On Markelle Fultz

Some of you may realize that Markelle Fultz played basketball for the University of Washington last year, but many of you probably don't. Personally I have only a fleeting understand of who Markelle Fultz is and what makes him good at basketball. If it wasn't for Dave "Softy" Mauler on KJR, I probably wouldn't know anything about the young guard. That is a sad state of affairs because Markelle Fultz was just drafted number one overall by the Philadelphia 76ers. We should be excited and celebrating another Husky great being recognized by the NBA.

I never got to know Fultz as a player. The basketball team he was on was so bad that it was unwatchable. The Huskies routinely got embarrassed by their opponents. The team was so bad last year that the University fired long time head coach Lorenzo Romar and punted on the opportunity to have the best high school senior in the country come play for them in 2017. The team essentially quit playing defense halfway through the conference season. The only potential draw to watching them play was Fultz's NBA caliber talent, but that just wasn't enough to make me care about him or the team.

Don't get me wrong I am glad for the young man and I don't begrudge him at all. I hope that he has a spectacular professional career. However, I won't be rooting for him or following his exploits any closer than I do any other random NBA starter. He has no connection to me at all. I will never look back on the glory days of Fultz. I will never opine with friends about his place in the Pantheon of Husky greats. In fact, I expect, my only memory of him will be that he was drafted first overall by the Philadelphia 76ers.

There is Something About UW Football

The University of Washington's Football team just obliterated the University of Oregon Ducks (quick side note, the Ducks uniforms had "webfoots" written on the front center. I am not one to make fun of Oregon's constantly changing garb, but that nickname is stupid.) in Eugene at Oregon's home stadium. The final score was 70-21. It was like the UW was playing  a Division 1AA team. This win for the Huskies followed a blowout win the previous week against the nationally ranked Stanford Cardinal. The score was 44-6 in this one. After these two wins the Huskies have catapulted themselves into the College Football Playoff talk. Nationally sports writers and commentators are talking about the UW and their chances at playing for a national title.

Despite these impressive wins and national attention heaping praise of the Dawgs I struggle to view them as a legitimate contender for the National Championship Title. The team has a great defense, probably the best in the Pac-12, and possibly the best in the country. Huskies Quarterback Jake Browning and Runningback Miles Gaskin are both young and super talented, which lets the offense score with ease. There just doesn't seem to be an obvious weak spot on the team. Yet, I still struggle to see them as a national power.

I thought a little more about this and I realized it is because the Huskies wear purple as their primary color. Personally I have nothing against the color purple. My favorite color is blue, but purples are just fine. The thing is purple isn't a color that screams college football power. When you think about the traditional powers in the sport red is the dominate color.   The next closet is blue, but there aren't even half as many historically powerful teams in blue as there are red. Take a look at the color wheel in figure 1. Of all the primary and secondary colors red stands out by far as the most common.

Figure 1: Color Wheel of College Football Power

By wearing the color purple the Huskies are joining by only two other perennially great teams, LSU and TCU. Despite their years of success nobody expects to see TCU playing for a National Title anytime soon, so really there is just one team up there beside the Dawgs, the Louisiana State University Tigers, who aren't a bad team to be compared to. LSU has a couple of National Titles of their credit and they routine sit in the AP Top 25 teams. But that is it. There are no other purple college football powers.

This lack of familiarity with the color pallet the University of Washington has chosen to don has made it hard for me to envision them playing on the biggest stage. My minds I just can't place them lined up against Ohio State or Alabama. Teams wearing purple aren't on Sports Center. They don't get big time praise. It just isn't a thing that is seen.

All that being said I hope the UW continues to roll. An undefeated season, or even one loss, and a Pac-12 Championship would be a great way to demand entrance into the College Football Playoff. We a defense as good as Washington's they would stand a chance against anyone. Fans should get caught up in the hype. They should dream about them playing for their second National Title. Just make sure the Huskies are wearing the blackout uniforms in your dreams.

