Well it is tournament time once again, and the Huskies square off against Arizona State tonight on a neutral court in Los Angeles's Staples Pavillion. Washington is the worst road team in the country, but they did finish strong at home beating the LA schools which has spurred the thought that they are capable of winning four games in four days and winning this thing to get a spot in the Big Dance.
Tonight's game will be a very big indicator of wheter they are capable of doing just that. If they can come out, and dominate the Devil's it could show that this team has peaked and reached the maturity level neccesary to get the job done. Spencer's 15 rebound performance against UCLA coupled with Brockman's big game is a template of what Washington needs to do over the next four days. It should be exciting!
In football it is finally official, RB Michael Houston has decided to transfer, but first he probably will have to do two months in the King County jail. I don't know what this kid is thinking, and we could have used a big RB next year. S Chris Hemphill will likely head to Central Washington for his last year of football. Central has been picking off some big transfers lately so they have to be a title contender in their divison next season.
Greg Johns
Greg Johns has moved over to the PI after a long career at the demised King County Journal. I always thought that Greg was one of the better columnists in the area, so I am glad he landed with the PI. He wrote a fabulous story today about Jake Locker spending a day at Husky Stadium with a sick child. This is a must read.
"I'll tell you what," Locker said. "You call me before our first home game and remind me. If I get a chance to play and score, I'll point up to you. You remember to call me and say, 'Hey Jake, I'm in tunnel 47. Show me some love after you score. OK?' "
It took the charisma of Ken Griffey to build Safeco Field, and Jake Locker just may be the guy who provides the excitement to get fundraising rolling for a remodeled Husky Stadium. I think this kid is going to take us all the way before he leaves.
Pac Ten Alley
Well let's take a pre tourney walk down Pac Ten Alley to see what the neighbors are up to this week.
USC is off to a predictable hot start in 2008 football recruiting.
After receiving a scholarship offer from USC two nights ago, Sherman Oaks (Calif.) Notre Dame defensive end Wes Horton ends the recruiting process early by verbally committing to the Trojans. Horton, who made the Rivals.com Class of 2008 Watch List, had 92 tackles and 13 sacks as a junior. The Trojans now secure commitment No. 5 for this year
It is Rugby season at Cal, and the Old Blue's are one of the most storied teams in the college rugby world. This one is for you Dick!
After scoring an injury-time try to bring his Cal rugby squad within reach of the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club (OMBAC) at 36-28, senior Rikus Pretorius walked over to the sideline to talk to assistant coach Tom Billups. Billups informed him that the ensuing conversion kick would likely be the game's last play. Pretorius gave a look of half-disgust, half-frustration, and when the whistle sounded seconds later, his look summed up the Bears' afternoon.
The Beaver's face off against California in the first round of the tournament.
The Beavers will play their third game of the year against Cal tonight in the first round of the Pac-10 tourney. The first meeting, in the middle of January, Cal won by 3, but the Beavers were in the whole game. The second meeting, a few weeks ago, the Beavers lost in overtime after Angelo Tsagarakis hit a three at the buzzer of regulation to force overtime
Michael Wines at the Duck Blog has the schedule posted for the tournament, and Aaron Brooks has played his last game at Mac Court.
Aaron Brooks savored every last moment of his final game at McArthur Court.
A documentary of the Bruin dynasty of the 60's, and 70's is being made into an HBO series.
Heading into the Pac-10 tournament AA paid homage to Coach Wooden for creating "something spectacular" around Westwood. Well HBO is going to try do their best to give us a little taste of that “something spectacular,” in an upcoming series called "The UCLA Dynasty." Unfortunately we don’t have HBO. So I will try to get a hold of a recording of that show or catch one of the reruns. But given the kind of high quality work product HBO churns out, I am betting this is a must see. So get your recorders ready.
The Coug blog doesn't think Washington will be much of a challenge if they play again this season.
Short post for today and the rest of the week, but a really fantastic win yesterday. With the W, the Cougs finish the five away/four home second half with a fantastic 7-2 mark--one game ahead of the smokin' first half. With the win, I think the Cougs assured themselves of no worse than a #4 seed, although that could drop to a 5 IF ASU beats Washington and the Cougars...Obviously, neither will happen. A couple of quick notes:
The Wildcats draw Oregon in the opening round.
Arizona's Marcus Williams calls it personal, a chance to break a season series tie with Oregon.
But UA's Ivan Radenovic would have preferred playing another team in the first round of the Pacific-10 Conference tournament Thursday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
John Wilner thinks Stanford is still on the bubble.
Most of the small- and mid-major leagues have wrapped up their tournaments, and the dearth of upsets bodes very well for heavyweights on the bubble. Yes, I’m talking about Stanford.
The House of Heat gets ready for Washington tonight, and is predicting a UW victory.
If there is a team that has improved more than ASU over the course of the season, it has to be the Huskies. Their young talent (top 5 scorers include 2 frosh, 2 sophs, and 1 junior) has gelled into a true team that is quick in the backcourt and powerful down low, and the latter will most likely lead to Sparky's demise. Then again ASU wasn't supposed to beat Cal, or anyone else for that matter. The slow-down style can throw a wrench into a team's game, plus the Huskies haven't won outside of their own gym all season long. with youth comes inconsistency, as the U-Dub faithful will tell you after a loss to Oregon State a week and a half ago.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Monday, March 05, 2007
The Monday Morning Wash
The Husky basketball team finished the season on an extremely high note by sweeping the LA schools at home in convincing fashion this past weekend. Washington went out there, and seized both games from the onset and played the type of basketball we expected for the first time since the LSU game in December.
Despite the wins over two highly ranked opponents Washington likely still has to win four games over four days starting Wednesday to grab a berth in the Big Dance. The Tournament starts on Wednesday against a very dangerous Arizona State team which is also starting to play it's best basketball of the year. If they win they would most likely face the Cougars one more time.
The Huskies can win both those games, but the final two would most likely be USC, and UCLA, the same two teams that Washington handled at home this past weekend. Now if the tournament was in Seattle I would say the Huskies look like the favorite going into the this deal, but it is in Los Angeles which just happens to be the home territory of the aforementioned schools Washington needs to get by to get an invitation.
Bob Condotta mused on Saturday that maybe they don't need to win the whole thing to get in, but by Monday morning the consensus was that Washington needs all four to make it in since they finished the conference season with a losing record and still lack the definitive road victory they have been searching for all week.
What does Washington need to do to win all four? Saturday against UCLA was a good example, they need Hawes, and Brockman to dominate. Hawes finished with 15 rebounds on Saturday in his best game ever as a Husky. It was the first time all year that he was aggressive on the boards. Brockman on the other hand is a given, if he stays out of foul trouble he is the rock this team is built on.
I think the Huskies have a chance to do it, but the road thing is what bothers me, and even though this is a neutral court, the Huskies just haven't had a spark away from home this year. Wednesday night will give us an idea if these guys are the team that swept the LA schools, or the guy's who weren't competitive with Oregon State the previous weekend.
2008 Football Recruiting
2007 letter of intent day was less than a month ago, but Washington received it's first commitment for 2008 over the weekend after they held a big junior day on campus. Washington nabbed one of the top lineman in the state, Senio Kelemete, a 6-4, 255-pound lineman from Evergreen High. Kelemente projects to be an OT even though he seems a little light. Senio also wrestles, so he keeps his weight lower to compete. Good chance that he starts his senior season of HS weighing in around 285.
This may be the best in state class in over a decade. Scott Ecklund over at Dawgman feels there may be as many as 35 kids who merit Pac Ten scholarships in this class. Most of them were on campus this past weekend, the one's that were not were playing in the state basketball playoffs.
The class lack's the obvious superstar names like Taylor Mays, and Steve Schilling, at this point, but that may change after the early Summer combines. Lakes HS's TE/DE Kavario Middleton is one athletes who is a lock to achieve five star attention. His coach feels that he may equal Reggie William's athleticism.
OL/DT Alameda Ta'amu from Rainier Beach is another top recruit to watch, but he may be USC's to lose if they offer him since he keeps telling everyone, including UW coaches that USC is his dream school. If USC doesn't offer he will likely attend Washington, he had a great time at Junior Day. Hopefully the USC thing will wear off as the Huskies give him the love.
The strength of this years class is on the lines, and it just happens to be Washington's biggest need at this point. This is the class that can put Washington back into shape talent wise to compete for championships. Expect the Huskies to sign a dozen, or more athlete's from in state next Winter. From all reports Junior Day went pretty well, and just about all the attendees are very high on Washington at this point.
Spring Sports and Winter Championships
For the second straight day, the Washington Softball teams pitching and hitting proved too much for sixth-ranked LSU as the 14th-ranked softball team handed the Tigers their second loss in as many days. Nice to see that program starting to rebound after the Doctor Feelgood fiasco which was stranger than fiction.
UC Irvine had a combined no-hit bid broken up in the ninth inning, but still handed the Washington baseball team a 6-3 loss Sunday at Husky Ballpark in the final game of a three-game non-conference series. The Huskies (2-8) had their chances to score as UCI pitchers issued 13 walks and hit three batters, but Washington didn't manage a hit through the first eighth innings, scoring its first run on a bases-loaded walk. Irvine improved to 12-4-1 with the win.
Senior guard Cameo Hicks scored a team-high 18 points - including six points in the final 30 seconds - but Washington wasn't able to keep up with USC down the stretch, falling to the Women of Troy, 81-77, in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 Tournament at HP Pavilion, Saturday evening. That early loss could knock the Huskies out of NCAA tournament and seal the fate a little sooner for June Daugherty.
The Dempsey indoor facility was originally built with the football team in mind, but the Washington track, and field program is the team which has benefited the most from the facility. The Huskies finished the NCAA Indoor Track season by qualifying 14 athletes for next weekend's NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas. "We might have to take a bus to nationals this year, the way things are going," Metcalf said. "Four years ago we went to the NCAA Indoor meet with four kids, now we're talking about the possibility of taking 14, and even the chance of competing for a trophy on the men's side. That's pretty exciting."
