SB Nation - Justin Dentmon

Pac-10 Hoops Weekly Wrap: Washington is the new No. 1

Nuss — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:28:12 -0000

More photos » by Julie Jacobson - AP

Jerome Randle is left wondering just how his team got blitzed by both Syracuse and Ohio State.

Welcome to the first edition of the 2009-2010 Pac-10 Weekly Wrap, which looks at the state of the conference's hoops featuring my personal power rankings and analysis of the state of each team. I suppose the season's been going on for about two weeks now, but everyone's got enough games under their belt now that we can actually have some semi-meaningful analysis.

We came into the season suspecting the Pac-10 to be way down this year, and while I'm going to be one of the few to say that has yet to be proven, I think one thing has most certainly confirmed another suspicion: This is going to be the most wide-open conference race in years. There is no 300-pound gorilla this year, as every team in this race has not just little flaws, but big-time flaws that could be exploited on any given night.

In other words, prepare for a wild ride where the conference champ has at least five losses. While I initially dismissed it, all that talk about this being a three-bid conference just might be spot on.

On to the rankings and recaps. (When I say preseason rank, that was my own personal preseason rankings ...)

1. Washington

Preseason rank: 2
Record: 4-0

The Huskies have done what they were supposed to do, win all of their games, but they move up to the No. 1 spot more out of default than anything else. Playing all four games at home, they've posted two dominant wins (Belmont, Portland State) and two wins where they were firmly in control (Wright State, San Jose State). They do get credit for not stubbing their toe, but there's just not a lot here to go off of yet.

Bright spot: Count me among those who were/are skeptical they can replace Jon Brockman's interior presence. However, all signs are good so far. They're still an offensive rebounding machine -- currently an absurd 47.6 percent, good for fifth in the country -- and they're doing a competent job on the defensive glass. Of course, that's against overmatched competition, but that's what they're supposed to do ...

Question mark: The shooting. Their effective field goal percentage (what's that?) is a pedestrian 51.7, inflated by one superbly hot shooting night against Portland State. Otherwise, they've been under 50 percent in their other three contests. Not good. As a team they're shooting just 32.8 percent from 3-point range -- somebody has to fill Justin Dentmon's void.

An honorable mention for the question mark would be the defense: It's been merely average.

2. California

Preseason rank: 1
Record: 2-2

Nothing like getting slapped around by a couple of Top 25 teams early in the year to bring an excited fanbase back to reality. Seriously, I feel sorry for Cal fans. Their football team was considered a worthy challenger to the USC throne (we all know how that's turned out, although beating Stanford certainly takes out some of that sting), and now their basketball team is off to a rocky start. Theo Robertson is out indefinitely, and Harper Kamp is touch and go as he recovers from a knee injury. To not even be in those two games is not the kind of start you'd expect from a team returning so many players, even without those two guys.

Bright spot: Jerome Randle can still shoot -- 50 percent on 26 3-point attempts this year. He's well on his way to following up last year's breakout campaign.

Question mark: The defense. It was atrocious against both Syracuse and Ohio State, which ought to be pretty disconcerting, since that was a target for improvement this year. Here's what Basketball Prospectus 2009-2010 had to say about the Bears' efforts to improve there:

We’ve seen this script play out before. You know, the team that can score at will but can’t get stops. But they return everyone from the previous season…and this time they mean business! They’ve been thinking about defense all summer, blah, blah, blah. Last year at this time, these words were being spoken about Baylor, and to a lesser extent Notre Dame. Two years ago it was NC State. Each of those teams failed to improve their defense and fell short of lofty preseason expectations.

Cal is a good team that is going to win a lot of games this season….But they’re also a team with a significant weakness. One that history says is very difficult to overcome, even with hard work.

Four games in, this is looking downright prophetic. It might not cause a huge issue in the Pac-10 this year -- assuming Robertson comes back healthy to complete the three-headed monster on offense -- but they better shore it up if they don't want a repeat of their first round exit against Maryland.