The 2016 NBA Draft Shows that Lorenzo Romar's Failure to Adapt

Two more Huskies were just drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft. Forward Marquese Chriss went eighth to the Sacramento Kings. He is a freak athlete with a huge upside. However, after watching him play for a year at the University of Washington (UW) I can say from first hand observation that he is prone to unforced mistakes. It will probably be a few years before he can be a regular contributor to an NBA team. Developing in the D-League probably makes sense. The second Husky drafted was guard Dejounte Murray, who went twenty ninth to the San Antonio Spurs. This son of Seattle has a great ability to cut and get to the basket, but he really needs to work on finishing. He will also need to bulks up so he can bang with the big boys of the NBA. These two talented young players speak to the continued ability of the University of Washington to recruit top rated players and put them into the NBA. However, their stories also speak to the sad fact that head coach Lorenzo Romar is unable to turn rosters with young high potential high school players into winning college teams.

Despite having two first round draft picks on their team the 2015-16 UW Men's Basketball team failed to reach the NCAA tournament. The team started out with a hot record of 11-4 only to crash and burn in finishing the season 18-14. The team didn’t lack talent, but did lack experience.  Most of the roster was first year NCAA Division 1 players. Their lack of experience was obvious as they choked away leads and made mental mistakes that cost them games. This kind of team needs strong coaching to help it flourish. The players just don’t have it in them to win on their own. The failure of the team to improve over the course of the season or at the very least stay consistent falls squarely on the UW coaching staff and specifically Lorenzo Romar.

This isn't a new problem for Romar. In fact this is the second time Romar has had two young talented players get draft in the first round. The first time was in 2012 when sophomore Terrance Ross and Freshman Tony Wroten bounced to the NBA after their Husky team failed to make the NCAA tournament. As a coach Romar has failed to adapted to the changing NCAA Men's Basketball landscape. The best players rarely stay more than two years anymore. Coaches have less time to develop and mold their recruits. To succeed they need to be able to squeeze out talent quickly. In this new world of college basketball Romar's teams haven't made the tourney since 2011.

All of Romar's best teams have featured talented upper classmen that stayed multiple years. His 2005 and 2006 teams had Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson, Jamaal Williams, Bobby Jones, and Will Conroy. The 2009 team had Quincy Pondexter, and Justin Dentmon. The 2010 team had Justin Holliday, Matthew Bryan-Amaning, and Venoy Overton. Romar was able to work with these players for multiple years and develop them into talented and reliable starters. He no longer has that luxury to play the long game and build teams with an eye for future NCAA tournament runs. The players just don’t stay around long enough.

The problem appears to be Romar's ability to coach these players and turn them and their teammates into a successful and winning college basketball team in the short time alloted. The problems isn't a lack of talented players, he keeps attracting those guys to Washington. Highly regarded players arrive, they play, the team loses, and they bolt for the NBA. However, while these players are at UW I don’t see any progression or improvement to their games. Romar hasn't been able to adapt his style to the constraints placed on college basketball. The evidence keeps mounting that Lorenzo Romar is lacking the skills necessary for a head coach of a major division one program in the current era.

Stop Putting Games on ESPNU

Growing up I was never a big basketball fan. I watched the occasional Sonics (R.I.P.) game on TV with my dad, but that was about it. The game was so repetitive it was hard for me to get into. It seemed like only the last 10 minutes or so really mattered. Then,in college I started playing quite a lot of basketball, both pick up and intramural. I also got into attending the Western Washington University (WWU) men's basketball games and quite a few of the women's games. Both of these activites helped me find a new appreciation for watching the sport. It is easier for me to get into watching something I can relate to.

After college, with intramurals unavailable and WWU too far away, I needed to fill my basketball void. I took up watching the UW men's team. With the death of the Sonics it was the biggest game left in town. Back then the Huskies were primarily on Fox Sports Northwest (now Root Sports). As a basic cable subscriber I could see almost every game on TV.

In 2012 the Pac12 Network was born. This network was pitched as a one stop shop for Pac12 sports. You were supposed to be able to watch all of the Pac12 sports your heart could desire. When I heard about the network, I was hesitant. I was concerned that the Pac12 Network would be a premium channel and I wouldn't get it with my basic cable subscription. Turns out they also created regional networks. So, I get Pac12 Washington instead, which is available in my cable package.

The first season turned out great. I could see all the games and with a higher quality broadcast than Root Sports. It was a good thing, but things changed. The Pac12 network stopped showing all of the UW Huskies Men's Basketball games. Lots of the games now air on ESPNU, which I don't get. So, now I can't watch Huskies basketball. I can watch lots of Oregon State Basketball on Root, and tons of random Colorado and USC games on Pac12 network, but very few UW games. This is unacceptable.