Despite the wins over two highly ranked opponents Washington likely still has to win four games over four days starting Wednesday to grab a berth in the Big Dance. The Tournament starts on Wednesday against a very dangerous Arizona State team which is also starting to play it's best basketball of the year. If they win they would most likely face the Cougars one more time.
The Huskies can win both those games, but the final two would most likely be USC, and UCLA, the same two teams that Washington handled at home this past weekend. Now if the tournament was in Seattle I would say the Huskies look like the favorite going into the this deal, but it is in Los Angeles which just happens to be the home territory of the aforementioned schools Washington needs to get by to get an invitation.
Bob Condotta mused on Saturday that maybe they don't need to win the whole thing to get in, but by Monday morning the consensus was that Washington needs all four to make it in since they finished the conference season with a losing record and still lack the definitive road victory they have been searching for all week.
What does Washington need to do to win all four? Saturday against UCLA was a good example, they need Hawes, and Brockman to dominate. Hawes finished with 15 rebounds on Saturday in his best game ever as a Husky. It was the first time all year that he was aggressive on the boards. Brockman on the other hand is a given, if he stays out of foul trouble he is the rock this team is built on.
I think the Huskies have a chance to do it, but the road thing is what bothers me, and even though this is a neutral court, the Huskies just haven't had a spark away from home this year. Wednesday night will give us an idea if these guys are the team that swept the LA schools, or the guy's who weren't competitive with Oregon State the previous weekend.
2008 Football Recruiting
2007 letter of intent day was less than a month ago, but Washington received it's first commitment for 2008 over the weekend after they held a big junior day on campus. Washington nabbed one of the top lineman in the state, Senio Kelemete, a 6-4, 255-pound lineman from Evergreen High. Kelemente projects to be an OT even though he seems a little light. Senio also wrestles, so he keeps his weight lower to compete. Good chance that he starts his senior season of HS weighing in around 285.
This may be the best in state class in over a decade. Scott Ecklund over at Dawgman feels there may be as many as 35 kids who merit Pac Ten scholarships in this class. Most of them were on campus this past weekend, the one's that were not were playing in the state basketball playoffs.
The class lack's the obvious superstar names like Taylor Mays, and Steve Schilling, at this point, but that may change after the early Summer combines. Lakes HS's TE/DE Kavario Middleton is one athletes who is a lock to achieve five star attention. His coach feels that he may equal Reggie William's athleticism.
OL/DT Alameda Ta'amu from Rainier Beach is another top recruit to watch, but he may be USC's to lose if they offer him since he keeps telling everyone, including UW coaches that USC is his dream school. If USC doesn't offer he will likely attend Washington, he had a great time at Junior Day. Hopefully the USC thing will wear off as the Huskies give him the love.
The strength of this years class is on the lines, and it just happens to be Washington's biggest need at this point. This is the class that can put Washington back into shape talent wise to compete for championships. Expect the Huskies to sign a dozen, or more athlete's from in state next Winter. From all reports Junior Day went pretty well, and just about all the attendees are very high on Washington at this point.
Spring Sports and Winter Championships
For the second straight day, the Washington Softball teams pitching and hitting proved too much for sixth-ranked LSU as the 14th-ranked softball team handed the Tigers their second loss in as many days. Nice to see that program starting to rebound after the Doctor Feelgood fiasco which was stranger than fiction.
UC Irvine had a combined no-hit bid broken up in the ninth inning, but still handed the Washington baseball team a 6-3 loss Sunday at Husky Ballpark in the final game of a three-game non-conference series. The Huskies (2-8) had their chances to score as UCI pitchers issued 13 walks and hit three batters, but Washington didn't manage a hit through the first eighth innings, scoring its first run on a bases-loaded walk. Irvine improved to 12-4-1 with the win.
Senior guard Cameo Hicks scored a team-high 18 points - including six points in the final 30 seconds - but Washington wasn't able to keep up with USC down the stretch, falling to the Women of Troy, 81-77, in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 Tournament at HP Pavilion, Saturday evening. That early loss could knock the Huskies out of NCAA tournament and seal the fate a little sooner for June Daugherty.
The Dempsey indoor facility was originally built with the football team in mind, but the Washington track, and field program is the team which has benefited the most from the facility. The Huskies finished the NCAA Indoor Track season by qualifying 14 athletes for next weekend's NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas. "We might have to take a bus to nationals this year, the way things are going," Metcalf said. "Four years ago we went to the NCAA Indoor meet with four kids, now we're talking about the possibility of taking 14, and even the chance of competing for a trophy on the men's side. That's pretty exciting."
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Huskies Mangle Bruins
Jon Brockman and Spencer Hawes combined for 33 points and 28 rebounds and led Washington to its biggest win of the season, a 61-51 upset of No. 2 UCLA today.
I have to watch via TIVO(Delayed)today due to prior committments, but caught part of the game on XM radio. Great win for the Dawgs that should give them momentum going into the tournament.
Bob Condotta has the complete scoop in his blog.
This was the team everyone expected to see all season, finally showing the potential that had them ranked No. 8 early in the year. Two dominating inside players, timely shooting, solid defense all the way around. A lot of momentum to take into the Pac-10 Tournament, where the Huskies will be the scariest No. 7 seed in the history of that event.
What do I think about today's win? Well we are tough at home, but still lack a single definitive raod victory. This is the same team that lost to Oregon State last week.
Next week we see what they can do in a neutral venue.
I have to watch via TIVO(Delayed)today due to prior committments, but caught part of the game on XM radio. Great win for the Dawgs that should give them momentum going into the tournament.
Bob Condotta has the complete scoop in his blog.
This was the team everyone expected to see all season, finally showing the potential that had them ranked No. 8 early in the year. Two dominating inside players, timely shooting, solid defense all the way around. A lot of momentum to take into the Pac-10 Tournament, where the Huskies will be the scariest No. 7 seed in the history of that event.
What do I think about today's win? Well we are tough at home, but still lack a single definitive raod victory. This is the same team that lost to Oregon State last week.
Next week we see what they can do in a neutral venue.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Weekly Poll Question
Last week we asked who would be Washington's leading receiver in 2007 and most of you voted for Marcel Reese, so did I. I think he has the best tool set going into 2007.
This weeks question is a little more difficult, so I am going to add a little background information. This weeks question is how many total rushing yards do you expect Washington to pick up during the 13 game slate in 2007?
Just for reference Washington averaged 127 YPG last year, and 1535 for the year during a 12 game schedule. Over a 13 game season that would yield 1651 yards. Oregon led the conference with 2369 yards over a 13 game schedule to average 182.2 YPG. An interesting slice of information is that USC won the conference championship last year rushing for only 128 yards per game!
The 1973 UCLA team set a Pac Ten record rushing for 403 yards per game and finished with over 4403 YPG, definitely not a balanced offense for the Bruin's that year.
Washington has led the Pac Ten in rushing only eight times since 1954. The 2000 Rose Bowl team ran for 211 YPG and led the conference. In 1990 we ran for 246 yards per game, the following year, 1991, we ran for 231 YPG.
On average with the pass happy offenses, in an average year, you can expect championship level teams in the league to gain between 200 to 250 yards per game.
Washington averaged 321 yards per game in total offense last year. Oregon led the conference last year with an average of 423 per game. USC averaged 391 last year.
In 2005 USC rushed for an average of 260 YPG, and finished with a record 579 yards per game. In an average year you can expect the league leader in total offense to finish around 450-475 yards per game. In 1990 the Huskies finished with 409 yards per game, while the following year they peaked at 479 YPG.
UW finished (3-6) (5-7) last year which was good for a ninth place finish in the conference. Washington has to carry the ball better in 2007 to win more games. UW brought in a lot of new talent which will debut in 2007. How well will they rush the ball in 2007?
This weeks question is a little more difficult, so I am going to add a little background information. This weeks question is how many total rushing yards do you expect Washington to pick up during the 13 game slate in 2007?
Just for reference Washington averaged 127 YPG last year, and 1535 for the year during a 12 game schedule. Over a 13 game season that would yield 1651 yards. Oregon led the conference with 2369 yards over a 13 game schedule to average 182.2 YPG. An interesting slice of information is that USC won the conference championship last year rushing for only 128 yards per game!
The 1973 UCLA team set a Pac Ten record rushing for 403 yards per game and finished with over 4403 YPG, definitely not a balanced offense for the Bruin's that year.
Washington has led the Pac Ten in rushing only eight times since 1954. The 2000 Rose Bowl team ran for 211 YPG and led the conference. In 1990 we ran for 246 yards per game, the following year, 1991, we ran for 231 YPG.
On average with the pass happy offenses, in an average year, you can expect championship level teams in the league to gain between 200 to 250 yards per game.
Washington averaged 321 yards per game in total offense last year. Oregon led the conference last year with an average of 423 per game. USC averaged 391 last year.
In 2005 USC rushed for an average of 260 YPG, and finished with a record 579 yards per game. In an average year you can expect the league leader in total offense to finish around 450-475 yards per game. In 1990 the Huskies finished with 409 yards per game, while the following year they peaked at 479 YPG.
UW finished (3-6) (5-7) last year which was good for a ninth place finish in the conference. Washington has to carry the ball better in 2007 to win more games. UW brought in a lot of new talent which will debut in 2007. How well will they rush the ball in 2007?
Thursday, March 01, 2007
UW takes care of USC
The Huskies take on the Trojan's tonight, and try to get some momentum going for the Pac Ten tournament. According to Bob Condotta, if the Huskies win at least one game this weekend and end up tied with Cal, UW will have the tiebreaker on the Bears and finish with the No. 7 seed. That means a first-round game with Arizona State and a likely second-rounder with WSU, an easier road, probably, than having to face Oregon State-UCLA in the first two rounds.
