A Look Back at Sunday and the Season

After sitting on the game for a few days I finally feel calm and collected enough to write a fair report of the game and our players. That being said, I do not expect to be all too kind to this team. They have all the talent, skills, and players in the world to have had a fantastic season and so far the Huskies have been far too underwhelming, almost to the point of absurdity.

Montlake Madness posted a great article on the stages of depression and their relation to this team and season. It sums it up pretty well and I feel as though I am at Stage 4, maybe moving into 5 as I am growing a bit numb to this team for my own self preservation. Check the article out here: http://www.montlakemadness.com/thesevenstages/

The Huskies were flat as all hell on Sunday. Nothing they did seemed energetic. Nothing showed that hustle that gave us a wonderful 17 point win over Arizona or the very near win on the road in AZ last week. Having the once deep roster of 12 players slowly whittled down to 8 is killer not only on our depth, but the remaining players bodies and I for one think it is beginning to show. First we lose Tyreese Breshers to an undisclosed medical issue. Then Desmond Simmons redshirts (not a huge deal). Next we lose Abdul Gaddy for the season with an ACL tear right as the Pac-10 started and he was really coming into his own. Finally, Scott Suggs suffers his second MCL strain of the season at a crucial part of out schedule and may not be available until the start of the Pac-10 tournament. To lose that much talent in one season is devastating and we are starting to becoming a very thin and fragile team.

The Cougars out hustled the Dawgs all night and they rightfully came out victorious. They dove for loose balls, they pounded the glass, they made their damn free throws. The Huskies missed 9 of their 24 attempts, while the Cougars made 32 of 36. Klay Thompson was terrific, hitting 13 of 14. MBA had a great showing at the line for once, making 8 of 9. Meanwhile, Isaiah Thomas continued his streak of stinking up the free throw line, going 2-6. Unacceptable. Maybe he needs to read my article on how his 4 pump shot was 15% better than this one dribble pump and shoot motion he has reverted to.

I have another question for this team. What in God's name happened to our 3 point shooting? We were the number 1 team in the nation with a near 45% 3 point FG percentage. Now we are hitting 30% on a good day. Losing Suggs hurts our percentage and while Gaddy was a decent 3 point shooter, losing him is by no means the reason for this slump. I.T., Justin Holiday, Terrence Ross, and C.J. Wilcox have all been pretty miserable from deep as of late. To be fair, both I.T. and Holiday were fairly solid behind the arc against WSU. Holiday was 3-7 (42.9%) and Thomas was 3-8 (37.5%). We have begun to rely on the 3 ball far too often and have shied away from what made us such a strong and winning team, hard drives to the hoop, solid interior play, and the toughness and patience to get shots and make them. Now it appears as if we try the drive once and if it doesn't work, we bring the ball back out of the post/lane and work the perimeter until someone has to throw up a 3. I don't remember how many times on Sunday I counted our guys with an opportunity to drive the baseline, but instead of pushing hard and going in strong, the player would fake in and then pass the ball around some more. What happened to being aggressive? What happened to setting up the baseline cuts, alley oops, and screens?

Speaking of things we haven't been using and need to get operational, how about a damn High Post option? Throw Darnell Gant in at the 4 and post him up at the free throw line. Hell, give me Holiday or Ross for that matter, all three have pretty solid mid range games and are good enough passers to get the ball down low to MBA/Aziz or back out to the wings. The High Post is extremely efficient and useful against 2-3 zone defenses where the post can create a defensive collapse that opens up the baseline for easy scoring opportunities if you know how to see it and use it.

While I understand Romar's hesitation in using the press all game long, I'll be damned if he doesn't use it 4 minutes too late Every. Single. Time. I yelled for it at the 12 minute media time out in the second half and it looks as if they heard me because one of the assistants looked up my way and the Huskies came out in a full court press. What happened next? We cut a 21 point lead down to 4. Surprise, surprise...Get a clue, we are fast, agile, and tenacious defenders and excel in pressure situations. This team thrives on the transition game and sitting back in a zone or slack man defense is not going to give you a whole lot of transition plays. We need to speed our game back up. Pronto.

