This is an awesome win, jumping out early to 3-0 and 7-3 leads and hanging on for a huge win.  Jeremy Johnson did a great job in relief, hanging in there in the 8th after giving up a leadoff homerun that cut the lead to the final margin.  He escaped further damage in the inning and got a 1-2-3 ninth to preserve the Coug win. 

Even watching the game on game tracker turned me into a bundle of nerves.  We got great pitching and a 4-4 (two doubles) from Jared Prince.  Matt Way got the win.  Lots of heroes in this one.  The Cougs outhit the Beavers 12-11.

The Cougs are now 27-21 overall and 15-7 in Pac-10 play.  That's still good for a two game lead over Ucla for 2nd place and two game behind ASU.  Keep up the good work. 

I sure hope we can get another win tomorrow.  Am really looking forward to the game in person.  Even though I have bleacher seats, I bet it's going to be a great experience.  Go Cougs!!! 

On Wednesday, March 4 of this year I attended the 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome.  I posted an article about that experience and the highlight of the day was getting to sit in front of Marv Harshman, Dave Harshman and Lorenzo Romar for much of the session. 

What I forgot to mention was that Marv introduced me to Terry Ball, a famous Coug basketball star from 1959-1963, who played for Marv.  Terry and Marv are very close friends. 

I have no excuse for not mentioning being in the presence of a Coug great.  I have included a link to a PI article written by Dan Raley last March for those of you not familiar with the name Terry Ball. 

http://www.seattlepi.com/cbasketball/356437_where26.html

Terry, I humbly ask for your forgiveness and I hope you will accept my apology for not including you in my original post.

I don't know if Terry browses this site or not but if anyone out there knows him I would appreciate it if you would let him know about this post.     

I had planned on attending the first two days of this event.  My partner, who's just as avid a Husky fan as I am a Coug, wanted to watch all the Pac-10 tourney games to catch his Huskies that evening so I decided to skip the two-hour drive each way on Thursday and take in the Coug / Ucla game on the tube instead.

I arrived at the Tacoma Dome early Wednesday morning and got floor level seats behind the basket at the corner where the boys enter and leave the court.  The first game was the one I wanted to see the most, #6 Shadle Park / #1 Franklin.

Anthony Brown, 6-5, PG/SG Coug recruit plays for Shadle and they quickly fell behind 14-2.  I had faint hope for a Shadle comeback because in the 4A tourney Gonzaga Prep fell behind Decatur in their first game 17-2 and came back to win by six.  It wasn't to be, they ended up losing to Franklin by 25.

Had Shadle beaten Rogers to get the #1 seed out of their district, they would have gotten a much easier draw in Columbia River later in the evening, who happen to be in tonight's Championship game against Franklin.  River has a 6-10 kid, Steven Bjornstad, who's going to Nevada, but Shadle would have matched up a little better with them, I think.  Not saying they win, but it wouldn't have been a 25 point loss either. 

Also, there's just something about having to play the first game of the tourney at 9am in the morning that doesn't bring out the best in most kids.  Just my opinion on that, but it's a long trip from Spokane (even though they traveled to Tacoma on Tuesday), they have to play in a spacious venue, and it's just not conducive to great shooting performances.  It affects lots of teams.  Most of the teams in the field are a short drive from the Dome and get the luxury of mom's home cooking and also get to sleep in their own beds.  Advantage Franklin.

Anthony Brown is a special talent, even though he didn't really show it against the Quakers.  Franklin is blessed with a very deep, athletic team and is led by a Louisville recruit, PG Peyton Siva.  He's surrounded by more talent than Brown was.  I'm not saying that the other Shadle kids are chopped liver, but you notice the difference in the overall talent level.  I thought Anthony might have been the best athlete I saw during both the 3A and 4A tournaments.  There were a bunch of good ones, I'm totally biased, but it's not far from the truth at all.  If you put him on any number of other teams, they would easily compete for a championship.  Simple as that.

Here's my opinion of Anthony Brown.  At 6-5, he has the body of an NBA player, lean and very defined even though he's still maturing.  He's long and a lefty, like Capers.  He's probably not done growing.  He handles the ball well, has a nice stroke and can get to the rim anytime he wants.  He plays solid D.  I project him as a possible 4-year starter and the sky's the limit, depending on how bad he wants it.  He possesses all the tools.   

BTW - Andre Barrington and Travis Long are both lefties too and are Wazzu FB recruits that played for State Champ Federal Way and #4 Gonzaga Prep in the 4A tournament.  I notice things like that because I'm a lefty and Tony recruits lots of them.

I don't know what Tony's plans are, but it looks to me that Anthony should be penciled in for some serious PT next season.  I've heard nothing but positives about PG Xavier Thames out California, that he's our future at the point, and he's ready to play right away.  Anthony can't be far behind.  The rest of the Pac-10 is going to have serious problems matching up with us at the guard position for years to come.