14:23 left in the first half, and the Huskies are up 13-11, Brockman and Dentmon are doing most of the damage with six apiece. Nick Young has seven for the Trojan's.
9:14 left, and Washington is up 23-19, Dentmon now has 11 points in the first half. At the 6:23 mark Washington is making a run and has the lead up to 34-26. The Huskies are shooting over 62% in the first half, and are 7-11 from 3 point range. 4:37 left, and it is UW 37-28.
Over in Pullman the Cougars are down to UCLA 39-31 with 11:30 left.
It's half time, and the Huskies are up 48-37. Appleby leads the way with 13 followed by Dentmon, and Brockman who both have 11. UW has 9-13 from three point range and is shooting 55% on the evening so far. USC coach Tim Floyd picked up a technical near the end of the half, he isn't happy about the way his team is playing tonight. Brockman has 6 boards, while Hawes is right behind him with 5.
17:58 left in this one and the Huskies look like they are going to stretch this one out leading 53-39. A big key so far is the Dawg's have only turned it over 7 times all night, not to mention they are shooting the lights out of the gym, and owning the boards.
15:20 left and it is 58-47 UW. USC has 5 fouls and that means UW will be in the bonus come crunch time. Isn't playing at home in the Pac Ten great? The Trojan's are shooting 54% on the night, so the three pointers have been the difference tonight for UW. Hawes is 2-7 from the field and only has 5 points, but look for Washington to start getting the ball inside to him the rest of the way....live by the three, die quickly by the three.
12:08 left, and the Huskies are cooling down a bit while the Trojan's are trying to mount a run. The lead which was once 17, at 58-41, is now down to 8, 62-54 UW. The Huskies have 9 turnovers tonight, and have given up 5 steals. USC is now in the bonus.... . Get the ball inside to Hawes!
9:57 left and both teams are now in the bonus, UW leads 65-54. the ref's are getting a little involved with the whistle so there is going to be a lot of foul shots as this game winds down. Phil Nelson has 7 points so far on the night. USC is 2-6 from the line tonight, while UW has a big advantage at 11-17.
7:46 left and USC has cut the lead to 67-60, the Huskies need to heat up and stop fouling the Trojans. 7:08 and they are trading baskets as the Trojans closed it to 5, UW up 69-64....this one is in doubt with 6:27 left.
4:52 and UW is clinging to a 73-64 lead hoping they can hold it together long enough for USC to start fouling. 3:51 and UW leads 72-66. USC is a couple of possesions away from taking this to the wire. UW needs to burn some time and keep scoring.
2:00 left in the game and the Huskies lead 78-68. Spencer has scored the last four points for UW. Hawes hit another, followed by another 2 from Appleby and it looks like UW has enough buffer to hold on to win this one. UW leads 82-69 and all USC can do now is foul.
0:30 left and the Huskies are up 84-69, put this one down as a big victory for UW. This win will really help them out with seeding for the tournament. For USC the loss will coast them seeding in the tournament, and possibly in the NCAA's.
The Huskies are led tonight by Appleby with 22, Brockman with 17, Hawes with 13, and Dentmon with 12 who was basically shut down in the second half. Huskies win 85-70.
Over in Pullman UCLA is starting to pull away in low scoring game leading 47-37 with 8:30 left. Ten points isn't a lot, but it represents more than 1/4 of the points the Cougars have scored all night, so it doesn't look good for the Crimson, and Grey.
UCLA wins 53-45, but the Cougars did make it interesting but didn't have the gas to get by the #2 team in the country. UCLA does what UW doesn't do, and that is control the tempo no matter who, or what speed they are playing against.
14:23 left in the first half, and the Huskies are up 13-11, Brockman and Dentmon are doing most of the damage with six apiece. Nick Young has seven for the Trojan's.
9:14 left, and Washington is up 23-19, Dentmon now has 11 points in the first half. At the 6:23 mark Washington is making a run and has the lead up to 34-26. The Huskies are shooting over 62% in the first half, and are 7-11 from 3 point range. 4:37 left, and it is UW 37-28.
Over in Pullman the Cougars are down to UCLA 39-31 with 11:30 left.
It's half time, and the Huskies are up 48-37. Appleby leads the way with 13 followed by Dentmon, and Brockman who both have 11. UW has 9-13 from three point range and is shooting 55% on the evening so far. USC coach Tim Floyd picked up a technical near the end of the half, he isn't happy about the way his team is playing tonight. Brockman has 6 boards, while Hawes is right behind him with 5.
17:58 left in this one and the Huskies look like they are going to stretch this one out leading 53-39. A big key so far is the Dawg's have only turned it over 7 times all night, not to mention they are shooting the lights out of the gym, and owning the boards.
15:20 left and it is 58-47 UW. USC has 5 fouls and that means UW will be in the bonus come crunch time. Isn't playing at home in the Pac Ten great? The Trojan's are shooting 54% on the night, so the three pointers have been the difference tonight for UW. Hawes is 2-7 from the field and only has 5 points, but look for Washington to start getting the ball inside to him the rest of the way....live by the three, die quickly by the three.
12:08 left, and the Huskies are cooling down a bit while the Trojan's are trying to mount a run. The lead which was once 17, at 58-41, is now down to 8, 62-54 UW. The Huskies have 9 turnovers tonight, and have given up 5 steals. USC is now in the bonus.... . Get the ball inside to Hawes!
9:57 left and both teams are now in the bonus, UW leads 65-54. the ref's are getting a little involved with the whistle so there is going to be a lot of foul shots as this game winds down. Phil Nelson has 7 points so far on the night. USC is 2-6 from the line tonight, while UW has a big advantage at 11-17.
7:46 left and USC has cut the lead to 67-60, the Huskies need to heat up and stop fouling the Trojans. 7:08 and they are trading baskets as the Trojans closed it to 5, UW up 69-64....this one is in doubt with 6:27 left.
4:52 and UW is clinging to a 73-64 lead hoping they can hold it together long enough for USC to start fouling. 3:51 and UW leads 72-66. USC is a couple of possesions away from taking this to the wire. UW needs to burn some time and keep scoring.
2:00 left in the game and the Huskies lead 78-68. Spencer has scored the last four points for UW. Hawes hit another, followed by another 2 from Appleby and it looks like UW has enough buffer to hold on to win this one. UW leads 82-69 and all USC can do now is foul.
0:30 left and the Huskies are up 84-69, put this one down as a big victory for UW. This win will really help them out with seeding for the tournament. For USC the loss will coast them seeding in the tournament, and possibly in the NCAA's.
The Huskies are led tonight by Appleby with 22, Brockman with 17, Hawes with 13, and Dentmon with 12 who was basically shut down in the second half. Huskies win 85-70.
Over in Pullman UCLA is starting to pull away in low scoring game leading 47-37 with 8:30 left. Ten points isn't a lot, but it represents more than 1/4 of the points the Cougars have scored all night, so it doesn't look good for the Crimson, and Grey.
UCLA wins 53-45, but the Cougars did make it interesting but didn't have the gas to get by the #2 team in the country. UCLA does what UW doesn't do, and that is control the tempo no matter who, or what speed they are playing against.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
UW's Tarzan passes
Herman Brix, 100, an Olympic shot-put medalist who became a screen Tarzan in the mid-1930s, went on to act in more than 100 other films under the name Bruce Bennett and was effective as a doomed gold prospector in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," died Feb. 24 at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, Calif. He had complications from a broken hip.I just watched the "Treasure of Sierra Madre" about a week ago and the former Husky gives a solid performance beside Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, and Tim Holt.
Mr. Brix was a star on the University of Washington football team, and won a silver medal in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, throwing the shot 51 feet, 8 1/8 inches. Brix played under the legendary Husky Coach, Enoch Bagshaw.
At the University of Washington, where he majored in economics, he was a teammate of the great George Wilson, and played in the 1926 Rose Bowl game against a University of Alabama team that featured future cowboy star Johnny Mack Brown. The Washington Huskies lost, 20-19, in a famous upset of the day. That was the game that put Alabama football on the map.
He enjoyed parasailing, and skydiving, leaping out 10,000 feet over Lake Tahoe when he was 96. You could say he was quite a guy, and he bled purple till the day he passed. The photo to the left is a of a copy of his autobiography which is still available on Amazon.com.
Quite a life, he would have entered the UW 82 years ago...wow!
See you on the other side Herman!
Quite a life, he would have entered the UW 82 years ago...wow!
See you on the other side Herman!
Glanville Named Head Coach at Portland State
65 year old Jerry Glanville is ready to run another football team. This time, the former NFL coach is set to take over at Portland State. Glanville, who led the Houston Oilers and Atlanta Falcons, will be introduced by the Division I-AA school at a news conference Wednesday night. He had been Hawaii's defensive coordinator for two years.
65 year old Jerry Glanville is ready to run another football team. This time, the former NFL coach is set to take over at Portland State. Glanville, who led the Houston Oilers and Atlanta Falcons, will be introduced by the Division I-AA school at a news conference Wednesday night. He had been Hawaii's defensive coordinator for two years.
What's Cooking?
We all have at least one thing in common, and that is we eat every day. Some of us eat better than others. I worked in restaurants from the age of 15 until I was 25 years old. I also spent a lot of time in the kitchen until I learned how fun the bar could be, and not smelling like grease after work was.
I cook at home quite a bit, and have a professional style kitchen, we have a lot of parties here because of all the family, and friends in close proximity. We have as many as 20 people over once, or twice a month at one time. It gets a little crazy, but we have a lot of fun doing it.
Another thing is Kate, and I don't like processed food, we try to eat fresh ingredients every night, so that means going out, or staying in, and cooking.
One thing friends always ask me is how do you make this, how do you make that, what is the recipe for those? Well like any ex chef, or kitchen hand I don't really cook with a recipe, it is more of a feel for what works with what, and having the right ingredients on hand to make it look easy.
Chef's Recipe Catalog is a new blog I have put together that I am sharing with family, and friends so they have access to recipes of what they taste over here at the house. The recipes come at you from more of a male perspective to cooking, and it has gotten pretty good reviews so far from the family.