The Pac12 network was created to show Pac12 games on TV. I am positive that the UW is still in the Pac12 and now that it is the conference season they play all their games against other Pac12 teams.  I understand selling the rights to a few games here and there to the big boys at ESPN and CBS. Those major providers present a chance to showcase Pac12 basketball on a national scale. But, ESPNU? Basically nobody gets that channel. All it is doing is limiting the fanbases ability to watch the games on TV.

Sure I could listen on Radio, but let's face it basketball is not a good radio game. The constant rate of play and score changes make it hard to follow the action. Basketball is best experienced when you can see it. That means live or on TV. When the game is on ESPNU that essentially means I (and lots of you) cant watch. Last year that didn't really matter because the team was mediocre at best, but this year they have been playing well. I actually want to see the games. Basically this all boils down to one single request to UW Athletics, please stop contracting to show games on ESPNU.

A Question for Elias Sports Bureau

Yesterday the UW Huskies lost to the OSU Cowboys 30-22 i the Cactus Bowl. This was a game that UW should have won. It was also a game that highlighted one of the strangest things about the Huskies 2014 season. They have three All-American Defenders on their team (Shelton, Kikaha, Thompson), yet, during the regular season, they still gave up 24.4 points per game and 405.8 yards per game. These stats ranked them fourth and fifth n the Pac-12. What I want to know is, has team ever had so many standout individual defensive players yet been so bad at team defense? Somebody with an Elias Sports Bureau or Stats Inc contact please figure this out. It is simply amazing to me.

Congratulations Danny Shelton

The NCAA continues to insist that student athletes are exactly that, students who are also athletes. In this role they are required to attend classes while on scholarship to play a sport for the university. For many football and basketball players this is kind of a joke. Players take the lighted credit load allowed and fill it with easy classes. Turn on any bowl game this season and you will see a string of communications majors parade out on the field. We usually laugh it off as just a bunch of dumb jocks, but it is sad so many young people are wasting a opportunity at such a valuable experience. So when a player actually does take his/her eduction seriously and puts in the hard work required I think they deserve to be recognized.

The Academic All-American awards do exactly this. Their goal is to honor student athletes that excel in the class room as well as on the playing field. This year only one Pac-12 football player made the team. That player also happens to be the first UW Husky to be honored with the award since 1991. Congratulations to Danny Shelton on being named an Academic All-American. You should be proud of the 3.54 GPA you accumulated and the Anthropology degree you will earn. You are a shining example for student athletes everywhere and the University of Washington should be proud of you.

Is Andrew Andrews Good?

Overall this season the University of Washington's Men's Basketball Team has failed ot draw me in. They have played a sloppy low scoring style that has resulted in  largely disappointing games. The starters have been streaky. Some games they will play like future NBA players and the next they will shoot 1-11 with more turnovers then assists. Despite all this one thing about the team has sparked my interest, red-shirt freshman Andrew Andrews.

Andrews is a 6'2" PG from Portland Oregon. Gohuskies.com describes him "as a tough, fearless point guard." That is definitely something the huskies could use. Especially after having Abdul Gaddy start for a whole season (Gaddy appears to be terrified that entire game.). If you watch Andrews you can definitely tell he does not cowar at the prospect of contact or big shots.  He is always looking to score and often plays out of control. Watching him it doesnt take long to realize he pocesses the skill to get to the bucket. You will also notice that he often takes ill advised shots or attempt passes that have no chance at succeeding. He reminds me of a young Isaiah Thomas.

All of this has resulted in him averaging 25 mpg and scoring 7.7 ppg. That is a solid performance, but when you see his 35.6 FG% is a red flag that stand out on the stat line. I cant help but wonder, does Andrews play actually help the team win or is he just another player whose flare out weighs his benefits (Ala Stephon Marbury)?  My hope is he can refine his game and turn into a strong PG like the Huskies need.

Sources: Yahoo Sports, GoHuskies.com

The Most Ridiculous Game Ever: Huskies-Baylor

Little did Richardson know, the play had begun.

