University of California: Berkeley Game Review

Final Score: UW-66 Cal-69

Heartbreak city was also seat-break city. The Dawgs, yet again, came out slow in the first half and managed a mere 25 points for the second straight game. This time, no amount of raucous and support from the fans could rally the Huskies for more late-game heroics. Trust me, the crowd was in the game, myself very much included as evidence by the seats my friend and I shattered from jumping around so much. Darnell Gant had an opportunity to tie the game and send it to overtime in the final seconds, but like the other 8 shots he took that night, it rimmed out and the Huskies were sent to the locker room with their tails between their legs. I completely agree with the play call Romar drew up. Ross was going to be over defended and as a senior, Gant should be given the chance for the big play. Abdul Gaddy bobbled the ball before delivering a poor pass to Gant, which appeared to rush his shot and cause the miss. After such a great game against WSU, it was surprising to see Gant go right back to the atrocious shooting he has had on display for over half the season now.

I think the most disappointing part of the game was the Huskies unwillingness to feed Aziz N'Diaye the ball in the second half. After going into half with a team high 8 points, N'Diaye looked poised for a 20 point-15 rebound game. His shot was on, he was rebounding left and right. His defender was a pencil thin "post" who could do nothing to stop him, yet the Huskies refused to feed him in the paint. N'Diaye finished the night 7-11 from the field with 12 rebounds (6 offensive). N'Diaye was easily the most influential and successful player, in my opinion, on the court. I understood earlier in the season why the Dawgs did not get him the ball. N'Diaye was still developing his hands and offensive game, but as of late N'Diaye has looked very solid down low and has legitimate post moves and a nice hook shot. At 7-0 he is tough to stop, so why don't we abuse that until the other team is forced to defend against it?

Terrence Ross. Can we get a full game out of you? For the second straight game, Ross went into half without a lot of points next to his name. Ross only managed one made shot in the first half, but finished with 15 after playing a much more aggressive second half. What is it going to take to get it in his head that he needs to be the leader of this team, demand the ball, and do something with it? It is amazing how easy he makes lay-ins look when driving the lanes. It is simply stunning that he doesn't hunger for the type of production he has shown in the second half of games for the entire game. I blame this on both Ross and Romar. Romar is not instilling the type of drive Ross needs to have and Ross is not developing that sort of attitude himself. Ross finished 6-15 from the field and grabbed 5 boards.

Tony Wroten played another sub-par game highlighted by 5 turnovers and only 2 assists. Unlike in previous games, the majority of the 5 turnovers were entirely his fault. This was highlighted by two terrible alley-oop pass to Ross that banged off the rim rather than into Ross' hands. It was rather uncharacteristic. He played a sloppy, disjointed game. Wroten did manage 14 points on just 4 of 11 shooting thanks to his beautiful 5 of 5 performance at the free throw line. Maybe Wroten is starting to develop the work ethic necessary to be a super star in college. If he can develop his ball control the way his free throw shot has been developing, he may very well make a late run for not just the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, but Player of the Year as well. Until that time, Wroten will continue to frustrate and amazing in equal amounts.

Desmond Simmons played a fairly solid game and I thought he deserved more play time, especially with the poor offensive night Gant was having. Simmons finished with 8 points on 3 of 5 shooting and nabbed 3 rebounds. It's hard to criticize his rebounding as Ross and N'Diaye were the only ones to tally 5 or more boards for the Dawgs. I thought Simmons looked good on the defensive end, which contributed to his low rebounding total as he often had to leave the post to cover his man.