3. Arizona State

Preseason rank: 7
Record: 4-0

Who wants to be No. 3 in the Pac-10? Step right up, Sun Devils! When you start to look at the remaining eight teams and figure out who the third-best team in the conference is right now, your options are somewhere between OK and really bad. So, congratulations on being OK, Arizona State, after more or less destroying your annual parade of cupcakes at home (a close, 52-49 game with TCU notwithstanding). They've done it with a balanced attack (four different guys are averaging double figures, despite only averaging 62.9 possessions as a team) and pretty good defense.

Bright spot: The Sun Devils can still shoot -- their 62.3 effective field goal percentage is third nationally. I don't care who the opponent is, that's impressive. They're shooting 49.4 percent from 3-point range, and when you're shooting 3s on nearly 40 percent of your possessions (79th nationally right now), that's a recipe for some blowouts. Rihards Kuksiks, Derek Glasser, Ty Abbott and Jamelle McMillan are all shooting better than 45 percent from long range.

Question mark: There was one game, however, where the Sun Devils did shoot poorly; care to guess which one? If ASU's offensive effectiveness is going to be that closely tied to their shooting, their fans are in for one roller coaster ride of a year.

4. Arizona

Preseason rank: 4
Record: 2-0

The Wildcats have only played two games, but they handled both Rice and Northern Arizona effectively. Nothing here yet to really suggest moving them up or down. We'll know more pretty quick -- they take on Wisconsin in Maui tonight, then face either Colorado or Gonzaga tomorrow.

Bright spot: By the time Sean Miller left Xavier, he had molded the Musketeers into an excellent defensive squad. It appears the Wildcats are buying in early, holding NAU to 91.0 efficiency (what's that?) and Rice to 67.8.

Question mark: The Wildcats were a pretty good offensive rebounding team last year, thanks mostly to some guy named Jordan Hill. With Hill gone, Arizona is currently 246th nationally in offensive rebounding percentage (what's that?) -- despite playing vastly inferior competition. And it's not a style thing, since Miller's Xavier teams were routinely one of the better offensive rebounding teams in the country.

5. Washington State

Preseason rank: 7
Record: 3-0

Congrats, Cougs for not puking up a game against an inferior opponent! Given what's going on around them in the conference, winning three games is no small accomplishment, especially when you note that two were blowouts and one was a blowout until a late run by a veteran squad brought the margin uncomfortably close. This team is young and is going to be inconsistent, but as you look around at the rest of the conference, you realize just how valuable of a commodity Klay Thompson is. There are a number of other teams that would absolutely kill for a scorer like him.

Bright spot: Thompson looks to be every bit the big-time scorer and leader we hoped he would be. Also, did we mention that a young squad with a new coach has played well enough to dominate the better part of three games?

Question mark: This one's easy -- the rebounding brought about by a thin frontcourt. The defensive rebounding has been merely average, and that's against some inferior competition. Not necessarily a good omen. Problem is, there's really no ready solution, since they're not likely to get taller or bigger.

6. UCLA

Preseason rank: 3
Record: 1-1

A lot of people thought the Bruins could survive their early defections on the coaching wizardry of Ben Howland. The early returns aren't great -- UCLA opened the season with a double OT loss to Cal State-Fullerton, then trailed Cal State-Bakersfield through much of the first half before pulling away late. Injuries to guys like Tyler Honeycutt have slowed the team down, and it hasn't helped that Nikola Dragovic went and got himself arrested for felony assault and subsequently suspended.

But if you're really looking for a reason why UCLA has slipped the last year-plus, look no further than highly touted recruiting classes where guys that were supposed to come in and make an immediate impact just haven't. If I were ranking purely on accomplishment, the Bruins would be down near the bottom of the conference right now. But I've got to balance performance with potential, and the smart money is still on Howland figuring out a way to squeeze a Tournament berth out of these guys.