I believe he's at least the equal of Klay at this point in their careers.  I see a lot of similarities.  Anthony will need to develop a better outside shot.  He is already a better option than anything I saw off of our bench this season.

One last comment.  I always try to see how kids coming into our programs interact with their teammates, their demeanor, IQ on the court, and other intangibles.  Without being able to quantify it, I thought Anthony Brown excelled in those areas as well.

Other notes - Alex Schrempf, Sr., 6-5, SF, Bellevue is the do everything son of Detlef Schrempf.  A fun kid to watch.  He was Bellevue's leading scorer the first night, scoring something like 28 points and only missed twice from the field.  Nate Sikma is a sophomore that didn't get off the bench for them but have heard good stuff about him and his future. 

I saw Steven Bjornstad, the 6-10 kid from Columbia River of Vancouver, play the first night.  He's headed to Nevada.   They beat Rogers of Spokane in a close one by six and was trying to figure out if he'd be able to play at Wazzu.  Offensively he'd be fine, but not sure he'd get strong enough for the rigors of the Pac-10.  He's pretty athletic for a big guy but kind needs to fill out a bit.  I liked what I saw. 

I could go on and on but will spare everyone.  If anyone has a comment or question I would be more than happy to respond.  There was so much else to report on.  It's a great experience for any of you that haven't been to one of these events.  I love watching HS kids compete.  That's it from Mr. Longwinded.  Go Cougs!!! 

I was able to see 13 of 16 games the first two days of the tourney.  Sat with a life-long Husky friend, both of us decked out in our colors.  In a previous post on another thread I mentioned that Marv Harshman, Dave Harshman and Lorenzo Romar (for about 2 games) sat behind us on Wednesday.

It was fun watching all the action and in particular, the Federal Way and Gonzaga Prep games.  It would be my first glimpse at future Cougs Andre Barrington and Travis Long.  Both are starters and major contributors to their respective teams. 

Up to this point, Federal Way hasn't really been challenged, dominating Redmond and Walla Walla in their first two games.  I know Andre led the team in scoring against Redmond.  He's an excellent athlete, ultra-quick, fast, smooth, can really jump and is just an overall great looking athlete.  Physically, he's chiseled.  I can't wait to see him in action on Saturdays next Fall.  I can see why he has a shot at playing as a true freshman. 

Gonzaga Prep had to overcome a 17-2 deficit the first night to beat Decatur and last night lost a heart-breaker to Garfield and super-soph Tony Wroten in OT.  Great games both nights.  John Stockton's son plays the point for Prep, at least I'm pretty sure it's his son.  He was in the building too, saw him chatting with Marv during a break between games near where we sat the first night. 

I really liked what I saw from Travis Long too, another kid who's probably destined to play next Fall as a freshman.  He is big, lean, solid, runs extremely well, athletic, left-handed (just had to throw that in, Andre Barrington is too) and tough as nails.  Garfield attacked him relentlessly and he never backed down, in fact, he was a load for them. 

If you want an idea of the type of game it was, it's classic Washington vs Washington State.  Garfield is full court pressure, Prep was Coug-style ball.  Watching Travis and his facial expressions really close I can say this about him, he is intense and he is all business but you can also tell he just plain loves to compete.  I saw him in two pressure-packed environments and he handles himself in style.  I love his demeanor.  It was harder to judge Barrington in that respect because Federal Way wasn't really challenged.  That comes tonight when they play Kentridge.   

Andre and Travis are soon going to make us all forget about last season.  Kids like them are going to have a profound impact on our program. 

I got a first hand look at Josh Smith, the big center from Kentwood, who was there watching the action.  They were knocked out by Kentridge and Lorenzo is hot after him.  My buddy and I sat right where the players enter and leave the court and during the 4th Q of the Garfield / Gonzaga Prep game, Lorenzo showed up.  The game was running about an hour late but the gym was fairly packed for this matchup.  Lots of energy.  

During a break I talked with Lorenzo for another brief moment because I was curious to know how the Pac-10 games had gone for the evening.  He remembered me from the previous night, gave me the outcomes, we shook hands and I guess you could say it was a special moment for me.  Romar is a class act, simple as that. 

He was there to show some love to Tony Wroten.  Wouldn't doubt if he didn't chat with Josh either.  I expect Wroten and Smith to both end up at Washington.  For a 15 year old kid, Wroten is a special talent.  hell, he's special for any age kid.  Smith is still only a junior himself and probably one of the best big men in the state by far. 

One last note - Two of the guys that sat behind us this time were officials that will be working the 3A games next weekend when Anthony Brown and Shadle Park visit the Dome.  One of them a UW grad six years after my class at WSU.  It was probably 10/1 Husky vs Coug colors in the Dome but I'm here to tell ya it is a great venue to wear your colors. 

