The clouds hovered, like the shadow of a bad dream does when you awaken in the dark.  But the dots were bright and kept the air around me moving, refreshing me and compelling me down the path.  Today it begins.

• The Times posted a Google Map that highlights where each of the recruits for both UW and WSU came from. I thought it was kind of fun so I thought I'd post it here. It also provides a good opportunity to comment on the fact that the Huskies, if anything, had less reach than normal. With no kids coming from the islands and only one each coming from Oregon, Arizona and Texas, this may be among the most Washington / California focused classes we've seen in a long time. Some of this, no doubt, has to do with the national reach of programs like Stanford, USC and Oregon leaving more opportunities. Some may also have to do with the fact that both Stanford and USC took smaller classes. Some may also have to do with the fact that the talent is richest in California and Washington. Either way, we are far from a national destination as of now.
  
  View UW, WSU football recruits in a larger map
• Now that the class is signed, Condotta takes the opportunity to highlight the numbers by class. He notes that the class size is up to 93 players, implying that there still needs to be an attrition of 8 players. Between rumored injury retirements and the possibility of a few non-qualifiers, the challenge of reaching the 85 mark doesn't look quite as daunting as it once did.
• A lot of people lamented how we seemed to "lose out" on some guys on the last day. It is an understandable reaction to the drama of the NSD, but it is a misplaced emotion when the big picture is considered. UW flipped several guys their way before NSD and then did a superb job of fighting off the wolves for those guys on the last day. Elijah Qualls, Marcus Farria, Demore'ea Stringfellow, and several others were all guys who, by all rights, were huge targets for other programs. One "flipped" guy - a one-time UCLA verbal - is considered by CBS to project as one of the top 10 impact recruits for 2013.
• Dybas focuses on the elite receiving corps that highlighted the class in his Signing Day recap.
• The Brandon Roy saga continues to develop, albeit slowly, towards its inevitable conclusion. With word now that the Timberwolves have approached Roy's representation about a possible buyout, it looks more and more like we've seen the last of BRoy on the hardwood - at least as a player.
• You know things are bad when your opponent pulls out a last second, heroic victory and all the winning team's bloggers have to talk about is how bad things are for their team. Such is the case at ESPN LA following the Bruins victory over UW.
• Speaking of that very disheartening loss, Percy notes that the Huskies are now in a tie with basically the entire bottom half of the conference for second to last place in the P12 along with several other notes from last night.
• Quote of the day from Lorenzo Romar:

“My biggest concern with my guys is not to go into a tailspin because a loss like this sometimes can put you in a situation where it takes you too long to recover,” Romar said.


Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports/2013/02/08/romar-my-biggest-concern-with-my-guys-is-not-to-go-into-a-tailspin/#storylink=cpy

• I tweeted this the other night, but I thought I would share with you some fun news. Looks like Husky Fans will have something to do on All Star Weekend again.
  

  Thanks to all the fans who created this movement, an got me in to dunk contest...#RossShallDunk #SpriteSlam

  — Terrence Ross (@T_DotFlight31) February 8, 2013

• And, look who got picked to Team Chuck in the Rising Stars Challenge...
  

  #TeamShaq and #TeamChuck for the @nbaallstar #BBVARisingStars game twitter.com/BleacherReport…

  — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 8, 2013

• State of Nate has returned for a second "season" over at Nate Robinson's blog. Something worth checking out if you are big MBB fans.
  
• Finally, a sad ending to the Dots tonight. The coroner's report has finally come back on the cause of death for former Husky, Johnie Kirton. Kirton passed away from a methadone overdose. Methadone is, obviously, a widely used prescription drug in the treatment of heroin addiction. Less known is the fact that methadone is also a widely prescribed pain medication. Although it is only accounts for 2% of all US painkiller prescriptions, the CDC reports that it is involved in 33% of all painkiller overdose fatalities. Methadone has significant advantages as a painkiller, but can be very dangerous because of the drug's long half-life and the risk of heart arrhythmia as a side-effect. Godspeed, Johnie.
  

  via kpho.images.worldnow.com