SB Nation - Venoy Overton

Sleeping With The Enemy: Meet The Washington Huskies

CasualHoya — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:15:09 -0000

Well, it's nearly mid-December and the Georgetown Hoyas are still an undefeated nationally ranked powerhouse. Woo-hoo! The Hoyas have won with ease in the friendly confines of Verizon (assuming the Temple game never happened), and have vanquished foes outside of the nation's capital, traveling down to New Orleans and thrashing the Green Wave, crushing the souls of the Tigers of Savannah State, and just this week returning to the World's Most Famous Arena to serve nuts on the Bulldogs of Butler. Next up on the schedule will likely be the Hoyas' toughest test yet, a date with the 17th ranked Washington Huskies in the Wooden Classic in Anaheim. We here at Casual Hoya realize that you are all likely in bed or passed out by the time the Huskies and their Pac-10 foes usually take the court, so in this version of Sleeping With The Enemy we're telling you what you need to know about our opponent to the West. Special thanks to my main man Anthony Cassino over at SBNation's own UWDawgpound for answering our penetrating questions about U-Dub. Anthony Cassino, this bud's for you.

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CH: What are Washington's strengths and weaknesses? Who are the best shooters? Rebounders?

Under Lorenzo Romar the Huskies have made their living on the offensive glass. For each of the last five years the team has been in the top 8 nationally, and this year we're sitting at second. Teams that let UW pound the offensive boards usually get beaten. The team's core is the two headed monster of Isaiah Thomas and Quincy Pondexter, who are both averaging over 20 points per game.

The two big weaknesses that this team has are perimeter shooting and size. Isaiah Thomas' shooting is much improved from last season, but can still be pretty inconsistent. Elston Turner is a talented sophomore guard and is probably the team's best shooter, but beyond those two guys there's not a single player I'd want shooting from deep unless there isn't a defender within 10 feet. Inside the Huskies have Matthew Bryan-Amaning and not a whole lot else. He's got talent, but gets into foul trouble frequently and usually disappears when playing a quality team. Matching up against Monroe is going to be a real test of his progress. Behind him the only true post player on the roster is Tyreese Breshers, who sat out last year with an injury and is still working himself back into shape, so he can't really be counted on for more than 15 minutes a game.

A weakness that Georgetown may exploit is that the Huskies tend to overplay on the perimeter a lot, which leaves them vulnerable to backdoor cuts. The best rebounder on the team is Quincy Pondexter who is averaging 9.6 a game. He's not the tallest guy, but he's strong, quick and athletic and has the ability to beat guys to the ball, and scores more than his share of second chance points.

CH: In the 1992 movie Singles, Steve (played casually by Campbell Scott) has a grand vision of a "supertrain" for Seattle - it will cut down on traffic and be good for the environment. He explains the idea to his friend, who nods in approval, then hesitantly replies, "But I love my car." Steve eventually gets a meeting with the mayor (played casually by Tom Skerritt), where he explains the great benefits of the supertrain. The mayor is silent for a moment, then says, "People love their cars" and the supertrain dream is dead. Question: How do you feel about a supertrain?

The supertrain is actually underway. Admittedly, I've never seen Singles, so I'm not sure what the vision was, but this past summer light rail was implemented which runs from downtown Seattle to Tukwila, near the airport. It's still in its infant stages, but the plan is to add to it until it services a large portion of the city. I guess Singles was just ahead of its time.

CH: Have you ever looked at your roster and shuddered because you have a player named Isaiah Thomas? How good is your Isaiah and what can teams do defensively to cause him problems?

I can't say I've ever shuddered, but it does get annoying how every nationally televised game they have to tell the story of how he got his name. I feel like Ive heard it about 50 times, and he's only a sophomore. Just so you know what to expect: his dad lost a bet, and his mom was ok with it because Isaiah is a biblical name.

How good is our Isaiah? Very good. Despite being listed at just 5-8, the kid knows how to attack the rim. He's one of the quickest players in college hoops, and I've really yet to see a defender who can stay in front of him. He likes to get into the lane and initiate contact to get to the free throw line, where he's improved his accuracy and is over 80% on the year.
If you had asked me last year how to stop Thomas I'd say to back off and make him beat you with his jumper, but he put in the work over the offseason and is shooting 39.5% from range this season. If it were me, I'd put a longer defender on him and make him work to shoot tough shots in the lane. He can also be a bit bullish when he's in attack mode and doesn't pass as often as he should, so a team effort of rotating a shotblocker over to help when he makes his move would probably work as well.

CH: Last year the Pac-10 sent six teams to the NCAA Tournament but this year only one team is ranked in the Top 25. Why the stark difference? Will the Pac-10 rebound or will this be the down year that was supposed to have happened last year?

Over the last three years the Pac-10 has had more lottery and first round picks than any other conference. And being the smallest of the Big-6 conferences, that's just not sustainable and the bottom had to fall out at some point. That point is this year. It also doesn't help that there's been a lot of coaching turnover; half of the conference's coaches are in their first or second year. This is absolutely the down year that many predicted, and it may even be worse than most thought it'd be with UCLA looking absolutely pathetic early on.

More fun with 'Sleeping' after The Jump:

CH: Seattle has become a prep basketball hotbed in recent years and with Cameron Dollar as a lead assistant, UW was able to string together several impressive recruits (while missing out on some big names, such as Jamal Crawford). As Dollar has moved on to be the head coach at Seattle U, how will recruiting change at UW?

It's not just Seattle, its all of Western Washington. There's only one Seattle player (Venoy Overton) on the team, but there are three Tacoma kids (Isaiah Thomas, Abdul Gaddy and Clarence Trent). ESPN's #1 high school prospect in last year's class (Avery Bradley) is from Tacoma as well. There are some kids from Kent who are big time recuits, incluing Josh Smith, one of the top players in the 2010 class.

I don't see recruiting changing all that much with the loss of Cameron Dollar. At the end of the day Washington is a school with a lot going for it: plays an uptempo style that many recruits want, located in a great city, big conference, players from the school have had success in the NBA, and the players really love Coach Romar. The man brought in to replace Dollar, Raphael Chillious, has already used his recruiting ability to help get a commitment from Enes Kanter, a member of the Turkish U-18 national team currently attending prep school in California.

CH: UW's now cancelled series with Gonzaga UW's has all the pigheadedness of Maryland refusing to play Georgetown. Back when Gonzaga was just a lowly WCC team, the series was a no-win for UW but now that they are a legitimate Top 25 fixture, why wouldn't the teams man up and agree to a home-and-home series?

Back in October, UW proposed a 3 game series with Gonzaga with all games being played at the nuetral site of Key Arena. Gonzaga shot the deal down and didn't make a counter offer. The Huskies thought it would be a good deal because both schools would make a ton of money, but Gonzaga didn't want to travel to the west side of the state three straight years.

The reason these teams won't be meeting any time soon is that Lorenzo Romar and Mark Few simply don't like each other. Back in the early portion of the decade Few tattled on Cameron Dollar for violations in recruiting, which cost UW a shot at signing both Marvin Williams and Josh Heytvelt. The blood has been bad ever since then and I wouldn't be surprised if the series remains dead as long as the two coaches hold their positions.

CH: The city of Seattle was able to enjoy former Hoya, Jeff Green, for one year before the Sonics' outlandishly greedy owners moved the team to that basketball hotbed, Oklahoma City. 2 questions: What's the best memory of Green as a Sonic and will Seattle ever get another NBA team?

I remember being really excited about that draft, getting Green and Kevin Durant. It was a fun draft day, but once the season rolled around I couldn't bring myself to watch them play. I didn't want to get attached to those young players when it was so obvious that the team was going to be taken away.

I don't see Seattle getting another NBA team. It's not financially viable at Key Arena, so someone would have to step up and build a brand new arena for an NBA team. Taxpayers won't want to help out, as they've already chipped in on Safeco Field and Quest Field, and are likely going to be hit up on a Husky Stadium renovation within a couple years. If the NBA does come back to the great state of Washington, it won't be anytime soon, and I'd be shocked to see it in my lifetime. It's a shame, because Seattle was an excellent NBA city.

CH: UW's heart and soul for the past 4 years, Jon Brockman, has now moved on and the team has moved to a more perimeter oriented attack. What can we expect from UW?

Expect the Huskies to apply lots of ball pressure to try and force some turnovers and push the ball to dictate tempo. The team is best when games are played at a faster pace, and I don't think they can play a halfcourt game and beat Georgetown. Venoy Overton is one of the best on ball defenders in the nation, and by the end of the game the Hoyas and Hoya fans will hate him. When he's on he alone can dictate the speed of the game through turnovers and forcing opposing point guards to get sloppy, so his play is going to be critical to the team's success.