I'm not taking in the Friday and Saturday 4A action but will be heading up to the Dome for the 3A games next Wednesday and Thursday.  I will have to tivo any of the Coug Pac-10 tourney games and watch them that way but my heart will be in LA.  I will read all about them here on this site the minute I walk in the door.   

Go Cougs!!!           

As far as Saturday's game goes, I have mixed emotions and a couple of major concerns.   

#1.  Washington gets to the stripe way too often.  I watched them closely last week against the Arizona schools and it seemed to me that there was a huge disparity in the way they got calls to go their way.  We don't get to the foul line all that much anyway, so to me this is a huge factor in their favor.   

#2.  Washington gets away with murder on defense.  I remember back to our first meeting at the end of the game when Caleb Forrest took a swipe at #44, Darnell Gant.  I thought he had good reason to, although he shouldn't have done it.  If the officials allow Washington to get away with those muggings we aren't physical enough to overcome it.   

Arizona should have beaten Washington going away.  Jordan Hill had a huge advantage over Brockman and Pennell didn't take advantage of it.  Hill should have had 20+ at half against that single-team, non-factor defense Brockman was attempting to play.  When Arizona got up by 10 in the second half, they didn't get the ball inside to Hill at all.  Huge coaching mistake.  They let Washington back in it way too fast.  In other words, Arizona played right into Washington's strengths.   

If, and it's a big one, Baynes gets the same type of attention from Brockman, we need to attack it relentlessly.  Jon's the weakness of their D.  Washington's strength is with their overall athleticism.  We can't match it but we can outplay them, and if Tony pays attention, he can exploit them.  But the players have to execute the plan.  

We need to get off to a decent start.  It has to be close at half and we have to stay out of foul trouble.  Baynes has to be ultra careful he doesn't get a bunch of ticky-tack calls against him.  That means he has to make those little 5-footers so he doesn't get over the back calls when he tries for the offensive rebound.  Aron is a huge key for us.   

Casto will probably get tons of court time because he matches up well with their front-court players.  He could have a huge game if Washington concentrates on Baynes too much.  Baynes has to play smarter than he normally does to find an open shooter when they double him and be ready when Casto is doubled.  They feed off each other.  Defensively, they are great at clogging the middle and denying shots.  Probably the best 1-2 shot-blockers I've seen all year.  Baynes is an impressive force on D with a very long reach.  Casto has extraordinary jumping ability and timing.  He's going to be a great NBA player.  Once he develops his offensive game a little more, he will dominate in college, probably as a junior at the latest.   

We didn't match up well with Washington's guards the first game.  Capers is the difference now.  If he can handle the offense it will allow Taylor and Klay to be more effective.  I don't know how Washington will choose to guard them.  Probably have Dentmon on Klay is my guess because he guarded Budinger, which was another huge mismatch Arizona failed to capitalize on.  The officials let Dentmon get away with murder away from the ball.  It was really sad to see the Pac-10 officials have allowed that sort of play.  Dentmon is not a very good defender, he relies on others to cover his ass when he gets beat off the dribble.   

If Isaiah Thomas is allowed to guard Taylor, Taylor should have a decent chance at putting up some big numbers.  IT is not a very good defender yet, but he is quick.  Overton is their best defender, so maybe he guards Taylor and IT guards Capers.  Maybe even put Overton on Klay.  Taylor would eat Dentmon alive.  There's a lot of possibilities but the bottom line is that we have to play smart and as a team and not let their pressure take us out of the game mentally.  

The first five to ten minutes will tell me how the game might end up playing out.  What I would really like to see is us attack them and their pressure tactics relentlessly, take the fight to them, be the aggressors.  That works on a number of levels.  We're capable of doing it and proved it against Ucla and Arizona.  The officials usually respect the more aggessive team.  It will also catch Washington off balance.  They don't expect us to play that way.  I think we can get a ton of easy baskets by attacking any press they put on us.  With Brockman as their last line of defense, Baynes, Casto, and Forrest should be able to take advantage of that.  Brockman is a very average defender, his best move being a flop.  Attack the rim, force him to exert all his energies at the defensive end, and he becomes less effective on offense.

Probably the most crucial thing we have to do in any phase of the game is block out on the defensive glass.  If we let QP and the rest of them control the glass it will negate our overall defensive effectiveness.  Our perimeter D has been pretty solid lately.  I'd rather take our chances with Dentmon and Thomas from beyond the arc than I would letting Pondexter into the paint where him and Brockman will eat us alive on the glass if we don't put a body on them.   

I would like to see someone deal with Dentmon the very first time he enters the paint with that shoulder move of his.  If the officials allow him to initiate that much contact, we should deal with it by being more physical in return.  It's one of the most rediculous moves I have seen and he gets away with it way too much.  We have to keep him and Thomas out of the paint.  We can't afford to let them penetrate because it will allow their big guys to control the glass.   

