UW Dawg Pound - All Posts

Dot...Dot...Dawg (6/19)

2013-06-19T14:00:11Z

Dots...

Nigel Williams-Goss is officially a member of the USA U19 basketball team. Williams-Goss made the final cut on Monday night, and joins 11 others to compete at the FIBA U19 World Championships in the Czech Republic.
CBSSports.com's Matt Norlander does a conference catchup on the Pac-12. He calls C.J. Wilcox one of his "favorite players" in the league, but does not predict UW finishing within the top five of the conference standings.
Quarterback Keith Price and safety Sean Parker will represent UW at Pac-12 Media Day. The two will travel down to Los Angeles with head coach Steve Sarkisian on July 26th to partake in annual preseason media gathering.
SB Nation's Pacific Takes names tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins to its All-American team.
Long snapper Luke Hutchinson, a local product from O'Dea HS committed to Washington Tuesday according to Lars Hanson from 247sports.com.
Husky football hosted Demario Richard, a top running back recruit from the class of 2014 this past weekend.
UW volleyball left on Sunday for a 13-day exhibition European tour. The team is focused on preparing itself to make a championship run next fall – the NCAA's Final Four will take place in Seattle's Key Arena.
Husky sophomore Cheng-Tsung Pan finished 45th at the U.S. Open, shooting a 76 in the final round on Sunday. Pan finished second among all amateurs partaking in the major event.

Jalen Canty Commits To Basketball Or Football Or Something

2013-06-18T05:55:11Z

Jalen Canty seems to have given a verbal to the University of Washington:

2014 power forward Jalen Canty @JC23_DIFF has committed to Washington... per Jalen Canty...
— YAY AREA'S FINEST (@YAYAREASFINEST) June 18, 2013

Which is cool, and would kind of make sense, here's his Scout profile, where he's a 3 star player being pursued by Cal and Washington. But then there's this:

My understanding is that Jalen Canty has committed to Washington for football. Will try to walk on for hoops as well.
— Eric Bossi (@ebosshoops) June 18, 2013

Now, I cannot find a recruiting service profile of Canty as a football player (admittedly I did not look very hard), so this is all a bit confusing. Things will likely be made clear as guys like Chris Fetters and other recruiting types can get in touch with Canty, and we'll see just what the deal is.

It might be worth noting that there was no accompanying "WOOF" tweet from Steve Sarkisian.

Updates:

@HuskyHaul I'm told U-Dub football coaches feel he is a potential NFL player.
— Eric Bossi (@ebosshoops) June 18, 2013

So, hey, fingers crossed, he could be the next Sione Potoa'e /jokes.

Jalen Canty tells me that he plans to play both football and basketball in college. His scholarship will count under the football total.
— Marshall Cherrington (@mcherrington22) June 18, 2013

A couple things: the basketball guys on twitter covering this seem pretty adamant that it's not a basketball commitment. There also seems to be a resounding "He plays football?" vibe going around too.

@JBrais2000 hoops
— Flight Number 23 ✈ (@JC23_DIFF) June 18, 2013

That's Canty himself. Oh. Ok.

Last Update Before I Sleep:

It seems - right now - like he's a two sport guy, which in scholarship terms means he's a football guy. I don't know. The football team is pretty strapped for scholarships this season, and the feeling all along has been that they're not going to really reach for guys. That they'd sign a smaller number of guys, but that they'd be in with a lot of high caliber players. So if they decide to take a guy who hasn't been on the gridiron since he was a freshman well...

Williams-Goss makes first cut for USA U19 team

2013-06-17T15:42:53Z

Incoming Husky point guard Nigel Williams-Goss inched a little closer to securing a spot to the USA U19 team this past weekend. Williams-Goss survived the first roster cut of 24 players to 16 players; the final roster will consist of 12 players. The final roster decision will be made up by a committee of five college coaches that includes Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar. Out of the 16 remaning players, seven of those players are classified at the guard position.

Williams-Goss and the 15 other finalists will continue to practice at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado until June 19th when the final cut will be made. The top 12 players will then travel to Washington D.C. at the Washington Wizards practice facility for three days of training before traveling to Prague, Czech Republic to compete at the FIBA 19 U19 World Championships from June 24th to July 6th.