So if you are into eating, cooking, restaurants, and gastronomic travels you will probably enjoy this. If you don't know how to cook this blog can make you a hero with your dates just by following the directions.
You might ask why the blog's? Well they do get rated and shine back on my health insurance websites. Selling health insurance is what I do for a living. So it serves a double purpose, I have fun, and it helps raise the ratings in the search engines for my professional web programs. Cooking is a passion for me, and it is very relaxing, so we try to do it as much as possible using the freshest regional ingredients we can find.
I cook at home quite a bit, and have a professional style kitchen, we have a lot of parties here because of all the family, and friends in close proximity. We have as many as 20 people over once, or twice a month at one time. It gets a little crazy, but we have a lot of fun doing it.
Another thing is Kate, and I don't like processed food, we try to eat fresh ingredients every night, so that means going out, or staying in, and cooking.
One thing friends always ask me is how do you make this, how do you make that, what is the recipe for those? Well like any ex chef, or kitchen hand I don't really cook with a recipe, it is more of a feel for what works with what, and having the right ingredients on hand to make it look easy.
Chef's Recipe Catalog is a new blog I have put together that I am sharing with family, and friends so they have access to recipes of what they taste over here at the house. The recipes come at you from more of a male perspective to cooking, and it has gotten pretty good reviews so far from the family.
So if you are into eating, cooking, restaurants, and gastronomic travels you will probably enjoy this. If you don't know how to cook this blog can make you a hero with your dates just by following the directions.
You might ask why the blog's? Well they do get rated and shine back on my health insurance websites. Selling health insurance is what I do for a living. So it serves a double purpose, I have fun, and it helps raise the ratings in the search engines for my professional web programs. Cooking is a passion for me, and it is very relaxing, so we try to do it as much as possible using the freshest regional ingredients we can find.
Pac Ten Alley
This morning it became official, Charlie Baggett has been named WR coach at UW. Ty and Charlie have been friends since college, and both hail from North Carolina. Baggett has coached 10 years in the NFL, and Randy Moss had his greatest success under Charley. He also spent 14 years as an assistant at Michigan State. This is a great hire! Losing Yarber was unfortunate, but we replaced him with a better postion coach, the question remains can he recruit as well as Yarber who had great South Central LA ties?
Our weekly poll question last week was do you think the Huskies will make the NCAA Tournament? Well the life of that question lasted about two days as the Huskies fell to both Oregon St, and Oregon last week. For the record, I thought they would sweep the final four. I also thought we would see a 20,000 Nasdaq in 2001.
Well let's take a walk down Pac Ten Alley to see what our West Coast neighbors are up to.
Pete Carroll picked up a couple of early commitments at USC despite the sighting of more smoke out in the NCAA Violations area's. Seems like the Trojan's have adopted a few pages out of Rick Neuheisel's book of inadvertant bumps. Plenty of smoke around this program right now as the Trojan staff in it's arrogance seems to have little regard for the rules. You have to wonder when the NCAA is going to get more involved.
We all know fair isn't fair as far as the NCAA is concerned, some coaches like Carroll can do whatever they want, while a guy like Neuheisel gets put on the cross, along with his program for much less. I guess the old adage is, it isn't who you know.....you can guess the rest.
Chris Polk (5-11, 190, 4.45) from Redlands East Valley committed to USC tonight. The REV wide receiver/defensive back was offered a scholarship a week before the 2007 signing day.
Things keep getting more bizzare at Cal in the continuing tree sitting protest going on near the football stadium.
A leader of tree-sitters who oppose a proposed athletic training center next to UC Berkeley's Memorial Stadium was charged Monday with two felony counts of threatening a police officer. Zachary Runningwolf Brown, 44, was arrested Friday after he threatened to shoot a campus police officer, said UC Assistant Police Chief Mitch Celaya. Celaya said that Brown told the officer: "You're going to get yours. ... We're going to do what we have to do. ... We're going to shoot you (expletive)."
Can Oregon State defend its National Championship in Baseball?
The Beavers started the tourney with a bang on Friday, winning by 9 over Cal Davis. Oregon State again rallied off big innings in the second and ninth (5 runs apiece) to build up a sizable lead. This game was closer than it looked, however, as UC- Davis left 13 runners on base, 10 of those in scoring position. Oregon State got the win, but was well aware that they didn't have a very good game.
Oregon beat Washington in a great Basketball game on Saturday. The story of the week though was the infantile behavior of the new AD. Perhaps Michael Wines can share his thoughts on that. As I have said I find it interesting that Oregon thinks a guy that made his fortune selling auto insurance to high risk people such as drunk drivers, and repeated speeders has what it takes to run an Athletic department.
Aaron Brooks' peace offering to Ryan Appleby (both pictured here), was the only thing that Brooks was denied on Saturday.
UCLA is getting ready to play WSU, and I hope the Cougar's kick their ass.
Frankly I think Josh’s comment re. the WSU defense is dumb. I am not sure “weak” would be the word I’d use to describe a Cougar defense which as Dohn notes may be the best in the Pac-10. From what I saw in our first game if anything Cougar defense appeared to be very smart, and it reminded me a lot of our defense from last season. Luckily for us it appears Coach Howland knows what his boys will be up against on Thursday.
As he noted in the OC Register Bruins better be ready because in his words playing the Cougars is just like having a “root canal”:
The Coug's look back on a tough road loss to Oregon who seems to have their number this year.
The thing with this team is that they will always be in games because of defense--and there are not many teams out there like the Quack who can really chuck from all corners with that 3 ball, who, quite frankly, the Cougs really don't match up with.
Arizona is having a sub par year and rumors have been floating around that the old coach has Parkins disease.
Lute Olson rarely reveals matters of his personal life. So when he opened his usually bland weekly news conference with a "nonbasketball-related'' thing, we all perked up.
A rumor that the 72-year-old Arizona coach has Parkinson's disease "is a complete lie,'' he said Tuesday, adding his shaking comes from old age and nerves.
The Tree look like they are going to make the Big Dance.
If you include Stanford, the Pac-10 will have six teams in the NCAAs, its highest total in five years.
At ASU not much is going since they are at the bottom of the Pac Ten, but they are looking back at the blown shot against Ohio State for the National Championship in 1997.
Finally, Gaddabout at Wired Devils has written a story defending Phil Snow, Bruce Snyder, and the supposed "prevent D" that doomed ASU in the 1997 Rose Bowl. If you've been hating them since 1/1/97 like I have, it's a tough read but valid points are made. To my friend Patrick, if you can hear me, don't read the article-your head may explode
Our weekly poll question last week was do you think the Huskies will make the NCAA Tournament? Well the life of that question lasted about two days as the Huskies fell to both Oregon St, and Oregon last week. For the record, I thought they would sweep the final four. I also thought we would see a 20,000 Nasdaq in 2001.
Well let's take a walk down Pac Ten Alley to see what our West Coast neighbors are up to.
Pete Carroll picked up a couple of early commitments at USC despite the sighting of more smoke out in the NCAA Violations area's. Seems like the Trojan's have adopted a few pages out of Rick Neuheisel's book of inadvertant bumps. Plenty of smoke around this program right now as the Trojan staff in it's arrogance seems to have little regard for the rules. You have to wonder when the NCAA is going to get more involved.
We all know fair isn't fair as far as the NCAA is concerned, some coaches like Carroll can do whatever they want, while a guy like Neuheisel gets put on the cross, along with his program for much less. I guess the old adage is, it isn't who you know.....you can guess the rest.
Chris Polk (5-11, 190, 4.45) from Redlands East Valley committed to USC tonight. The REV wide receiver/defensive back was offered a scholarship a week before the 2007 signing day.
Things keep getting more bizzare at Cal in the continuing tree sitting protest going on near the football stadium.
A leader of tree-sitters who oppose a proposed athletic training center next to UC Berkeley's Memorial Stadium was charged Monday with two felony counts of threatening a police officer. Zachary Runningwolf Brown, 44, was arrested Friday after he threatened to shoot a campus police officer, said UC Assistant Police Chief Mitch Celaya. Celaya said that Brown told the officer: "You're going to get yours. ... We're going to do what we have to do. ... We're going to shoot you (expletive)."
Can Oregon State defend its National Championship in Baseball?
The Beavers started the tourney with a bang on Friday, winning by 9 over Cal Davis. Oregon State again rallied off big innings in the second and ninth (5 runs apiece) to build up a sizable lead. This game was closer than it looked, however, as UC- Davis left 13 runners on base, 10 of those in scoring position. Oregon State got the win, but was well aware that they didn't have a very good game.
Oregon beat Washington in a great Basketball game on Saturday. The story of the week though was the infantile behavior of the new AD. Perhaps Michael Wines can share his thoughts on that. As I have said I find it interesting that Oregon thinks a guy that made his fortune selling auto insurance to high risk people such as drunk drivers, and repeated speeders has what it takes to run an Athletic department.
Aaron Brooks' peace offering to Ryan Appleby (both pictured here), was the only thing that Brooks was denied on Saturday.
UCLA is getting ready to play WSU, and I hope the Cougar's kick their ass.
Frankly I think Josh’s comment re. the WSU defense is dumb. I am not sure “weak” would be the word I’d use to describe a Cougar defense which as Dohn notes may be the best in the Pac-10. From what I saw in our first game if anything Cougar defense appeared to be very smart, and it reminded me a lot of our defense from last season. Luckily for us it appears Coach Howland knows what his boys will be up against on Thursday.
As he noted in the OC Register Bruins better be ready because in his words playing the Cougars is just like having a “root canal”:
The Coug's look back on a tough road loss to Oregon who seems to have their number this year.
The thing with this team is that they will always be in games because of defense--and there are not many teams out there like the Quack who can really chuck from all corners with that 3 ball, who, quite frankly, the Cougs really don't match up with.
Arizona is having a sub par year and rumors have been floating around that the old coach has Parkins disease.