Offensively, it's no secret that that the ball goes through Isaiah Thomas and Quincy Pondexter. Pondexter is the team's lone senior, and is having far and away his best season. If the Huskies go cold or need a big shot, he's the guy they get the ball to.

CH: Why the hell does Starbucks call its sizes Venti, Grande, Tall rather than Small, Medium, Large?

I have no idea. I think it's an elitist thing though. I'm the minority in that I'm a Washingtonian who doesn't drink coffee. I can't even take the smell of it. And if I did drink coffee, I'd boycott Starbucks after Howard Schultz sold the Sonics to the Oklahoma City Group.

Final score prediction:
Washington 78 Georgetown 74

via i.cdn.turner.com

Casually.

Quincy Pondexter is sort of smart, sort of not

Nuss — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:14:57 -0000

More photos » by Elaine Thompson - AP

QP: Hey Venoy! Guess why I'm smiling? VO: Why? QP: Because I compared you to Kyle Weaver as a defender! Isn't that funny? VO: I don't get it. QP: Well, if I have to explain it to you ...

Browse more photos »

So, my friend Seth alerted me to this recap of a live chat Quincy Pondexter had on Percy Allen's Husky basketball blog at the Seattle Times. Seth's a Husky fan -- and a good guy -- so he thought it would be nice to pass along this little nugget, in case I missed it:

"(Pondexter said) the toughest defenders he's played against are former WSU star Kyle Weaver and Venoy Overton."

Now, I'll go ahead and give him props for singling out Weaver. I mean ... duh -- Weaver is one of the top two defensive guards in the Pac-10 this decade (Darren Collison being the other).

But Overton? Really?

I'm not going to flog Pondexter too much for this. After all, the nature of these live chats is that guys have to come up with off-the-cuff answers to completely random questions, so it can be hard to come up with complete answers that reflect all the information available. That's clearly the case here, but I can't let another person pass along the myth that Overton is some great defender, let alone one that worthy of even being mentioned in the same breath with The Name Above All Other Names.

At the height of his powers, Weaver put up a 4.1 steal percentage (as a junior) -- good enough for 40th nationally. Overton put up a 3.6 mark this past year. That's comparable to Weaver, right?

Unfortunately, that would completely ignore Overton's astoundingly awful 5.2 fouls called per 40 minutes, which begs the obvious question: If he's such a good defender, why does he have to foul so much? Weaver never exceeded 3.2 fouls called per 40 (as a sophomore), and as senior, he only committed 2.3 fouls per 40.

However, come to think of it, I guess I can almost see where Pondexter might put Overton in that class -- he only has to practice against Overton, where there aren't any of those pesky referees there to call any fouls. Of course, Overton and every other Husky will tell you that all those fouls -- all 5.2(!) per 40 minutes of them -- are completely unfair and totally not fouls in the first place ...

via cache.daylife.com

Click on the jump for more of Venoy's greatest "hits"!

via seattletimes.nwsource.com

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via grfx.cstv.com

Poll

Venoy Overton cannot ...

Defend anyone without fouling them

9 votes

Ever shut up

2 votes

Carry Kyle Weaver's unmentionables

14 votes

All of the above

109 votes

134 votes | Poll has closed

#14? Someone Needs to Talk to Jeff Goodman

everydayezag — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:48:13 -0000

I have a daily routine for checking out and keeping updated on the latest college basketball news across the country. This routine includes checking out articles by Jeff Goodman (foxsports), Andy Katz (ESPN), and Gary Parrish (CBS), multiple times per day. While I respect the opinions and thoughts of each, I came away truly baffled by an article that Zach B posted a link to today. In his ranking of the top 20 backcourts in the country, Jeff Goodman had the Gonzaga backcourt ranked #14 in the country. Originally, I figured that is not a horrible ranking, even though I believe that the Zags have a loaded backcourt. However, after looking over the list and the numerous backcourt combinations that Goodman had ranked ahead of Gonzaga, I could hardly contain my shock and frustration. Before I continue on this rant, here is what Goodman had to say about the Gonzaga backcourt.

14. Gonzaga

Backcourt: Matt Bouldin, Steven Gray, Demetri Goodson
Analysis: Bouldin is one of the most underrated guards in the nation and will finally get his due this season. Gray is a big-time shooter, and Goodson gives the Zags a quick, tough point guard.

My first gasp came when I saw the Kentucky Wildcats coming in ranked at #4.

4. Kentucky

Backcourt: John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, Darnell Dodson, DeAndre Liggins
Analysis: Both Wall and Bledsoe are terrific athletes and are more than capable of running a team. Neither is regarded as a great shooter, but they may not need to make perimeter shots with their ability to get to the basket. Dodson is the guy who can really make shots from deep.

Look, I understand the great accomplishments and praise that Eric Beldsoe and John Wall have garnered at the high school level, but lets remember this all occurred at the high school level. Neither is a good shooter, and neither has played against elite competition and smart coaches on a game-by-game basis. So who else does Goodman include to justify this ranking for Kentucky? Should I be shaking because of the 4.2 points that DeAndre Liggins averaged last year (keep in mind that Meech averaged 3.8 points per game, and I don't think he ever took a shot from farther then two feet out)? Or is Darnell Dodson the one that makes this such an elite backcourt? This is the same Darnell Dodson that has been playing JC ball the past two years, and faces many of the same challenges that Bledsoe and Wall will face as they try and get accustomed to the DI pace and quality of play.

While I was certainly surprised and taken off guard by seeing Kentucky that high, my jaw dropped to the floor when I saw UCLA at #9.

9. UCLA

Backcourt: Malcolm Lee, Jerime Anderson, Michael Roll
Analysis: The Bruins' guard tandem of Lee and Anderson may be inexperienced, but they have more than enough talent. Add in the oft-injured Roll, who likes to shoot the ball from long distance, and it's a formidable backcourt.

I automatically assumed that any backcourt that includes Michael Roll as a member couldn't be in the top 10. If I'm not mistaken, this is the same Michael Roll who has never averaged seven points a game, and will be a senior this year. This is the same Michael Roll that has never been healthy and has continually showed a lack of toughness and production throughout his career. Once I moved on from that, I suddenly remembered that Jerime Anderson was the new starting point guard. Just so I could refresh my memory on how poor Jerime Anderson was last year, I chose to look at the stats from his freshman campaign. Last season, Anderson had 42 assists to go along with 36 turnovers (Meech- 54 assists; 34 turnovers). Yet somehow, Goodman assumes that Anderson is going to morph into a starting level PAC 10 point guard. Even with Malcolm Lee, there has been nowhere near the production to match the talent. Lee is a highly skilled guard, but can't shoot the ball at all. He is a nice slasher, but until he develops a consistent jumper, defenders will back off and take away his ability to slash to the hoop.

My final issue with Goodman came on his Gonzaga explanation. First off, if you're going to include all these freshman who have only excelled at the AAU level, how do you not include Mangisto Arop as part of the Gonzaga backcourt? Was his play at the FIBA tournaments against the best in the world not enough to get him some ink? Secondly, when are national writers going to stop labeling Steven Gray as a shooter? As anyone who watched Gonzaga play last year would know, Gray is at his best when he is slashing to the hoop. He has an incredible spring to his step when he is at the rim, and his ability to shoot the ball from deep is a great asset to his ability to get to the rim. If Steven can put it together this year, and I understand that is a BIG if, there aren't many guards in the country I would take over him.

With my venting done and over with, here is how I would rank the top 20 backcourts in the country using the list that Goodman had.

1) Kansas- Assuming they don't start beating each other up and stop getting in fights with the football team, this is the most loaded backcourt in the country.

2) Texas- This group has athleticism, shooting ability, and a great amount of toughness. There are so many different combinations that Rick Barnes can put on the court.

3) Michigan St.- Kalin Lucas is so quick with the ball, and Tom Izzo has great depth and stability to provide depth and talent around Lucas.

4) Ohio St.- Evan Turner is one of the most underrated players in the country, and can play every position in the backcourt at a high level for the Buckeyes.

5) Oklahoma- Willie Warren is arguably the top guard in the country, and his star should shine even brighter with Blake Griffin gone. Mason-Griffin has the luxury that he doesn't have to be "the man" from day one, like the guys at Kentucky do.

6) Connecticut- Everyone should be ready to watch the next great Big East point guard, as this will be Kemba Walker's team for the foreseeable future.

7) Cal- I feel I have continued to underrate the Cal backcourt by dropping them to #7 on this list. Christopher and Randle will be household names come March.

8) Villanova- Scotty Reynolds is about as tough as it gets (although I hate his shot selection), and he is surrounded by great shooters like Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes.