USABasketball.com interviewed Goss about the experience:

Husky Spring Sports Roundup: Men's Crew, Softball continue success

2013-06-17T14:00:04Z

At UW Dawg Pound, you will usually find news and analysis regarding solely Washington's basketball and football teams, but there may be some of you out there interested in the school's performance in other sports. Here's a quick roundup on how the different spring sport teams fared this year:

Men's Crew
Make that a three-peat. The Huskies dominated the 111th Annual IRA National Championships in early June. Entering the competition at No. 1, the Huskies won its third consecutive and 16th overall national championship at Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif. Credit head coach Michael Callahan for much of the team's success. The Huskies did not fall in the trap of complacency this season and stayed motivated behind the coaching of Callahan. Read a full recap of the championship meet at GoHuskies.com.

Women's Crew
The Huskies finished sixth overall at the NCAA championships, benefiting from a bronze medal performance by their varsity four squad. The varsity four consisted of sophomore Hannah Lukanuski, senior Monqiue Moore, sophomore Giuliana Chilczuk, sophomore Natalie Harshman and sophomore Elizabeth Vogt; they finished behind USC and Ohio State in the grand final. The team improved upon their seventh place performance from last season. Here is the meet's full game story.

Softball
So close! The Huskies finished tied for third at the Women's College World Series this year. The No. 11 Huskies fell to No. 1 Oklahoma in the semifinals. UW compiled a 45-17 record and finished a Pac-12 best in the WCWS with two series wins over Nebraska and Michigan before advancing to face Oklahoma. This year was the Huskies' best finish since winning it all in 2009.

Men's Golf
The team made its 10th NCAA championship in 12 years, but for the first time since 2009, did not make the cutline to participate in head-to-head match play. The Huskies were led this past Spring by senior Chris Williams and sophomore Cheng-Tsung Pan. Entering the NCAA Championships, Williams was the No. 1 amateur in the world and as of this week he still sits at No. 1. Williams took home the 2013 Ben Hogan Award honoring the top player in college and amateur golf. Not to be outdone, Pan has opened eyes at the U.S. Open this past weekend; the amateur was only two shots off the lead after two rounds of play.

Women's Golf
The Huskies got its best performance from freshman Ying Luo who finished tied for 50th, finishing at +13 at the NCAA Women's Golf Championships. The team will return its entire roster in 2013-14, including junior Kelli Bowers who was injured all spring. The team will have more experience next year as all of its top five players were either sophomores or freshmen this season.

Men's Tennis
Kyle McMorrow finished his career by making the sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. McMorrow entered the tournament ranked no. 17, carrying a 100-35 career record and a season record of 25-7. The All-Pac-12 First Team member was the eighth All-American in Washington's program history in the sport.

Women's Tennis
Despite the doubles team of sophomore Natali Coronel and freshman Grace Ysidora, the Huskies were unable to secure an invitation to the NCAA tournament. Considered a bubble team at 13-9, the Huskies were the highest ranked team in the country (42) to be left out of the tournament. The entire roster returns next season.

Baseball
The Huskies stumbled to 24-32 overall record and 15-15 Pac-12 record. The team finished tied for fifth overall in a competitive Pac-12 conference; four teams made it to NCAA Regionals with UCLA and Oregon State still alive in the College World Series. The program's focus now shifts toward new work being done at Husky Ballpark; a new playing surface and stadium grandstand will be built in time for the beginning of next season in February 2014. Other recent news includes three Huskies being taken in the Major League Baseball draft: junior right-handed pitcher Austin Voth (Washington Nationals, 5th round: 166th overall), junior right-handed pitcher Tyler Kane (Miami Marlins, 38th round: 1,132 overall), senior shortstop Ty Afenir (New York Yankees, 39th round: 1,184th overall).

Track and Field
The men's team finished 28th overall, while the women's team finished 29th overall at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Oregon. Jeremy Taiwo was responsible for the men's team's eight points, finishing second in the decatholon. On the women's side, Megan Goethals earned the team all nine of their points by finishing fourth in the 10,000m and fifth in the 5,000m. A full recap of the team's performance here.

Recruiting Bites: Era of unlimited phone calls and text messages begins

2013-06-17T14:00:04Z

Your weekly Husky basketball recruiting update...

If you just finished your sophomore year of high school and have any shot at playing college basketball, chances are, your phone was blowing up this past weekend. The NCAA's basketball recruiting rule changes went into effect, allowing college coaches to make and send unlimited amounts of phone calls and text messages to recruits. While constant calls and text messages can be an annoyance to a recruit, at least this rule prevents the influence of shady third party involvement in recruiting – or does it? Your thoughts?

