The Monday Morning Wash

The basketball team split this weekend in Arizona. The second half of the ASU game, and the entire Arizona game on Saturday were just ugly. Just once you think the light bulb went on for this team they have a huge setback. The question these guys have to ask themselves is if the effort is really there. If you watched the Arizona game on Saturday you saw a team that was completely outhustled. There was a lot on the line Saturday, losing by 30 to a struggling team makes you question the character of this team.

Romar said this after the game. "That's the big thing we talk about more than anything with our team, competing and being tough. We talk about that a lot and it's something we've got to get better at. ... We've got to understand how important it is and obviously I've got to do a better job of getting our guys to understand it."

Romar hasn't forgot how to coach, but he isn't getting this talented team to gel on the road. Spencer Hawes never got into it, and you have to wonder if coming off the bench is affecting his attitude. Spencer is talented, can play with both hands, and has great range, but he is constantly pushed out to the perimeter, and his defense was just terrible. Spencer needs to toughen up and take his game to the next level.

Jon Brockman didn't play a lot because of foul trouble. You could just see the air come out of the team when he wasn't in there enforcing under the hoop. You want to pick a MVP for this years team it's Brockman.

Next up for Washington is three straight home games against Cal, Stanford, and WSU. The Huskies need to win all three of these games. As Romar says they don't need to win all the remaining games to get in, but they are running out of time.

Football Recruiting

Well if you are a college football fan, Wednesday is the day you have been waiting for as players across the country will be faxing in Letters of Intent to their respective schools. Washington is expected to bring in a class of between 27-29 players when it is all said and done. Washington's most recent commitments come from California CB Marquis Persley, and Texas Safety Victor Aiyewa. Aiyewa's film looks pretty good, and he picked UW over ASU, and Baylor. Persley is a teammate of Ronnie Fouch, and he served as a late fill in after Jared Campbell reneged to go to Miami. Persley may be a Plan B guy, but the Hskies reportedly like him quite a bit. Nevada OL Pou Palelei was another dissapointment picking ASU, over Washington. If you can believe the kid it was because of the academics. I got a big chuckle over that one. He has a lot of work to do to qualify.

The Dawgman chat room is going to be open all day Wednesday and it is going to be busy, and fun over in the virtual hall that Dave, Chris, and Kim built. Scott Ecklund did a fantastic job over there for the second consecutive season giving everyone the daily low down on what was happening in recruiting.

Tucson Paper Ranks Husky Class 8th in the League

A Tucson newspaper columnist rated the UW 8th in recruiting this year.

1. USC; 2. Oregon; 3. Cal; 4. UCLA; 5. Washington State; 6. Oregon State; 7. Arizona; 8. Washington; 9. Arizona State; 10. Stanford. (It's so close between OSU, WSU and Arizona that the 5-7 spots are almost interchangeable).

You have to wonder what this guy exactly is smoking since all the people who rate recruiting as a business have the huskies currently with the 4th best class in the league. My advice, wear a hat when you go out in the desert sun.

TNT Western 100

The TNT Western 100 came out on Sunday, but for some reason they want you to buy the paper rather than grab the list from the internet. As you can tell Washington didn't do too bad as they are near the top in number of players picked from the list.

Pac Ten Schools:

Oregon-13
USC-12
Cal-11
UW-11
UCLA-9
ASU-4
OSU-3
Stan-3
WSU-3
UA-2

Non PAC-10 schools:

Colorado-5
Nebraska-5
Michigan-3
BYU-2
Notre Dame-2

The Western 100 is made up of kids from the following states: Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Future Huskies who made the list:

Devin Aguilar, Anthony Boyles, Alvin Logan, Scott Shugert, Emeka Iweka, Chris Izbicki, Brandon Johnson, Curtis Shaw, Nate Williams, Quinton Richardson, Vonzell McDowell.

Ex Husky Assistant Tom Tipps passes away

Tom Tipps who came to Washington with Jim Owens after a stint with the legendary Junction Boy's under Bear Bryant passed away at 90 in Salt Lake City this weekend.

Cal names O.C.

Jim Michalczik became California's offensive coordinator Thursday after five seasons as the Golden Bears' offensive line coach. Michalczik replaces Mike Dunbar, who resigned last week after one season to take the same job at Minnesota. Michalczik's promotion could signal a return to a more conventional Cal attack after the Bears dabbled in aspects of Dunbar's favored spread offense last season. Coach Jeff Tedford is largely in charge of the Bears' offensive game plans, but believes Michalczik's tremendous success on the offensive line warranted more responsibility. "He has an excellent understanding of our offensive philosophy, and he is very well-respected by the players and the rest of the coaching staff," Tedford said. "We have worked closely together with offensive game-planning, and we will continue to do that."

Thanks for the help, but...

Newly named Army football coach Stan Brock, who was recommended for the job by the retiring Bobby Ross, has decided not to retain Ross' son Kevin on staff. "I decided it was important for the program to go in a different direction," Brock said in a statement released Thursday. "I continue to work toward building the best staff possible to lead our cadet-athletes and hope to be in position to announce the makeup of the entire staff shortly." Kevin Ross said he was shocked at the decision and that his father also was upset. The decision was made last Saturday -- the day Brock accepted the job.

San Jose St Getting New Football Stadium

Just a couple of years ago this school looked like it was on the verge of dropping football. Now under Dick tomey they are winning again and are on the verge of getting a new Stadium to replace aging Spartan Stadium.

Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff is "as few as two weeks" from reaching an exclusive bargaining agreement with San Jose State University that could lead to the construction of a 23,000-seat stadium as soon as next year. The framework for a possible deal would involve the university providing land adjacent to aging Spartan Stadium, where Wolff would build a new facility at his own cost. The planned stadium would be part of a $100 million project, the centerpiece of which would be a facility to be shared by the new MLS franchise and San Jose State's football and soccer teams. It would also include locker rooms, offices and the refurbishing of San Jose State's existing athletic facilities.

Probation over for Alabama

Alabama's five-year NCAA probation officially ended Thursday, marking the conclusion of one of the darkest periods in Crimson Tide football history. The NCAA placed the program on probation on Feb. 1, 2002 for violations mostly involving boosters and the recruitment of defensive linemen Albert Means and Kenny Smith. "This athletic department and the university faithfully adhered to the spirit of the ruling the NCAA handed down," Alabama athletic director Mal Moore said in a statement. "I am gratified that we have used what we endured as an opportunity to make some positive changes in approach to recruiting and all matters dealing with compliance to NCAA rules." The NCAA's restrictions barring boosters from attending practices closed to the public or traveling on team charters are also lifted, Alabama sports information director Doug Walker said. Alabama would have been subject to harsher penalties as a repeat offender for any major infractions while on probation.

Syracuse

Syracuse head football coach Greg Robinson has hired Derrick Jackson as his new defensive line coach. Jackson spent last year as defensive line coach at Michigan State and replaces Tim Cross, who left a week ago to take a similar job at Minnesota.

Super Bowl Thoughts

It was minus one in Chicago but the party was on as the Bears participated in their first Super Bowl since 1985. The game didn't go Chicago's way and the venom of the city flowed toward Rex Grossman. I was watching TV tonight after the game and they were running emails from the fans at the bottom of the screen. All the posts had one thing in common, hate for second year QB Rex Grossman, and the wish that they would bring back Dikta as coach. People often ask why I moved to Chicago from Seattle...the answer is an easy one...it is a lot easier to make money here, the people aren't exactly rocket scientists to be kind in description.