Bright spot: The Bruins are getting only 2.1 percent of their shots blocked, eighth nationally. They've got that going for them. Which is nice.

Question mark: Can the Bruins survive the beginning of the season until they get healthy without tanking their NCAA Tournament chances? They're going to face some teams in the 76 Classic that will likely be on the bubble come March; losses there could be costly.

7. Oregon

Preseason rank: 8
Record: 3-1

The Ducks cruised through their first three games, even flashing some decent defense along the way. Then came a loss on the road to Portland in which the Ducks allowed 88 points on 66 possessions(!). Now, the Pilots are looking as if they might really be a threat to knock off the Zags in the WCC -- they have yet to shoot less than 58.3 eFG% in three games -- but if the Ducks want to get up into the top half of the conference with all that purported talent they have, they're going to have to do better than that. Granted, it was without Michael Dunigan ... but still.

Bright spot: Tajuan Porter is scoring efficiently, and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever used the words "Porter" and "efficiently" in the same sentence. He's got a 129.1 offensive rating through four games. That's enough of a sample to suggest that he's doing some things right.

Question mark: Can Dunigan ever stay on the floor long enough to be the impact player his McDonalds All-American status suggested he should be? Last year it was fouls, this year injury. The Ducks need him to be a force.

8. Stanford

Preseason rank: 10
Record: 2-2

I actually looked at numbers for about five minutes trying to figure out how to rank OSU, Stanford and USC 8, 9 and 10. Then I realized I was spending actual time trying to figure out how to rank OSU, Stanford and USC 8, 9 and 10. They all stink right now. Badly. So they're in a relatively arbitrary order. I'll give Stanford some credit for having two wins and almost winning a third. But holy crap is the bottom of this conference awful. That alone should give the Cougs (and other middling teams) hope that they can get up into the NCAA Tournament conversation, because there are wins to be had.

Bright spot: The Cardinal are 14th nationally in turnover percentage and 22nd nationally in defensive rebounding percentage!

Question mark: With the lack of size up front, the Cardinal are already showing they're going to have a heck of a time defending the paint -- teams are shooting 51.8 percent from inside the arc against them. That's 241st nationally. Against teams like San Diego, Oral Roberts, Cal Poly and Florida A&M ... well, the only word that comes to mind is "ouchie."

9. USC

Preseason rank: 9
Record: 1-1

USC fans knew that offense was going to be hard to come by with this squad, so it's fortunate that defense is Kevin O'Neill's calling card. Unfortunately for the Trojans, their defense has been awful, and when you combine that with a subpar offensive night, you get a bad loss to Loyola Marymount at home. Ugh.

Bright spot: Nikola Vucevic is giving them some quality offense -- he's playing 97 percent of the minutes so far, using 23 percent of USC's possessions, and posting 123.0 offensive rating. Not bad at all.

Question mark: So many directions we could go with this one, ranging from Dwight Lewis failing to show up in the loss to the Trojans allowing their opponents to get to the line at an absurd rate. But, we'll go ahead with this one: Opponents are shooting 50 percent against USC from 3-point range. Obviously, that number is going to come down, but when your two opponents have shot 3s on 26 percent of their possessions -- 46th nationally -- and are hitting at that kind of a clip, that says something about your ability to close out on shooters. Ouch.

10. Oregon State

Preseason rank: 5
Record: 1-3

Are the Beavers really the worst team in the conference? Probably not, as two of their three losses were fairly close. But they get a penalty for failing to live up to preseason hype -- especially when Craig Robinson did little to downplay Oregon State as a contender for an NCAA Tournament bid. Usually teams wait until conference play to crumble under the weight of expectations; OSU did it in the first two weeks.

To say the Beavers have been atrocious on offense just isn't strong enough. Pick your synonym -- abysmal, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful, terrible, unspeakable -- and it probably doesn't do them justice, either. You would think they would be more efficient in their second year in Robinson's Princeton offense. Guess not. Only one player is averaging double figures, and I don't care what pace you play at, that's just brutal. Or awful. Or dreadful. Or whatever.