Lute Olson rarely reveals matters of his personal life. So when he opened his usually bland weekly news conference with a "nonbasketball-related'' thing, we all perked up.
A rumor that the 72-year-old Arizona coach has Parkinson's disease "is a complete lie,'' he said Tuesday, adding his shaking comes from old age and nerves.
The Tree look like they are going to make the Big Dance.
If you include Stanford, the Pac-10 will have six teams in the NCAAs, its highest total in five years.
At ASU not much is going since they are at the bottom of the Pac Ten, but they are looking back at the blown shot against Ohio State for the National Championship in 1997.
Finally, Gaddabout at Wired Devils has written a story defending Phil Snow, Bruce Snyder, and the supposed "prevent D" that doomed ASU in the 1997 Rose Bowl. If you've been hating them since 1/1/97 like I have, it's a tough read but valid points are made. To my friend Patrick, if you can hear me, don't read the article-your head may explode
Monday, February 26, 2007
Huskies take care of PG problem (Update)
Washington took a step today toward filling the gaping hole at point guard by getting a verbal from former USC commit Venoy Overton.
Overton averaged 21.7 points, and 5.7 assists this year for Franklin, which is 21-2 and the top-ranked 4A team in the state.
UW was always Overton's first choice, but when UW passed on him this Fall he verbaled to USC, but did not sign a letter because of eligibility issues that are now resolved.
Here is the story from Bob Condotta of the Times.
Romar realized what we all have and that this team won't go anywhere next year unless they can find someone to direct traffic and handle the ball.
Now the question is who is going to go off scholarship, or leave the team to make room for Overton?
Update
In the papers today they went over what the likely options were to make room for Overton.
1. Hawes elects for NBA Draft. (At this point that looks very unlikely, he likes school, but you never know)
2. One of the incoming Freshmen might not make it in. (Gant is the recruit mentioned)
3. One of the roster member could transfer. (We were surprised when Henry transferred, you just never know who might want to drop down a level. I have heard some names bounced around Dawgman.)
4. A player could go off scholarship. (Hans Gasser who graduates this year was a candidate to do that during his career, but the numbers worked out. Maybe a fifth year member of the squad will volunteer.)
More on Overton
The reports coming out on Overton are good. He has good defensive skills which should be able to get him immediate playing time. Tim Floyd at USC brought in one of the top classes in the country, and he wanted Overton, that tells you something right there. Another description we heard over, over was hard worker. So it looks like the Huskies filled a need with a local kid who wants to be the next Will Conroy. Conroy of course was a strong four year player who was one of the better point guards we have ever had. He used to eat Aaron Brooks for lunch. We need that type of player on the roster.
Overton averaged 21.7 points, and 5.7 assists this year for Franklin, which is 21-2 and the top-ranked 4A team in the state.
UW was always Overton's first choice, but when UW passed on him this Fall he verbaled to USC, but did not sign a letter because of eligibility issues that are now resolved.
Here is the story from Bob Condotta of the Times.
Romar realized what we all have and that this team won't go anywhere next year unless they can find someone to direct traffic and handle the ball.
Now the question is who is going to go off scholarship, or leave the team to make room for Overton?
Update
In the papers today they went over what the likely options were to make room for Overton.
1. Hawes elects for NBA Draft. (At this point that looks very unlikely, he likes school, but you never know)
2. One of the incoming Freshmen might not make it in. (Gant is the recruit mentioned)
3. One of the roster member could transfer. (We were surprised when Henry transferred, you just never know who might want to drop down a level. I have heard some names bounced around Dawgman.)
4. A player could go off scholarship. (Hans Gasser who graduates this year was a candidate to do that during his career, but the numbers worked out. Maybe a fifth year member of the squad will volunteer.)
More on Overton
The reports coming out on Overton are good. He has good defensive skills which should be able to get him immediate playing time. Tim Floyd at USC brought in one of the top classes in the country, and he wanted Overton, that tells you something right there. Another description we heard over, over was hard worker. So it looks like the Huskies filled a need with a local kid who wants to be the next Will Conroy. Conroy of course was a strong four year player who was one of the better point guards we have ever had. He used to eat Aaron Brooks for lunch. We need that type of player on the roster.
Quick Note
I posted a link to Hair of the Dawg's blog under sponsor's. If you want to get a feel for what it is like to be an expartriate working in Cyprus you should check it out. Dick is also a big Rugby fan so you can get a feel by going through his site what he finds interesting other than the Huskies!
The Monday Morning Wash
Dan Raley has a great article in the PI this morning on the Husky Basketball team that is worth a read if you have the time. The meat of the article is about what we have discussed most of the season and that is the Huskies have not developed into a cohesive unit this season mostly because they do not have a guy that can handle the rock.
There is another problem, and despite all the talent Romar has assembled there isn't a leader out there on the court either at this point. Many of course will point to Brockman who works as hard as any player in the country, but Jon's role is the enforcer, not the guy that takes control of the temp of a game every single night.
UW has another excellent recruiting class coming in next season, but the one thing it is lacking is a point guard. Even Thomas, who we have to wait a year for, and seems to be a Nate clone may not be a true point guard. For UW to continue to grow they need to get a passer, and rythym setter on the court, and with a full roster coming in the next two years Romar is going to have to be very creative to get it done.
Up this week are games at home against USC, and UCLA, two teams who have the potential to make a lot of noise in the tournament. While UW is likely NIT bound they need to play hard and try to head into the Pac Ten tournament on a positive note. A couple of wins at home over the school's from LA would be nice way to finish the regular season.
The thing these young Huskies need to learn is the season isn't over yet. Win the Pac Ten Tourney and you are Cinderella all over again. Even if that faint dream isn't realized extra games in the NIT are a plus for a team struggling to find it's identity.
Huskies Close on New Wide Receiver Coach?
Nothing official yet from the newspapers, Dawgman, or the Official UW site, but longtime Willingham friend Charlie Baggett seems to be the choice as the new WR coach. If the rumors prove true it is a great hire that will add more stability to the staff. Yarber brought a lot to the table, but Baggett actually has the more impressive resume which should appeal to recruits. Yarber had one advantage, he was a West Coast guy with excellent tie's in the inner city of Los Angeles.
Daugherty on her way out?
Steve Kelley in the Times talks about the current status of June Daugherty. Look's like Turner wants to ratchet up the womens basketball program which is a good idea since it has proven in the past it can draw a crowd when the program is hot. One problem under June has been the loss of local athletes to other school's in the Pac Ten, she hasn't been able to put a fence around the state. Daugherty has a lot of respect around the country, and if Washington cut's her loose she will be coaching somewhere next Fall. However if Turner does cut her loose he is going to have to pick a coach with higher profile, and pricetag to get the results he is looking for.
There is another problem, and despite all the talent Romar has assembled there isn't a leader out there on the court either at this point. Many of course will point to Brockman who works as hard as any player in the country, but Jon's role is the enforcer, not the guy that takes control of the temp of a game every single night.
UW has another excellent recruiting class coming in next season, but the one thing it is lacking is a point guard. Even Thomas, who we have to wait a year for, and seems to be a Nate clone may not be a true point guard. For UW to continue to grow they need to get a passer, and rythym setter on the court, and with a full roster coming in the next two years Romar is going to have to be very creative to get it done.
Up this week are games at home against USC, and UCLA, two teams who have the potential to make a lot of noise in the tournament. While UW is likely NIT bound they need to play hard and try to head into the Pac Ten tournament on a positive note. A couple of wins at home over the school's from LA would be nice way to finish the regular season.
The thing these young Huskies need to learn is the season isn't over yet. Win the Pac Ten Tourney and you are Cinderella all over again. Even if that faint dream isn't realized extra games in the NIT are a plus for a team struggling to find it's identity.
Huskies Close on New Wide Receiver Coach?
Nothing official yet from the newspapers, Dawgman, or the Official UW site, but longtime Willingham friend Charlie Baggett seems to be the choice as the new WR coach. If the rumors prove true it is a great hire that will add more stability to the staff. Yarber brought a lot to the table, but Baggett actually has the more impressive resume which should appeal to recruits. Yarber had one advantage, he was a West Coast guy with excellent tie's in the inner city of Los Angeles.
Daugherty on her way out?
Steve Kelley in the Times talks about the current status of June Daugherty. Look's like Turner wants to ratchet up the womens basketball program which is a good idea since it has proven in the past it can draw a crowd when the program is hot. One problem under June has been the loss of local athletes to other school's in the Pac Ten, she hasn't been able to put a fence around the state. Daugherty has a lot of respect around the country, and if Washington cut's her loose she will be coaching somewhere next Fall. However if Turner does cut her loose he is going to have to pick a coach with higher profile, and pricetag to get the results he is looking for.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Duck's get by UW 93-85
Is there life left in the Husky Basketball team? Well we are going to find out tonight in Eugene. Common sense would indicate it after losing to the Beaver's on Thursday that they are going to be spanked in the hostile environment of Mac Court.
Bob Condotta reports that as the teams set up for the jump, Aaron Brooks tried to shake his hand. Brooks held the hand out for quite some time but Appleby, with his hands on his knees, didn't budge, inciting a loud boo from the crowd and a derisive chant of "Appleby'' from the student section on UW's first possession. Hopefully that isn't the play of the game.
The Huskies are noticeably improved tonight and are taking the game to the Duck's tonight, and with 13 minutes left the Huskies lead 21-17. 10:45 left and it is now 25-17....looks like the Huskies are fired up tonight.
2:31 left, and Oregon is up by 7, a 16 point swing in the first half....42-35...ugly.
WSU barely got by Oregon St today in Corvallis which shows that every road game can be a challenge, especially when you are playing an underdog. 8:41 left and the Huskies are on the verge of blowing out the Duck's as they have rushed out to a 30-21 lead.
Key to the game has been Ryan Appleby who has been red hot from the field hotting 5-6 on 3's and leading the Dawg's with 17 points. I guess that is a good way to punk Aaron Brook's.
