Dot Dot Dawg: Achievement Unlocked

The Seattle Times — Three impressions from Washington’s 71-52 win over California

Following the Huskies becoming the first college basketball program to win 1,000 games in one arena, Percy Allen lists his regular takeaways from the contest. Chief among them are Noah Dickerson finding a way to help the team despite his scoring slump by drawing 13 fouls (ouch!), and trying to figure out if the Huskies are an objectively good team versus one that only looks that way because of the dreadful state of their Pac-12 competitors. For more, check out Max’s game article following the win over Cal here.

The Seattle Times — Top-5 recruit Isaiah Stewart picks Huskies over Duke, Michigan State, Kentucky

Percy Allen also breaks down Isaiah Stewart’s decision to commit to the Dawgs over a host of blue blood programs that also pursued the elite prospect’s services, focusing on his desire to create a legacy of his own.

“Me and Coach Hopkins go way back from when I was a freshman,” said Stewart, who is playing his final prep season at La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind. “I’m a big relationship guy and relationships played a major role in my recruitment. He’s a coach that I trust to push me hard and help me accomplish my goals.

“I’m looking forward to going there, winning games, being a sponge and soaking up everything and just working my hardest.”

Check out our discussion of Stewart’s commitment here.

The Athletic — Hoop Thoughts: The Five-Minute Guide, Wisconsin’s rule-book awareness, my top 25 and more

Seth Davis singles out the Huskies as his No. 2 most underrated team in the nation, ranks Jaylen Nowell as the country’s No. 1 under the radar player, and dropped the Huskies from his AP ballot as a result of wanting to reward Wisconsin and Iowa State for their big wins over No. 2 Michigan and No. 8 Texas Tech, respectively.

The Seattle Times — Jake Browning gets start, throws two interceptions during NFLPA Collegiate Bowl

Adam Jude recaps Jake Browning’s performance in the Collegiate Bowl, detailing how the graduating senior threw for a game-high 126 yards but also made a costly mental error when he ran out of bounds on the final play of the game, apparently not realizing that the clock had expired. The bowl game marked the final performance for Browning in a collegiate setting, as the graduating senior will work to land a spot on an NFL roster this spring.

The Mercury News — Hotline newsletter: Shift in football recruiting dynamics, 2019 Heisman projections, Utah’s new QB, Oregon’s rebirth and more

Jon Wilner examines the reverberations Tosh Lupoi’s exodus from Alabama to the Cleveland Browns will make on Pac-12 recruiting. The former California Golden Bears product was rated by 247Sports as the nation’s best recruiter during the 2019 class, and played a key role in luring elite prep talent from the Pac-12’s footprint (including Najee Harris, Tua Tagovailoa, and some linebacker named Ale Kaho) eastward to Tuscaloosa.

Make no mistake: Alabama will continue to recruit the west coast and should be respected, if not feared from Seattle to Honolulu to Phoenix and all points in between. (The Tide, as the Hotline explained recently, smells Pac-12 blood.)

But Lupoi was a recruiting dynamo with deep west coast ties who was employed by a dynasty outside the footprint. The Pac-12 football product, in dire need of good news — and desperate to keep its top talents at home — got a load of it with Lupoi’s departure.

Dots

• Matt Calkins is of the opinion that Washington’s men’s basketball team is legit, no matter the state of the rest of the Pac-12.
• The baseball team hosted its annual media day last Friday.
• Kevin Blackistone, who writes sports commentary for the Washington Post, wrote a withering takedown of the NCAA’s stance that while athletes can’t be paid, they can be held to contractual obligations.
• The women’s basketball team fell 79-70 to Cal on Sunday, dropping the Dawgs to 8-11 (1-6) and 11th place in the Pac-12 standings.
• Sports Illustrated’s Scooby Axson hands out conference grades for the 2018 football season, and you can probably guess what the Pac-12’s report card says. (Spoiler alert: It’s not an A. Or a B. Or a ...)
• A record 135 underclassmen have declared for the upcoming NFL Draft.
• UW’s cheer and dance teams took home a trio of top-10 trophies at last weekend’s nationals competition, placing eighth in Dance D1A Hip Hop, Gameday D1A Coed, and Mascot D1A. They also earned a trophy for placing 14th in Cheer D1A Coed.

• Considering how poorly Pac-12 football has fared of late on the national stage, this is legitimately surprising.