Perhaps you had noticed that Nick Holt has been fired as defensive coordinator for the Washington Huskies.  Perhaps you asked why?  Why would you fire a man who was so well regarded when we hired him and is best friends forevers with Steve Sarkisian?  Perhaps you are an idiot.  It seems that way.  Hey man, I just call it how I see it.

Yes, the Husky defense was terrible this season, giving up just about 450 yards per game, or roughly the season total in yardage for Kasen Williams.  Now, I would not be opposed to facing Kasen Williams as an opponent each week, but this would only be ok with me if he was the only member of the opposition.  I am confident that Desmond Trufant, Quinton Richardson, and Sean Parker could combine to hold one person under 100 yards receiving.  Sadly, this is not how football works.

Some Thoughts on Tony Wroten

Anyone who has watched a Husky game this year will have noticed Tony Wroten. The commentators make sure of that. Even without the unending praise doled out to him by the commentators, it is hard to miss the big, energetic, super-hyped freshman, as he often plays point guard and touches the ball on almost every possession. The opinions resulting from his play have been all over the map. Some fans love him and some fans hate him. Personally, I am still very divided on my opinion of Tony Wroten. As such I am going to use this blog post to muse about Tony Wroten and his impact on the Huskies (and maybe, by the time I am done writing them, I will have firmed up an opinion.)

Throughout Lorenzo Romar's tenure as UW Men’s Basketball Head Coach his teams have been fast-paced and high scoring. With this style of play comes a certain amount of risk, but it also comes with a potential for a lot of reward (and it is fun to watch). Sure, players are going to have turnovers and they might force bad shots, but they are also going to get highlight reel dunks, wide open fast breaks and draw lots of fouls. Tony Wroten embodies this offensive philosophy to a fault.

Being the most athletic and probably the most naturally talented player on the Husky squad often leads Tony Wroten to try and take matters into his own hands. When the Huskies are struggling to score, Tony often decides charge head first into groups of two or three defenders under the basket in an attempt to make a layup. Sometimes this works beautifully as he makes an acrobatic play and scores two for the Huskies. Sometimes it fails as he throws up a desperation shot that clanks away harmlessly. Most often it results in a trip to the free throw line. The problem with this is Wroten can’t shoot free throws! He is only shooting 52.7% on the season. It doesn’t do much good earning 20 trips to the charity line if you only convert on 10 of them.

When he does look to pass Wroten often finds the most difficult player to reach on the court and tries to make a highlight reel pass. This results in him often throwing the ball to teammates not in a position to catch it. Those errant passes can turn into turnovers, which can often turn into easy buckets for the opposition. Pushing the tempo and running the other team out the door is great and all, but only if you are scoring points because of it. Even with the high level of difficulty, the Dawgs don’t benefit if their point guards passing results in fast breaks for the other team more than it results in the occasional wow play.

When he isn’t trying to put the team on his back, he often looks lost and out of touch with the rest of the offense. His points don’t come in the flow of the game like CJ Wilcox or Terrance Ross’s points do. He just looks out of sync to me. He throws up three pointers when a pass would do or drives into the key right when a teammate is making a cut. Much of this could be because he is just s freshman and only played 11 games with his Washington teammates. Hopefully he figures out how to play in the Lorenzo Romar system soon and finds some on court chemistry with his fellow Huskies.

Watching Tony play you can tell there is hope for the future. He has the potential to be a great player. The occasional slashing drive or precision pass brings out optimism in even the most cynical fan. However, right now it just isn’t all put together. There are too many rough edges. This all leaves a fan to wonder if Tony Wroten will be able to put that potential together before he inevitably jumps to the NBA. Will the dawgs even benefit from his immense natural talent or will we just get to watch the growing pains? I certain hope he stick around long enough to let us enjoy the fruits of this seasons labor.

Nevada Sucks, Terrence Ross Rebounds

"I'ma love you tender."

Let's get it out of the way: this Husky team is far from my favorite.  They're sloppy as hell, especially Tony Wroten, and they make awful decisions far too often.  Even so, there is a lot of positive in this season already, and I'm more than happy to look into it.

First off, the Pac-12 is terrible, and that's good for the Husky.  Yes, it'll be hard to garner any national respect, but the Husky sure aren't going anywhere huge this year, and a Pac-12 championship, be it regular season or tournament, will easily get them a solid NCAA seed.  UCLA looked like they'd be tough to beat, but have imploded along with Reeves Nelson.  Sure, Cal is damn good and is going to remain that way, but the Huskies are as good if not better thanks to their athleticism.  Strangely, Stanford and Oregon State seem to be the biggest challenges beyond that, and is anybody really worried about them?