6:32 left in the half and the Duck's have been on a run to tie the game at 33. Spencer Hawes is 1-7 from the field tonight. The rest of the Huskies need to start chipping in or the fast start is going to go for naught.
Oregon has moved out 40-33 at the 3:40 mark....wow! UW has gone back to playing rat ball, and Oregon has stolen the tempo. Very hard to watch this. Hawes is 2-9, and Dentmon is 1-5. Brockman has only gotten one shot off tonight.
56 seconds left and Phil Nelson just hit a three, Huskies down 44-40.
46-40 Oregon at halftime....remember when the Huskies used to play defense?
54-51 Oregon with 16 minutes left in the game...both teams are trading baskets. 14:30 left and the Duck's lead 59-58. Hawes has 10 for the game...he is recovering from a horrid start...this one is a battle.
12:36 left and there is a timeout on the floor as Oregon has stretched the lead back to 64-60.
9:54 left and Oregon is still up 69-65. Oregon's Poppen-Abajian just hit three free throws after being fouled on a 3 point try. Appleby has 21, and Hawes has 12 lead the Dawg's. Phil Nelson just bricked on a three....why not slow it down and work it inside? Nelson follows up with a dumb foul on Brooks who sinks two free throws...Duck's 73-67....7:10 left. Brockman fouls Hairston who sinks 2 and it is 75-67. Duck's are picking up a lot of points on free throws in the second half.
6:45 left and Oregon is on a run and has taken the lead back to 10 at 77-67....free throw, after free throw....typical Pac Ten officiating for the home team.
5:10 left and Oregon is up 80-71. UW has called a timeout to regroup for a run over the last five minutes. This game has been a rollercoaster with plenty of swings, I wouldn't count UW out yet.
Pondexter has scored the last five points for the Dawg's, and they have pulled close again at 82-76 with 3:33 left as Oregon call's a timeout. I think this one goes down to the last shot.
84-76 Oregon with 3:08 after....you guessed it...two Oregon free throws. Guess again, you are right...two more Oregon free throws 86-76. Oregon is 27-30 at the line tonight while UW is 17-18. Huskies are in foul mode right now and the Duck's are not missing so this one is about over with 1:49 left. Pondexter has 13 on the night with most coming in the last ten minutes of the second half....nice to see.
Entertaining game to watch this evening, but UW's defense is like sieve. Duck's win...Brooks finishes with 30 points tonight as he breaks the Washington jinx. Appleby finishes with 23, Hawes with 20, and Pondexter 13.
Bob Condotta reports that as the teams set up for the jump, Aaron Brooks tried to shake his hand. Brooks held the hand out for quite some time but Appleby, with his hands on his knees, didn't budge, inciting a loud boo from the crowd and a derisive chant of "Appleby'' from the student section on UW's first possession. Hopefully that isn't the play of the game.
The Huskies are noticeably improved tonight and are taking the game to the Duck's tonight, and with 13 minutes left the Huskies lead 21-17. 10:45 left and it is now 25-17....looks like the Huskies are fired up tonight.
2:31 left, and Oregon is up by 7, a 16 point swing in the first half....42-35...ugly.
WSU barely got by Oregon St today in Corvallis which shows that every road game can be a challenge, especially when you are playing an underdog. 8:41 left and the Huskies are on the verge of blowing out the Duck's as they have rushed out to a 30-21 lead.
Key to the game has been Ryan Appleby who has been red hot from the field hotting 5-6 on 3's and leading the Dawg's with 17 points. I guess that is a good way to punk Aaron Brook's.
6:32 left in the half and the Duck's have been on a run to tie the game at 33. Spencer Hawes is 1-7 from the field tonight. The rest of the Huskies need to start chipping in or the fast start is going to go for naught.
Oregon has moved out 40-33 at the 3:40 mark....wow! UW has gone back to playing rat ball, and Oregon has stolen the tempo. Very hard to watch this. Hawes is 2-9, and Dentmon is 1-5. Brockman has only gotten one shot off tonight.
56 seconds left and Phil Nelson just hit a three, Huskies down 44-40.
46-40 Oregon at halftime....remember when the Huskies used to play defense?
54-51 Oregon with 16 minutes left in the game...both teams are trading baskets. 14:30 left and the Duck's lead 59-58. Hawes has 10 for the game...he is recovering from a horrid start...this one is a battle.
12:36 left and there is a timeout on the floor as Oregon has stretched the lead back to 64-60.
9:54 left and Oregon is still up 69-65. Oregon's Poppen-Abajian just hit three free throws after being fouled on a 3 point try. Appleby has 21, and Hawes has 12 lead the Dawg's. Phil Nelson just bricked on a three....why not slow it down and work it inside? Nelson follows up with a dumb foul on Brooks who sinks two free throws...Duck's 73-67....7:10 left. Brockman fouls Hairston who sinks 2 and it is 75-67. Duck's are picking up a lot of points on free throws in the second half.
6:45 left and Oregon is on a run and has taken the lead back to 10 at 77-67....free throw, after free throw....typical Pac Ten officiating for the home team.
5:10 left and Oregon is up 80-71. UW has called a timeout to regroup for a run over the last five minutes. This game has been a rollercoaster with plenty of swings, I wouldn't count UW out yet.
Pondexter has scored the last five points for the Dawg's, and they have pulled close again at 82-76 with 3:33 left as Oregon call's a timeout. I think this one goes down to the last shot.
84-76 Oregon with 3:08 after....you guessed it...two Oregon free throws. Guess again, you are right...two more Oregon free throws 86-76. Oregon is 27-30 at the line tonight while UW is 17-18. Huskies are in foul mode right now and the Duck's are not missing so this one is about over with 1:49 left. Pondexter has 13 on the night with most coming in the last ten minutes of the second half....nice to see.
Entertaining game to watch this evening, but UW's defense is like sieve. Duck's win...Brooks finishes with 30 points tonight as he breaks the Washington jinx. Appleby finishes with 23, Hawes with 20, and Pondexter 13.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Huskies Stink It Up
Pretty dissapointing tonight as the Huskies stunk it up once again on the road against one of the worst teams on the West Coast, the Oregon State Beaver's. If there was any doubt before tonight, there isn't anymore, this isn't a good team despite the talent on board, and they don't deserve to hit the Big Dance unless they win the Pac Ten Tourney which just isn't going to happen for these guys.
The Beavers entered the game two losses away from becoming the first Oregon State squad to lose 20 games since 2000-01. The Beavers had 14 steals, with four apiece from Tarver and Washington, and shot 42 free throws.
The Beavers led 9-2 and 14-8 before the Huskies made a run toward the end of the half, taking their first lead at 20-18 on back-to-back scores from Hawes. The Beavers led 24-22 at halftime after Tarver's buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
Oregon State made just 4 of 12 free throws in the first half and were outrebounded 23-12.
The Beavers' started quickly after the half. Oregon State's lead went to nine points on Jack McGillis catch-and-shoot 3, 11 on an alley-oop from Tarver to Jones, and then 13 on McGillis' fast-break layup off a steal to make it 44-31 with 9:13 left.
Brockman made two free throws for the Huskies but Jones countered with a 3 to push the lead to 14. That proved too big a deficit for Washington to recover from, and it got no closer than six points.
The Beavers entered the game two losses away from becoming the first Oregon State squad to lose 20 games since 2000-01. The Beavers had 14 steals, with four apiece from Tarver and Washington, and shot 42 free throws.
The Beavers led 9-2 and 14-8 before the Huskies made a run toward the end of the half, taking their first lead at 20-18 on back-to-back scores from Hawes. The Beavers led 24-22 at halftime after Tarver's buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
Oregon State made just 4 of 12 free throws in the first half and were outrebounded 23-12.
The Beavers' started quickly after the half. Oregon State's lead went to nine points on Jack McGillis catch-and-shoot 3, 11 on an alley-oop from Tarver to Jones, and then 13 on McGillis' fast-break layup off a steal to make it 44-31 with 9:13 left.
Brockman made two free throws for the Huskies but Jones countered with a 3 to push the lead to 14. That proved too big a deficit for Washington to recover from, and it got no closer than six points.
Huskies take on Oregon State
We have been saying this for weeks, Washington cannot afford to lose anymore games if they want to get to the NCAA Tournament without having to win the Pacific Ten Tournament. It sounds like a broken record because since we have said that the Huskies have lost three games, and they are still in it if they win the next four because of the chaos around them in the conference. Winning the next four is still no guarantee, the Dawg's have to win 1-2 at the Pac Ten Tourney, but hope still floats.
Up tonight is a game on the road Oregon State (2-13) who represents the most manageable obstacle in the way. The Beaver's simply aren't good, and while they do play hard like fellow cellar dweller ASU they lack the talent to compete in this league. Washington of course has stunk on the road pretty much all year, but the Huskies should be able to get by these guy's with ease tonight if they are not looking ahead to Oregon on Saturday.
I think Brockman, Hawes, and the rest of the team are on a mission right now. These guy's have something to prove, and the next four games are going to give them the opportunity.
This is a very winnable series for Washington. They beat both teams at home earlier in the year, and the Duck's have been in a tailspin ever since that series.
Up tonight is a game on the road Oregon State (2-13) who represents the most manageable obstacle in the way. The Beaver's simply aren't good, and while they do play hard like fellow cellar dweller ASU they lack the talent to compete in this league. Washington of course has stunk on the road pretty much all year, but the Huskies should be able to get by these guy's with ease tonight if they are not looking ahead to Oregon on Saturday.
I think Brockman, Hawes, and the rest of the team are on a mission right now. These guy's have something to prove, and the next four games are going to give them the opportunity.
This is a very winnable series for Washington. They beat both teams at home earlier in the year, and the Duck's have been in a tailspin ever since that series.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Pac Ten Alley
It is that time of the week again when we take a stroll down Pac Ten Alley to see what is going on with the other Pac Ten school's. This is a time of the year when the focus has shifted almost completely to basketball unless you are a Cal fan, then the focus is on Native American burial grounds.
