Game 4: San Jose State

Conference: Western Athletic

2009 Record: 13-17, 6-10 (T-6th)

2010 Record: 1-0

Coach: George Nessman, 38-87

Key Players:

Adrian Oliver: 6-3 Guard, Junior. 11 PPG, 11 RPG, 4 APG

Justin Graham: 6-4 Guard, Junior.18 PPG, 5 RPG, 6 APG

Chris Oakes: 6-9 Forward, Senior. 12 PPG, 15 RPG

Scouting San Jose State:

They're a middling team in a middling conference. Their offense is average, their defense is poor, and their pace is middle of the road. There's not much impressive about this team. They grab a good amount of offensive rebounds (36 percent last year), but don't shoot well enough to capitalize on them, and turn the ball over enough to negate them. On the defensive side they don't force turnovers and allow teams to shoot a high percentage. Adrian Oliver is the team's go to guy, and takes over 30% of the team's shots, which is unfortunate as he's not a very good shooter.

How to Beat Them:

The Huskies really can only beat themselves in this one. It's another tune up game in which the talent disparity is simply too large for the opposition to overcome barring a massive upset. Lorenzo Romar just needs to get his team to do the things they do best: hit the offensive glass and attack the basket. The defensive rotation should be tighter after a few games, a week of film study and a week of practice, and if it is the Dawgs will run away with this one.

Prediction:

The Isaiah Thomas/Quincy Pondexter show rolls on, and the Huskies dominate. With Cal dropping a couple, the Dawgs look like the team to beat in the Pac-10, but we won't know for sure until a quality opponent lines up against them. The interesting part of this game will be which Husky (Huskies?) step up behind Thomas and Pondexter. MBA? Overton? Will Elston Turner break out of his shooting slump, or will he continue to be outplayed by Scott Suggs and Justin Holiday? Is this the game Abdul Gaddy asserts himself onto the opponent? There are still a lot of questions this team has to answer, and in a game like this the "B-stories" are more interesting than the final score.

UW 97 - SJSU 69

Vegas: UW -21.5

Viewing: 8:00 FSN, Bank of America Arena