Abdul Gaddy looked better offensively tonight, but did not show the play-making ability he is known for. Gaddy tallied only 2 assists in the game, while committing 3 turnovers. The Huskies went into half time with only 1 assist. It is easy to understand why we can't score more than 30 points in a half. Instead of playing with a 5 person team, we try to play as 5 individuals making plays. "Miraculously," in the second half when we scored 41 points, we had 6 assists. Funny how that works...Gaddy went 5 of 9 from the field, 1 of 2 from deep, and actually attacked the rim. Much like Ross, Gaddy can make the short shots look easy as pie. I do have one big bone to pick with Gaddy from this game. Down 5 with something like 5 minutes left, Gaddy had an easy, open lane to the basket wide open. He drove to the hoop without resistance and then...he lazily put the ball up and missed the shot. DUNK THE BALL!!!!! I know you can dunk Gaddy, I've seen it happen. If you aren't going to dunk, at least put the ball in the rim. It is the easiest shot in the game. Just lay it in. It was a huge momentum killer as the crowd's enthusiasm significantly dropped off after the miss. The loss cannot be placed on any one player, but this was certainly a big time miss.

Hikeem Stewart came in after Wroten picked up a pair of early fouls. Unlike in previous games, Stewart jacked up a few shots and boy were they ugly. I appreciate that he wants to get involved offensively, but considering even Stewart himself admitted before the game that his shot if off, I would really prefer is his shots came inside of 10 feet. Stewart will develop into a solid role player in the coming years, but for the time being he is not developed enough to be a solid contributor. Stewart did grab 2 rebounds, something I'm not sure he has done yet this season.

We really missed C.J. Wilcox and unfortunately will continue to miss him this week as his stress fracture remains an issue.

What Needed Improvement:

Rebounding:

Outside of N'Diaye, the Huskies did not do a good job on the glass. The team managed only 31 rebounds and were out rebounded 36-31 by Cal. When the shots aren't falling, the importance of rebounding shoots up significantly. It's all about attitude. Jon Brockman was never the biggest guy on the court, but he was strong and fought for every last board. He fought so hard, he fell and broke his hip in the NCAA tournament, BUT HE KEPT PLAYING! What a beast. Our teams needs that type of killer instinct.

Ball Control:

7 assist, 12 turnovers. Not going to cut it, guys. How many games last season did we have less than 10 assists? Not many, I guarantee that. We were one of the top teams in the nation in terms of assists per game and not surprisingly, we scored a butt-ton of points each and every game. Correspondingly again, we won a lot of games. We have a set of great guards who are very good at finding the open players, the problems arise when those play makers sit at the top of the key and wait for the rest of the team to move. Easiest way to get an assist is to drive to the hoop, and kick it out. Watch the end of the Pac-10 championship game one more time. Both 3-pointers from Ross and Wilcox in the final seconds came because I.T. drove the lane and kicked it out.

What Was Good:

Aziz N'Diaye:

Fantastic game. Absolutely brilliant. As a coach, Romar needs to be able to see the advantage N'Diaye had down low and force the team to get him the ball. Even if he doesn't take the shot, the defense will be forced to collapse on him, which opens the court up for our shooters. Feed the man. Feed him often.

Final Thoughts:

The title run is now in Cal's hands with Stanford losing to WSU over the weekend. The Huskies are at a big disadvantage because we only get to play Cal and Stanford once. Can we still pull it off? Sure. Will we? I'm highly doubtful. I'm still frustrated about this game so I don't have much to say that will be constructive or useful. Hopefully the team learned something and can beat Stanford.

Go Dawgs!

University of California: Berkeley Game Preview

Huge set of games this week against Cal and Stanford. The Huskies only get one shot at each this season and next, thankfully we get to play both at the comfy confines of Hec-Ed. Cal and Stanford currently sit a half game up on UW tied for first, while UW has sole possession of third. To say these games are critical is an understatement. Losing either makes the chase for the Pac-12 title tough and places it more in the hands of whoever wins said games. If the Huskies can win both and jump at least a half game up on both schools, they will take not only the lead, but also control the tie breaker for seeding in the Pac-12 tournament. Neither of these games will be easy, especially with C.J. Wilcox out for the week. While, Terrence Ross' performance on Sunday was spectacular, it is going to take a major team effort to pull off these wins. The Dawgs are working with what is essentially a 6-man rotation supplemented by 3 or 4 small minute players. The Huskies need everyone on the court to find productivity offensively, no matter what defense is thrown at them. Fully expect Stanford to run a zone for a majority of the game and Cal to likely start in a man-to-man with zone coming at different times to rattle our guys.