The Pac-10 beginning to respond to USC's dominance according to Ivan Maisel.
Get ready for a guffaw, you self-righteous defenders of the Big Ten Conference. Time to reposition that chip on your shoulder, you myopic denizens of the SEC. If there's a conference that is the answer to what's next, it is the Pac-10.
The proposed site of California's new athletic complex is now being called an ancient Native American burial ground by the protesters.
Tree-sitting protesters who oppose a massive, $125 million development project in the area of the University of California, Berkeley football stadium said Tuesday that the area is a burial ground for indigenous tribes.
On the Oregon State blog they are sizing up the seed's in the Pac Ten Tournament.
Oregon State would draw Cal, which sits well with me. Out of Washington and Cal, (who are in a tie for seventh place right now, we had to use tiebreakers) I would feel much more comfortable playing Cal, a team we have played tough in both games. Cal is relatively small, compared to Washington, who is quite large.
At Oregon, the Duck Basketball team is in a late season free fall. Can you say Mark Few? If the Duck's don't get to the dance I doubt Ernie Kent sticks around.
Oregon (20-7, 8-7) has lost six of eight games overall and will try to recover with three home games to end the season.
At UCLA the Bruins are focussing on becoming the West's #1 seed.
Anyways thanks to Coach Howland I do believe in taking one game at a time, and working to get the number 1 seed out West. That is really all I want for now: the number 1 seed out west. Once we get that we will put ourselves in a decent spot to make a run. NCAA tournament is a crapshoot as you all know. But getting the number 1 seed will help our cause and it will also mean that we had a pretty good regular season.
The Cougars are still in the hunt for the conference championship.
Paint Thursday's game at Oregon as the first of maybe only two remaining "must wins" for the Cougs until the NCAA tournament. Here are a few quick rambles for "the nation" to consider...
Arizona's Marcus Williams by way of Seattle's Roosevelt HS may enter the draft as a sophomore since he is projected to be a first rounder.
“I don’t think about that right now,’’ Williams said. “Hopefully, we have 14 games left – five Pac-10 games, three in the conference tournament and six in the NCAA Tournament. That’s the thing that helps me not think about it at all.’’
Stanford has been able to overcome the loss so far of Anthony Goods.
Stanford’s Anthony Goods has been out two games with a sprained ankle.
Herb Sendek has been making some progress at ASU.
The concensus has been that ASU is better than their record and opponents have been leaving Tempe with respect for the Devils. The scores have been close, but I have been wondering how close they are to being a good team.
The Pac-10 beginning to respond to USC's dominance according to Ivan Maisel.
Get ready for a guffaw, you self-righteous defenders of the Big Ten Conference. Time to reposition that chip on your shoulder, you myopic denizens of the SEC. If there's a conference that is the answer to what's next, it is the Pac-10.
The proposed site of California's new athletic complex is now being called an ancient Native American burial ground by the protesters.
Tree-sitting protesters who oppose a massive, $125 million development project in the area of the University of California, Berkeley football stadium said Tuesday that the area is a burial ground for indigenous tribes.
On the Oregon State blog they are sizing up the seed's in the Pac Ten Tournament.
Oregon State would draw Cal, which sits well with me. Out of Washington and Cal, (who are in a tie for seventh place right now, we had to use tiebreakers) I would feel much more comfortable playing Cal, a team we have played tough in both games. Cal is relatively small, compared to Washington, who is quite large.
At Oregon, the Duck Basketball team is in a late season free fall. Can you say Mark Few? If the Duck's don't get to the dance I doubt Ernie Kent sticks around.
Oregon (20-7, 8-7) has lost six of eight games overall and will try to recover with three home games to end the season.
At UCLA the Bruins are focussing on becoming the West's #1 seed.
Anyways thanks to Coach Howland I do believe in taking one game at a time, and working to get the number 1 seed out West. That is really all I want for now: the number 1 seed out west. Once we get that we will put ourselves in a decent spot to make a run. NCAA tournament is a crapshoot as you all know. But getting the number 1 seed will help our cause and it will also mean that we had a pretty good regular season.
The Cougars are still in the hunt for the conference championship.
Paint Thursday's game at Oregon as the first of maybe only two remaining "must wins" for the Cougs until the NCAA tournament. Here are a few quick rambles for "the nation" to consider...
Arizona's Marcus Williams by way of Seattle's Roosevelt HS may enter the draft as a sophomore since he is projected to be a first rounder.
“I don’t think about that right now,’’ Williams said. “Hopefully, we have 14 games left – five Pac-10 games, three in the conference tournament and six in the NCAA Tournament. That’s the thing that helps me not think about it at all.’’
Stanford has been able to overcome the loss so far of Anthony Goods.
Stanford’s Anthony Goods has been out two games with a sprained ankle.
Herb Sendek has been making some progress at ASU.
The concensus has been that ASU is better than their record and opponents have been leaving Tempe with respect for the Devils. The scores have been close, but I have been wondering how close they are to being a good team.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The Tuesday Question
Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight doesn't like the new rule that say's HS players have to spend at least one year in college before being eligible for the NBA draft.
"Because now you can have a kid come to school for a year and play basketball and he doesn't even have to go to class," Knight said Monday, a day before his team plays at 19th-ranked Texas. "He certainly doesn't have to go to class the second semester. I'm not exactly positive about the first semester. But he would not have to attend a single class the second semester to play through the whole second semester of basketball."
"That, I think, has a tremendous effect on the integrity of college sports."
So the Tuesday Question courtesy of Coach Knight is:
Are kid's like Spencer Hawes, Greg Oden, and Kevin Durrant essentially one year rental players getting seasoned for the NBA, or are they real students who are mandated to go to class, and make progress towards a degree while they are in school?
"Because now you can have a kid come to school for a year and play basketball and he doesn't even have to go to class," Knight said Monday, a day before his team plays at 19th-ranked Texas. "He certainly doesn't have to go to class the second semester. I'm not exactly positive about the first semester. But he would not have to attend a single class the second semester to play through the whole second semester of basketball."
"That, I think, has a tremendous effect on the integrity of college sports."
So the Tuesday Question courtesy of Coach Knight is:
Are kid's like Spencer Hawes, Greg Oden, and Kevin Durrant essentially one year rental players getting seasoned for the NBA, or are they real students who are mandated to go to class, and make progress towards a degree while they are in school?
Monday, February 19, 2007
The Monday Morning Wash
Tough week if you are a Husky basketball fan after two very close losses to two top ten teams. UW should have won both games, but handling the ball, and getting shots to drop in the last few minutes of the game have been the problem for the Dawg's.Despite the two tough losses the team is actually getting better, and could cause some problems in the Pac Ten tournament because they can beat anyone on a given night. What's up next is a series on the road in Oregon, followed by USC, and UCLA at home. Even if UW wins out it is becoming very doubtful that they will get an invitation to the big dance unless they win the tournament.
Washington is really only a player, or two away right now from becoming what they were supposed to be, and that is a top ten team that can contend for all the marbles. I like Appleby, but he is a real defensive liability who is one dimensional on offense, and Dentmon while showing some flashes, isn't a point guard, he is more suited to the two spot. The loss of Joel Smith has really hurt this team, but even if they had him they still needed someone to run the point.
Next year's recruiting class while impressive does not include immediate help at point guard because Isaiah Thomas is going to have to do another year in prep school to get eligible. You have to wonder if Romar tries to bring in some JC help to solve the problem for next years team.
Marv Harshman's last Washington teams had similar problem's, great front court including the amazing versatility of Detlef Schrempf, but the lack of a true point guard kept that team from going to the Final Four.
I have to agree with Romar...the team is making progress, and is a lot better despite the losses then they were a month ago. It wasn't that long ago that a possible 18-20 win BB season was out of reach, now it seems to be a disappointment. It will be an interesting final three week's, and I am not ready to count these kid's out yet even though they are basically on life support.
Oregon State, and Oregon up Next
The Huskies play on Thursday in Corvallis against the meager Beaver's, and then head down the road to Eugene to play the Duck's on Saturday. I think UW comes out, and sweeps this series to keep a glimmer of hope going concerning the tournament. The Duck's earlier this year were one of the hottest teams in the country, but after being swept on their Washington trip they have been decidedly slumping. The PIT of course is one of the toughest places to play in the country, but I think we are due for a road win over a quality team.
Weekly Husky Poll
We asked the question who will lead the Huskies in rushing on 2007, and the readers winner is Louis Rankin.
Michael Houston was the early leader but since there is a pretty good chance he won't be with us next year, the readers reversed, and went with the senior, Louis Rankin. Still no official word from a credible source concerning Houston's future which makes me think that he still has a chance to stick around.
I like some of the skill set that Louis Rankin brings to the table, but he just hasn't proven to be an every down back, and he has worn down significantly by mid season every year since he has been on the squad.
I have seen Hasty play in HS, and he can be a player, but I think it is going to be difficult for him to regain the momentum he had on the scout team when he arrived. Did James lose speed during his layoff when he couldn't afford to lose any? Hasty will be an interesting player to watch this Spring.
Hasty is a kid that could end up at Safety if enough of the frosh beat him out. Curtis Williams, who started his career off at UW as a highly touted RB ended up as a Safety. Curtis had some personal obstacles to overcome before he hit the lineup just like JR.
So that all being said I have to go with one of the Frosh, and I am picking Curtis Shaw who seems to have the most complete skill set of the incoming frosh....just a wild guess, but I really like all five of the kids they brought in this year at RB, and Shaw just comes to mind first.
Spring Sports get off to early start
The Husky Baseball, and Softball seasons started with games in California this week. It is mid February, which isn't exactly Spring at all. The Northern teams tend to head to California to get an early start and try to stay competitive with their Southern cousins.
