UW Basketball Updates
by CODawg on Oct 26, 2011 2:31 PM PDT
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PrintTo help take the mind off Nick Holt and the Stanford game, between now and Saturday night. I thought I would give and early update on the Husky basketball team. Practice started October 14. The first game will be an exhibition against Seattle Pacific on November 4. The first regular season game is November 12, against Georgia State. Updates after the jump.
Injuries
There have been two injuries, one being more serious than the other. Senior Scott Suggs had surgery to fix a stress facture in his toe. He will be out 8 weeks and is targeting the New York Trip to be back. The Dawgs face Marquette on Dec 6 and Duke on Dec 10. Suggs averaged 7.4 ppg last year and is expected to up his scoring and be a senior leader for Romar. FR Tony Wroten elected to have arthoscopic knee surgery, similar to the one Chris Polk had. He should be back next week and not miss any games.
Recruiting
The early signing period is Nov 9-16 and UW has received no verbal commitments. They have lost out to players to the cougars. Demarquise Johnson, 6-foot-5, 185-pound shooting guard from Pontiac, Mich stated the ability to play right away as the biggest factor. I think you have officially built a program when guys go to different schools to play right away. Johnson, who attends Westwind Prep Academy in Phoenix, is the biggest prize for WSU. He's rated a four star prospect by Rivals while ESPN and Scout gave him three stars. WSU also landed his Westwind teammate Richard Peters. Peters is a 6'10" forward originally from Toronto. He originally committed to Oklahoma.
2012 is not a critical class for Romar. There is 7 freshman on the current roster and a couple will probably redshirt. He is now changed his focus to big men Anthony Bennett, Zena Edosomwan and Landen Lucas. Edosomwan visited Oct 22 and Lucus is supposed to come Nov 5. Romar has also targeted wing Jordan Tebbutt, from Portland via Oak Hill Academy.
The Freshman Bigs
6'8" Martin Bruenig, 6'9" Shawn Kemp Jr, 6,10 Jernard Jarreau and RS Desmond Simmons, make up the Freshman Bigs. With the whole left behind by MBA it will important for one of the guys to step up. Reviews have mixed so far. Bruenig is probably the best of the true freshman right. Jarreau and Kemp could both be RS candidates. Smmons will be counted on to provide rebounding even though that is not the strength of his game.
NBA Scrimmage
The scrimmage against ex-husky players was cancelled because the NCAA stated that because the former players were tweeting and Romar announced it that they were promoting the game. This game may still happen but noone will know about it. The ex players were supposed to be
Brandon Roy, Isaiah Thomas, Jon Brockman, Quincy Pondexter, Nate Robinson, Will Conroy, Spencer Hawes and Mike Jensen
Other Notes
Andrew Andrews will redshirt. Look for him to take over the point guard duties after Gaddy and Wroten leave for the NBA.
The puple team beat the gold team at the first scrimmage. The purple team was Gant, Simmons, Breunig, Hikeem Stewart, Andrews and N'Diaye. The gold team consited of C.J. Wilcox, Jernard Jarreau, Shawn Kemp Jr., Alex Wegner, Gaddy and Ross.
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I love this team...
…We have never had such a deep team in terms of total athleticism and scoring potential. We have at least three legit ball handlers, we have size at guard, we have shooting and we have a high-potential defensive big man. Its not a perfect squad, but with two legit NBA talents – it is an exciting squad.
However…
I’m having a hard time seeing us beat out Arizona given the ridiculous depth that they’ve assembled. We should see a couple of epic battles with them. UCLA will be rolling out a great lineup with a lot of size. Cal has a good core. With those three teams right there with us, I just don’t see our guys getting enough slack to develop into a cohesive squad that can win the PAC.
Damn, my eyeball tastes good.
@chrislandon
I just don’t see our guys getting enough slack to develop into a cohesive squad that can win the PAC.
Perhaps you could use some glasses …
Formerly the fan known as Denvdawg.
"You can observe a lot by just watching." - Yogi Berra
by Randall Floyd on Oct 26, 2011 2:57 PM PDT up reply actions
I'm not sold on Cal at all. Outside of Guttierez, Crabbe, and Kamp who do they have?
I’m not worried about them head to head and I’m not worried that they have the depth to win the conference.
