain extent. It isn’t like Lorenzo lost control. He wanted to make a statement at that point to fire up his team and get the attention of the refs. Sometimes that can help force a swing in momentum. We did see an attempt at a run soon after that but turnovers put an end to it when we got as close as six points.
by John Berkowitz on Mar 26, 2010 8:10 AM PDT up reply actions
Agreed....
Not sure if it was before ar after i saw IT get thrown to the floor(with IT getting the foul WTF!) when the technical was called but i did feel some of the more obvious calls were all going WV’s way. Oh well, and in no way am i saying the refs gave it to them, the game may have been a little closer at the end but that’s about it. It was unfortunate because it felt like the game was moving at a good pace then something happened in the second half and we just couldn’t finish on a lot of easy baskets. Now this team will have immense expectations on them next year and hopefully they will grow from this experience! GO DAWGS!!!
by DAWGFATHER91 on Mar 26, 2010 4:36 PM PDT up reply actions
Completely agree
It comes down to two factors.
1. Rebounding
2. turnovers
WV dominated the boards, who got a slew of both defensive and offensive rebounds. We didn’t and that sealed the deal, especially in the 2nd half. The techinical had nothing to do with the outcome of the game, our play decided the outcome.
Give credit to the Mountaineers who slowed us down, and applied tremendous half court defense. On the other hand I don’t think we need a traditional big man down low. Our tempo doesn’t allow us to utilize that sort of talent. Our bigs have got to run the floor and should have tremenous hops. The key is to continue to push the tempo and we failed to ignite the tempo vs. WV. I love MBA and the rest of our bigs, we just have to work on blocking out during the offseason. Positioning is the key to rebounding and our bigs are still trying to figure that out. Should be a huge coaching point this offseason.
All I saw was purple
I love Venoy, but his turnovers were costly in the second half.
Specifically when we were down 6 and he had the steal and was racing down on a 3 on 3 he took it too far and instead of trying to go for the layup he tried to make a backwards pass to either Holiday or QPon and it was stolen.
WVU took it down for a layup – instead of being down 4 we’re down 8 – 4 point swing. Then immedatiely after the hoop Venoy races down the court and drives the lane with nowhere to go and instead of dribbling it back out or because his momentum was taking him out of bounds he jumps and tries and makes a jump pass which gets stolen.
That was the gamebreaker.
They played their hearts out and I commend them for it.
Unfortunately the Dawgs came up against a longer team who has the ability to score from outside and defend.
Vernoy
It wasn’t all his fault but his play in the 2nd half on offense was horrid…hard to watch. We couldn’t get a rebound either and really need to pick up an inside banger if we want to take the next step. Overall a solid year and Pondexter will be missed!
Venoy sort of lost his head
But sometimes that happens when you try to ignite a comeback.
I truly thought the officiating was NOT consistent with the way the tournament had been officiated thus far in the tournament. The block/charge foul calls seemed rather non-consistent with the way they’d been called prior to this WV/Washington game.
Is it a shock that the venue was a Big East venue? And that we were playing a Big East team? And that most of the Big East brass were in attendance? And that the Big East has been taking it hard on the chin in this tournament and that maybe somebody thought that the Big East needed a represenative in the Elite 8 so that it can keep pace with its excellent basketball reputation? Not calling the fix, not at all. But officials are human and studies have shown that officials subconsciensously favor the home team. West Virginia was a Big East team playing in a Big East venue. I keep referring to the block/charge calls that were not consistent with the way the rest of the tournament had been administering these calls. Clearly this game stands out as odd in relation to the rest of the tournament regarding the block/charge call. Did we get jobbed? I don’t think so, but it confused the hell out of our players.
All I saw was purple
AGREE
Especially second foul on QPON which limited him to seven minutes first half. The blocker was clearly moving. Bad call and definitely had an affect on the outcome. Although we did lead at half by two without QPON.
SAD ENDING
Not what we would have liked. They looked disoriented in the second half. BUT
TWENTY PUTBACK POINTS TO ZERO.
No team can get by that.
Still an exciting season with more to come!!! They’re back!!!!
Recruits
Last night showed us we desperately need some bigger sized guys in the frontcourt. MBA did as well as he could but he had no chance at defending 3 or 4 guys at a time who were the same size as him.
WVA was the supersized USC that we can’t beat right now. Jones, Ross, and/or Ndiaye will be ESSENTIAL to having any success next year. We only have one true scorer left (Thomas) and no guys waiting in the wings besides Wilcox that are threats to score 15+ on any given night.