Junior Caitlin Noble tossed a one-hitter vs. Florida A&M and sophomore Danielle Lawrie struck out a UW record 20 batters vs. USF Sunday as Washington picked up a pair of wins at the USF Wilson Invitational.
Cal Poly scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to complete a series sweep of the Washington baseball team with a 5-4 win Sunday at Baggett Stadium.
The Husky baseball team's May 4 game against Oregon State has been moved to Safeco Field. If I was in Seattle I would try to take that one in as the Huskies play the defending national champions. I think OSU winning the national championship in baseball, with basically a locally recruited team was one of the stories of the year.
Oregon Hires Booster as AD
The University of Oregon has turned to prominent booster Pat Kilkenny to serve as athletic director for the next two years. One of his priorities will be getting a new basketball arena back on track. Kilkenny, who spent 22 years transforming a small San Diego insurance firm into a $1 billion business, was named Wednesday as the UO's new athletic director, succeeding Bill Moos.
Since 1998, Kilkenny has given $1 million for the construction of the Moshofsky Center practice facility, $1 million for the expansion of Autzen Stadium and $1.5 million for architect's plans for a basketball arena.
Hiring a major booster with no experience to run a college athletic program? We will watch this closely to see hot it plays out. Here is a humorous articles on the subject from The Register Guard.
I have to think this is a solid step towards sanctions at Oregon, and you have to wonder if the President of the University has the ball's to stand up to the booster's since they basically just took control of the entire sports program.
Boise State giving Petersen a Raise
If Boise State football coach Chris Petersen manages to guide the Broncos to another season like last year, his salary will climb above the $1 million mark. But the contract he has agreed to first has to be approved by the state Board of Education, which meets Thursday. Details of the five-year, $4.25 million contract were posted on the board's Web site. It calls for Petersen to receive $850,000 a year. If the Broncos win 12 games, he will receive an additional $161,500. Another $100,000 will be added if the team wins another Bowl Championship Series game like it did at the end of last season.
Boise is expanding their stadium in phases similar to OSU, and moving there coach up to the major league's salary wise. Most observers don't think this school will ever get invited to play in the Pac Ten, but they are building a successful program brick, by brick in this mid sized, and growing Idaho city.
It is all about TV when it come to expansion.
The biggest problem the Bronco's have concerning the Pac Ten is their TV market which is rated only 119th in the country. Reno is #110, Las Vegas #48, Salt Lake is #36, Portland is #23, Denver is #18, while Seattle has climbed to #14.
Omaha of course isn't a huge metropolis, Nebraska has been a national program for over 50 years...they are however only the 75th largest TV market in the country....Spokane, just for comparison is # 77.
At #119 Boise has some work to do, but it will grow a lot quicker in the future than Omaha, or Spokane, but I don't know if Idaho will ever have enough TV sets to be take seriously by the Pac Ten. Still what the Bronco's are doing is pretty remarkable since the school only moved to Division One in the early 90's.
Arkansas AD Frank Broyles to Retire
Frank Broyles announced his retirement Saturday. In 50 years as Arkansas' football coach and athletic director, Broyles built a program with high-profile coaches and top-notch facilities. He told the university's board of trustees Saturday he will retire at the end of the year, ending days of intense speculation about his future. Broyles, a Georgia native, is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. He was a three-sport star at Georgia Tech and compiled a 144-58-5 record as a head football coach. His most memorable season was probably 1964, when the Razorbacks went 11-0 and were named national champions by The Football Writers Association of America.
Broyles is 82 years old, which is 574 in dog years...he probably was good for another couple of years if the sailing was smooth, but the latest recruiting scandals associated with the football team was probably the determining factor in making him decide to hang them up.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Close but No Cigar....Pitt beats UW
Washington played pretty well today, and Spencer had his best rebounding game of the year which was nice to see, but in the end the Huskies lost because they can't handle the ball well enough out on the perimeter. Turnovers once again played a big role, as well, as UW lost 16 to just six for Pitt and the Huskies just couldn't get enough shots to fall.
Washington's talented but inexperienced front line of the 6-foot-10 Hawes and 6-7 Brockman teamed to shut down Aaron Gray, who didn't score or get a rebound for the first 10-plus minutes of the game. Gray, averaging 14.8 points, had scored in double figures for five consecutive games.
But with Gray and 6-10 Levon Kendall (four points) doing little at either end of the court, Pitt coach Jamie Dixon went much of the game with a smaller but quicker lineup in which 6-6 sophomore Young took Kendall's place and the 6-1 Ramon played guard. Young and the 6-4 Cook gave Washington matchup problems, and they helped Pitt rally and take a 31-28 halftime lead even with Gray neutralized.
Washington still hasn't beaten a top 10 team on the road since defeating Kansas on Dec. 14, 1974, losing 32 in a row over than span.
Washington's talented but inexperienced front line of the 6-foot-10 Hawes and 6-7 Brockman teamed to shut down Aaron Gray, who didn't score or get a rebound for the first 10-plus minutes of the game. Gray, averaging 14.8 points, had scored in double figures for five consecutive games.
But with Gray and 6-10 Levon Kendall (four points) doing little at either end of the court, Pitt coach Jamie Dixon went much of the game with a smaller but quicker lineup in which 6-6 sophomore Young took Kendall's place and the 6-1 Ramon played guard. Young and the 6-4 Cook gave Washington matchup problems, and they helped Pitt rally and take a 31-28 halftime lead even with Gray neutralized.
Washington still hasn't beaten a top 10 team on the road since defeating Kansas on Dec. 14, 1974, losing 32 in a row over than span.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
UW takes on Pittsburgh Saturday
This was supposed to be a late season tune up to get the Huskies ready for the rigors of the NCAA tournament. What it has become is a potentially unavoidable dark hole which the Huskies might be unable to climb out of if they are going to get into the tournament. After the loss to WSU on Wednesday the Huskies are faced with having to win out the rest of the way, or win the Pac Ten Tournament to be able to return to March Madness.
Pitt is ranked #7 in the country and had won 12 of it's last 13 games before falling to Louisville at home 66-53 on Monday. Over the last six years, Pitt has been the most successful Big East Conference basketball program. From 2001-07, Pitt owns the league's best records for league play (69-22) and overall games (155-36). Pitt is the only Big East Conference school to win 20 or more overall games and 10 or more league contests in each of the last six seasons. Pitt also set a school record with its sixth consecutive 20-overall win and 10-league win season. Prior to the 2001-02 season, Pitt won 20 or more games in only two consecutive seasons. It marks Pitt's 13th all-time 20-win season. Pitt is 14-2 at home this season.
Pitt center Aaron Gray is the guy the Huskies need to stop on Saturday to have any chance of winning. Louisville was able to do that by utilizing a 2-3 zone which put the game on the shoulders of the permeter players. Hawes, and Brockman should be able to give the 7'0 senior a game. Look for this game to be physical, and won on the inside. These two teams match up well, even though Pitt has an edge in experience. Both teams tend to flounder when they can't get the ball inside. Pitt had 15 turnovers in the first half against Louisville, does that sound familiar?
Pitt is ranked #7 in the country and had won 12 of it's last 13 games before falling to Louisville at home 66-53 on Monday. Over the last six years, Pitt has been the most successful Big East Conference basketball program. From 2001-07, Pitt owns the league's best records for league play (69-22) and overall games (155-36). Pitt is the only Big East Conference school to win 20 or more overall games and 10 or more league contests in each of the last six seasons. Pitt also set a school record with its sixth consecutive 20-overall win and 10-league win season. Prior to the 2001-02 season, Pitt won 20 or more games in only two consecutive seasons. It marks Pitt's 13th all-time 20-win season. Pitt is 14-2 at home this season.
Pitt center Aaron Gray is the guy the Huskies need to stop on Saturday to have any chance of winning. Louisville was able to do that by utilizing a 2-3 zone which put the game on the shoulders of the permeter players. Hawes, and Brockman should be able to give the 7'0 senior a game. Look for this game to be physical, and won on the inside. These two teams match up well, even though Pitt has an edge in experience. Both teams tend to flounder when they can't get the ball inside. Pitt had 15 turnovers in the first half against Louisville, does that sound familiar?
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Huskies Fall in Close One to Cougars
The Cougars held a 40-32 lead at the half and outrebounded the Huskies 15-13. Washington however hung in throughout the second half but the Cougar's pulled it out in a game that went down to the last seconds left on the clock.
WSU's Taylor Rochestie scored a season-high 16 points off the bench and Derrick Low hit two free throws with 16.7 seconds left to help Washington State beat Washington 65-61. Freshman center Spencer Hawes had 22 points and sophomore forward Jon Brockman added 15 for the Huskies.
Tough loss for Washington tonight against a very tough team that will do well in the Big Dance. The Cougars are the masters of tempo, and it showed once again tonight as they controlled the rythym in a closely fought contest. The Huskies had their chances to win this one, but couldn't put down shots over the last three minutes of the game as the Cougars shut out the inside.
For Washington it is time to go back on the road with an intersectional contest against Pittsburgh this weekend, and two next week in Oregon. The Huskies better bring their brooms to the Willamette Valley if they want to stay alive. Things get even tougher as they close the season at home against UCLA, and USC.
WSU's Taylor Rochestie scored a season-high 16 points off the bench and Derrick Low hit two free throws with 16.7 seconds left to help Washington State beat Washington 65-61. Freshman center Spencer Hawes had 22 points and sophomore forward Jon Brockman added 15 for the Huskies.
Tough loss for Washington tonight against a very tough team that will do well in the Big Dance. The Cougars are the masters of tempo, and it showed once again tonight as they controlled the rythym in a closely fought contest. The Huskies had their chances to win this one, but couldn't put down shots over the last three minutes of the game as the Cougars shut out the inside.
For Washington it is time to go back on the road with an intersectional contest against Pittsburgh this weekend, and two next week in Oregon. The Huskies better bring their brooms to the Willamette Valley if they want to stay alive. Things get even tougher as they close the season at home against UCLA, and USC.
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