SB Nation - Quincy Pondexter

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.

via www.greatdogs.org

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

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Casually.

Recapping Sunday, Previewing Monday

Chris Dobbertean — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:21:29 -0000

More photos » by Harry Cabluck - AP

26 days ago: Texas forward Damion James works from the line during the first half of their NCAA college basketball game against UC Irvine, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009, in Austin, Texas. James' 21 total points helped the Longhorns to an 89-42 victory. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)

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The main highlight of Sunday was the start of the "regional" rounds for the CBE Classic. Three of the four regional hosts opened play, and two won easily. Texas blew past overmatched UC Irvine, 89-42. Wichita State defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, 80-64, in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicates. Things weren't so rosy for the Big Ten's entrant in the event, as Iowa dropped a home game to UT-San Antonio, 62-50.

In other action, sixth-ranked North Carolina had a tougher time than anticipated against Valparaiso, winning by only 11. No. 8 West Virginia had no problem with Loyola (Md.), triumphing 83-60 in Morgantown. Florida defeated Stetson, 74-46, in a game where the only drama involved whether the Gators would keep their three-point streak alive. (They did, just, thanks to Chandler Parsons in the final minute.

In other games of note,

Wake Forest thumped East Carolina 89-58, thanks to 23 from Al-Farouq Aminu.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, who defeated Oregon State Friday night, fell to South Dakota in that same tournament in Lubbock, 76-73.
Texas Tech ended up winning that event by beating the Beavers, 64-60.
Kansas State beat Western Illinois by 32.
Virginia Tech defeated Brown, 69-55, in an early-round Philly Hoop Group Classic contest.
Buffalo was upset by Vermont, 58-57.
IPFW offered little opposition to Wisconsin (link)
Sean Miller was a winner in his Arizona debut, as the Wildcats beat Northern Arizona, 87 to 70.
Oregon swept through their round-robin event, beating Colorado 68-55.
Stanford managed to beat their Sunday mid-major opponent, Cal Poly, 70-53.
Wright State won their second in a row at the round-robin event in Seattle. dropping Belmont 82-73. Quincy Pondexter had 29 and 13 boards as Washington demolished Portland State, 111 to 55.

Monday's TV schedule after the jump.

The big event tomorrow is the start of the regional rounds of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Three of those games will be on the tube tomorrow evening. All times are Eastern.

Coastal Carolina takes on No. 9 Duke in the East Regional. (ESPNU, 7) Charlotte faces Elon in the other game in that region.
No. 12 UConn hosts Colgate in North Region action. (ESPNU, 9) Yale faces Hofstra in the first game of that doubleheader.
Arizona State takes on Texas State in the West Region at 11. (ESPNU). TCU plays Cal State-Northridge in the first game in that pod.

Of course, the most intriguing game of the event isn't on national TV. That one's in the South Region in Baton Rouge, where Wisconsin-Milwaukee takes on Western Kentucky at 5:30. Meanwhile, LSU takes on Indiana State at 8.

In other televised action on Monday,

Georgia Southern visits South Carolina. (SportSouth/FCS Atlantic, 7)
Miami (OH) faces Kentucky, with John Wall making his debut. (Big Blue Sports/FS South/Full Court, 7)
Jacksonville heads to Tallahassee to take on FSU. (Sun Sports, 7)
USF hosts Virginia (Bright House/CSS/SNY/Full Court, 7)
Transitional D-I squad USC Upstate visits Indiana. (Big Ten, 8:30)
Fang Mitchell's Coppin State Eagles do what they do best, hit the road. They visit Colorado tonight. (FSN Rocky Mountain/Full Court, 9)
Finally, Eastern Washington makes the short trip to Pullman to face Washington State. (FSN Northwest/FCS Pacific, 10)

For more TV information (especially for online only games), be sure to visit Matt Sarz's College Sports on TV site.

BtB 2009-10 Pac-10 Preview

Chris Dobbertean — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:57:08 -0000

Last year, the Pac-10 was sneaky good on the national stage, sending 90 percent of its membership to the postseason with little preseason fanfare. However, the postseason ended up being a bit of a downer for the six teams who made the NCAAs, as only Arizona, who was probably the last team in the field of 65, made the second weekend. The College Basketball Invitational was a bigger success, as Oregon State and Stanford met in a semifinal. The Beavers won that matchup and ended up as champions--after they defeated UTEP in a three-game series. Oddly enough, Oregon State had to win the CBI to get to .500 for the year, which is a major accomplishment considering where the Beavers were before Craig Robinson's arrival.