Excerpts from the Guy Next to Me

Recently, I attended the Husky-Oregon State game.  Yes, it was a rather depressing time to be a Husky fan, but not only because we played so terribly.  It just so happens that the worst kind of fan decided to sit next to me.  While not complaining about the weather, he took time out of his busy schedule to complain about how terrible the Huskies are.  Later, he started throwing things at the polite Beaver fans sitting a row or two in front of us.  The following is a transcript, from memory, of his various comments.  For the sake of our younger readers, all expletives have been replaced with the slightly less offensive "Bobby Ayala."

"God [Bobby Ayala] it, Nick Montana sucks.  It's an embarassment, why do we even keep him on the [Bobby Ayala] team?" (Editor's Note: This was at about the 3rd play of the game.)

"Nick Holt is such a piece of [Bobby Ayala], fire his [Bobby Ayala]!  If they don't fire him right now, the whole athletic department should get [Bobby Ayala] fired."

"Come on 31, you're so [Bobby Ayala] bad.  It's Nick Holt's kid, what a [Bobby Ayala] disgrace.  Look, where's 31?  Didn't make the play again!  He's [Bobby Ayala] worthless!" (Editor's Note: Cort Dennison is not Nick Holt's son, nor is he expected to make the tackle on 30 yard pass plays.)

"Hey! [Bobby Ayala] you, [Bobby Ayala] the Beavers, you [Bobby Ayala] are a disgrace! (Throws cup at friendly OSU fans in front of us who haven't said a word despite a 20 point lead) [Bobby Ayala] you!"

"This weather is [Bobby Ayala] terrible, [Bobby Ayala] this the game is almost over let's leave.  [Bobby Ayala] Nick Holt." (Editor's Note:  This was with about 4 minutes left in the 2nd quarter, when it wasn't raining at all.)

In short, I love the Huskies but great googily moogily, people like this make me not want to.

Isaiah Thomas Wins the Pac-10 Tournament

Over the weekend Pac-10 basketball fans watched in awe as Guard Isaiah Thomas won the Pac-10 Tournament. The tournament victory was clinched by Thomas when he sank a buzzer beater in overtime to defeat the Arizona Wildcats. The game has been described by some (Dave "Softy" Mauler, etc) as one of the greatest college basketball games ever played and Thomas dominated it. However, it wasn't just the finale that Thomas dominated. During the tournament, he played 123 out of the 125 possible minutes, scored 59 points, accumulated 30 assists (A tournament record) and grabbed 10 rebounds. All and all he was a unstoppable force during the three day stretch.

Against his hated rivals, the Washington State Cougars, Thomas started out slow and struggled to stop the Cougar star Klay Thompson who scored 43 and setting a Pac-10 Tournament record. At half time it looked liked the Cougars were ready to run away with it leading 40-32. However, with Thomas's help, this game turned into a real nail bitter. Thomas dropped 21 points on 8-13 (61.5%) shooting and dished out 11 assists to squeak by the Cougars 89-87.

In the semi-final, against the University of Oregon Ducks, Isaiah scored 10 points, a rather pedestrian total as far, as he is concerned. However, to counter his low scoring output, Thomas stepped up his passing game. He finished the game with 12 assists. He so overpowered the ducks that Coach Lorenzo Romar even let him sit for 2 minutes. In the end, the Ducks were just no match for Isaiah and lost 69-51.

 

Then for the biggest game of the entire tournament, against a national ranked opponent, Isaiah produced his greatest performance. During the Arizona game Thomas scored his tournament high of 28. He complimented his impressive point total with 7 more assists and 5 rebound. Even more important with his back to the wall and the Wildcats closing in on victory Thomas hit a 3 pointer and then setup to more to push the game into OT. It was there that Thomas completed his biggest moment yet. In the final seconds of OT, with the scored tied at 75, Thomas drained a jump shot to clinch the Pac-10 Tournament victory and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.