Ken Pom has a very interesting stat line that shows how brutally the refs kill us. We are 294th in the nation with free throw attempts per field goal attempts, shooting free throws 32.7% of the time compared to field goals. We also are 300th in the nation in defending against that with our opponents attempting 45.7%. That is just absurd. We foul too much and get too few in return. I may be a bit biased and a definite homer, but the Seattle Screw is alive and well in Pac-10 play.  I don't know how many times Isaiah has driven the lane and been hacked to shreds only to miss the basket and get no foul call in return. On the other side Derrik Williams could be alone on the court and still shoot 8 or 9 free throws per game. USC's coach was right to call Derrik a protected player. He is getting name calls like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.

So what is causing this collapse? Player's mindsets? Player's physical health? Coaching Staff? Fans? What is it? Why is this team falling to shambles at a time when we can ill afford mistakes? With Arizona getting swept in L.A. this team was in prize position to snatch the title right back from Arizona's hands. Instead we resigned to battle for second or even third place once more. UCLA still has a shot at gold and could do so by sweeping the Washington schools and Arizona dropping one more. If we, the Huskies, can sweep the L.A. schools at home we could secure a second place tie. The only shot we have at first is if Arizona loses to both OSU and UO and UCLA is swept here as well. That would give us a 3 way tie at 12-6 in league play. Ugh...From a season that should have been an 18-0 effort we sure haven't played to our potential.

On the player reviews, this is far too depressing...

Player by Player Reviews

Venoy Overton

8 points, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 1 steal, 4 boards, and 5 fouls, including a technical. At least V.O. was showing some fire out there and got into the Cougars faces. He was 1-4 from range and 3-7 overall. He split a pair of free throws. His defense was pretty solid as he helped hold Reggie Moore and Faisal Aden to a combined 16 points. Klay Thompson proved to be too much of a mismatch for either Venoy or Isaiah as he simply shot over them time and time again. Not really his fault. The Cougars screened well and the Huskies did not defend it all that well. Venoy continues to be a pretty solid option off the bench as he supplies support and relief for Isaiah. The 5 fouls was something that hasn't happened in a while, not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but what happened happened and there is no changing that.
Grade: B, he was by no means the reason we lost

Justin Holiday

A very sloppy night, but promising post game showing. Rather than head home and sulk about his poor play, Holiday took a page out of Quincy Pondexter's book and hit the gym after the game for a solo workout to improve his play. I wish every single Husky would have stepped in the gym with him, silent, concentrated, and focused on their mission. If the Husky team spent have the time they do tweeting and used it to work on their play, they would be that much better. I.T. had the right idea by getting off the website until Pac-10 play is done and over, I hope he goes the rest of the season without twitter. Holiday had 11 points, 4 boards, 5 assists, and 4 turnovers. His shots were all over as he finished 4-11 from the field.
Grade: B-

Matthew Bryan-Amaning

Atrocious, simply mind boggling bad shooting. Let us keep in mind that MBA is not a wing or guard, he is not taking 15, 20, 25+ foot shots. He is inside the key and at most shooting the ball 10 feet. He went 3-11 from the field and could not put the damn ball through the net. After a pair of solid games against SU and UA as well as a good game against ASU, it comes as a great surprise to see him regress so much. MBA you are a big man. Dunk the damn ball, don't pussy foot around and try to pop it over. Go strong to the hoop, draw contact. He did rebound pretty well, finishing with 10 (4 offensive), but he allowed DeAngelo Casto to get 20 points and 13 boards. Not a good defensive night. I do appreciate the solid free throw shooting night. It was much needed.
Grade: C-

Brendan Sherrer

Did not play, but looked healthy once more.
Grade: N/A


Scott Suggs


Did not play. May return this week. Starting practice today and is listed as possible for Thursday. C.J. Wilcox will start in his place regardless of whether Suggs is able to play.
Grade: N/A

Darnell Gant

4 points and 5 boards. He also had 3 turnovers and 1 block. Gant was 1-4 from the field and 2-2 from the free throw line. Gant only saw 14 minutes of play time, which makes me simultaneous happy and concerned. Happy because he picked up 5 boards in 14 minutes, sad because he committed 3 turnovers in 14 minutes. Gant is starting to come into his own and is gaining the confidence to take shots and make some moves to get open. We will need this from him next year after the departure of MBA.
Grade: B