Cal comes into the game 15-4 on the season, 5-1 in conference. Picked as a preseason favorite to win the conference title, Cal has been playing fairly solid basketball. Like the rest of the Pac-12, Cal failed to capitalize on its games against top tier opponents. In their last game, Cal crushed Utah by nearly 40 points. Speaking of Utah, Josh Watkins has been kicked off the Utes squad, adding to the list of Pac-12 players no longer with their respective programs.

Cal is led by a trio of guards standing between 6-2 and 6-6. Allen Crabbe leads the Golden Bears in both scoring and is second in rebounding with nearly 16 points and 6 rebounds per game. After nabbing the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year award, Crabbe continues to impress with his stellar game and impressive shooting. Crabbe is currently hitting over 45% from the field and from deep on top of an impressive 81% from the free throw line. Not only is Crabbe shooting with deadly accuracy from dead, he is doing it in huge numbers with 51 3-pointers made on the year. Crabbe stands at 6-6 and 205lb and will require our best efforts to contain. While I think Wroten can play excellent defense at times, I would be more comfortable seeing Ross draw the assignment. I think Ross understands Crabbe's style of play a little better and will be able to shut him down more effectively.

Jorge Gutierrez is second in scoring with 15 points and 5 rebounds per game. He is also averaging over 4 assists per game, good for second on the team. Gutierrez is a preseason pick for the Pac-12 Player of the Year award and has been playing like one through most of the year. While Gutierrez does not have the outside shot of Crabbe, Gutierrez can certainly do damage of his own outside, but does the majority of his scoring inside the paint by attacking the lanes with authority. I believe Tony Wroten will be asked to shut down the senior guard as Wroten plays the same style of aggressive basketball and will be able to anticipate the drives, while also picking his sleeves once or twice. Gutierrez is a solid FT shooter with an 80% average on the year, so Wroten can ill afford to give Gutierrez the easy ones, nevermind how much his foul trouble would hurt our team.

Justin Cobbs is third in scoring with a 13 point average. He also leads the team in assists with nearly 5 per game, while committing only 2 turnovers a night. Cobbs is perhaps a better shooter than Crabbe, but doesn't take nearly the volume of shots that Crabbe does as Cobbs is more of a play-maker. Cobbs is hitting nearly 60% of his 3-pointers (19 of 33) and a 52% field goal percentage. Cobbs is also hitting 81% from the foul line and, like most of the Cal squad, is not someone you want to be giving freebies to.

Harper Kamp is the leading big man for the Bears. With 9.4 points and 5 rebounds a game, Kamp is a productive player with a solid inside shot. He has yet to attempt a 3-pointer yet this season and will likely stay in the paint against the Huskies, but the 6-8 245lb forward is an athletic big man who can be semi-productive from mid-range. Kamp has struggled with injuries the past two seasons, but is dominate when healthy and must be taken care of.

Richard Solomon is another productive big man for the Golden Bears who is averaging around 7 points per game and a team best 6 rebounds per game. At 6-10 and 220lbs, Solomon is a thin forward who gets his points by moving quickly outside his defender's range for the quick 2 ball. Solomon often struggles at the line, hitting less than 65% on the year.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups:


California:


Justin Cobbs 6-2 195lb
Jorge Gutierrez 6-3 195lb
Allen Crabbe 6-6 205lb
Harper Kamp 6-8 245lb
David Kravish 6-9 210lb

Washington:

Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
Tony Wroten Jr. 6-5 205lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Desmond Simmons 6-7 220lb
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb

Keys to the Game:

Rebounding:

Cal averages around 35 per game and Washington dominated their latest outing against WSU. Washington will need to crash the glass hard to beat Cal without Wilcox providing a solid scoring option. Cal is super athletic and their guards provide as much rebounding talent as their big men. Our defenders need to prevent the offensive boards to minimize the second chance points that Cal can capitalize on.