9) Gonzaga- Matt Bouldin has improved every single year he has been on campus at Gonzaga. Steven Gray has shown the potential to dominate at this level, and this year he will be afforded every opportunity to be star. Demetri Goodson just might be ok playing in the spotlight after his performance against WKU last season.

10) Washington- Not many teams can bring a tenacious defender like Venoy Overton off the bench. Overton needs to lose some of the attitude problems he has on the court, but it's a nice option to have a trio like Gaddy, Overton, and Isiah Thomas.

11-20

11) Maryland

12) Ole Miss

13) Kentucky

14) Purdue

15) Xavier

16) Georgetown

17) Missouri

18) UCLA

19) Seton Hall

20) Louisville

WE ARE STILL HERE! (a.k.a: the Washington recap)

BoilerTMill — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:52:53 -0000

I've had about 24 hours to reflect on our great win over Washington now. The glow still hasn't worn off. Not only are we still playing, but I know it is really bothering a lot of people in the media that we are still playing. You could see it yesterday if you read between the lines. We beat a team we supposedly had no chance to beat, but instead the focus was on how we almost blew the game instead of the fact we outplayed a great team. You can even already see how the previews for our sweet 16 game are going to be. Connecticut was the high scoring team on the first weekend. They won both of their games easily, but they were against the lowest seeds they could have possibly faced. We're going to be given no chance against them.

And I am fine with that.

Can we make others cry like this because they didn't think the Old Gold and Black could beat them?

We can put the white jerseys away now unless we meet Arizona in Detroit. We now fill the role of Cinderella as a five seed since 14 of the top 16 seeds are still alive. There are absolutely no expectations from this point forward.

Positives from the Washington game:

JaJuan Johnson - Coach Painter said it best in his post-game presser:

"A lot of people talk about offensive possessions and making shots. It always comes down to making stops," - Matt Painter

The other team cannot beat you if you simply prevent them from scoring. Their talent level, size, strength, speed, ability, and effort does not matter if you prevent them from putting the ball in the basket. Digger and the media do not seem to realize this. Yesterday we saw that in the final minute from Mr. Johnson. I don't care if the final score is 6-4, or1,265,788-1,265,787, as long as we have the higher number at the end it is all that matters. Yes, JaJuan's 22 points were huge, but it was his two blocks that kept us in the lead. When we absolutely needed a basket we were able to give him the ball and he got it. What will make JaJuan so valuable next week is that he can draw a shot-blocker like Hasheem Thabeet away from the basket and free up the lane. He is developing the total package for a big man, and if he stays two more years he will be unstoppable in 2011.

That only means we must do some serious subliminal work on him. This has to be an effort by all Purdue fans to remind him he is not ready for the NBA yet.

Keaton Grant - That had to be one of the quietest double-doubles I have ever seen. In true Purdue fashion, Keaton worked his butt off yesterday. He did all the little things we needed in order to win without drawing attention to himself. Many Washington fans were saying we didn't have the depth needed to hang with them. They predicted we would run out of gas. I didn't even realize we limited out normal eight man rotation to mostly six. Chally played just 7 minutes and Marcus Green was limited to four minutes because of fouls. Keaton was the bench last night, and he was phenomenal in doing so.

Lewis Jackson - I have long talked about unexpected offense. JaJuan, E'Twaun, and Robbie are clearly our primary scorers. We look to them the most, and we are a better team when we get unexpected offense from someone else. LewJack provided that offense yesterday. 11 points is big for him, and with a few more layups dropping he would have been close to 20. His quickness gave us an element few "experts" expected from us. More importantly, he was money from the free throw line. The real question here is: Who will step up in this way for the next game?

Robbie Hummel - We didn't look to Robbie that much on offense. Where he made a huge difference was on the glass. That's what I love about him and everyone else on this team. There is almost zero ego for everyone. Each player is willing to sacrifice personal glory in order to help the team win. Robbie has been our best rebounder of late. I don't care that his scoring has dropped off of late. He is doing all the little things necessary in order to win. This attitude is infectious and if we upset Connecticut, that will be reason #1.

E'Twaun Moore - Yesterday was the first time I saw flashes of the old E'Twaun. Because of that, I have big expectations for him against UConn. I could feel yesterday that he wanted to take that game over. Against Northern Iowa he wanted the ball at the end of the game as well. I know I am not the only one that sensed he has, "the look". Of everyone on the team, I think E'Twaun is most capable of getting red hot and dropping 40 on a team. I have known that since he took the Golden Child Eric Gordon to school in the 2007 Class 4A state title game. He showed glimpses of being on fire against Ohio State last week too. UConn could be that game where he simply goes off.

Bench play - I already talked about Keaton's play, but our bench out-performed theirs. Chally had a big three at a huge moment and didn't do anything wrong when he was in there. Washington, in return, got virtually nothing from its bench. Elston Turner hit a huge 3-pointer, but those were their only bench points. Outside of that they had two assists, three rebounds, and five turnovers from their four bench players. We turned what was supposed to be a strength into a weakness and basically dared Pondexter, Brockman, and Thomas to beat us as a three man team.

Negatives from the Washington game:

The entire second half against Pondexter, Brockman, and Thomas - I am 29 years old and in relatively good shape. I work out 3-4 times per week and can run a 7 minute mile. Seeing those three attack us down the stretch last night left me more exhausted than last week's Big Ten Hoops Day 5K. I give an enormous amount of credit to Washington for not folding when it looked like we were going to run away with this thing. Between the 12 and 8 minute TV timeouts of the second half they trimmed the lead from 11 to 4 and put every Purdue fan in panic mode. I even think we were playing good defense. They simply executed well. Brockman was a beast on the offensive glass and is worthy of all the praise he received before the game. The only post player better than him that I have seen is Blake Griffin. The Thomas vs. LewJack battle was everything it could be. Pondexter could be a Pac-10 POY candidate next season. This team will get better a year from now.

Layups - We need a week's worth of layup drills, like right now. I am tired of penetrating only to see the ball roll off the rim.

Up next:

We are still alive.

Look at those four words for a moment. Right now there are 342 division 1 basketball schools with another 7 going through reclassification to move to division 1. That is 349 schools. Right now, 333 of those schools have absolutely zero chance of winning the 2009 Division 1 men's basketball national championship. Indiana and their five titles cannot win it. Kentucky cannot win it. UCLA cannot win it. Arkansas, California, Cincinnati, Florida, Georgetown, Holy Cross, LaSalle, Loyola-IL, Marquette, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Oregon, San Francisco, Stanford, UNLV, UTEP, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming are all former champions in addition to the above bluebloods. They all have no chance this year of adding to their register.

Purdue can win it.

I know the mere fact that I believe Purdue can win this tournament will instantly discredit me from being a true journalist, but I do not care. Louisville, Arizona, Kansas, Michigan State, Connecticut, Purdue, Missouri, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Xavier, Villanova, Duke, North Carolina, Gonzaga, Syracuse, and Oklahoma are the only teams left that have a chance.

Your conference affiliation does not matter.

Who says who is great in the media does not matter.

Only those 16 schools matter, and we are one of those 16.

Thursday night we play Connecticut at 7:07pm at University of Phoenix Stadium. That is the most important game of the season. Should we win, the victory needs to be viewed as just as important as our win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, because the next game against Memphis or Missouri will then be the most important game of the season. Until around 9:15pm Thursday night, however, only Connecticut exists. That is all we can control, and it should be our sole focus.

We can beat these guys simply because we have a chance to beat these guys. That's should be our sole focus this week.

Look out UConn, here come the Boilers.

No one will give us a chance. Connecticut has won their games by 82 combined points. We have won ours by seven combined points. The 82 is the largest margin of victory for the 16 teams left. The seven is the smallest. The only thing that matters is two though.

We have two wins in this tournament, and so do they.

You WILL respect us by 9:15pm Thursday night, win or lose.

Observations from Day Two in Portland: Gonzaga/UNC is going to be really fun (and other stuff)

Nuss — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:25:19 -0000

On my way back home after staying the night in Portland last night. And to answer SW WA Coug's question, yes, that was fun. Both games were highly entertaining, and you can't ask for anything more than that WKU/Gonzaga finish. Spectacular.

So as not to bury the open tournament thread, click on the link for some of my thoughts from each game.