It's no secret Lorenzo Romar achieves success when he can lock up the state's prep talent. Guys like Isaiah Thomas, Jon Brockman, Nate Robinson and Brandon Roy are all examples of tremendous talent UW was able to keep in state. Is the team targeting anyone from the 2014 class? An early assessment of this year's class from the state reveals a lack of top ended talent. The state's best recruit, Rainier Beach's Shaqquan Aaron is off to Louisville. However, the staff has their eyes on two in-state players from 2014, Bothell's Josh Martin (Forward, 2014) and Timberline's Donaven Dorsey (Forward, 2014). Neither player is a game-changing recruit, but they both have the tools to become impact players at Washington.

Silas Melson (Guard, 2014) made an unofficial visit to Gonzaga this past weekend. Melson has UW and Gonzaga as his top two schools. The sharpshooter attends Jefferson HS in Oregon, the alma-mater of former Husky Terrence Ross. Here's a highlight tape of Melson from earlier this year.

Area Codes provides an informative interview with Zylan Cheatham (Forward, 2014). Cheatham is a 6-foot-7 forward out of Phoenix, Arizona. Cheatham has ideal length, size and athleticism at the small forward position. He holds offers from Washington, Oregon, USC, Georgetown, San Diego State, and New Mexico.

2015 recruits are beginning to receive interest from UW's coaching staff, including wing player Bennie Boatright (Forward, 2015) from Mission Hills, Calif. In short, according to this scouting report, Boatright is a shooter with an ideal size to play the wing position at 6-foot-6. Cal and UCLA are also showing early interest.

Another 2015 recruit to watch is Kendall Small (Guard, 2015) out of Ocean View HS in Huntington Beach, Calif. ESPN recruiting expert Joel Francisco said this about Small in a recent write-up: "He can knock down treys or use his strength to punish defenders off the dribble. However, the most impressive aspect of his game this weekend was his pin-point passing in transition." Small is receiving early interest from several Pac-12 schools including Washington.

Email tips to kcacabelos@gmail.com.

UW Dawg Pound 2013 Preseason All Americans

2013-06-16T17:57:16Z

Offense

QB: Teddy Bridgewater (Louisville)

RB: T.J. Yeldon (Alabama)

RB: Lache Seastrunk (Baylor)

TE: Austin Seferian-Jenkins

WR: Marqise Lee (USC)

WR: Sammy Watkins (Clemson)

C: B.J. Finney (Kansas State)

G: David Yankey (Stanford)

G: Cyril Richardson (Baylor)

T: Jake Mathews (Texas A&M)

T: Antonio Richardson (Tennessee)

Teddy Bridgewater is going to have a big year, as Louisville is a really good team that will play a really bad schedule. Some no brainers out of the Pac-12 in Lee and ASJ; if you don't have those guys on your first team you haven't been watching college football the past couple of years.

Defense

DE: Jadeveon Clowney (South Carolina)

DE: Jackson Jeffcoat (Texas)

DT: Will Sutton (Arizona State)

DT: Anthony Johnson (LSU)

LB: Max Bullough (Michigan State)

LB: Kyle Van Noy (BYU)

LB: C.J. Mosley (Alabama)

LB: Chris Borland (Wisconsin)

CB: Ifo Ekpre-Olomu (Oregon)

CB: Bradley Roby (Ohio State)

S: Lamarcus Joyner (Florida State)

S: HaHa Clinton-Dix (Alabama)

This year is going to be a non-stop Clowney-fest, and with good reason. South Carolina will be appointment viewing. Loved watching Kyle Van Noy play last season; he anchored a really good defense and seemed to make a big play every series. I'm really glad that a guy named HaHa is a great player so we get to say his name a lot.

Special Teams

K: Chris Boswell (Rice)

P: Kyle Christy (Florida)

KR: Marcus Murphy (Missouri)

AP: DeAnthony Thomas (Oregon)

All purpose is the best sport for DAT. He won't get enough carries or catches to merit consideration at RB or WR, but between those touches and his special teams (if anyone is dumb enough to kick to him) he'll put up an impressive stat line.

Heisman

1: Teddy Bridgewater

2: Braxton Miller

3: Lache Seastrunk

When you have a guy like Bridewater who should throw for around 4000 yards and 35 TDs, and then put him on a team that should be in the hunt for the title, it's a pretty good chance that he'll at least be invited to New York. Plus he has the campaign going into the season and the personality and attitude that sportswriters gravitate toward.