All of that success came at a price for last year's contenders. Six Pac-10 players were selected in the first round of the NBA Draft: Pac-10 Player of the Year James Harden (Arizona State), All-Pac 10 first teamer Jordan Hill (Arizona), all-freshman selection DeMar DeRozan (USC), Jrue Holliday (UCLA), first team selection Darren Collison (also UCLA), and second teamer Taj Gibson (USC). Three more players, first-teamers Jeff Pendergraph (ASU), John Brockman (Washington), and Chase Budinger (also U of A), were selected in the second round. Of those nine, five were underclassmen.

That means the conference will have to try to replicate its success with only two all-Pac-10 first-teamers back (Patrick Christopher and Jerome Randle of California) and just two second-teamers, including Freshman of the Year Isaiah Thomas (UW), returning. That means those two teams, who unarguably lost the least, start out as the favorites. UCLA should fit in right behind, though they'll be young. Arizona should also be able to contend, though. much like the Bruins much depends on newcomers, and late signings at that. Oregon State, who should be even better in their second season in Robinson's system, could surprise more than West Coasters this time around, especially as most of their roster is intact. Among the remaining five teams, things are muddled. That mess may become clearer during the non-conference season.

The league also turned over 30 percent of its coaches during the offseason. I'll discuss those changes in each team's individual write up after the jump.

First, here's a look at the final 2008-09 Pac-10 standings.

Pacific-10 Conference Standings

(updated 4.4.2009 at 12:56 AM EDT)

	Conf		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Washington Huskies	14	4	26	9
UCLA Bruins	13	5	26	9
Arizona St. Sun Devils	11	7	25	10
California Golden Bears	11	7	22	11
USC Trojans	9	9	22	13
Arizona Wildcats	9	9	21	14
Washington St. Cougars	8	10	17	16
Oregon St. Beavers	7	11	18	18
Stanford Cardinal	6	12	20	14
Oregon Ducks	2	16	8	23

Now here are my picks for the 2009-10 season, presented in reverse order. If a team's name is a link, click it to go to that school's SBN site, where you'll find in-depth, team-specific analysis during the season.

Stanford (last NCAA: 2008) Johnny Dawkins' task wasn't going to be easy this season, as he had to replace his two leading scorers (Anthony Goods and Lawrence Hill) and his starting backcourt (Goods and Mitch Johnson). His task was made more difficult when start recruit Andy Brown was lost for the season with a torn ACL. Today, Dawkins indefinitely suspended guard Jeremy Green (6.4 ppg, 45.6% from 3, 2.1 rpg) for violating team rules further reducing the Cardinal roster. The best news for Dawkins is that senior forward Landry Fields (12.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg) is still around. He and 6-9 center Josh Owens (6.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg) will anchor the frontcourt, but inexperience in the backcourt could lead to Stanford spending a second straight year near the bottom of the league. The Cardinal will play in Cancun over Thanksgiving, where they'll face Virginia, then either Cleveland State or Kentucky.

USC (last NCAA: 2009) Tim Floyd left not long after he interviewed for the opportunity to be Lute Olson's replacement at Arizona. Replacing Floyd is...Kevin O'Neill, who was the coach-in-waiting in Tucson during the 2007-08 season. He faces a serious rebuilding project, as the Trojans second, third, and fourth leading scorers--Gibson, DeRozan, and Daniel Hackett of a year ago are all gone. Leading scorer Dwight Lewis (14.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg) is back, however, to anchor a frontcourt that should be respectable, as 6-9 UNC transfer Alex Stephenson is newly-eligible and 6-6 Marcus Johnson will be back from a shoulder injury. They'll join returnees Leonard Washington (6.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg) and Nikola Vucevic (2.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg). The backcourt is a major question mark though, as junior Donte Smith and freshman Percy Miller (aka Lil' Romeo) will compete with Charlotte transfer Mike Gerrity for the point guard spot that was supposed to be filled by Lamont Jones. The Trojans will spend Christmas in Hawai'i, which should be a winnable tournament, even in a down year.

Arizona State (last NCAA: 2009) The Sun Devils return three starters, most notably senior point guard Derek Glasser (8.8 ppg, 4.8 apg). However, the two starters who left are big pieces to replace, Harden and Pendergraph. Herb Sendek will have to rely on several returnees who saw little playing time last season and a boatload of newcomers, led by 7-2 Russian center Ruslan Pateev and 6-2 local product Demetrius Walker, to replace all of that production. Sendek's team should once again be one of the best in the country defensively (if the newbies buy into his system), but the big question will be can he get enough scoring. The Sun Devils host the West regional of the NIT, where Cal State-Northridge and TCU appear to be their biggest obstacles to getting to New York.