Is anybody concerned about Gaddy? I’m hoping we will we see a big improvement with him, but his outside shot needs work, and I don’t think he’s got a great first step and explosiveness to finish at the rim, which is why he uses one hand floater that he shoots in the lane.
Gaddy will be fine. He’ll be a great floor general who may break Conroy’s assist record when it’s all said and done but at this point he’s not a dynamic scorer and neither was Conroy. If Romar surrounds him with the right guys he won’t need to be a scorer – just take care of the rock and dish it to the hot hand.
A lot of young players struggle shooting the ball early in their careers
It’s nothing to be worried about, because it’s the easiest thing to work on in the offseason.
Gaddy will be fine
Point guard is the toughest position on the floor. Having a true frosh come in and start at PG is like having a true frosh start at QB in football….there is a big learning curve.
by John Berkowitz on Mar 26, 2010 8:44 PM PDT up reply actions
He's not an explosive kind of guy
he’s a finesse PG and he’s probably our best at breaking people down in the lane. He just became old enough to buy a Costco card man, people need to give the kid a break.
The Big East is now 1-3 so far - Greg Gumble
Scorers
Turner and MBA will pick up more of the scoring slack next year with QPon’s departure. Holiday also showed signs of being a more consistent scoring threat, to go along with the addition of Wilcox. I’m not worried about scoring at all with next year’s team, even if we miss out on Jones.
Huggins wasn't impressed with how his team defended and used it to light a fire
I thought this was a funny quote, though:
Freeman chronicles a sideline exchange between Huggings and a player and writes: "With the governor of West Virginia just a few feet away, Huggins went into a profanity laced fit. A short time later after, forward Wellington Smith was beaten by a shorter player Huggins screamed at him: “A [expletive] midget is whipping your ass.”
The “midget” in question was 5-foot-8 Isaiah Thomas who held his own against 6-7 Smith.
Link
I have No Complaint's
Too many turnovers and unable to hit the open shot. Thank’s Romar for a great year.
The Tunnel is Hallowed and Sacred Ground
by bigdawgdaddy999 on Mar 26, 2010 12:18 PM PDT reply actions
Not to be
Just was not our game. The shots were not falling like they did in the past 2 tournament games and we got some pretty tough offensive penalties against us. I would have tried a bigger line up for a period in the second half with Amaning, Gant, Holiday, and Pondexter and Venoy or Thomas. We did this against USC and had some success in closing the margin at the end.
Great season and excited for the next few years.
agreed
I really thought Romar could have gone big when it was CLEAR in the second half that WV size was killing our ability to get inside on offense or rebound AT ALL on the defensive end.
Given, I think we made it one round further than our talent should have allowed, so Romar deserves a lot of credit getting what he could out of these guys at the end of the season.
Holiday
You gotta give it up for holiday for a great game played. He was the sole reason the had success in the first half. Imagine how good the offense will be next year when the other teams have to actually guard him.
I was impressed
We already know he can defend, but he showed some serious life on the offensive end and has shown a decent shot lately.
Next year will be about expectations!
I see an experienced Holiday, ET, IT, MBA, Venoy and Gaddy coming back hopefully with a chip on the shoulder knowing they can get it done. We definately NEED one more big to produce and help, but this team will have some serious and well deserved expectations on them from the first tip off next year and i am very excited to dream BIG! Now for spring practice, GO DAWGS!
For a team that was headed to the NIT in January, I'm very pleased with how things turn out.
Hopefully we can break through the Sweet 16 wall next year.
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel, or the headlights of an oncoming train?
size
A lot has been said about the size of our front court but it is about average for a high major program. Ebanks 6’8 215 Butler 6’7 230 Jones 6’8 250 compared to MBA 6,9 245 Pondexter 6’7 220 and Holliday 6’6 190. There are very few 6’10 or above players in the country that dominate Cousins this year Lopez a couple years ago. The problem with our front court is that Gant is a pick and pop guy but he is 6’8 230 at the end of the day with his size he should be a better rebounder and Breshers is 6’7 265 both of these guys were rival top 100 recruits out of high school but they have not progressed. The real problem with size on our team is the guards the ones that have size Turner and Suggs are catch and shoot guys 75% of Suggs shots were 3’s. While the smaller gaurds are too small to finish amoungst the trees in the half court set. It would help if we had a guy who had range but was good off the dribble and bouncy enough to finish inside (Ross).