Isaiah Thomas is no stranger to the NCAA Tournament. He made it to the sweet 16 last year. Now, with this years NCAA Tournament bracket set, if Isaiah Thomas is to keep winning he has his work cut out for him. In the first game, he faces the Georgia Bulldogs. If he can keep up his torrid pace and move onto the second round he will, most likely, be forced to play a perennial powerhouse in the form of the North Carolina Tarheels. Neither of these games will be easy wins and Thomas is to advance to the sweet sixteen again, he will have to play his heart out. I for one am hoping he can do just that.



"Thank you for winning"

Source: Yahoo Sports



Tony Wroten: The Tale of Two Guards

The biggest star of the 2011 UW incoming class is Garfield Guard Tony Wroten. The talented guard was rated the 31st best high school player in the country by ESPN.com. Over the weekend I got to watch Wroten play at this year's Washington State High School Basketball Championships. His team, the Garfield Bulldogs, defeated the A.C. Davis Pirates 75 to 68 to win the 3rd place game for Boys 4A. During the game Wroten scored a double-double. However, neither the final score of the game nor Wroten's box score do a great job of describing how the game went. To best describe the game and Wroten's performance you have to examine each half individually.

During the first two quarter of the third place game, the A.C. Davis Pirates used their swarming D to frustrated the higher rated Garfield Bulldogs. Led by their own talented guard Jackson Marquis, the Pirates made me wonder what all the hype surrounding Tony Wroten was about. He looked like your stereotypical ball hogging 17 year old as he tried in vain to force shot after shot. Wroten's insistence on shooting while under pressure did allow him to get to the line several times. However, once there, he failed to capitalize from the charity stripe. He made somewhere around 50% of his free throws in the first half. He certainly didn't look like the 31st best high school player in the country. The blame for the poor first half shouldn't all be placed at Wroten's feet. His Garfield teammates didn't help the cause much either. None of them managed to step up and fill in for the struggling star. The A.C. Davis Pirates looked like the much better team as they pulled ahead by 12 at half time and appeared to be ready to run away with it.

The second half was much different. The Bulldogs came out of the locker room looking like a new team with Tony Wroten leading the charge. Wroten was able to take advantage of his size and talent and truly dominate the game. Using a combination of driving and jump shooting he scored with ease. When he didn't score, Wroten setup his teammates with good passes. In fact, in a few cases his passing was too good and caught his teammates off guard. Wroten complimented his impressive offensive game by grabbing rebounds like crazy and playing stifling D. He looked every bit like the player the Huskies are expecting to get and Garfield's team was able to erase away their half time deficit and replace it with a 7 point lead. If it hadn't been for the Pirates Cooper Cupp and the Bulldogs inability to consistently shoot free throws (~66% for the game) things might have gotten really out of hand.

After watching the two starkly different halves, I was left wondering, which Tony Wroten is going to show up at UW next year? If the first half Tony Wroten shows up I wont expect to see him play much. The Huskies don’t need a poor decision maker forcing shot after shot. They especially don’t need another guard incapable of hitting his free throws consistently. However, if the second half Tony shows up the Huskies will truly have something special. Wroten showed he can be a dynamic guard capable of doing everything. That is something any team can use.

Jon Brockman, American Ninja

WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW!?

Free Fall

With the loss Saturday to the Oregon Ducks, the Washington Huskies have now dropped three straight games in Pac-10 play. These last two games haven't even been to good teams. The Beavers were 9-11 (3-6 conf) coming into their game with the Huskies. The Ducks were 11-11 (4-6 conf) before the UW game. Both of those games should have been easy wins for the UW team, which had been considered highly talented. However, The Huskies managed to lose both. After watching those games Husky fans must have some questions about the talent level of their squad. Is it possible that this team isn't as good as everyone thought?

During each of the last three UW basketball games Isaiah Thomas has struggled. Against WSU and OSU, Thomas played terribly. Against Oregon he improved a little, but was nowhere near the level fans had grown accustomed to. When it comes to scoring Thomas averaged 13.7 PPG but shot only 29.4% (10-34) from the field and 23.5% (4-17) from three point range. He was only been able to keep his scoring average up because the other teams kept fouling him. He was 17-19 from the charity strip over the three game spread. Beyond scoring, Thomas also struggled with his point guard duties. He had 17 assists over the three games, which might appear good. However, he also had 16 turnovers over those three games and many of them have looked just awful. These turnovers negated any benefit the Huskies gained from his assists.