Washington State (last NCAA: 2008) Like the rest of the teams in what I'm projecting as the Pac-10's second division for this year, the Cougars lost significant scoring punch at the end of last season. In this case, their top two scorers are gone, Taylor Rochestie (13.2 ppg, 4.5 apg) and Aron Bynes (12.7 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.3 bpg). As you can see, the Cougs' former point guard and center brought more to the table than just points. So the challenge for former Portland State head coach Ken Bone in his first year as Tony Bennett's replacement is to find players who can fill those gaps, all while complementing 6-6 sophomore G Klay Thompson (12.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg), one of the best shooters in the conference. 6-8 sophomore and 6-9 Australian freshman Brock Motum will be called on to fill Bynes' spot, while Thompson will be supported by a couple of youngsters in the backcourt--Reggie Moore and Xavier Thomas. The Cougars head north for Thanksgiving. They'll compete in a Great Alaska Shootout group that includes hosts Alaska-Anchorage and Nicholls State. If they win both of those, they'll probably face Oklahoma in the final.

Oregon (last NCAA: 2008) Despite all the rumors to the contrary, Ernie Kent is still the head man in Eugene. Sure the Ducks only won 8 games during all of last year, including only two in the league, but that was with a team that featured eight freshmen. This year's Oregon outfit should be a bit more experienced, and may be even better next year, as leading scorer Tajuan Porter (15.4 ppg) and Joevan Catron (7.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg) are the only seniors on the roster. There's also only one junior, 6-5 swingman LeKendrick Longmire (9.9 ppg. 3.7 rpg). Kent really needs to get someone to play at the point, however, with JC transfer Malcolm Armstead the best hope. One of his teammates at Chipola CC, 6-7 F Jeremy Jacob is also expected to be a major contributor to the frontcourt alongside Catron, Longmire, and 6-10 C Michael Durnigan (8.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg). The Ducks will host a four-team round-robin very early in the season, where Colorado State should be their main competition for the title.

Arizona (last NCAA: 2009) Sean Miller left Xavier to replace Russ Pennell who replaced Kevin O'Neill who filled in for Lute Olson. His first couple of tasks in Tucson have to be considered major successes, as he kept 5-10 guard Nic Wise (15.7 ppg, 4.6 apg) from joining Hill and Budinger in the NBA. Then, he snagged a late recruiting class that should help keep the Wildcats competitive in the Pac-10. 6-6 Solomon Hill and 6-10, 255 pound C Kyryl Natyazhko will provide support to Jamelle Horne (6.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg) in the frontcourt. Two New Yorkers 5-11 Lamont Jones and 6-6 swingman Kevin Parrom could bring a whole new dimension to the Cats' game. The new look Wildcats get their first real test in Maui, where they open with Wisconsin and could face old tournament rival Gonzaga in their second game.

Oregon State (last NCAA: 1990) The Beavers edged toward respectability last year, claiming the CBI crown, beating Stanford in 3 or 4 meetings (the one loss was arguably the most crucial, in the Pac-10 tourney), and sweeping Cal (though they did provide the Ducks one of their two league triumphs). When I saw them play in their first game of last season, I thought it would be a very long season for Craig Robinson's squad. But they grew throughout the year and now they'll try to take the next step nationally. Point guard Rickey Claitt (7.4 ppg, 2.5 apg) is gone, but point center Roeland Schaftenaar (10.5 ppg. 4 rpg, 3.3 apg) is back. So is leading scorer Calvin Haynes (13 ppg, 3 rpg) and the Tarver brothers, starting PG Josh (3.9 ppg. 1.5 apg) and Seth (8 ppg, 5.4 rpg). The newcomers are a promising group as well. They include two Aussie forwards, Angus Brandt and Rhys Murphy, 6-7 forward Joe Burton, and guards Jared Cunningham and Roberto Nelson. Richmond transfer Chris Richard is also eligible this season, and he'll help bolster the backcourt. The Beavers will open their regular season in Lubbock as part of a four-team tournament. They'll challenge host Texas Tech for the title.