Keys to the first half - Stay close and stay out of foul trouble and attack their pressure.  They can't guard everyone if we attack them.  If we play slow-ball and just try to run down the shot clock, it works against us.  I think we can get Brockman in foul trouble immediately if Baynes plays smart and takes what's given.  I like the high-post offense we've been running with Casto at the stripe.  He's quick enough to get to the basket, just wish he had a mid-range jumper in his arsenal too.  Forrest has the jumper but not the quickness to get to the hoop.  Combine the two and you have what Casto should be like in a couple years.  I like Forrest better when he's roaming the baseline.  He isn't a very good rebounder though, Casto is much better.   

I'm scared that Dentmon makes too many threes.  He's been pretty solid from the arc all season, just been in a three game slump.  Would love to see it four.  IT can shoot pretty good from there so we have to keep an eye on both but also keep them from penetrating.  I don't think it's going to talk a hurculean task on D to stay in it.  We always play good D against just about everyone.  It's what we do offensively that matters most.  Limit the turnovers and unforced errors.  Get good shots every possession possible.  Attack their pressure.  Stay out of the traps and pass to the open man.  Limit the dribbling.  Make them work their asses off on D and frustrate them with rediculously easy looks.  Take the crowd out of the game by doing those things.  Just play good, smart, solid Cougar basketball.   

Notice I haven't said anything about Taylor or Klay on offense so far?  It's because if we just play good ball, their shots will take care of themselves in the overall flow of the game.  If each gets 15 good solid looks they should make 12 or more of them collectively.  The more good looks from three the better.  If we try to force it to them every possession they won't be as effective.  I've noticed lately we've been getting better spacing, hence better ball movement.  Washington can't guard everyone.   

No matter what everyone says about their D, and it's pretty darn good, it has major weaknesses in it.  I never worry too much about our D, it's usually there.  Klay has become a stopper.  Against Arizona, he shut Budinger out in the second half.  Against ASU, we shut down Pendergraph for the whole second half too.  POY candidate James Harden didn't hurt us at all for the most part and Klay was just one reason why.  It's a struggle against us for the most part and we don't seem to get much recognition in that area, even though it's well deserved.        

It's all about perception.  Brockman gets Pac-10 POW award but gives up 24 to Pendergraph and 27 to Hill.  I'd much rather have Baynes on my side.  Pendergraph got 8 and Hill got 15, that's a significant difference and we have to exploit Brockman to the fullest.  Brockman is not a good defender if we can get him into a one-on-one with Baynes.  It's a total mismatch.  That's why I advocate attacking their press relentlessly.  Put Brockman on an island with Baynes and Casto and we win if the refs don't reward the 'Brockman Flop.'   

In summary, it's our style on offense and how effective we attack their pressure that will dictate the winner of this one.  Plus, we need to make sure the green SB jersey is somewhere in the building. Go Cougs!!!

This is the second part of SW WA Coug's report of the Night with Cougar Football at Little Creek Casino. It features some GREAT breakdowns of each recruit's recruiting video with Paul Wulff's commentary. Make sure you click after the "read more" link to read those. Enjoy! - Nuss

Rich Rasmussen, Recruiting Coordinator, spoke about recruiting efforts in general.  It's important for us to concentrate our recruiting efforts in markets where recruits are going to be seen by their family and close friends.  Hawaii, Utah, Montana, and Idaho are non-Pac-10 states where we will continue to recruit heavily.  Look for us to garner more and more commits from those areas in the future.  Texas and Colorado are non-Pac-10 states where we will do some spot recruiting because family and friends of those kids are not in the same markets we are televised in.

It is critical that we recruit top Washington kids because they are the lifeblood of our program.  I can't remember the exact words Rich and Coach Wulff said about this point, but the gist of it is that local kids are more emotionally attached to the program.  It makes sense.

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Thanks to SW WA Coug for being our correspondent at the Little Creek Casino event! - Nuss

Date of the event:  February 5, 2009.

It was pretty awesome.  Bob Robertson was Master of Ceremonies.  Tom Pounds, Founder of the ESPN Game Day Cougar Flag, spoke to the crowd of well over 200 Cougs.  Athletic Director Jim Sterk was ill with the flu and unable to attend so John Johnson, Sr. Associate Director of Athletics spoke to us on his behalf.  There was a silent auction with tons of Coug goodies that was held during the social hour from 5:30 to 6:30.  After that we had an awesome dinner, buffet style, and then a live auction of some really great Coug stuff.  I won't go through all the specifics of that, but let's just say there was some great deals to be had.  Sorry to be so long-winded, but it all deserves mention to give everyone an idea of what this great event was really all about.  I'm leaving out a bunch of it, by design, because I can't actually remember it all to a 'T.' 

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