Free Throws:

This should be a close game without a doubt. Free throws tend to be one of Cal's strong points, while it is a weakness for the Huskies. If the Dawgs want to prevent the upset, they will need to make the easy ones. If Ross and Wroten can get to the line and make their freebies, the game will be much easier. This was seen against SU when the Dawgs missed 22 and only won by 8. Free throws win ball games, plain and simple.

Solid Shooting:

After miserable percentages against SU and WSU, the Dawgs need to find someone who can drill the whole game. They also need to find several people willing to bang inside and drive the lanes. Wroten is a consistent force in the paint, but Ross and Gaddy need to force the inside as well. The Huskies should be averaging around 45% from the field and, hopefully, 40% from range. We have the talent. It is mainly a matter of mindset.

Final Thoughts:

This is a very winnable game. The Dawgs are (tend to be) great at home and often have their best shooting stroke on the Hec-Ed court. If the Huskies can get some defensive stops and control the outside shooting of Cal, I think the Dawgs should come out on top.

I'll call it

UW-80 Cal-77

University of California Preview: 2011-2012

After last seasons massive senior graduation the Cal Bears are in much better shape losing only one player to graduation. Look for the Bears to be a very competitive team in not only the conference, but non-conference games as well. With 3 seniors on the roster along with Allen Crabbe returning for his sophomore year, the Bears have both talent and experience on their side. A lot of people are sold on the Bears and expect them to compete for the conference title. I'm not so sure yet. I believe they will finish in the top 4, but the fact UW absolutely demolished Cal in both games last year leaves me with a lot to be desired.

Key Losses: 

Markhuri Sanders-Frison 6-7 265lb

Frison was a force last year for the Bears averaging over 10 points and 7 rebounds per game. At 6-7 and 265lb he was a big boy who could fill the paint and put a hurting on the other team if left unguarded.  Luckily the Bears have Richard Solomon and Bak-Bak with size to help replace Frison's presence. Cal also has two incoming freshman with size to further alleviate the loss.


Incoming Freshman: 

Christian Behrens 6-8 190lb

Behrens is a decent prospect for the Bears. Though he needs to add a good 20lbs to be a strong post presence, he has passing and shooting skills that allow him to contribute in other ways than low in the post. He reminds me of the Huskies own Jernard Jerreau who is 6-10 195lbs. While he is not a big body, he has the skill set to play a solid 4 or even a tall 3.
 
David Kravish 6-9 205lb 

Kravish could also benefit from adding a few pounds on. Darnell Gant has 25lbs on Kravish and Aziz N'Diaye has 60lbs on him. As a 5 option he is not that viable when guys like N'Diaye or Josh Smith are on the field, but when smaller posts are in the game Kravish could see time at the 5. Likely he'll be more of a 4/5 hybrid as he has tremendous rebounding tenacity and a decent enough low post shot. He is also dangerous from the high post and is a skilled free throw shooter, something many big men lack. 

Returning Players:

Brandon Smith 5-11 190lbs

Jorge Gutierrez 6-3 195lbs

Emerson Murray 6-3 195lbs

Nigel Carter 6-4 210lbs

Allen Crabbe 6-4 205lbs


Jeff Powers 6-7 190lbs


Harper Kamp 6-8 245lbs


Bak Bak 6-9 225lbs


Richard Solomon 6-10 220lbs


Robert Thurman 6-10 250lbs




Gutierrez, Crabbe, and Kamp are the returning stars of the team. All 3 players averaged more than 13 points a game last season and there is no reason to think they can't and won't do it again this season. Frison is the only double digit scorer not returning for the Golden Bears and overall Cal has 73% of its scoring coming back into the year (Gary Franklin Transferred mid season to Baylor). 


Predicted Starting Line-up:

Brandon Smith 5-11 190lbs
Jorge Gutierrez 6-3 195lbs
Allen Crabbe 6-4 205lbs
Harper Kamp 6-8 245lbs
Richard Solomon 6-10 220lbs

I couldn't decide if Solomon or Thurman would be a more viable option as the starting 5 and in the end I figured Solomon saw much more time last season (playing in every game) than Thurman (playing only in 10 games) and would be that much more experienced. I believe Solomon could give up the starting spot to Thurman against the bigger centers (N'Diaye, Smith, etc.). Brandon Smith should be a solid point guard for the Bears allowing Gutierrez and Crabbe to get out on the wings for more shot opportunities.