UCLA (last NCAA: 2009) A team that lost four of its top five leading scorers probably shouldn't be rated third in this league, but considering the roster changes and inexperience that hound teams four through 10, the Bruins sit here for the moment. Of course, Ben Howland's team could start slowly, as they've turned into the walking wounded during preseason practices. Forward Nikola Dragovic (9.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg) and G/F Michael Roll (6.7 ppg) are the Bruins two leading returning scorers, and Drew Gordon (3.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg) will undoubtedly get better with more time on the court. This season, Howland's freshmen, led by 6-9 swingman Tyler Honeycutt, 6-8 F Reeves Nelson, and 6-8 Mike Moser, are going to have to carry a lot of the load. The Bruins will anchor the 76 Classic, where they'll open with WCC contender Portland before facing a tough second opponent, Butler or Minnesota.

California (last NCAA: 2009) Mike Montgomery started to earn the trust of Cal fans last season, but if he can bring a Pac-10 crown to Berkeley, Golden Bear fans maybe, just maybe, able to stop seeing him as a Stanford guy. In a league decimated by player departures, Cal only lost only center Jordan Wilkes (4.7 ppg, 4 rpg). Their four leading scorers are back: Randle (18.3 ppg, 5 apg), Christopher (14.3 ppg, 2.1 apg), 6-6 F Theo Robertson (13.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.5 apg), and 6-8 F Jamal Boykin (9.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg). Montgomery's biggest challenge is getting more out of his bench, which is led by hardworking guard Jorge Gutierrez. He also needs to find a replacement for Wilkes. That could be 6-7 JC transfer Markhuri Sanders-Frison, but 6-10 Sudanese prospect Bak Bak could be an intriguing player for the Bears. Cal heads east for the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, where they'll open with a Syracuse team who will have homecourt advantage at MSG. The winner of that tilt faces North Carolina or Ohio State. A trip to Lawrence to face Kansas also looms large.

Washington (last NCAA: 2009) Lorenzo Romar lost two key players off last year's Pac-10 champs, Brockman and G Justin Dentmon (14.5 ppg, 2.5 apg, 1.5 spg), but he recruited well. 6-3 Tacoma product Abdul Gaddy should slide into Dentmon's spot on the roster. Gaddy will focus on the point, while Thomas will play more in the 2 slot. Inside, 6-7 Clarence Trent will support senior Quincy Pondexter (12.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg), and 6-9 junior Matthew Bryan-Amaning (6 ppg, 4 rpg) should increase his contributions. The main challenge for UW will be replacing Brockman's prowess on the boards. He averaged nearly 12 a game, and it will be no small feat to replace them. The Huskies host a four-team round-robin tournament to open the season, featuring Belmont, Portland State, and Wright State. They also play Georgetown in this year's edition of the Wooden Classic.

It was a tough choice, but I'm picking Washington to edge Cal in the league race this season. The Huskies will hold Pac-10's auto bid in my 2009-10 Final Preseason Bracket, which I will release on November 9. Tune back in then to see my first guess at the number of bids the conference could receive in what might be a down year. Now, to wrap up this preview, here is my preseason All-Pac-10 team, featuring the best returning players from last season.

Preseason All-Pac-10 Team

Player of the Year: Jerome Randle, 5-10 G, Sr. (California)

Remainder of the Team
Patrick Christopher, 6-5 G, Sr. (California)
Quincy Pondexter, 6-6 F, Sr. (Washington)
Isaiah Thomas, 5-8 G, So. (Washington)
Nic Wise, 5-10 G, Sr. (Arizona)

Poll

Who is your pick to win the Pac-10 this season?

Arizona

8 votes

Arizona State

4 votes

California

28 votes

Oregon

2 votes

Oregon State

5 votes

Stanford

1 votes

UCLA

36 votes

USC

1 votes

Washington

363 votes

Washington State

4 votes

452 votes | Poll has closed

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 ...

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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

via cache.daylife.com

via seattletimes.nwsource.com

via cache.daylife.com

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

World University Games Preview

Mark Kieffer — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 05:05:49 -0000

If you have not heard, Craig Brackins is spending part of his summer competing for USA in the World University Games. The competition is being held in Belgrade, Serbia, and it's a great chance for elite college basketball players to compete with some of the world's best at their age group.

Here's a rundown of USA's Roster:

Number	Name	Class.	Position	School
#4	Talor Battle	JR	Guard	Penn State
#5	Corey Fisher	JR	Guard	Villanova
#6	Da'Sean Butler	SR	Forward	West Virginia
#7	Robbie Hummel	JR	Forward	Purdue
#8	Evan Turner	JR	Guard	Ohio State
#9	James Anderson	JR	Guard	Oklahoma State
#10	Quincy Pondexter	SR	Forward	Washington
#11	Lazar Hayward	SR	Forward	Marquette
#12	Craig Brackins	JR	Forward	Iowa State
#13	Trevor Booker	SR	Forward	Clemson
#14	Jarvis Varnado	SR	Forward	Miss. State
#15	Deon Thompson	SR	Forward	North Carolina

The squad is coached by Wisconsin Coach, Bo Ryan.