They've got some good young guys
Solomon, Franklin and Murray are all good. And Bak Bak…you don’t f*** with guys named Bak Bak.
UCLA has the Wear twins eligible this year
and Josh Smith…and Reeves Nelson. They have too much size, unless they intend on playing a 12455 lineup.
Very interesting team Romar has assembled.
It’s going to be very frustrating to watch them at times (moreso than usual), but a lot of fun too.
We’ll have some coverage and previews next week heading into the exhibition next friday. You’ll all be very interested, I’m sure, as there aren’t any big football games that week or anything.
Looking forward to attending both!
"The same thing that will make you laugh will make you cry." Ray Lewis
by Carne Guisada on Nov 3, 2011 11:42 AM PDT up reply actions
I don't think they'll win the Pac-12.
But I do think it’s possible to make it past the Sweet 16. There wasn’t really a choice for that though. I think the Pac-12 will be very top-heavy but the teams at the top will all be very good and all of them may go deep into the tourney.
I thought about that choice too
This team will struggle against tough defending teams. This will be a team like most of Romar’s that needs to score in the 80’s.
I like the team
I think Terrence Ross is going to be a styar. I haven’t seen much of Tony Wrotten but heard he is really good. We have bigs that can hopefully not miss layups, MBA.
The thing that kills me about Romar’s teams are, rebounding and free throws. Can we box out and shoot free throws please?
Rebounds a FT's
Both will be an issue this year. Ross will be asked to rebound a lot. The lineup will basically have 2 small forwards and no power forward.
If Wroten is back to where he was before his injury he could be the top freshman in the country. He is that good.
That's what I'm hoping for!
I really like ross. With what I’ve heard about Tony Wroten Jr, I think we can have a great back court. I think he’ll be fine before the regular season starts, the surgery was not that major.
by datboyeddiep on Oct 27, 2011 10:52 AM PDT up reply actions
I was referring to the ACL
He tore playing football his Junior year. At the time he was considered one of the top players in the class. He ended up slipping in the rankings.
Are you blaming the bad free throw shooting on Romar?
I would love to see any evidence that a coach has any effect on a players FT shooting ability, other than recruiting a particular type of player.
by UW11Bowdown on Oct 27, 2011 10:31 AM PDT up reply actions
Definitely
I am blaming Romar for bad free throw shooting. How is it that we haven’t been able to shoot free throws in the enitre time Romar has been our head coach? If you can’t shoot from the charity stripe, you can’t never be an elite basketball team. That is a fact. If we have a coaching staff that can’t improve some of our players free throw shooting, we have a problem. What do you think coaches do in basketball? Of course it is the coaching staff’s fault. They never improve anyone’s free throw percentage. Free throws are fundamental just like passing and shooting field goals.
by datboyeddiep on Oct 27, 2011 10:58 AM PDT up reply actions
Have you ever played basketball?
That’s what coaches do. Work on your shot, follow through, bounce in your legs, the whole thing. of course coaches have affect on players shooting percentage. That’s why they coach basketball, not just to call plays.
The rebounding side of it is also coaching. look at any game we played, our players are so out of position to box out pg’s come and steal rebounds from us. That is also a fundamental that is coached.
by datboyeddiep on Oct 27, 2011 11:00 AM PDT up reply actions
That being said
I love Romar. I think he has brought a lot to our program. We didn’t really have much of one before him. I’m not calling for his head but his assistant coaches need to do a better job of coaching these guys on fundamentals for us to take that next step. If not, we will always be what we are.
by datboyeddiep on Oct 27, 2011 11:01 AM PDT up reply actions
FT
Ultimately I agree that it comes down to Romar. He has also stated that the reason for their failure at this is beyond him, because they practice it a lot. I also like that you point out it might be an assistant coach problem. I think we lost a lot when Ken Bone left.
They obviously practice FT's alot.
Our players shoot a ton over the summer and during in season practice. It is obviously the coaches job to help them with their shot.
My argument is that when a player can shoot around 40% from 3 (a group which I would put Suggs, Wilcox, Ross, IT, and historically Elston Turner), it isn’t on the coach when that player misses free throws. I hope you aren’t judging Romar on our post players FT ability. If you were expecting Aziz or MBA to hit over 60% it is your expectations that need to be readjusted.