What to Expect:

The Bears should be a very competitive team in the conference this year. As I stated before, I don't believe Cal will take the conference title. UCLA and UW have better talent in my opinion that will win out. Cal certainly has a better shot at the title than Arizona does due to their returning talent. Cal should be a much more experienced team this season and 20 point blowouts should not be the norm. Expect to see Cal in the top 3 or 4 teams of the conference, make the NCAA tournament, and win at least their first game if not the second as well. Beyond that, I don't think they quite have the parts in place to make a deep tournament run.

Pac-12 Men's Basketball Predicitions

Well, I ordered my Dawg Pack tickets today making me realize how close the season is to starting and that means getting this blog back up in running order again. What better place to start than with a final standings prediction?

This year we have Colorado and Utah joining the fray and, in my opinion, Colorado is the stronger addition as opposed to football where Utah is clearly a superior team. For those who don't know, Colorado is from the Big 12 and Utah from the MWC.

Last season Colorado was a 1 seed in the NIT tournament, losing by 1 point in the semi-finals to also 1 seeded Alabama of the SEC. They finished with a record of 24-14 (8-8 in conference). Their star, Alec Burks, led the team in scoring (20.1) and assists (2.9) as well as being second in rebounding (6.4). He was taken in the first round with the 12th pick by the Utah Jazz. Their second leading scorer, Cory Higgins, was a senior and has graduated as has their third leading scorer, Levi Knutson. This leaves SLU transfer, Marcus Relphorde, as the returning leading scorer with 11.5 points per game. Andre Roberson returns as the leading rebounder with 7.8 boards per game. Nate Tomlinson has the highest assists per game returning with 2.4 assists per game.

Utah finished 13-18 (6-10 in conference), losing in the quarter finals of the conference tournament to Nationally ranked San Diego State. Will Clyburn returns as the leading scorer with 17.1 ppg. Josh Watkins returns as the number 2 scorer at 14.5 ppg.  Clyburn also lead the team in rebounding with 7.8 rpg. Josh Watkins returns as the leading assist member with 3.5 apg.

Colorado appears to be entering a rebuilding year after losing so much scoring, but the Huskies are in a similar situation and I feel like we are a much stronger team. Some might look at the above stats and argue that Utah will be a better contender in the Pac-12, but the Big 12 is much stiffer competition than the MWC.

I'll cover each of the Pac-12 teams in more detail in separate posts, but I thought a quick introduction would help make understanding my placement of each team more reasonable.

In reverse order:

12. Utah
11. ASU
10. WSU
9. OSU
8. Stanford
7. Colorado
6. USC
5. UO
4. Cal
3. UA
2. UW
1. UCLA

Right now, I think UCLA has a lot of size and skill that will be tough to beat. I believe we will split the series with each team winning at home. UW will hopefully make the competition a close and fun one.

I may amend this list as I go through the team stats, incoming players, etc., but at a first glance this was my gut instinct. The top 5 I'm pretty confident about. USC and Colorado could be flipped around. The bottom 5 are a mess in my opinion and could be tossed about in a few arrangements with Stanford nearer the top than the other 4.

University of California-Berkeley Review 2

UW-109 Cal-77

In what is the highest point total scored against a Pac-10 opponent in school history, UW dominated and returned to playing true Husky Basketball. UW tied ts season high with 17-3 pointers and shot 54.8% on the night from range. Isaiah Thomas was lights out and led the team, shooting 6 of 8 behind the arc and finishing with 23 points. C.J. Wilcox rediscovered his soft touch and scored 14 points on 4-7 shooting from range.

A total of 6 players scored in the double digits for UW tonight. I.T. with 23, Matthew Bryan-Amaning with 18, Wilcox with 14, Holiday with 12, and Scott Suggs and Terrence Ross put up 11.