Bright spot: They didn't lose to South Dakota.

Question mark: How does Robinson get this offense rolling? The Beavers have been abysmal in ever facet of the offensive game -- they're even shooting under 60 percent from the free throw line. One has to believe there's some regression coming, but four games is more than 10 percent of the season, and to be that bad suggests something more than mere small sample size. OSU better get its crap together, right quick.

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.

Pac-10 Semifinals Preview: #4 Arizona State Sun Devils vs. #1 Washington Huskies

Cory Williams — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 22:56:54 -0000

ASU has their hands full tonight. After losing both contests to Washington in the regular season, we play our final tilt on a neutral floor, where we are 5-1 on the season (losing only to Baylor in the Anaheim Classic in November).

This is the first time Washington has ever been the #1 seed in the Pac-10 tournament. They are also the only team not to lose two consecutive conference games this season.

What we are dealing with is a consistent, experienced team. Justin Dentmon and Jon Brockman are both seniors, and contribute 30 points a game to the cause.

The dynamic freshman Isaiah Thomas is someone who ASU really has to worry about. He averages 15.4 PPG, 3 RPG, and 2.6 APG. He's a stud who is showing no signs of slowing down.

Some more Washington Husky tidbits:

This was UW's first regular season Pac-10 Championship since 1953.
They are a strong rebounding team, averaging 41 a game.
Jon Brockman has 58 career double-doubles, the most of any active college basketball player.
UW is 7-3 on the road in Pac-10 play (including yesterday's win against Stanford)
Washington lost to California twice this season.
Washington opened up the season 3-3, losing to Portland, Kansas, and Florida before going on a 9 game winning streak.

In the first loss of the season by ASU to Washington, Thomas scored 25 points and we lost by 13.

In the second game, Thomas only scored 11, and we took them to overtime and lost by only 3. Coincidence?

I will be at the game, and will post a detailed recap afterwards. The photo essay that will be up this weekend will be very awesome, so keep on the lookout for that.

Prediction: ASU 84, Washington 79

I think we finally break through tonight, and become a legitimate player in March Madness.

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.

I'm tired of talking about how awesome Washington is. Aren't you?

Nuss — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:30:07 -0000

I'm about talked out with regards to this game, but before we look ahead to Oregon, how about we enumerate some of the things that were awesome about the Cougs yesterday? Because there was plenty:

Klay Thompson's foul trouble caused him to play his fewest minutes (28) since the blowout win against Montana State (Dec. 15) and completely screwed up our rotation, yet we were still able to stay in this game until the end. Think about some of the combinations that were on the floor at times. If you're not marveling at this fact, you're just not remembering how offensively atrocious some of those combos were. That would not have happened earlier this year.
We actually had just two fewer free throw attempts than Washington (23-21), and the margin basically came down to the intentional fouls at the end. This, in a building where the Huskies had averaged 17 more free throw attempts than their opponents. (So put that in your pipe and smoke it, guy who was sitting in front of me!)
Aron Baynes scored 16 points on five shots. That is efficiency my friends. I know we'll lament the fact that he didn't get more shots, but as I mentioned in the comments, it's awful tough to make an opposing defense play your big man honest when there was often only one perimeter threat in the game.
Oh, and Baynes also had 11 rebounds -- four offensive -- three blocks and a steal in 39 minutes, all while holding Jon Brockman to seven points. And don't even try to discredit his performance by pointing to Brockman's rebounds; I'd say at least three of them were in a situation where someone else tipped the ball and Baynes had position. Not his fault.
Taylor Rochestie has the most guts and heart of any Cougar I've seen in a long time. Say what you will about some of his late-game decision making this year, we are not even sniffing success yesterday without his 23 points and four assists. I know he had five turnovers, but I think at least a couple of those could have gone to guys who weren't ready to catch the bal. The bottom line is that Taylor further cements his place in Cougar lore with each passing game.
Washington shot just 2-of-10 from 3-point range.
"Player of the Year" candidate Justin Dentmon and freshman of the year in waiting Isaiah Thomas combined for just 18 points on 6-of-20 shooting. Dentmon had 12 of those.
Thomas didn't shoot a free throw. He is 8th in the Pac-10 in free throw rate, and it was only the second time that's happened this year.