Hitting the nail on the head
As Bob Huggins said IT is a midget…lol.
by John Berkowitz on Mar 27, 2010 5:04 AM PDT up reply actions
It's not fair to Breshers to say he hasn't progressed
This was his first season of basketball in almost two years. He was basically an out of shape true freshman, because he didn’t get to do much with his redshirt year. Judge him on his next couple of seasons, when he’s had the benefit of working on his skills in the offseason and being in shape.
And Gant is a better rebounder than he’s given credit for. His rebounding percentages were actually pretty similar to Pondexters, and better than everybody’s except QPon, MBA and Breshers.
Breshers also struggled with his injury this season.
I think he’s going to be a very solid post presence. He’s got decent feet, and on Thursday nights, he showed a lot more lift than he did Saturdays, given the extra rest he got. He can get to the rim, but you can tell he just isn’t explosive enough right now to finish some of the moves he makes. Health and fitness are really going to improve his ability to score. He’s also the only big on the team with anything resembling a nasty streak. I like the physical presence he shows.
I sort of agree with you about Gant, but he seems to be more of a hustle rebounder than a block-out-and-go-get- the-ball guy. He tracks down a lot of misses, but gets pushed around a little more than he would if he just got a wide base and made people go around him. It’s not just him; blocking out is becoming a lost art in basketball. Sort of like a screener pivoting the correct direction and rolling to the basket on a pick and roll (does anybody even know what a UCLA cut is anymore?). It really isn’t fair to compare Gant to Pondexter as a rebounder – he’s almost always guarding a guy underneath the basket as opposed to Quincy who’s usually on a perimeter player. Gant and Bryan-Amaning both need to get more physical on the glass. Breshers is the only guy that consistently puts a butt into a guy’s thighs and roots out position.
I think we need work on player development
Sure we are at a disadvantage with height on the perimeter. But IT is a magical player and we love his game. I don’t think it is fair to judge the season on how we played in our last game. We had a tremendous season. I think our guard play was as good as anybodies. I’m not worried one bit about our guard play- it was by far our best played position.
Where we need to develop players is on the wing and down low. Our bigs have got to work on rebounding position. You don’t need to be 6’10" to be a good rebounder. All you need is desire to rebound and great positioning. I think our desire is there, but we are failing at getting into great rebounding position.
I’d love to see us develop Gant into more of a wing player. He showed me that he is a very athletic player. Right now Gant is playing very robotic in his low post role on the team. I say we bring that athletism out in him by putting him out on the wing, where he can create. At 6’8" Gant is too robotic and doesn’t move very freely.
I see great things with Holiday, Turner, and Suggs. Holiday will be counted on more as an offensive force, so he must work on his shooting confidence during the offseason. Turner and Suggs are in contrast to Holiday. Both Turner and Suggs have great touch when shooting the ball. However both need to work on their ball handling skills.
I think we will continue to be one of the dominant Pac 10 teams next season. In fact I think we might be better next season then this season. Keep in mind that we only lose one player (QPon) during the offseaon. Scoring wise we will be gold on the perimeter and down low. We just need to develop a wing threat too.
All I saw was purple
Holiday needs to develop his offensive game.
At best, he’s a mediocre spot-up shooter. He doesn’t have very good ball control, and he hasn’t shown any ability to create his own shot or score consistently on the mid-range stuff. If he can develop a shot off the dribble, or put the ball on the floor and get to the hoop, he can be a force.
I really expect big things from him next season. If he can improve as much heading into next season as he did this season, he can be a guy that will get a look at the next level.
Next Season's starting lineup?
G. Gaddy
G. Thomas
F. Holiday
F. Brian-Ammaning
C. Breshears
Breshears is going to need to get into shape if we have visions of him cracking the starting lineup next season. If not, insert Gant at forward and put MBA at center. Turner and Suggs will both get more playing time, especially if both work on their ball handling skills. I think Suggs could potentially become a great defender, if he has the desire. That would go along way in him becoming a regular along with his outside touch in scoring. How difficult is it to get Overton into the starting lineup? Rather difficult when you have Thomas on one side and a pure point (Gaddy) being groomed as the future of our perimeter play. Sure glad Overton has accepted his role on the team. A valuable lesson for all youngsters. Not only has Overton accepted the role, but he has blossomed in that role as well. I don’t care what the rest of the Pac 10 says, Venoy Overton is the BEST defensive player in our league.
Quincy- I love you man and you’ll be missed. Yet next season we should be even better.