Both I.T. and MBA were one stat short of a double double. I.T. had 9 assists on top of 4 rebounds  and 2 turnovers. MBA had 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 0 turnovers.

Defense was the name of the game tonight and UW did it extremely well. Cal was held to 2 of 7 shooting from range and 48.3% overall. UW forced 16 turnover, had 11 blocks, 4 steals, and countless charge calls against Cal.

The refs were terrible per usual with a foul differential of 29 to 15 in Cal's favor. UW was only allowed to attempt 7 free throws and made 6 while Cal attempted 37 and made 19. How about some home cooking refs? For once I would like to see the foul calls go our way.

UW did a great job of working the post early with MBA and Aziz each putting up 4 to score our first 8 points. Aziz finished with 3-4 shooting and picked up a technical foul, though for what I am uncertain.

30 assists tonight. 30. Hot damn that is nice. I.T. led with 9, followed closely by Venoy Overton with 7, and Terrence Ross with 6. Holiday dished out 4.

This was exactly the sort of game we needed to play to get our heads right, our game right, and our swagger back just a little bit. Brendan Sherrer even played 5 minutes today and Antoine Hosley grabbed 4 minutes.

Holiday threw down a monster jam from the baseline. He drove hard, jumped up, cocked his arm back and rammed it down over the Cal defenders. Beast Mode activated.

Lorenzo Romar showed some emotion, finally. He was stomping, high fiving, roaring, and fist pumping. I even saw a press for a play or two. I was also extremely pleased to see us return to our man to man defense.

Overton was back tonight. He played shut down d the whole night. He split his time between Jorge Guitierrez and Brandon Smith. Holiday also played crippling d on Allen Crabbe who took a nasty spill near the end of the first half and did not return to play. I'll update later on it, but to me it appears as though he might have suffered a mild concussion.

My favorite play of the game, besides Holiday's dunk, was Isaiah Thomas nailing a 3 pointer, getting fouled, and sinking the free throw. Brilliant effort.

UW rebounded with force, beating out Cal 36-27. MBA led with 9, followed by Darnell Gant with 5, and four players had 4 rebounds: Holiday, Ross, I.T., and Aziz N'Diaye.

Ross was playing just plain filthy out there tonight. He made not have made every shot, but boy did he impress with some very athletic and talented moves. He drove, he twisted, he did reverse lay-ins. He nearly had another tip in dunk, but the Cal defender managed to hold onto it in the air.

The poise and control on offense led to only 9 turnovers. Combined with vicious, tenacious defense made this game a blow out from the start ending in a 32 point beat down that at one time was a 38 point differential. The 2 3 pointers for Cal came late, in garbage time, from one player. Garbage time was the only time I was disappointed with our defense, but that always happens in garbage time.

I.T. played like the general we are used to. He controlled the ball, he controlled his shots, he controlled the game. Too bad he couldn't get just 1 more assist to pick up his 3rd double double.

Brendan Sherrer. SHOOT THE BALL! He played 5 minutes and had one great opportunity, but chose instead to pass the ball and ended up turning it over. Sad days.

MBA was looking fantastic tonight as well. Tough, tough play. Every block was decisive and impressive. Aziz was crushing Bears left and right. Literally crushing. I'm going to call him the Trash Compactor from now on because he just doesn't let garbage come into his domain. Even Holiday was humiliating people on the court. I think I saw Harper Kamp shed a tear after the last block Holiday had on him.

What Needed Work

Fouling

Sure the refs weren't helping us, but there comes a time when you have to realize the refs aren't going to help you out at all. We did a great job getting Cal to commit charges, but 29 fouls is getting ridiculous.

What was Good

Interior Defense

After a streak of 3 terrible games, UW rediscovered their ability to stuff the middle. You really have to watch the game to truly appreciate the turn around. They showed fire. I.T. was all over his man. Just what the doctor ordered.

Rebounding

36-27. Enough said. If there is one thing outside defense that will win games, it is rebounding. UW was boxing out and getting up high to clean the glass.