The team has already arrived in Serbia, and played won an exhibition game against Canada 85-81. Brackins came off the bench, getting 4 points, 1 rebound, and 1 assist in 18 minutes. Brackins went 1-4 from the field, and 2-2 from the charity stripe.

USA will play Serbia on Sunday at 2pm CST, and Russia on Monday at 11:30am CST. All of these, are an exhibition round-robin tournament prior to the World University Game.

The World University Games for the USA will start on July 3rd. The USA will play Finland on July 3rd at 1pm CST and will also play South Korea on July 4th at 1pm CST. Assuming the USA will advance (and that's a pretty safe bet), the 2nd round is July 6th and 7th, quarterfinals July 9th, semifinals July 10th, and the finals on July 11th.

The countries are formed into groups for the first round and do a round-robin in their group. The winner of each group moves into an 8 team tournament. The groups are as follows:

Group A: Serbia, Greece, Australia

Group B: Lithuania, Mexico, Romania, UAE

Group C: Canada, Italy, China

Group D: Japan, Ukraine, Bulgaria

Group E: Turkey, Portugal, Iran

Group F: Russia, Gabon, Israel, Brazil

Group G: Germany, Latvia, South Africa

Group H: USA, Finland, South Korea

It will be interesting, and we will update results as they come. I think this is a good chance for Craig to play against some meaningful competition, instead of the glorified pickup league known as the Capital City League. The USA typically does well in this type of an event, and I hope everyone on that team is enjoying their time there.

A look at Bo Ryan's U.S. Team

Adam Hoge — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:42:10 -0000

The U.S. roster for the World University Games was announced Friday and include three first-team All-Big Ten selections: Talor Battle of Penn State, Evan Turner of Ohio State and Robbie Hummel of Purdue.

The team is of course coached by UW head coach Bo Ryan, so it's no surprise that three Big Ten players made the team, but it should be noted that Purdue forward JaJuan Johnson was among the players who accepted a tryout invitation but is not listed on the final U.S. roster.

Overall the team is stacked. Consider it a college All-Star team. Here's the rest of the 12-man roster:

Deon Thompson - North Carolina
Corey Fisher - Villanova
Robbie Hummel - Purdue
James Anderson - Oklahoma State
Trevor Booker - Clemson
Craig Brackins - Iowa State
Da'Sean Butler - West Virginia
Lazar Hayward - Marquette
Quincy Pondexter - Washington
Jarvis Varnado - Mississippi State

If I had to take a blind pick at who my starting five would be (ignoring the unknown progress these players have made in the off-season) I would probably go with Battle as my point guard, Anderson as my shooting guard, Turner as my small forward, Butler as my power forward and Brackins as my center.

Quite frankly the guards are no brainers. Battle is a skilled point guard who gives you 20 points per game and Anderson has great size at 6-6 and averaged 18.2 ppg last season. The forwards are a little harder to choose, but Turner is probably the most NBA ready player on this team so he has to be your small forward. There are a lot of options at power forward. I would be surprised if Ryan doesn't go with Hummel as a starter because he is Ryan-type player who brings a ton of leadership to the team. But you can't ignore Butler's size and ability to score. He averaged 17.1 ppg last season, while Hummel put up 12.5 while battling a back injury all season. Hummel is one of my favorite Big Ten players, but I'd go with Butler. Meanwhile, Brackins is a no-brainer at center. At 6-10 he's the tallest player on the team and he put up 20.2 ppg last season for the Cyclones.

Surprisingly, Kansas forward Sherron Collins, one of the top players in the country, was left off the roster after accepting a tryout. South Florida's Dominque Jones also failed to make the team.

The tournament will be held July 2-11 in Serbia with 24 teams competing for the gold medal.

Declaration day: Pac-10's losers and winners

Nuss — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:00:46 -0000

More photos » by Reed Saxon - AP

That constipated look on Ben Howland's face? He's wondering just who the heck is going to play point for his team next year now that Jrue Holiday is officially gone. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Browse more photos »

The deadline for underclassmen to announce their final intentions for the NBA Draft came and went yesterday. Here's a quick look and the losers and winners, from biggest to smallest, along with my way-too-early Pac-10 power rankings for next season.