UW/Purdue

The first thing that needs to be said is that that was a completely different Purdue team than the one that was generally going through the motions on Thursday against Northern Iowa. The Boilers looked inspired on the both ends of the floor, and sometimes that happens when a team gets to the second round. (Isn't that right, Memphis and Villanova?)
I honestly did not anticipate how tough of a matchup Purdue would be for Washington. The Boilers have a lot of length, and that caused problems for the Huskies all day -- not on defense, but on offense, where Purdue could get their shots off whenever they wanted to. And when you're shooting as well as they were in the first half yesterday, you can put a lot of space between you and your opponent pretty quickly. Because of this, I given them a puncher's chance against UConn -- it's not much, but it's more of a chance than I would have given Washington.
Can't say enough about Jon Brockman. That's guy's heart and desire almost singlehandedly kept UW in that game, and I can't help but wonder what's going to happen to them with him gone. Matthew Bryan-Amaning played an absolutely terrible, boneheaded game, and Darnell Gant spends most of his time 15 feet from the basket. They're full of long and talented guys, but the toughness and intelligence most certainly have a long way to go.
Once again, Justin Dentmon was a total non-factor. I can't believe how many shots that guy passed up in those two games. Do you know that in the final nine games of the year, he only shot over 50 percent once -- against Seattle U? And that his percentage of shots also dropped over those final nine games? The book was out -- don't leave him open, stay in his face and make him put the ball on the floor. The Huskies will not miss him next year, as they're better with Elston Turner, a guy who doesn't need to be asked twice to shoot, in the lineup.
All the talk today is about Venoy Overton's four fouls, but that's ignoring the giant pink elephant in the middle of the room: He was having an absolutely horrific defensive day besides that, as his man beat him for penetration repeatedly. The fouls were just making it worse. And thank goodness for referees who finally had the stones to call his fouls. They're not hard fouls, but they're fouls nonetheless. I think Overton believes his own myth and has forgotten that his first priority needs to be staying in front of people, something he didn't do very well yesterday.
I honestly felt kind of bad for about a half-second for Isaiah Thomas when he blew that layup, because he was the other reason the Huskies were able to come back. That kid is a stone-cold scorer without a conscience, and as a hoops fan I could appreciate the way he took over that game. It would have been fitting for him to tie it like that. But then I remembered I don't like Washington. And I didn't feel bad anymore.
I know Lorenzo Romar was coach of the year in the Pac-10, but I think he made a big blunder yesterday. Sometimes coaches get married to routine, and I think Romar was guilty of that to a degree yesterday. He just went with his normal substitution patterns early in the second half, sending Thomas to the bench just as the Huskies were really coming back. Thomas was the only one giving any offense, and I think they needed to ride that horse as long as possible. Also, he continued to stick with Dentmon, despite his passivity, and Bryan-Amaning, despite his repeated brain farts. I just don't think Romar did everything he could to put his team in the best position to win yesterday.

Gonzaga/WKU

Yes, it was as entertaining in person as it was on TV -- probably even more so. You probably could hear it on the broadcast, but lots of "oooohs" and "aaaaahs" whenever Mendez-Valdez and Slaughter hit another ridiculous shot. And the pace was just insane. Pomeroy's got it at 71 possesssions, but boy did it seem like more than that. (Probably because it wasn't inflated by any last-minute fouling.) Both teams were running at every opportunity, and were not afraid to take the first quasi-decent shot that presented itself. Too fun.
Grady sent me a text last night about Gonzaga's 3-point defense and noted a similar thing on the blog last night. Honestly, it sure looked to me like many of those shots were contested and that WKU was just shooting at an unreal clip. But maybe that's just the way it seemed from the top of the arena. Plus, WKU shot 61.3 eFG% -- Gonzaga's highest allowed this year, but only the Toppers' fourth highest of the year. I think you just kind of have to give credit where credit is due on that one.
In that same vein, Gonzaga's defense looked much better last night than it did on Thursday. Part of it probably was Western Kentucky settling for a lot of outside shots, but the Bulldogs just seemed a little more inspired on that end of the floor. My guess? They knew that a good defensive possession was likely going to result in an opportunity to run the other direction, and nothing motivates running teams like that carrot.
The end of that game is one of the many reasons why I hate coaches being allowed to call timeouts. They're not on the floor (or at least shouldn't be) and are already too much a part of the college game with all of their incessant micromanaging. Plus, you run the risk of an official in a very loud arena not hearing or seeing them, and you get stuck with people talking just a little bit less about what a great game it was because the coach was trying to call timeout.
Matt Bouldin is playing really, really well right now. He always seemed to me to have a tendency to disappear in big games. But for my money he was the unsung hero on Thursday, and of course came up big last night. I haven't watched Gonzaga enough to say this with 100 percent certainty, but he's the one guy on that team who really seems to understand the game and who actually tries to play some defense.
Last thing. I absolutely cannot wait for the Gonzaga/UNC matchup this week. Neither team even really attempts to play much defense, and both are going to run at every possible opportunity. Look for that game to be close to 80 possessions, first one to 90 points wins. Should be an incredibly entertaining game.

Know thy NCAA Tournament Opponent Round 2: Washington Huskies.

BoilerTMill — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:00:11 -0000

Before getting into a preview of our possible second round opponent in Washington, John Berkowitz from the SBNation blog UW Dawg Pound agreed to answer a few questions about the Huskies for me. Here is what John has to say about the potential Boilers-Huskies matchup:

This isn't the Rose Bowl now. You're playing our game.

Hammer & Rails: With two bowl games and a four game series in the early 90's, Purdue fans are very familiar with the Husky football program. Basketball is a bit of a mystery though. Purdue is 3-1 all-time against UW and hasn't played them since a strange 2 game series in Seattle on December 8th and 9th way back in 1967. What can you tell us about this year's Husky squad other than they are Pac-10 champs?

UW Dawg Pound: I'm actually old enough to kind of remember that two game series in 1967. I have no idea why they did that. This year's squad can be described as a very blue collar unit. UW is the leading rebounding team in the Pac 10 and one of the leaders in rebounding margin nationally. If you don't hit the boards you won't beat Washington. The Huskies play aggressively on defense and apply a lot of pressure on opposing guards. We have a nine man rotation so we tend to wear teams down. The team is led in scoring by PG Isaiah Thomas, SG Justin Dentmon, PF Jon Brockman, and SF Quincy Pondexter. UW isn't a great outside shooting team. They like to penetrate on offense and it all revolves around Jon Brockman who leads the Pac 10 in career double-doubles pounding it out inside.

H&R: In just taking a quick look at the statistics your squad reminds me a lot of our second round opponent last year in Xavier. They were very balanced with four players in double figures. How do you expect this to match up well with our known defensive prowess?

UWDP: We have a lot of depth and speed at the guard position which tends to help negate tough defenses. Since we are a great rebounding team we get a lot of second and third chances on offense which is good because we aren't exactly a great shooting team.

H&R: I know Washington was not on the short list of Pac-10 favorites this year, especially after a loss to Valpo in last year's CBI. At what point did this begin to feel like a special season for you?

UWDP: We didn't start the season well losing to Portland, Kansas, and Florida State in December. I think most of us felt that special feeling after the first half of conference play when we had a two game lead in conference play. Sweeping the LA schools in Seattle was probably the point where we thought this team was tournament bound.

H&R: This game could be a case of East Coast Bias vs. Big Ten Disrespect when it comes to the media. Which of those do you think is a bigger issue?

UWDP: I don't think it really matters since the game will be played in Portland which gives UW a home court advantage. These games come and go so quickly at this point of the tournament that the media isn't much of a factor. It isn't like the buildup that comes with a Rose Bowl game.

H&R: Finally, what does Washington absolutely need to do to beat Purdue, and what must Purdue do in order to beat Washington?

UWDP: Washington needs to out-rebound the Boilermakers and put pressure on your guards to create mistakes which result in points. Washington's depth on defense is always a factor and it tends to tire teams out late in the second half. Purdue needs to counter the aforementioned and also counter Washington's strength inside by shooting the ball well from the outside. A blizzard of three's from the outside always loosens things up. Washington's guards will pressure the heck out of you and the deep rotation allows them to do that for 40 full minutes. Most importantly Purdue needs to stay out of foul trouble and take away UW's tempo.

Thanks John! I'm looking forward to Saturday.

Washington Huskies

Record: 25-8, 14-4 Pac-10 (regular season champions)

NCAA Tournament Appearances: 14 (first since 2006)

All-Time NCAA Record: 14-14 (best finish: Final Four in 1953)

All-Time Record vs. Purdue: 1-3 (lost last meeting 84-77 on 12/9/1967 in Seattle)

2008-09 common opponents: None

Notable games vs. 2008-09 NCAA Tournament teams: Kansas (L 73-54), Oklahoma State (W 83-65), Portland State W (84-83), Morgan State (W 81-67), California (L 88-85, L 86-71), USC (W 78-73, W 60-51), UCLA (W 86-75, L 85-67), Arizona State (W 84-71, W 73-70, L 75-65), Arizona (L 106-97, W 83-78)

2007-08 record: 16-17, 7-11 Pac-10 (Lost to Valparaiso 72-71 in CBI tournament)

Blog Representation: UW Dawg Pound

By seeding nature, a 4/5 nature is usually one of the most competitive second round games. We are a major conference tournament champion and they are a regular season winner of a major conference. We each have 25 regular season wins. Both teams are tournament tested, as the Huskies (counting Mississippi State) will be 10-7 against NCAA teams. Our record against NCAA Tournament teams if we beat Northern Iowa: 10-7.