I know sometimes it's hard to see the big picture when you don't win -- and especially when that loss likely seals your NCAA Tournament fate -- but we played a heck of a game yesterday. Don't lose sight of that.

More Jon Brockman Abuse

Dancing Football — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:37:13 -0000

We're almost there Coug fans! It has been a long week of anticipation awaiting one of the biggest UW-WSU basketball games that any of us has ever seen. Pac 10 supremacy on the line for the Huskies, a potential miracle NCAA tourney berth for the Cougs, this one will be a battle.

To finish my series of Coug victories at Hec Ed, we will revisit last year's contest. That game included yet another Brockman getting dunked-on moment:

The Cougs played this game holding their highest ranking ever at #4. They were undefeated and awaiting a much-anticipated matchup with UCLA the next week. UW played hard with grittyness and toughness that any WFB fan would appreciate. It was not enough however, as the powerhouse Cougs pulled out a late game victory aided by a big Derrick Low three and a Taylor Rochestie runner (yes he does make them occasionally).

On a personal note, I went to this game after securing a ticket through the UW Monday sale. There were Cougs all over the place and a guy holding up a sign that said "6" as we walked out. No other sign could have said it better. I also attended the Seahawks playoff victory over the Redskins earlier. One of the great days of my life.

Hopefully we have another YouTube highlight video to add to the collection after Saturday. Click on the link to see the video.

Go Cougs! Beat the Dawgs!

WSU vs. UW 1-5-08 (via WSUCougarHoops)

Bears Find Their Shooting Touch, Complete Husky Sweep

ragnarok — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:54:42 -0000

Note: This post was written jointly by CBKWit and ragnarok. Try and guess who wrote what!

After the losses to Stanford and USC, CBKWit said that sometimes, despite your best efforts, the other team makes their shots and there's not much you can do about it. Now, those games were much closer than last night's win, and I don't think that Cal had nearly the number of lucky breaks and bounces that the 'Furd (Mitch Johnson shot-putting a jumper which hits front iron, somehow bounces up and comes down through the cup) and SC (their European player doing a volleyball set as he falls backwards for a bucket) had in their wins. Still, Cal was absolutely scorching down the stretch, hitting (by my count) 21 of 30 field goals for 70% in the final 17 minutes of the second half. A lot of the buckets were good, open shots, but Randle hit a couple of off-balance jumpers coming off curls, Theo hit a 25 footer with a hand in his face as the shot clock was winding down, and when Jorge absolutely bricks a runner in the lane, only it hits back iron and rolls down...well, it's probably your night.

There's lots of credit to go around for last night's win, but if there's any doubt about who is the most important player on this team, let me clear that up right now: Cal will go just about as far as Jerome "The Bulldog" Randle (yes, that's how the PA announced introduced him) is able to take them this year. Plenty of others on the roster contribute a good deal, but Cal is least able to afford an off-night from Randle. When he's on, Cal looks like they could beat just about anyone in the country; however, if he gets flustered or sloppy or tired, Cal just is going to have to suffer, as letting Guttierrez or Knezevic handle the ball for extended periods of time is just not going to cut it.