Dot...Dot...Dawg (Father's Day Edition)

2013-06-15T14:40:17Z

Husky Stadium continues to get closer and closer to completion. KIRO has a "fly-by" posted on its website that is sure to thrill. In addition, Athlons has chimed in and ranked Husky Stadium favorably in its "Ranking of the Pac12 Stadiums" list. The Huskies come in #2 in this ranking without a single fan having yet to smuggle in airplane size bottles of Jack Daniels. Ted Miller has his own thoughts on this ranking highlighting the fact that this is just another dimension of competition between Oregon and Washington.
It's the offseason, so it is a perfect time for more lists. The Pac12 released its APR scores by major sports with the Huskies faring well. They were up from last years marks in both football and basketball while Lorenzo Romar's program moved from second to first overall in the Men's Basketball rankings. One interesting note is the continued presence of Cal's football team at the very bottom of their list. A not surprising note? Oregon's basketball APR.
Saturday Blitz has it's own list going on. They are ranking their Top 25 Heisman candidates and have two Huskies already on their list, which is down to #18 (Marqise Lee) as of now. Bishop Sankey makes the cut at #24 while Keith Price gets a gift of a ranking at #23. As I think about how bad the Husky offense was last season, as evidenced by our various offensive output statistics as a team, I find it increasingly remarkable at how perceptive the national audience has been during the offseason in recognizing the plague of injuries that crushed our O-Line and giving our team credit for bounce-back potential.
Along those lines, Ted Miller tagged Washington as his "bounce-back" offense for 2014.
Bishop Sankey gets a glowing draft prospect review in this draft blog piece. It is a pretty extensive anlaysis that highlights Sankey as a top 50 potential NFL draftee.
In some real news, the Huskies added North Dakota to their 2018 football schedule.
In some pretend news, the Huskies have partnered with XOS Digital to introduce cloud computing to the world of big time college football coaching.
Cheng-Tsung Pan is making a splash after two days at the U.S. Open. Pan is currently the highest ranking amateur in the field as of right now and he's ahead of Tiger! Pan is one of two Huskies in the tournament right now with Chris Williams also there.
Mike Neighbors has done with Romar couldn't: land the prized transfer. Macy Keen, a 6'5" post player from Miami, will be joining the Huskies after sitting out her transfer year. Welcome Macy! WOOF
Speaking of Romar, he spoke to the press about all of the coaching changes that he made in the offseason noting that it was just time for change.
Desmond Trufant showed up to his first OTA with the Falcons with big expectations heaped upon his shoulders. Interesting to see what our sister site has to say and what the member comments look like.
Finally, there is Jake Locker. We've been hearing all offseason about what Jake's failings have been (which is remarkable given how little field time he's actually had and what he has actually done with it when he was in there). However, Music City Miracles compiled a list of questions that the Titans are NOT asking themselves about Jake Locker. I know one question I'm not asking: Is he reading the UW Dawg Pound today? He already checked in.

Question of the Day

Husky Stadium is in the news. Do you expect that the new Husky Stadium will qualify as "the best Stadium" in the P12 once opened? If so, what criteria are you using to make that determination?

Top Huskies For 2013 — No. 10: Marcus Peters

2013-06-13T12:00:07Z

Marcus Peters wasn't a headline recruit, but definitely a solid get who had his choice of which Pac-12 program he would attend, and it was expected that he'd be an eventual contributor. His impact was more immediate than anticipated.

His trajectory since stepping onto campus has been ever upward. His first year on campus he redshirted, but still managed to make an impact by being named the team's scout player of the year. He opened last season not in the starting lineup, but still in the depth rotation. Midway through the season he cracked the starting lineup and doesn't figure to leave it as long as he's wearing the purple and the gold.

In teaming with Trufant, Sean Parker and Justin Glenn, Peters was a pivotal member of what was perhaps the most improved unit from the year before. As an individual, Peters intercepted three passes, including one thrown by USC's Matt Barkley and another by Arizona's Matt Scott. He also contributed eight passes defensed, 44 tackles (two for loss) and one fumble recovery. Perhaps the biggest pro for Peters last season was that he was sort of the anti-Quinton Richardson, in that his name wasn't getting called all the time for negatives. That's not to say he didn't get beat, because he did, as every corner does, but it seemed like he was beat far less frequently than you'd expect from a freshman.

In 2013, the load and spotlight will really be shifted to Peters. With the secondary being the position hit hardest by graduation, it is imperative for #21 to continue his development and become the shutdown corner that he's now expected to be. Considering the aplomb with which he's handled every obstacle thrown in front of him to this point in his career, it seems like that's the next step for him.