The Huskies didn't have much problem with Stanford last night breaking a three game losing streak with a convincing 94-61.
Coach Romar may have finally found the right starting combination in replacing Gant with Holiday who came back after a two game absence and played a great game. It was Justin Holiday's irst collegiate start and it look like it will be awhile before he is pushed out of the lineup again.
UW was led by Quincy Pondexter with 27, Isaiah Thomas with 15, Scott Suggs with 12, and Abdul Gaddy with 10, but it was Holiday whose defense and court presence stirred the drink for this win. Another key to the evening was the continued development o frosh point guard Abdul Gaddy. Over the past three game sit looks like he has begun to settle into his role as the Huskies playmaker.
The Huskies face conference favorite California on Saturday. If they can pull off the home sweep they will be right back in the middle of things after week three of the conference schedule.
Visit list confirmed
The football team will welcome 15 recruits to Montlake this weekend. 12 of the 15 are current verbals who are taking their official visits. CB Gregory Ducre, DE Hauoli Jamora, and CB Jeremy Ioane are the three uncommitted recruits who are visiting.
WR Keanon Lowe who has been strongly pursued by Oregon of late is also visiting. He still seems to be a Dawg commit at this point and this visit should strengthen those bonds. UO wanted him as a DB which pushed him to UW who wanted him as a WR. The Ducks who were recruiting nationally have struck out on a few big time names and recently decided to pursue Lowe again telling him he can play wherever he wants.
S John Timu and LB Princeton Fuimaono from Jordan HS in Long Beach are also visiting this weekend. Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times was able to interview their coach for todays morning blog entry. Timu had knee surgery in December so he is definitely a candidate to defer his enrollment to winter quarter of 2011. If ther eis room Sark just may have him come on time like Shamburger and Robinson did last year so UW could keep an eye on the rehab.
Washington will continue to host visitors the final two weekend of January. DT Kirifi Taula and C Giovanni Di Poalo are scheduled to visit next weekend. Taula is an Arizona commit and Di Poalo is a USC commit. DT Ricky Heimuli is scheduled to visit on the 29th along with LB Chris Young and RB Melvin Davis. Davis and Young take their SAT's on the 22nd and are not allowed to visit until that task is completed. Davis and Young have some academic challenges to hurdle before they can be admitted to UW this fall. They also could be headed for winter enrollment.
Still left on the Husky board who have visited previously are LB Hayes Pullard and LB Josh Shirley. The Washington staff is still going hard after both of these kids. Pullard seemed headed to either USC or UCLA last week but rumor has it that Steve Sarkisian did an in home visit recently that may have elevated Washington once again. Josh Shirley will decide between UW, USC, Arizona and Miami. He dropped one time favorite UCLA off his list recently.
Tennessee gets rejected again
Duke head coach David Cutcliffe is the latest candidate to remove himself from consideration for the Tennessee job. Tennessee has more money to offer than Duke. Cutcliffe has a longer history with Tennessee. His daughter goes to school at Tennessee. He still has ties to players there, and he has family in the state. And it’s easier to recruit and win there.
Cutlcliffe said he was torn but his heart is now in Durham. After spending two years in Durham he felt that he couldn't walk away from what he was building at Duke. Leaving in mid January didn't feel like the right thing to do he said. That’s all you need to know about Cutcliffe as a person.
What this probably means is the Tennessee coaching search has moved into panic mode with only two recruiting weekends left before letters of intent can be signed. How long before they seriously consider a Mike Leach who is a big name candidate who would not turn the job down?