All I saw was purple
Depends on recruiting
If we sign Terrence Jones, he’s probably a starter, so we’d be looking at:
Gaddy
Thomas
Holiday
Jones
MBA
If we sign Aziz Ndiaye but not Jones, he may be a starter:
Gaddy
Thomas
Holiday
MBA
Ndiaye
If we don’t sign another long player, I have no clue, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Romar decided to go smaller, something like:
Gaddy
Thomas
Turner
Holiday
MBA
My lineup didn't include the potential of future recruits
We either develop or recruit the wing or we play Marquette style small ball. I really want to see us develop Gant into a Wing player. That guy has so much talent and we need to get him into more open space to use his athletic ability. I believe he’s playing out of position. He’s so robotic down low and he doesn’t have much room to operate. But if we get him on the wing, his athletic ability could lead to some serious back door alley oop dunks.
The idea is to get him playing much looser so that he is not so frigid and robotic. Freeing him up, I believe will lead to him not only to a slam dunk artist, but a rebounding and a shot blocking machine. When you are that athletic you need more room to play. Put Gant out on the wing. Start it now so that by the start of the season he’s had time to adjust.
All I saw was purple
For Turner to become a regular
He’s got to get a bit tougher. Right now he’s a shooter and he doesn’t possess the ball long. I love Tournament Turner, but I’m rather iffy about inserting him into the starting line up at this point. Regardless if Turner starts or not, both he and Suggs will get more minutes next season. Suggs is long and lanky and has great reach, which I believe would aid him if he had the desire to become a Holiday-like defensive menace.
Filling QPons spot on the wing is going to be a huge spot to fill. But I think the key coaching point going forward is blocking out on rebounds.
All I saw was purple
I don't feel to bad...
Looking like we lost to the best team left! I think WV might win it all seeing how they have been able to stop us and Kentucky.
Kentucky played bad!
I’m not a big John Calapari fan. Calapari teams usually get buy on athletic ability, which does not translate to winning national championships. To win six straight you have to be able to win a few games when things don’t always go as planned. Surely Kentucky’s lack of maturity showed it’s ugly face.
I was rooting for WV vs. Kentucky and wasn’t the least bit surprised by the outcome. WV plays very good half court defense [see 2nd half of the WV/Washington game]. I think the favorites at this point is the Dukies and the Izzoes. But I’m pulling for Butler and West Virginia.
All I saw was purple
ONE AND DONE
If you can recruit three in one year I guess you get a payoff into the big tournament. I would guess Kentucky’s graduation rate must be around ten percent. These guys couldn’t be admitted to the PAC-10.
DeMarcus Cousins at 6’11" 280 # is a very unique BB player. But his quote in the TNT before the Cornell game is telling: “We’re not here to read books, we’re here to play basketball.” I wonder how many classes they actually attend?
Incidentally Cornell does not give BB scholarships so for them to reach the big dance was rather outstanding. I bet they read a lot of books and their graduation rate is probably 100 percent.
Cousins and Wall are already packing up the dorm
I think the best way to recruit these one and done guys is to take only one in a two year span. Calapari is going to lose 80% of his scoring w/ both Cousins and Wall opting to turn pro. Ben Howland took too many one and doners and it put a huge hole on his roster.
Prospects who’s only motivation is to play basketball professionally will continue to go to schools where the academic structure isn’t so demanding. These one and doners probably spend their first semmester in the gym all week up until Winter Break. Do they even bother registering for classes in the Spring? Doubtful. Once the NCAA tournament is over, they’ve already contacted prospective agents. Calapari has a glorious tradition of destroying programs and schools reputations, i.e. UMass, Memphis, and Kentucky is right around the corner. Calapari is a bullshitter and I’m not buying anything he says. He’ll run Kentucky into the ground just like at his other stops.
All I saw was purple
Pac 10 transfers
Washington State is losing 3 transfers headlined by Thames he was there highest rated recruit last year. Moore got his minutes but both being freshman Thames is about 2 years younger. USC foward Leonard Washington is currently transfering and rumors of UCLA big Morgan and Moser look to be transfering. There is also word that maybe some of the 2009 Arizona class will transfer to many young gaurds not enough minutes we will keep an eye on that situation. Look out for some JC transfers these guys get snagged up in spring and there are some gems to be had Aziz N’diaye was rated the 20th best prospect in JC ranks coming into year before his ACL surgery. Vander Joaquim Native of Angola 6’10 225 7’5 wingspan is eliglible after 1 year of JC because he did not sign in time in 2009 was ranked as 21st best HS center in 2009 by rivals. The real JC prize is Ricardo Ratcliff 6,8 235 post player was a big time recruit 2 years ago but dindt have the grades.
more transfers
D.J. Seeley of Californa is transfering he also was a big time recruit top 75 by rivals year 2008
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