LOSERS

USC: A couple of months ago, this pretty clearly would have been Arizona. Not anymore. Tim Floyd has resigned in disgrace and DeMar DeRozan, Taj Gibson and Daniel Hackett (!) are gone. I think it's become obvious that the program is in need of some serious house cleaning -- beyond these players leaving, there were some serious fractures on that team last year. The recruiting cupboard is all but bare, and there are likely sanctions on the way. Not a good day to be a Trojan. (But I guess we could say that about any day, right?)
Arizona State: James Harden is gone, and anyone who watched the Sun Devils play when he wasn't on the floor the last two years -- or when his legs finally gave out from inexcusable overuse -- know what that means. Herb Sendek has what appears to be a good recruiting class coming in, but let's be frank: None of them are game changers like Harden. He was a special kind of player that made Sendek look like a darn good coach. Let's see what he can do now that he doesn't have Harden around to ride like Secretariat.
Arizona: Boy, have the Wildcats pulled one heck of a magic act. In November, they were in complete disarray. Lute Olson was retiring just before the start of the season and their first choice for interim coach didn't want the job. Then, the season was mediocre by their standards, recruiting was at a standstill and it looked like their Big Three was bolting for the NBA. Now, they've got a fantastic coach in Sean Miller (after serendipitously being spurned by Tim Floyd), an unbelievable recruiting class considering the wreck this program was just a couple of months ago, and they're only losing Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill -- Nic Wise returns. Still not a great day for Arizona, but holy cow could it have been a lot worse.
UCLA: Had UCLA successfully recruited a point guard for this draft class, I suppose it would be debatable whether UCLA even belonged in the loser category, even with the loss of Jrue Holiday, who was never as good in LA as he was supposed to be. But with Darren Collison graduating and Holiday staying in the draft, the Bruins have a ton of question marks at the lead spot. Their leading returning assist men? Nikola Dragovic and Michael Roll. Yeah.

WINNERS

Cal: While traditional powers such as Arizona and UCLA got worse, Cal didn't have even one of its talented underclassmen test the draft waters. That means Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher, Jamal Boykin and the rest of the Bears' roster will return. No team will be poised to take advantage of other teams' losses more than Cal, which will be a top 10 team heading into next season. The scary part is that they've got a coach who's used to his teams having to live up to high expectations. Watch out.
Washington: At the end of the year, people actually said with a straight face that Isaiah Thomas might declare for the draft. He didn't, and neither did Quincy Pondexter. With a fantastic recruiting class coming in led by Abdul Gaddy, the only thing keeping the Huskies from being a winner on Cal's level is the enormous question mark in the frontcourt where Jon Brockman used to be.
Washington State, Oregon State, Oregon, Stanford: This is a great time to be a program on the rise in the conference. After having some of the best teams in the country in 2007-08 and being unbelievably balanced last season, this figures to be a good time to be heading north, what with the traditional powers being down. There's room to move, and each of these programs have hope for the upcoming season that they can make that move.

Way-Too-Early Pac-10 Power Rankings

Cal - New version of WSU 2007-08 ... but with more talent. Scary.
Washington - Could easily repeat as Pac-10 champs if even one of their big men steps up inside. None of this foo-foo face up stuff; who will get dirty?
UCLA - I'm betting Ben Howland can figure out an adequate solution at PG.
Arizona - This shows just how fast it drops off after top 3. Depth still will be a major issue, but the combo of Wise and Fogg will make for a formidable backcourt.
Oregon State - This is a tough one: Does the Pac-10 stop being fooled by the Princeton offense, or does OSU get even better after another year in the system?
Arizona State - Still lots of experience here. Derek Glasser is underrated -- I understand, it's tough to take that chest hair seriously -- and Ty Abbott could be the breakout player of the year in the conference out of Harden's shadow.
Washington State - My heart wants to rank the Cougs higher, but with a new coach and still loads of inexperienced players ...
Oregon - Lots of talent. However, Ernie Kent doesn't exactly have a track record of coaching guys up to dramatic improvements between their first and second year. Look for the Ducks to be better in 2010-11. If Kent can hang on that long.
Stanford - Big losses (Goods, Hill, Johnson) and a solid-but-unspectacular recruiting class don't scream "mover and shaker."
USC - Until they get a coach and one or two of the as-yet-unsigned recruits, this is a team staring at the bottom of the conference.

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.

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.

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.