Phil Jackson is one of the greatest coach of all time but he didn’t improve Shaqs FT% at all.
by UW11Bowdown on Oct 27, 2011 11:32 AM PDT up reply actions
Players
Yes the players have a responsibility too and if memory serves me it has only been a problem the last two years. But you cant totally leave Romar out of the equation. Romar has had some teams that shot it really well and some that were really bad.
Look at the stats I posted below.
There have been 3 “bad” years. One was his first year, one was 2008, and one was last year.
I think most of the problems last year were due to MBA and Aziz taking most of our free throws.
Also, Romar's teams have been average to slightly above average at FT% during his time at Washington.
http://kenpom.com/history.php?c=Lorenzo Romar
Outside of 2008 it really hasn’t been a problem.
by UW11Bowdown on Oct 27, 2011 11:34 AM PDT up reply actions
2007 and 2008 Memphis disagree with your assertion that you can't be elite without FT shooting.
http://kenpom.com/history.php?c=john calipari
by UW11Bowdown on Oct 27, 2011 11:40 AM PDT up reply actions
Ok ok don't murder me!
Memphis is a different animal. When you have a coach in John Callipari (who cheats and gets every team he coaches on probation) who gets the best recruits every year, yes you can win without FT shooting. To me, that’s not being very realistic for us. We have got to shoot free throws at a high percentage to be successful.
I’m not necessarily talking about rebounding stats, I’m talking about giving up way too many second chance points. The team does not box out whatsoever. Jon Brockman had the best fundamentals I’ve ever seen a big (smaller big) man have. His post moves were incredible, his boxing out was incredible. Looking at him and the rest of our big men, no way that was coached by Romar. Brockman came into Udub with that. He was amazing. I guarantee you, this season you will see Aziz just sitting there waiting for the ball to come off the rim. MBA did the same thing. That’s definitely coaching.
Basketball is a art to me, I love it. Even when Aziz or MBA pulled down rebounds last year I was yelling at them that they weren’t boxing out. Of course I was yelling at my TV since I live in TX, but I swear one day they’ll hear me.
by datboyeddiep on Oct 28, 2011 8:23 AM PDT up reply actions
If you yell loud enough they will hear you, I'm sure of that.
I would say that instead of just shooting at a high percentage, we need to be getting to the line frequently to be succesful. Our percentages haven’t been bad, in fact they’ve been above average for most of Romar’s tenure.
You can’t judge Romar on Aziz yet, the guy has only played one season and Romar didn’t have much of a chance to work with him before the season started.
Before I believe that we are giving up too many second chance points I’m going to need to see some stats. We are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country, and aren’t that much worse on defense.
I hope this year, I'm wrong
I hope we get absolutely no statistical data to back up what I say.
Did anybody see Arizona lose to Seattle Pacific the other night? Weren’t they picked to win the Pac-12? Everyone is sleeping on the Dawgs! I love it, Go Huskies!
by datboyeddiep on Oct 29, 2011 10:36 AM PDT up reply actions
we've shot free throws pretty well since Brockman retired.
Damn, my eyeball tastes good.
@chrislandon
I also think.....
that it’s not all Romar. I think assistant coaches have a much larger role in player development than head coaches. That being said, Romar is the top Dawg so of course he gets the blame.
Now talking Phil Jackson, I’m down with that. Lakers are my favorite team of all time. I love Phil Jackson, but, he is not the greatest coach in terms of coaching up talent. He didn’t even come up with the triangle offense, his assistant coach Tex Winters did. Phil is really good in helping teams focus and execute, which is what made him the greatest coach of all time, in the NBA. Phil is not going to grab a ball and help adjust shooting motion, boxing out, anything fundamental. Phil was there to help ensure the triangle (which is unstoppable if ran properly) was executed to perfection. He was never in charge of Shaq and his free throw shooting. Magic Johnson was in charge of that and Magic isn’t the best coach either.
Dawgs host Seattle Pacific tonight
Should I be so excited about a exhibition game? Probably not, but I am. Can’t wait to see the Dawgs in action. Aziz had a concussion in practice and will not play tonight. Other than him and Suggs everyone including Tony Wrotten Jr is supposed to play. That includes redshirted players as well as they are allowed to play without affecting their red shirt status in exhibition games. Anyway, is anyone else going to watch? Let’s Go Dawgs!
I will be watching
Looking forward to seeing the freshman play. And hoping we dont lose like Arizona.
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