As John mentioned, Washington stumbled out of the gate in losing three of their first five games. I do give them credit for having the guts to open the season with a true road game at Portland, though it ended in an 80-74 loss. The Huskies followed that 2-3 start with a nine game winning streak. They truly earned their Pac-10 championship as that conference is the only major conference that has a true round-robin home and away format. Washington grabbed at least a split with everyone except California, which is a major reason why the Golden Bears are dancing as well.

Statistically, Washington reminds me a lot of our second round opponent last year, Xavier. They feature four guys who average in double figures and take care of most of the scoring. Isaiah Thomas (15.4 ppg, 2.5 apg) leads them as a slashing point guard. As mentioned above, no one is a strong outside shooter, but Thomas can get in the lane and disrupt things by scoring or dishing on penetration. It will be critical for us to stay at home on defense so we don't allow the dribble drive. This is a team that we can relax a little bit on the perimeter against.

Shooting guard Justin Dentmon is the team's best 3-point threat, shooting better than 42% from long range. He averages a little more than 15 points per game and also adds 2.5 assists. He is probably their only legitimate threat from long range. Thomas has 37 made 3-pointers on the year, but he shoots worse than 30% from out there. Only backup freshman guard Elston Turner, Dentmon, and Thomas have more than 8 made 3-pointers on the year. Turner averages 3.5 points per game, but mostly because he hits about one 3-pointer per game (23 on the year). It is clear that Washington's guards are not comfortable unless they are getting into the paint, so we have to take that away from them.

Jon Brockman (14.9 ppg, 11.2 rpg) may be the best forward we have faced since Blake Griffin in terms of statistics. He's a tad undersized going against JaJuan at only 6'7", but he makes up for it with a solid 255 pound frame. Think Carl Landry (get well soon, big guy) when you think of Brockman. Washington loves to look for him in the paint and he is an excellent offensive rebounder. We have to get a body on him any time a shot goes up. If we rebound the way we did against Northwestern Brockman will own us.

Forward Quincy Pondexter (11.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg) rounds out the strong foursome for the Huskies. He is also an excellent offensive rebounder and can clean up the messes left by a generally poor shooting team. The fact he is also a good offensive rebounder makes our assignment even more difficult against Brockman.

After Pondexter, the scoring for Washington drops off a bit. Five other guys play at least 13 minutes each night, matching our own nine man rotation. As John mentioned, Washington relies on the depth of its defense to wear teams out. In addition to Turner, we can expect to see Matthew Bryan-Amaning (6.3 ppg), Venoy Overton (5.9 ppg), Darnell Gant (3.1 ppg), and Justin Holiday (2.2 ppg). Washington is also a young-ish team like us. Only Dentmon and Brockman are seniors, but having a senior big man like Brockman will pay big dividends.

Despite the fact that Washington is a very good rebounding team, they do not have a lot of size. Of the regular rotation Brockman is the tallest at just 6'7". That tells me their rebounding comes mostly from effort, so we must return he effort in kind. It will be interesting to see how this plays out if we can go big with Hummel, Calasan, and Johnson at the same time. Hummel should have a size advantage out on the perimeter as well. The Huskies are a team that works very hard on the glass. It is a major staple of their offense. If we equal or better this work ethic we will have an excellent chance at moving on against them.

Washington is a good, but not great defensive team. We are well known for our rule of 64 (24-2 when teams score 64 points or less against us, 1-6 when they get 65 or more). Washington is used to playing at a much faster pace than that. They average nearly 79 points per game, but give up 69.5 in return. In every loss they have given up over 73 points, and in six of them the opponent topped 80. We had similar concerns facing Baylor in the first round last season. We then proceeded to play them at their own game and run them out of the gym.

That is what I think will be a major benefit. We are known as a defensive team, but we can play a versatile style such as that. We adjusted last year with essentially the same personnel against Baylor and won easily. I can see Washington getting frustrated with us slowing down the tempo just as much as I can see us running with them. I would rather have the former, but we can compete with the latter. Washington also already commits almost 15 turnovers per game without having to face the defenses of the Big Ten. They actually commit, on average more turnovers than assists. That is not something I would want when facing our defense.

The biggest key to this game is to not get killed on the boards. We have to rebound like we did against Michigan State in Mackey Arena, not like we did against Northwestern. Robbie Hummel had some great boardwork for three days in Indianapolis and it must continue if we are to face the Huskies. It is absolutely critical that we limit Washington to one shot per possession, especially if that one shot comes from someone other than Brockman. The Huskies do get to the foul line quite a bit and hit about 70% once they are there. Because of that, we must stay out of foul trouble, especially with our bigs. If we can play this game at our pace it gives us a huge advantage. I still like our chances even if we play the game at their pace. Purdue 75, Washington 70.

Five Burning Questions with Coug Center

dvieira — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:10 -0000

Even though Oregon is playing better at the end of the year, we just had to draw Washington State in the Pac-10 Tournament. The Cougars beat us by 12 at Mac Court in January. In February, they looked at the Civil War football score and said to themselves..."yeah, we can beat that", destroying Oregon 67-38 in Pullman. Will March be any better? Third time is the charm? Perhaps. Nuss over at Coug Center was kind enough to give us some insight into what we can expect in round 3.

ATQ: I know Cougs Fans are probably upset about losing to Huskies. As a Duck, I can relate. That being said, is finishing 7th and having to play Oregon on the first day a blessing in disguise? Oregon has had an awful year and if you get by the Ducks, you face a UCLA squad that seems to be having some issues at the end (whom you beat just a couple weeks ago).

CougCenter: I don't think so. This team really is playing well right now, and has high confidence that there isn't anyone in this conference that it can't beat, so it really doesn't matter who the second round opponent is. However, we know that our only real shot of getting into the NCAA Tournament at this point is to win the Pac-10 tournament, and winning four games in four days, even when your first one is against the last place team in the conference, is an enormous task. This game doesn't add anything to our season, other than to serve to wear down two guys who usually log big minutes who we need performing at a high level -- Taylor Rochestie and Klay Thompson. Sixth or higher would have been highly preferable, but the Cougs have no one to blame but themselves for choking away those two games against USC and Oregon State.

ATQ: Taylor Rochestie has just killed Oregon this year. What can we do to stop him outside of stealing his GPS or locking him into the "Small World Ride" at Disneyland?

Continue reading this post »

CougCenter: Nothing. I think he's too tall and strong for Porter and too savvy for any of your other young guards. But that puts him in good company -- he dropped 31 on Darren Collison and UCLA and just scored 23 on Venoy Overton, Justin Dentmon and Washington. He's just become such an all-around threat. He's done a much better job of taking makeable shots, and giving up the ball when they aren't there. And trust me -- nobody wants to go to a third consective Tournament than him, so he's going to give you all he's got.

ATQ: Given your article here, do you think the Cougs met expectations for this season? Do they still have some work to do in order to get there? How does this play into your hopes for next season?

CougCenter: This season has been one of ebb and flow. That piece, after the first four games, was during a time of flow, as the Cougs blew out some really terrible opponents, and looked darn good doing it. But once we got into the tougher portion of the nonconference schedule, we ebbed -- our veterans proved they weren't athletic enough to keep up with more talented teams, but the more athletic freshmen just weren't ready to contribute heavily yet. That continued sort of back and forth as the freshmen would work their way into the rotation, then play themselves out, until this late-season run, when they've finally forced Tony's hand with some great play. I think it was a pretty normal outcome with so many new faces, and it's pretty safe to say we all wish the regular season was about two weeks longer.

Because of that, I think they generally met our expectations. Most Coug fans at the beginning of the year thought a third consecutive Tournament appearance would be a stretch and the NIT was our most likely destination. That's exactly where we're at. As for next year ... boy, our freshman have grown up a lot, but it's going to be tough without Rochestie and Aron Baynes. We might be in for another NIT-type season, but two years from now? Watch out, Pac-10.

ATQ: Considering their 7th place finish in the Pac-10, are the Cougars better, worse or about right as far as the Pac-10 rankings?