So what about the other stars, Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Justin Holiday? These two seniors were expected to be able to pick up the slack during those games when Isaiah Thomas was struggling. During the three game losing streak MBA has averaged 13.0 PPG on 44% (16-36) shooting from the field. He has also been pulling down 8.6 RPG. He did have an absolutely terrible scoring game against WSU where he went 1-8 from the field and 4-8 from the line, but he managed to grab 11 rebounds. The biggest complaint about Bryan-Amaning over the three game slide has to be is free throw shooting where he is 7-17. This is nothing new though, MBA has never been a good free throw shooter. Despite his struggles at the line I would say MBA has played well during the losing streak.

During the same three game slide, Justin Holiday has averaged 12.0 PPG on 42.9% (12-28) shooting from the field. Much like MBA, Holiday has been helping the team out off the glass. He has pulled down 8.0 RPG. Also like MBA, Holiday had a game where he just didn't score at all but managed to rebound for the Huskies. Against OSU he went 2-8 from the field but pulled down 7 rebounds. Overall Holiday played fairly well against WSU, OSU and UO.

In addition to MBA and Holiday, other guys showed up to play against the Cougars, Beavers and Ducks. Against the in state rival Cougars, Freshman Terrence Ross dropped 14 pts in only 22 minutes. In the OSU game Scott Suggs scored a career high 18 points. Finally against the hated Ducks, Ross stepped up again and scored 12.

It has been said repeatedly from many sources that the Huskies are a very deep team. They are supposed to be able to play 8 or 9 deep on their bench without a talent drop off. Having a really deep team is great and it is essential for a deep tournament run. It allows your stars to have an off day without the team missing a beat. Other guys are supposed to be able to step in and carry the load.

Based on the last three games I think we are seeing that this idea of the Huskies depth winning them games might have been overblown. It appears that the Huskies are a star driven team. They rely on Isaiah Thomas to win games. When Isaiah Thomas falters, the Huskies falter. That is exactly what has happened these last three games. Isaiah Thomas struggled and the Huskies lost, despite others performing well.

Hopefully, this isn’t true and the Huskies have been losing because their opponents are just out playing them. If it is true we should expect trouble for this UW team. Opponents will just have to focus on Thomas. If they can shut him down they can win. Reliance on one player will result an early exit from the NCAA tournament, for any team, the Huskies included.

Source: Yahoo Sports

Huskies Game 6 and 7: Hooray!

Nothing wakes up the Huskies like losing to the best.  After those close losses in Maui, the Huskies didn't miss a beat back at home, destroying Long Beach State just as they should of.  Once again, this game was total domination with really no down points, outside of Thomas continuing his questionable shot selection.  Otherwise, not much noteworthy in this game, though the excellent team play of the Huskies was a plus (7 players in double figures.) Furthermore, CJ Wilcox has a beautiful shot and, unlike Terrence Ross, knows exactly when to use it.  My goodness, he is everything I could have imagined.

Now, the Huskies have and always should destroy teams like Long Beach State.  It's games against Texas Tech that matter, and boy did the Huskies show up.  Another 100 plus points in this game, which actually made this the highest scoring team in Husky history (no other team had scored 100 points in 4 games before). 

Huskies Game 3 and 4: Damn

Well, for all the hope I had about some karmic justice, about the exact opposite happened.  Not only did the Huskies lose to Kentucky, but it was largely due to Terrence "Expletive" Jones AND forced us to play a far superior team in the concelation game (Michigan State) than in the final (Connecticut).

Luckily, we looked pretty good still in both these games.  The biggest problem seemed to be shot selection and, more specifically, Isaiah Thomas' shot selection.  For all his improvement (he has become an excellent defender for his size and can pass the ball pretty well nowadays), he still hasn't learned when to STOP shooting.  The Huskies are filled with offense options both on the wing, inside, and everywhere inbetween.  Oh, and Darnell Gant.

Unfortunately, Thomas is a scorer and when he isn't scoring, especially in the Kentucky game, he doesn't know how to play any other way.  To be truly successful this season, the Huskies need to teach Thomas to limit his shots on bad nights or, at the very least, only take good shots, instead of pull-up guarded 3s in the last 10 seconds of a game or double-teamed reverse layups.  Even so, hope abounds, as there really aren't any games left this season in which the Huskies shouldn't be heavily favored.  More Sherrer!