And when Cal needed a comeback last night, Randle was Johnny-on-the-spot. Down by 9 at one point, Randle and Jordan Wilkes combined the bring the Bears close (with Wilkes contributing several nice moves inside, and Randle adding a huge 3 to cut the lead from 7 to 4). Then, down by 2, Randle reeled off 6 straight points to give the Bears the lead for good, including a crazy, coast-to-coast dribble-drive-behind-the-back-spin-and-layup that absolutely sent the crowd into its largest cheer of the night. All told, the Bears went from down 7 to up 4 between the 16 and 12 minute marks of the second half, and Randle scored 11 points during that 17-6 run. It was a lead they would not relinquish.

Of course, Randle may have his detractors. While Randle was shooting two free thows to give the Bears the lead for good, one of the guys behind me started saying "Hi, I'm Jerome Randle" in a high-pitched, Mr. Hankey from South Park voice. It was kinda weird. "Howdy-ho, I'm shooting free throws!" I have no idea what that was about. Personally, I think Randle bears a pretty decent resemblance to Rickey Henderson, especially when he's angry.

Am I wrong? - Images via cache.daylife.com and www.vinewoodsportcards.com

Actually, the guys sitting behind me were pretty entertaining; they kept up a steady stream of ridiculous commentary all game. Though ostensibly Cal fans, they also disparaged Harper Kamp, sarcastically referring to him as "Offensive Powerhouse". "Oh look, the Offensive Powerhouse is in the game. Great!" Right on cue, however, Kamp lays in a feed from Randle on a nice baseline cut, which shut them up pretty good.

Theo Robertson did a great job hitting his jumpers throughout the game, but the score would have been even more lopsided had he been able to contain Quincy Pondexter, who abused Theo for 21 points and 6 offensive rebounds. Theo is a smart, fundamentally sounds player with a great shot, but he is not very athletic and the Huskies exploited this last night. Great offensive performance for Theo, but giving up the same number of points to his man to go with only 2 rebounds isn't a very complete game.

That said, I think the most exciting play of the game was his 3 point play on a back door lay-in and subsequent free throw. Randle had been terrorizing the Huskies on pick-and-rolls on prior possessions, so the Husky defenders were a little jumpy to get out on the perimeter. Cal exploited it beautifully and Theo had the left half of the floor all to himself as he coasted in for the lay-in. I jumped out of my seat and did a spastic little fist pump while shouting "Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful!"; 20 seconds later, I received a text which simply said "Beauty". This play almost doubled Cal's lead, from 4 to 7 points, at the midway point of the second half, and the Huskies would get no closer than 5 the rest of the way.

However, as good as the Bears' offense was (and it was fantastic in the second half, with stretches where the Bears made 10 of 12 baskets and then 9 of 11), I was also impressed with their defense. Patrick Christopher finished with only 3 points on the night (giving him exactly 1,000 for his career), but he was a big reason why the previously red-hot Justin Dentmon hit only 3 of 12 field goals. The Bears' second half run was fueled as much by their defense, particularly on Dentmon and mini Isaiah Thomas, as by their offense. Cal did a great job of trapping the Husky guards once they got past the Cal perimeter defense, and Thomas especially often found himself without his dribble, in the key, surrounded by Golden Bears and without a good place to pass.

The Bears were also able to stymie Jon Brockman, at least on the offensive end. Brockman (or as the guys behind me alternately called him, "Jon Brickman", then "Brick Wall", and finally "Brockles V. McBricksworth") never once got a clean look at the basket, and he scored all 4 of his points on free throws as he went 0-4 from the floor. Yeah, he got 15 rebounds, including 6 on the offensive end, but I thought Wilkes, Kamp, and Jamal Boykin all did a nice job harassing Brockman and marginalizing his impact. The Bears continually doubled Brockman, forcing him to pass back outside time and time again, and that's not how the Huskies win games (they were 2-12 from three last night).