CougCenter: In terms of how they're playing right now? They're better than that, and the difference is the contributions of freshmen Marcus Capers and DeAngelo Casto, who seemed to finally grow up overnight about three weeks ago. When on the floor, they give the Cougs a great mix of veteran savvy and youthful energy (and athleticism) that make them very dangerous. They still make mistakes -- Capers and Thompson getting themselves into foul trouble on Saturday comes to mind -- but their positive contributions are outweighing their mistakes at this point, something we couldn't say earlier.

ATQ: What are some ways that the Ducks can get Washington State out of their comfort zone offensively and defensively?

CougCenter: Offensively: There's really only two ways to beat the pack defense -- hit a lot of 3s and try to get in transition. The first is why Oregon had so much success against WSU for a few years there, but obviously these Ducks aren't the shooters of previous years. If you can get hot from outside, you've got a chance. The second is really only doable if you can force WSU into a lot of missed shots -- it's hard enough to run on WSU, but it's practically impossible to do it when you're pulling the ball out of the basket.

Defensively: Take a page out of Washington's book. Get the ball out of Rochestie's hands as much as possible and try to deny the passes to Klay Thompson. Double team Aron Baynes before he has a chance to make a move in the post and get Dunigan into foul trouble. Funnel the ball to lesser offensive options such as Caleb Forrest and Nik Koprivica, entice them to shoot/drive, contest their shots, and hope they both have off nights. Of course, this all is much easier if you have tenacious perimeter defenders such as Venoy Overton and Justin Dentmon, and long interior double-teamers such as Justin Holiday, Darnell Gant and Matthew Bryan-Amaning, but it's a plan that can work.

Poll

Most likely outcome for the Oregon - Washington State matchup in the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament

Taylor Rochestie Drops 50 points on Oregon

14 votes

Josh Crittle has a double double

14 votes

Oregon moves on to the second round

33 votes

Washington St only dresses 4 players and still beats Oregon by 20

30 votes

Jshufelt's BBQ is ruined when Jennifer Aniston calls Angelina Jolie a "fat cow"

20 votes

111 votes | Poll has closed

CougCenter's All Pacific Ten Awards

Dancing Football — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:22:56 -0000

It's what you've all been waiting for. The much anticipated CougCenter Pac 10 conference awards! Grady, Nuss, and myself all spent way more time than we anticipated on this (If you haven't, try doing it, it is a lot harder than it would seem initially). Twelve pots of coffee, two fist-fights, one trip to the emergency room, and an apology ice cream cake later, we were able to hash out our differences and come up our selections for the best of the best during the Pac 10 season.

We decided to toss away the official format (a ten man first team, why?) and go with first, second, and third teams. Additionally we doled out awards for Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, All-Defensive Team, and the All-Freshman Team.

EDIT 9:40 p.m.: You can see how each of the bloggers voted at this link.

We'll start with the individual awards.

Coach of the Year- Craig Robinson

Grady and I were in agreement on this one. Nuss went with Lorenzo Romar initially, but after a satellite phone call from a certain brother-in-law who pointed out that the Beavs probably should have won ZERO Pac 10 games this year, Nuss works for CougCenter and Romar coaches the Huskies, and that Robinson offered hope and change for all agricultural/engineering colleges across the country, Nuss was convinced.

Player of the Year - James Harden

There is really no debate on this one. Harden also takes home the gold in the "beard of the year" category.

Defensive Player of the Year - Taj Gibson

We didn't disagree on this one, but none of us really felt great about it. He led the conference in block% and was 6th in defensive rebounding%. Still, it seems there was no guy you could point to this year and say, "he is the best lock down defender in the Pac 10," like Kyle Weaver last year. Oh yeah, he didn't win the award.

Most Improved Player - Jerome Randle

He no longer had Ryan Anderson to attract the attention of defenses so it was hard for him to find open looks right? Wrong. He improved leaps and bounds in nearly every statistical category. Someone pull some strings and get this guy into the NBA next year, so the pack defense no longer has to deal with him.

Freshman of the Year - Isaiah Thomas

Thanks to johnnycougar for pointing out the ommission. He did a great job with the voting across SBN. You can see his poll results here. We are tired of talking about this guy on this site.

The Best of the Second Best (When ranked by Ken Pomeroy)

The hardest thing about putting together these teams is making them into a group of players that would actually be a viable combination for a coach during a game. The first team (which consists of five players, you know, because that's how many play on the court for a team) is full of guys who played well and were key reasons why their respective teams will be dancing come tourney time.

James Harden	G/So.	The most dynamic offensive player in the conference. No one is more important to his team's success. Top five pick in the NBA draft come April.
Darren Collison	G/Sr.	Fantastic player of both ends of the floor. Top 10 during conference play in offensive rating, assist percentage, and steal percentage.
Jerome Randle	G/Jr.	He's 5-10 and third during conference play in eFG%. Also in the top 10 in assist%. The biggest reason that Cal will be in the field of 64/65
Jordan Hill	F/Jr.	A freak athlete. Added some post skills and a short range jumper this year. Tough to deal handle defensively and offensively. Lottery pick for sure.
Jon Brockman	F/Sr.	Best rebounder in the conference on both ends of the floor. Took a hit in his own personal statistics this year to benefit the team as a whole.

For the rest of the awards, click the link to make the jump. Don't worry, we are all smarter than Pac 10 coaches, and Aron Baynes will not be left out!

The Second Best of the Second Best

Taylor Rochestie	G/Sr.	He. Is. Awesome.
Justin Dentmon	G/Sr.	Close second for most improved player. One of the best shooters in the Pac 10. That's enough about him.
Chase Budinger	G/Jr.	Pretty unstoppable when he gets it going. Tough to match up with at the guard position with his length.
Taj Gibson	F/Jr.	Your aforementioned Defensive Player of the year and USC's most effective offensive option. Tough matchup because of his quickness.
Aron Baynes	C/Sr.	Best part about Baynes this year, those twenty pounds he lost. So much quicker off his feet making him a terror down low for the Cougs opposition.

The Third Best of the Second Best

Josh Shipp	G/Sr.	Seems like he has been around forever. Dangerous shooter from the outside.
Calvin Haynes	G/So.	Easily the scariest scoring threat on the Beavs offense.
Alfred Aboya	F/Sr.	Good offensive numbers. Only a 17.4 shot % though.
Jeff Pendergraph	F/Sr.	Led the conference in eFG%. Making layups is harder than it looks (ask the Cougs)
Roeland Schaftenaar	C/Jr.	Have to love a center who has the #8 assist rate in the conference.

Honorable Mention (guys who received votes, but didn't make the cut):

Anthony Goods, Isaiah Thomas, Quincy Pondexter, Patrick Christopher

The Defenders

Venoy Overton	G/So.	He grabs and pulls, but he knows how to get away with it.
Darren Collison	G/Sr.	The closest thing to a lock-down defender the conference had this year. (can't wait for Casto and Capers next year!)
Jordan Hill	F/Jr.	Gets off the floor quick, can block shots and bother offensive players with his long arms.
Taj Gibson	F/Jr.	I think we've said enough about him.
Aron Baynes	C/Sr.	He. Is. Awesome.

Honorable Mention: James Harden's Beard, James Harden

The New Guys

Isaiah Thomas	G	See past articles. No more needs to be written about this guy on this site.
Klay Thompson	G	Ask Mitch Johnson how awesome Klay is.
Jrue Holiday	G	Didn't quite live up to his billing, but UCLA will probably benefit from that having him stick around for a few more years.
DeMar DeRozan	F	A guy so good he's worth two scholarships and four capital letters.
Michael Dunigan	F	Dunigan is such a fun name to say. Also, solid rebounder and shot blocker. Played more minutes and took more shots than Casto, that's the main reason he is on here.

Honarable Mention: DeAngelo Casto

There you have it. Blood, sweat, and tears went in to creating this. Please feel free now to tear us apart and tell us why we are wrong, we can take it, as long as there is ice cream cake.

Venoy Overton takes pride in his defense

Grady. — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 01:52:35 -0000

Which, thanks to this video evidence from TMBCoug on YouTube, involves grabbing and tripping people. Classy guy.

Getting Ready For 08-09 Ben Ball Season: Predictions/Expectations & Concerns

Nestor — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:00:06 -0000

With just 11 days to go till tip off, time for us to go through what has become somewhat of an annual rite of passage here on Bruin Nation. We started this in 2005, and continued it in both 2006 and 2007. Well, I think each of those three seasons turned out pretty good (with lots of fist pounds, Ben Ball style):

Photo Credit: Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images (via mikireynolds' photostream(flickr))

So, I think for mojo purposes, we have no choice but go to through the exercise again in 2008. Again given all the discussions we have had on BN over the years, I don’t see the need to go through the differences between pre season expectations and predictions. You can look through all our previous posts (dealing with both Ben Ball and football) re. discussion on those terms. As we go through the schedule, all we are doing is trying to come up with a baseline number of wins we expect from this year’s schedule, come up with a list of our main concerns and questions, and then take it from there.