Huskies Game 3: Devoured

Never in my long life of 5 years of watching the Huskies have I seen a game quite like the dismantling Virginia just took.  Nor have I ever expected to.  Now don't get me wrong, the Huskies are and have always been a very fast, very offensive (good at offense, though Overton is a little offensive) team.  Their problems have always laid in their somewhat poor defense (varying degrees of poor depending on the year), their free throw shooting woes (remember Artem Wallace?), and their deep shooting (Ryan Appleby exempted).

With that in mind, no single game has ever convinced me of a great season to come than this one did.  To come out, shoot 58% from the field AND 65% from beyond the arc, and to play that kind of defense?  It was a game unlike what the Huskies have done in years.  I expected this season to be a lot of incredible defensive effort from Overton and Holliday and dumb shots from all our 6-6 guys, but apparently I'm an idiot.

Rebounding: The Huskies Opener

Simply put, that may have been the most ridiculously perfect display of Husky basketball ever.

Let me clarify this: it was not perfect basketball. Aziz N'Diaye went an unbelievably ridiculous 3-15 at the stripe, leading to the Huskies' age-old free throw problem, as the team only shot 47% from the line.

Of course, that's really the only complaint from last night. Romar's Husky teams are built on crazy good rebounding on both ends of the floor and turnover creation, and boy did that ever work against McNeese State. The team made Jon Brockman proud, pulling in more offensive rebounds (28) than McNeese's small ball team (26). Aziz N'Diaye filled his role more perfect than anyone could have imagined, going for 13 points, 12 boards, 2 steals, and 2 blocks while giving Bryan-Amaning all the room he could ever want to operate in the paint.

Isaiah Thomas played more efficiently than in years past, putting up 17 points on 8 shots, while backcourtmate Abdul Gaddy didn't play amazingly but began to show why people used to think he was talented, scoring a bit (10) and passing a bit (5 assists). Terrence Ross and Justin Holiday didn't exactly shoot amazingly well (a combined 6-19 from the field), but Ross showed glimpses of his talent and Holiday continued to challenge Venoy Overton for the title of defensive player of the year for both the Huskies and, probably, the Pac-10.

Most importantly of all, Brendan Sherrer put together the greatest game of all time, with a 3 trillion (3 minutes played, zero stats). Go Huskies.

Huskies Basketball: It's Not Just Skinny Guys Anymore!

Lo, it has come upon us that it is once again college basketball season. With the season really kicking off next Tuesday with a glorious 24-hr marathon of basketball on ESPN, it is time to start looking ahead to what could be in the Pacific Northwest.

Sorry Ducks, Beavers, and Cougars fans, but you guys kind of suck. The Northwest is once again the domain of the Huskies, who have built themselves up so well under Lorenzo Romar that people are getting annoyed about ONLY making it to the Sweet Sixteen. My opinions aside, this is going to be another strong year for the Huskies as they stand as really the only legitimate team with a chance at the Pac-10 title.

While the loss of a player like Quincy Pondexter is enough to kill many teams (see Kyle Weaver at WSU or Darren Collison at UCLA), the Huskies seem to have just reloaded. Isaiah Thomas looks primed to continue to be the exact same player he has been the last two years, while Matthew Bryan-Amaning's strong run to end last season (9 or more points in 12 of his last 14 games) seems to point to the Huskies having a legitimate post threat once again.

Losing out on Terrence Jones and Enes Kanter has made the offseason look a lot worse than it really is for the Huskies, who still brought in some good players. Terrence Ross was seen as Jones' equal as recently as a year and a half ago, and actually has a bit of a coincience, unlike his Portland teammate. Aziz N'Diaye brings a gigantic, bruising body (7'0", 260) to the paint that should take a little pressure of MBA, as long as he doesn't foul out quickly. C.J. Wilcox comes off a redshirt and has been forgotten a fair amount despite reports showing him to be the best shooter on the team.

With a bit of luck and some more excellent coaching by Romar, this is a Huskies team that should run away with the Pac-10 (watch out for Oregon, who has at least one player capable of making the U.W. roster) and make a bit more noise in the NCAA tournament. Let's hope for another Sweet Sixteen to cement Romar as the greatest coach in the history of the University of Washington.