Brockles V. McBricksworth (ugly guy, left) never got his offensive game going vs. Cal. - Image via cdn1.sbnation.com

I believe I read somewhere that Brockman is UW's all time leading rebounder. It seems like he has been around forever, because he's been a good player for the last four years, but for all his virtue and achievement, Cal has really had his number. Two or three years ago, Cal beat UW when forced, by injury, to use Mr. Theo Robertson to defend Brockman in the post. Giving up 30 pounds to the opposition's star post player isn't typically a formula for success, but it worked against Brockman. Even in last year's loss to the Huskies at Haas Pavilion, it was Joe Wolfinger, he of the whopping 82 minutes played this season, and not Jon Brockman who dominated Ryan Anderson.

Still, the story of the game was the Bears' offense finally coming back to life. Against USC, they couldn't get their jump shots to fall, and against UCLA, they couldn't even hang on to the ball long enough to get off a shot, but Thursday night vs. U-Dub, everything seemed to click. Jordan Wilkes followed up his career night at USC with another impressive game, scoring 14 points on 6-9 shooting , grabbing 8 boards (inlcuding 6(!) on the offensive end), and adding 3 assists, no turnovers, and a block. Where has this guy been all his career? Jump-shooting teams will run through hot and cold streaks, but if Wilkes can consistently come out and give the Bears something in the post, perhaps the Bears will weather future cold streaks better than they did over the past 3 weeks.

Holy Balls Wow

CBKWit — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:00:10 -0000

Cal led for a total of 27 seconds in a 55 minute game. Put another way, Cal was either tied or behind for the other 3,273 seconds, or 99.2% of the game. Teams generally do not win when they lead for less than 1% of the game, but even if they did, Saturday night's triple overtime thriller would stand out. If you missed the game, stop reading now and click here. I was going to suggest, to those football fans hesitant to sit through a three hour basketball broadcast, starting your replay with only four minutes to go in the second half, but then you would miss the 11-0 Washington run which gave the Huskies a seemingly insurmountable lead. Rewind to there and you'll miss Patrick Christopher single-handedly carrying Cal to a tie immediately preceding the Husky surge, and if you skip the first half you won't get a sense of how poorly Cal was playing and how fortunate they were to even be in the game. So suck it up, start from the beginning, and watch one of the most incredible Cal games, in any sport, from the last decade.

via imgs.sfgate.com

After last weekend's home sweep against the Arizona schools, Cal really only needed a split in Washington to keep its ever more likely (and only two months ago, highly improbable) tournament hopes alive. The win at WSU on Thursday made Saturday's game at UW almost akin to playing with house money - a win is great, but a loss still leaves you in the black (or red, whichever one is good). I kept reminding myself of this before the game, in an effort to stem disappointment from a possible loss.

It’s tough to win on the road in the Pac-10, and Washington in particular presents a difficult match-up for Cal – they have quick guards which can neutralize Randle, a long, athletic wing in Quincy Pondexter to defend Christopher, and a bulky, experienced Jon Brockman to exploit our thin front-court. The huskies lead the nation in rebounding margin (something like +12 per game), and when you’re countering with reed-thin Jordan Wilkes, you’re probably in for a long night. From the start, the game played out almost exactly as expected. Randle was completely out of sync offensively and a liability defensively, as 5’8 and equally quick freshman Isaiah Thomas (no relation) beat Randle on the dribble and kept him from wreaking his usual havoc in the lane. Boykin wasn’t able to get any room against Brockman in the paint, so he started throwing up bricks from 15 feet and picked up a couple of quick fouls to boot. Only Christopher showed any moxie, and as a team Cal was getting thoroughly outplayed. At the end of the first half, Cal was being outscored by 20 or so in the paint and only a pair of late threes from Christopher and DJ Seeley kept the game close.

He can't dominate every game.

via seattletimes.nwsource.com

Christopher continued to carry the bears in the second half, with Harper Kamp chipping in some decent defense and a few rebounds, and at 13:37, Christopher tied the game at 41 with a pair of free throws. The huskies responded with an 11-0 run and held a 9 point lead with less than 4 minutes to go. Washington would make only a single free throw (in four chances) from then on, providing Cal a tiny window of opportunity.