It is undisputed now that Coach Howland has thoroughly reestablished UCLA as one of the elite programs in the country. Given what Howland has built in Westwood, these posts are even more fun to write because we can do so with the confidence that we have a coach who not only has all the questions we have on our mind in his own radar, but has every detail around this program covered. Still I think it is important for us to be aware that despite all the good news around our program, there are issues Howland has to address, before dreaming about another magical run through the regular and the tournament season. With that in mind here is a very rough predictions for this upcoming season:

Wed., Nov. 12, 2K Sports Classic First Round (w)
Thu., Nov. 13, 2K Sports Classic Second Round (#)
Thu., Nov. 20, 2K Sports Classic Semifinals (#)
Fri., Nov. 21, 2K Sports Classic Final (#)
Sat., Nov. 29, Florida International (w)
Thu., Dec. 4, @Texas (#)
Sun., Dec. 7, Cal State Northridge (w)
Sat., Dec. 13, DePaul @ Wooden Classic (w)
Wed., Dec. 17, Loyola Marymount (w)
Sat., Dec. 20, Mercer (w)
Tue., Dec. 23, Wyoming (w)
Sun., Dec. 28, Louisiana Tech (w)
Fri., Jan. 2, @ Oregon State (w)
Sun., Jan. 4, @ Oregon (#)
Sun., Jan. 11, @ USC (w)
Thu., Jan. 15, Arizona (w)
Sat., Jan. 17, Arizona State (w)
Thu., Jan. 22, @ Washington State (#)
Sat., Jan. 24, @ Washington (#)
Thu., Jan. 29, California (w)
Sat., Jan. 31, Stanford (w)
Wed., Feb. 4, USC (w)
Sat., Feb. 7, Notre Dame (w)
Thu., Feb. 12, @ Arizona State (#)
Sat., Feb. 14, @ Arizona (#)
Thu., Feb. 19, Washington (w)
Sat., Feb. 21, Washington State (w)
Thu., Feb. 26, @ Stanford (w)
Sat., Feb. 28, @ California (#)
Thu., Mar. 5, Oregon State (w)
Sat., Mar. 7, Oregon (w)
Mar. 11-14, Pac-10 Tournament @ Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Mar. 19-22, NCAA First and Second Round
Mar. 26-29, NCAA Regional
Apr. 4 & 6, NCAA Final Four

So just like last year I didn’t mark any game as losses because I believe with Coach Howland in charge and veterans like DC and JS leading on the court, our team will play to win every game. That said, I did mark the following games as toss ups (#):

Thu., Nov. 13, 2K Sports Classic Second Round (#)
Thu., Nov. 20, 2K Sports Classic Semifinals (#)
Fri., Nov. 21, 2K Sports Classic Final (#)
Thu., Dec. 4, @Texas (#)
Sun., Jan. 4, @ Oregon (#)
Thu., Jan. 22, @ Washington State (#)
Sat., Jan. 24, @ Washington (#)
Thu., Feb. 12, @ Arizona State (#)
Sat., Feb. 14, @ Arizona (#)
Sat., Feb. 28, @ California (#)

Let’s start with the Sports Classic tournament. If you haven’t seen it yet, here is the bracket (pdf file). It’s not too difficult to discern from that bracket that the organizers are dreaming about a UCLA-Michigan semifinal, leading up to a UCLA-Duke final in NYC. Well that sounds nice, but for a team with 5 freshmen and serious questions re. front court (more on that below), it would be very unwise to all of us to look past the opening round games.

I especially think the Bruins might have a difficult game against either Weber State or Miami (OH), two mid-major teams that are capable of pulling off an upset against a young team. I am actually more concerned about this home game than the ones v. Notre Dame and other quality Pac-10 opponents rest of the season because I think it will present the first real test for our freshmen in terms of facing a tourney caliber opposition. Otherwise, I feel pretty confident about rest of our home schedule as the freshmen will go through their development under Howland.

If the Bruins get to NYC after winning the first two games, they will probably take on a Michigan team with Beilein’s 1-3-1 trap zone, that has always created problems for our Ben Ball warriors (remember we had to scrap out a win against them last year after losing to Beilein’s West Va team for two years in a row). I would expect Michigan to be a much improved team in Beilein’s second year who will also have talented kids like Manny Harris, DeShawn Sims and Kelvin Grady to build on his first year. And then if we are lucky to get to the final against a team like Duke, we will take them on in a setting at MSG, which I think will have a crowd leaning towards Duke (we will see). Duke has their front court issues to address but they will have their share of talents and experience in kids like Singler, Scheyer, Paulus, Thomas, Zoubek playing under K.

As far as rest of non conference season is concerned, Texas obviously stands out as the toughest challenge during the non conference season. Augustin is gone but Abrams is back along with Connor Atchley, Damion James, and Justin Mason. It will be a tough challenge for DC and rest of his team-mates to pull out a win in Austin, but if they are focused and locked in remembering what took place at Pauley last season, we will have a shot. Still right now I look at this game as a toss up.

As for rest of the Pac-10, I marked up the Oregon game as a toss up because I think the Mac Court in Eugene is probably the toughest road venue in the conference. Oregon lost a lot of talent with the departures of Hairston, Leunen and Bryce Taylor. They are one of the questions marks in the Pac-10. However, they will still present a threat on the road with speed junior Tajuan Porter leading the charge at pg. If they can get solid contributions from Joevan Catron and Kamyron Brown, I think that game will turn out to be tough. Bruins have learned the hard way over the years (from 1994 (the year we won the title) from 2006) what happens when not playing with focus and intensity in that arena.

As for rest of the Pac-10, Arizona under Lute Olson are going to be hungry for revenge for all the recent beat downs by Ben Ball warriors. Again I always like our chances, but it will still be a challenge to go up against a team featuring talents of Budinger, Wise, and Jordan Hill. Meanwhile, ASU is poised to have their best season under Sendek era with two returning stars in James Pendergraph and James Harden.

As for other Pac-10 teams Monty’s return to Bay Area should make the Bears interesting (and a tough out on their home court). Washington schools will not be pushovers either. Wazzu lost their heat and soul through the departures of Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver. But they still have a solid coach who will have solid nucleus of upperclassmen of Taylor Rochestie, Aron Baynes, and Daven Harmeling to put together another well coached and fundamentally sound team. Washington Huskies will have Jon Brockman anchoring the middle. Plus they are getting back Venoy Overton, who DC might see in his night mares time to time. Throw in the mix with a like Justin Dentmon and Quincy Pondexter, this is a team that will once again make our lives difficult if not nightmarish on the road.

So with all that, I see starting out with a baseline of 21 W’s with this year’s team. Last year the baseline was set at 25 W’s. Just like last year, I think our final win total will far exceed that baseline (which I think is the worst case scenario), however, there are number of issues our coaches have to be concerned about heading into this season. Meriones already laid out his concern last week. Here are questions on my mind heading into this season:

Darren Collison’s Decision Making

I am sure some of you are going WTF from the title of this section, but please allow me to elaborate. It's a pretty good bet that DC is going to finish his senior season as a consensus All American. IMHO he is the point guard not just in the Pac-10, but in the entire country. Again I will cite to the following comments from Coach Howland re. why he is the ultimate leader around which a coach would want to build his team around:

"Darren's going to have the ball in his hands a lot, and he's always been our defensive point guard. This is a kid that could lead the conference in three-point and free-throw percent-age, assists and steals."

Yet notwithstanding DC's greatness, I think there is some room for improvement for this great Bruin guard. I think if DC has an Achilles heel it is his decisiveness as the floor general while we are on offense. Let me see if I can explain this. From what I have seen from DC in last three years, it seems at times he needs to be a little more authorative around his decisions on whether to take the shot or pass it off to his team-mates. In his defense in his first three years at UCLA, in terms of scoring he had more prolific scorers in AA, JF and then KL (a once a generation freshman) to which he often gave up the ball to. However, at times it seemed like UCLA offense lagged a bit as DC was waiting around to make his final decisions. So, I think this year we might see a little less of that as DC will be one of the primary scorers in our offense. In that case, I think DC needs to be a just tick faster in making his decisions on whether to launch or drive for his shot rather than passing off to another team-mate. We need DC to be more aggressive in decision making and hopefully his unquestioned stature as the senior leader will make the process a little easier.

Consistency from Josh Shipp

This one is easy. This could be the year in which we get to see JS from his freshman season. I have already alluded to this in my post re. Blue Ribbon yearbook's UCLA preview. JS has probably been the most maligned (somewhat unfairly IMHO) Ben Ball warrior from Coach Howland's (now legendary) first recruiting class. When he burst into the scene along with JF, AA, LMR we instantly fell in love with his defensive intensity, his nose for the ball, and always picking up points through hustle (which endeared LRMAM to us in his freshman season).