Isaiah Thomas

As painful as his 3 point shooting was at times, it wasn't all that bad. We just needed them to sink. I.t. hit half his shots, finishing 8-16 from the field. He had a team high 21 points. His 2-6 free throw shooting pained me deep in my core. He needs to go back to the 4 pump shot, it works so much better. He had 5 assists and 2 turnovers to go along with a block and a steal. Thomas also managed to grab 3 rebounds. As with Overton, I.T.'s defense against Moore and Aden was solid and prevented either of them from having a huge impact on the game. Thompson on the other hand proved to be too much of a mismatch and whenever I.T. was forced to defend Klay, Klay would simply shoot over him. Not much Isaiah can do about that, Klay is about 10 inches taller. We need I.T. to take control of this team and lead them to victories once more. We have lacked a true clutch player all year and I.T. is the man to do it.
Grade: B+, would have been an A day if not for his free throws

Aziz N'Diaye

Once Aziz gets those stone hands of his soft he will be a monster in the paint. I.T. dropped a dime to hit that would have led to a monster jam, but Aziz bobbled it out of bounds. That being said, Aziz grabbed 9 boards and took 8 shots, making 3. I like to see his shot numbers up, we need him to start getting aggressive. His 3 turnovers really hindered his overall performance, but the rebounding and shot numbers make me confident in his ability to perform not only in the tournament this year but next season as well.
Grade: B

Antoine Hosley


Did not play
Grade: N/A


Terrence Ross


His low level of success continues. He missed all 5 of his shots, including 3 from outside. He had 3 rebounds and 3 fouls while playing a team low 13 minutes. With C.J. missing his shots as well and Suggs still out with an injury, Ross will have more opportunities to get his A game back and get into a hot streak just in time for the NCAA.
Grade: C

C.J. Wilcox

C.J. will get his third start tomorrow against UCLA. Wilcox was 1-6 from the field against WSU, 1-4 from outside. He sank a pair of free throws, grabbed 4 rebounds, had 1 assist, 1 steal, and 0 turnovers. We need his hand to light up and soon. Not a bad night, but his shot has been streaky as of late and its something that this team needs badly.
Grade: A-

Final Thoughts

A good friend of mine, Anthony Ghazel, posted this to my FB wall and I thought I would share it here.

"Dude...I just did a little basic math, and this is what I came up with: (by the way, I'm just bored and really pissed off thinking about Husky Basketball haha).

I thought about this a while ago but never actually wrote it all out.

-Our 6 closest losses have a total loss margin point value of 21 (A&M + Arizona + Stanford + Mich. St. + Oregon + Kentucky). 21/6 makes a loss margin average of only 3.5 PPG on our 6 closest losses and for the record, our other loses are pretty close in points to the 6th closest.

-Our 6 closest wins have a total win margin point value of 75 (USC + UCLA + Stanford + ASU + ASU + Arizona). 75/6 makes a win margin average of 12.5 PPG on our 6 closest wins.

My question is, what's the problem? Obviously we're having trouble winning close games, which is bad. And I just proved it. Is the problem coaching? Is it mental errors? Is it both? Is it neither? My mind is blown by the fact that you can lose this many close games without winning any close games."
 

This team lacks the clutch player we have had in Quincy Pondexter, Jon Brockman, and Justin Dentmon his senior season. No one has stepped up into the role and succeeded. Romar has tried Wilcox, Thomas, MBA, Gant, Holiday, just about everyone and no one has found success sadly. So why can't we win close games? We picked up one close one against USC, but that's it. To me, its coaching. Romar isn't able to get the plays draw up to win us games. It's also players not being mentally prepared and confident enough to make those kind of shots and plays.

So what happened against WSU? I don't really know. They were flat, looked emotionless, and minus the stretch where they cut the lead by 17 points, they couldn't shoot worth beans. All those people who say its the fans fault for not feeding them energy, I say bullshit. That place was the loudest I have heard it all season during that run. On the road the Huskies won't get this kind of support. They won't get it in the NCAA like at Hec Ed. They need to know how to play without the fans and succeed on their own. This team better be in tournament mode tomorrow because UCLA is playing extremely well and we have not. This week is make or break in terms of being a tournament lock for an at large bid. I really don't want to have to endure the stress of need the Pac-10 tournament to advance to the NCAA tournament. I would like to see us play Arizona in the finals as a rubber match. I think UW will win that game no problem. It could be as good as last years game versus Cal, who knows.

One last push Husky fans. This team can finish strong with 5 straight wins going into the NCAA and get that bitter taste out of our mouths. Let's help 'um do it. Show up strong, proud, and loud. Make 'um believe in themselves.