Cal took advantage. Theo hit a three from the corner to cut the deficit to 5, Christopher made it a single possession game with a lay-in, and with less than a minute to go, Randle, having a miserable game and still without a three point bucket in nine attempts in the state of Washington, calmly pump faked, got his man in the air, stepped aside, and hit nothing but net on the tying three. After Cal rebounded Washington’s final possession in regulation, a rejuvenated Randle broke down the husky defense and fed Robertson in the lane, but the shot bounced off the front and back irons as time expired. With Cal’s only lead of the game coming at 1-0, I felt pretty good about simply getting to overtime.

Like they were for the vast majority of the game, Washington was the better team in all three overtimes, holding leads of three in the first, five in the second, and four in the third. And yet, every time that Washington threatened to put the game away, Cal had an answer, determined to steal a game they had little business winning. Starting with Randle’s three-pointer at the end of regulation, Cal tied the Huskies seven times before finally taking the lead on Theo’s and-one free throw with 15 seconds to go in the third overtime.

The winning drive

via imgs.sfgate.com

There were so many huge plays along the way that it’s difficult to single out one. Randle’s three pointer to send the game into the first overtime was incredible, given his struggles over the last two games. Christopher hit an off-balance three coming of a curl at the top of the key to tie the score in the first overtime, and Theo hit the tying shot and subsequent free throw with only 15 seconds to go in the third OT to give Cal the lead. After Randle, who came alive late in the second half and finished with 23 points, fouled out at the beginning of the third overtime, the Huskies staked a four point lead and seemed to finally have Cal on the ropes, but true freshman and CGB favorite Jorge Guiterrez calmly hit a tough lefty lay-in high off the glass and then fed Theo for the tying bucket.

Still, these were moments of only moderate desperation. The real magic came at the end of the second overtime, as Cal trailed by five with only thirty seconds left. Washington’s Justin Dentmon hit thirteen of his sixteen free throws for the game, including seven in a row in the second overtime, but missed two of four in the last twenty seconds. He made only one with nine seconds left, giving Cal a chance to tie the game with a three-pointer.

Patrick Christopher took the shot to tie. Without him, Cal would have lost by double digits in regulation. He had 20 of the bears' first 41 points, and finished with a team high 11 rebounds. He played 53 of the 55 minutes, including the final 4 minutes of regulation and all three overtimes with 4 fouls. His 27 points were a career high, but perhaps his best game as a bear wasn't good enough. The huskies, the better team for most the game, had beaten him, as his tying three pointer missed badly with only one second left.

Enter DJ Seeley. Seeley has played only 116 minutes in his college career, as he has watched the much less heralded freshman Jorge Guiterrez take most of the minutes backing up Christopher and Randle. His season high was 6 points against Dartmouth, and he has 13 rebounds through 17 games. With the game 1 second from completion, all he did was swoop in for the rebound, lay the ball in while being grabbed, and calmly sink the tying free throw. He is now 6 of 11 from the free throw line this year.

That Seeley had the wherewithal to get into position for the rebound and the concentration to lay it in while being fouled is remarkable. But even that seems ordinary compared to taking a breath, stepping up to the line, and drilling the tying free throw with 1 second left in double overtime. This is a guy who was 5 of 10 from the line before that shot, and with fans going crazy and the game in the balance, he hit nothing but net.

This team is now 15-2, 4-0 in the Pac-10. They have proven can beat top teams in the league. They have shown they can win on the road, including a victory over what appears to be a good Washington team. They have demonstrated they can win when their point guard struggles and their three pointers aren't falling (only 36% on Saturday against UW and 35% on Thursday against WSU). But even more than that, they have exhibited the guts and heart necessary to compliment their preperation, intelligence, and execution. On a night where both Theo Robertson and Jerome Randle missed the front ends of 1-and-1s, a little used freshman stepped to the line in the second overtime and buried the tying free throw with 1 second left. You could call it luck, but you'd be wrong.