Sadly after three seasons of surgeries, nagging injuries and recovery, we never really got to see the JS from his freshman season on a consistent basis. Meanwhile, we have had beat reporters and message board posters constantly psycho analyzing this kid's ability to nail down three pointers (even though he had his share of clutch shots). Also on a fair point we all have been collectively frustrated by JS's tendency to not match the defensive tenacity that exemplifies a prototype Ben Ball Warrior who brings it not just in every game but every play.

Now that JS is fully healthy there is a chance we can see JS from his freshman season, who foreshadowed the kind of Ben Ball we have been accustomed to courtesy of warriors such as LRMAM and RW last three seasons Interestingly CBH has dropped hint that we may see JS spend some time at the 4 (which caught JS by surprise). That might not be a bad deal because it could be a move to field a guard heavy lineup exerting even more tenacious defensive pressure. Remember Howland did the same thing in his second year playing DT at the 4.

Ultimately, I think if JS were to have a memorable last season at UCLA, it will have to be centered around his total commitment to all out defense, sheer tenacity and hustle, that will allow him to emerge as the replacement of LRMAM in this year's squad. If he brings that defensive tenacity and then let his offensive instincts take over within the scheme of Howland's offense, JS might break out with one of the more memorable final year, a Bruin senior has put together in some time. Given what the kid has been through you can bet we all are going to be rooting for him. This brings me to the next point.

Defensive Stopper

So who will be the defensive stopper of this year's edition of Ben Ball warriors. Until last year it was unquestionably AA. Then last year it was a combination of RW and LRMAM. If we need to neutralize opponent's primary scoring threat, Howland would usually sic RW or LRMAM as his shut down defender. We saw how LRMAM's absence often impacted not just the physical presence in our interior defense, but all the aggressiveness of our perimeter. So who will step up this year and take the responsibility of the primary attack dogs in Howland's defensive scheme?

DC? JS? DC will have no choice but to step up with his defense and this will be crucial because he has had difficulties with faster and more physical guards (just think about the Memphis game from last season or the matchups against the guards from Texas and Oregon (on Mac Court). I mentioned JS's need to focus on every play, not just ever game. I think the success of this year's UCLA basketball team will be hugely dependent on the veteran leadership of DC and JS on defense (more so than offense). They have the responsibility to carry on the tradition of defensive tenacity that Coach Howland has established thanks to the efforts of AA, LRMAM, RW, and LMR.

Productive Minutes From AA2

I mentioned LMR above. This is where AA2 comes in. We are going to need productive mins from AA2 for this team to contend for the Pac-10 title and position itself with a favorable high seed from the West. I love the intensity and aggression AA2 brings to every game. It's apparent that Coach Howland absolutely love the way he is all about defense. But from the early practice reports this season, it is apparent he wants AA2 to bring more to the table than his hard nosed (no pun intended here) defense around the rim. We can't have AA2 go into his bull in a china shop routine he often fell into time to time last season by fouling out too fast. We had that luxury last season because we had a kid like KL and the experience of LMR. With a inexperience and young front court, we don't have that luxury any more. I don't think AA2 needs to tone down his intensity, but he just needs to figure out a way to be a little more disciplined and make his minutes more productive through his defense and rebounds. Also, he should probably chuck the idea of he is some kind of jump shooter.

James Keefe Taking The Next Steps

As eager as everyone is about the start of this basketball season, not sure how many are looking forward to it as much as JK. JK is yet another Ben Ball warrior who is coming into this season at 100 percent (knock on wood) for the first time in while. I am sure many remember here how he got hurt last off season and had to go through shoulder surgery, which really stunted his expected development in his sophomore year. After deciding to red shirt year, per Howland's request JK burned his medical redshirt year, and came on strong late during the stretch run. He particular stepped up in a big way, when LRMAM went down with ankle injury against Southern Cal during the Pac-10 tournament. Not only did he chip in with solid scoring, he came up with key rebounds and solid defense. According to off season reports, JK is now up to 237 lbs and Howland has been fired up about his off season work outs.

I think JK is the guy to watch out for as someone who might have a breakout season. I like how this kid always plays within Howland's scheme. He does all the little things – set picks, box out, always look for open team-mates – that often doesn't show up in the score board. To go with that I think he has decent offensive skills down low, which until now has not been needed given the options we have has last few years. If JK can take the next step and perform at the same level he did during both the Pac-10 and NCAA tourneys last season on more consistent basis, it will be a huge boost to this year's team.

Freshmen Development

Speaking of development, this brings me to our Fab Five. I would strongly caution everyone here expecting from our freshman what we saw out of KL last season.

Let’s make this simple. The kind of production and contribution we saw out of KL last season was not normal. KL was special. He was once in a generational talent who doesn't come around often. I am not sure how long it will take until we get to see another kid like KL, but it would be incredibly unfair and unreasonable to hold our current freshman blue chippers to the same level of expectations as we had for KL (and if anyone makes that kind of comparison, he or she will be banned for stupidity from this community).

So now that is out of the way … it will be interesting to see how Howland brings these new cubs up. I think it will probably be JH who might break in the lineup right away but I think it will also take a talent like him a while to adjust to the defensive intensity required to earn Coach Howland's total trust. I would also urge a lot of patience when we are watching Bobo and DG. Those guys are very raw in terms of their defensive and offensive skills on both sides of the court. We have already read reports about how Howland is starting from scratch with these kids in teaching skills such as how to hedge screens, which is pre requisite for big guys playing Ben Ball defense. No doubt they will get mins early because of our lack of experience depth on the front court, however it will take them a while (perhaps more than a year to get settled in).

As for ML and JA, JA is still recovering from a nagging groin injury and remember even a super star like RW was only averaging 9.0 mins a game as a true freshman under Howland.

So, I would pipe down the expectations level if I were fanboys of ML and JA. They will get some mins and opportunities to make their contributions this upcoming season, however, they will have to earn those mins by their commitment to total defense in practices and during those early OOC games (which might not look too enticing who don't appreciate the total nuances of Howland's scheduling philosophy) in preparation for the conference season.

Health Issues

I will end my run through the questions by going through health issues. Here Mike Roll is the biggest question mark. We have talked about the health issues of JS and JK above. Those kids are finally healthy (knocking on wood). The situation is unclear about MR. While MR is feeling better and has been working out and most likely will be practicing, it is not certain (I haven't seen any reports yet) whether he will ever be completely recovered from the nasty plantar faciatis injury he suffered last season. I also like MR's game a lot. His 3 point shooting has suffered a lot in last two years due to injury issues, but he also does all the little things which includes playing defense, setting picks, that has endeared him to Coach Howland in recent years. I hope for MR's sake he is feeling better and if he can rediscover his rhythm as a shooter while working through his injury issues, it will be a big help for the team.

Also, it's a bummer that ND is dealing with a nagging health issue (cyst involving left foot and ankle) to start the season. I had heard that he was having a good off season following last year's tough one when he had hernia surgeries.

Let's hope ND's injury will get healed up and he will be ready to contribute soon. For him to contribute though, not surprisingly it will have to start on that defensive end. I don't think he is going to earn his mins by jacking up long bombs whenever he gets in. He will have to earn his mins the old fashioned way. If his latest injury doesn't set him back too much, hopefully he will be able to translate the hard off season work (which I heard he put in last few months) into meaningful mins in terms of solid defense and opportunistic scoring this season.

Same goes for JA, whose health issues I linked to above. I imagine Coach Howland will work him in slowly making sure he is completely healed up before asking him to step in. The good news is that they are progressing well and early reports sound encouraging. But given how physical and rough (for good reasons) Coach Howland’s practices are inside Pauley, we always have to be on the look out for issues related to nagging bumps and bruises.

So, those are some of the issues I can think of as we get underway in Coach Howland's sixth season in Westwood. I believe given all the questions we have to address, a top-5 ranking for our team could be a bit too high. I think are probably more somewhere in the top-10. However, I have full confidence that Coach Howland and his staff are all over these questions and others we haven't even thought off heading into this season. They will be chipping away every hour in practice and in the film rooms, getting these warriors prepared for what should hopefully be another fun ride in Westwood:

Photo Source: mikireynolds' photostream (flickr)

Before we start dreaming about those moments again, the goal right now for this team is to improve game by game, and then get itself in best position to compete and defend our conference title in February and March. Then, if they can get themselves a favorable seed in the Western region, based on a consistent development and improvement through the regular season, we will buckle up and once again take our chances with our head coach and his Ben Ball warriors.

GO BRUINS.