Outside Shooting

I was throwing up my hands more times than a Guido in a New Jersey Club. We were shooting long and we were hitting. It was sexy. I.T. was taking heat check shots and they kept going in. No one was stopping him tonight. He had a point to prove and he put an exclamation mark on it.

Passing/Ball Handling

This is another item that was killing us during our losing streak. 30 assists and only 9 turnovers. That is more like Husky Basketball.

Player by Player Reviews

Venoy Overton

A brilliant return to his Vennoying ways. Between him and I.T., Brandon Smith was about to have a conniption. 8 points, 7 assists, only 2 turnovers. Very nice. His form is coming back, his confidence is returning, and he is looking good. We'll have to wait until Saturday to see if it sticks or not.
Grade: A

Justin Holiday

12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, shutdown defense. He may not have been shooting his best, but his shot looked fine and his play was what we needed. I would rather have him score 12 points and play shut down d then score 20+ and let people through.
Grade: A

Matthew Bryan-Amaning

18 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, 1 steal, 1 assist. He had 10 points at half and finished strong despite picking up a bogus 3rd foul followed soon after by his 4th. He returned with about 8 minutes to go and played until the 5 minute mark. His defense was solid, defending Harper Kamp most of the game, holding him to 8 points. Those blocks were just plain mean. At one point he yelled "GET OUT OF HERE!" while swatting the ball into the bleachers.
Grade: A

Brendan Sherrer

Brendan finally returned to play and threw away his one good opportunity at a shot. He picked up 2 fouls and a turnover. He is in the books, boys.
Grade: A for effort, F for not taking that shot!

Scott Suggs

Played 24 minutes on the night, hit some nice 3 pointers, and looked as confident as ever. He did have 2 turnovers and 0 assists, but he was not called on to run the show until there were 5 minutes to go and handed over the reigns to Antoine Hosley who entered with 4 to go.
Grade: A-

Darnell Gant

6 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 assist. His 3-9 shooting wasn't great, but the rebounding and defense were awesome. He was still feeling a little sore pregame, but his play and 19 minutes say he was feeling pretty well in the end. If he can keep this kind of play up we will do well.
Grade: B+

Isaiah Thomas

MVP tonight. No doubt. 23 points and 9 rebounds. That is what we have come to expect from him. His outside shot was dirty, just plain dirty tonight. He didn't have to drive to score. I.T. only went inside a few sparse times. He was pulling up and raining pain down on the Cal bears. He pushed the ball inside to MBA and Aziz, he dished it outside to Holiday, Wilcox, Ross, and others.
Grade: A+

Aziz N'Diaye

Aziz did pick up 4 fouls tonight, including the technical. He did not return to play after the T, not sure why. He shot well from the field, rebounded pretty well, and looked confident against the zone. Most of his 20 minutes came in the first half. I would have liked to have seen 2 or 3 more boards and 1 or 2 less fouls, but Beggars can't be Choosers. He did well for what we needed him to do. His 3 blocks all resulted in players hitting the dirt. It was almost cruel.
Grade: B+

Antoine Hosley

4 minutes tonight with a lone assist to put him in the stat book.
Grade: A for effort

C.J. Wilcox

Is his shot back? Looks like it. 4-7 ain't a bad night by any means. His shot is so sweet, soft, and quick. I would like to see him take some 30 footers just to see his range and talent level. He had 1 assist and 2 offensive boards tonight, which is great to see. It's nice to have some support where you least expect it.
Grade: A-

Terrence Ross

5-8 shooting, 1-3 from outside, 4 boards, 6 assists, 3 blocks. Nice work, TRoss. He is going to be an absolute monster in the coming years. Ross was playing like BRoy out there and boy was it pretty. I would not be surprised at all to see him replace Holiday at the 3 after this season. If he can bring this level of play to the court consistently, he will leave his mark on the program.
Grade: A

Final Thoughts

Everyone played a great game tonight. Everyone. I can't think of one player I was disappointed in. Sure some silly mistakes were made, but no one is perfect. Got to carry this momentum into the weekend and over into next week to get ourselves back into title contention. A great way to start the short home stand and a great way to get the night going. All for now, I'm off to celebrate my 21st birthday. Go Dawgs.

Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH7cKZiDmOg&feature=player_embedded
Holiday's dunk was number 3 on the top 10 last night.

University of California-Berkeley Preview 2

Live now over at Montlake Madness: http://www.montlakemadness.com/game-preview-california/

Dirt is here: http://tinyurl.com/DPD-CAL

University of California-Berkeley Preview Coming

I'm writing the preview and post game of the Cal game for Montlake Madness so I will post the preview link here when it is up on Wednesday.

I.T. is quitting twitter until after the Pac-10 Championship game. Looks like he knows it is time to buckle down. Can't afford any more screw ups.

UW dropped to 28th and 33rd in the polls after the 3 game losing streak and Arizona moved up to 15/16 in the polls. Arizona could feasibly move up further if they win against ASU this week, meaning UW has a chance to finally get a win against a ranked team on the road. I am slightly doubtful of UA losing to ASU, but it is a rivalry game on the road and we all know how that can go.

No more news yet on whether the unnamed player will be charged with a misdemeanor for supplying a minor with alcohol. More info when I have heard more.

Time to right this ship and get back on track. We are going to need some help to do it, but Arizona has the toughest part of its schedule coming up. ASU on the road. WSU and UW at home. USC and UCLA on the road. OSU at home (who is currently 3-0 against them) and UO at home. I see no reason why ASU, WSU, UW, USC, UCLA, or OSU couldn't result in 3 losses. With how UO has been playing they could also come in and surprise the Wildcats. First and foremost we need to get our job down and not allow any more slip ups. After that we can worry about other teams helping us out and getting back into first place. Arizona controls its own destiny right now and if they can do what we could not, well congrats to them. This is the last Pac-10 Championship. I want it bad. I think our boys want it bad. They are going to have to finish this season with all cylinders firing. You can always rest when you are dead. Right now, its hustle time.

University of California-Berkeley Review

Final Score UW-92 Cal-71

What a bounce back after one of the worst performances of the season on Thursday. The extra day on the road didn't seem to affect the Huskies at all, if anything they got that much better. The Huskies shot really well going 52.3% from the field and 44.8% from range (34-65 and 13-29). They rebounded well, winning that battle 43-27. They defended well, finishing with 6 steals and 3 blocks as well as forcing 12 turnovers. They passed well, by they I mean Isaiah who finished with 13 of the 20 assists.

The team was lead by three players. Isaiah Thomas, Matthew Bryan-Amaning, and Justin Holiday. Just take a look at these stat lines. Justin Holiday: 23 points, 1 steals, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 0 turnovers. Matthew Bryan-Amaning: 22 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 0 turnovers. Isaiah Thomas: 27 points, 13 assists (!), 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 5 turnovers. I, for one, am completely OK with 5 turnovers when you dish out 13 assists and score 27 points (and of course win).

Cal offered little resistance as UW went into half leading by 15 (48-33). Harper Kamp had 20 points and 7 boards, while Allen Crabbe had 16 points and 6 boards. Richard Solomon came off the bench and added 14 for the Bears.

Scott Suggs got the start today instead of Venoy Overton. Personally, I think it is a smart move as it gives us a solid point guard off the bench. Though neither Overton nor Suggs contributed much in terms of stats, their presence allowed I.T. to play some shooting guard and opened him up for a few more scoring opportunities.

Aziz N'Diaye struggled again, finishing with 1 point on split free throws and 3 boards. He did do a great job of taking space on defense and drawing pressure on offense. He fouled out with 8:24 left to play.

What Was Good

Shooting

For the first time in a while the Huskies found their rhythm from range. Holiday lead the way going 5 for 8 from downtown. I.T. added 3 on 9 attempts. Darnell Gant, Terrence Ross, C.J. Wilcox, Overton, and Suggs each added 1. MBA was 10-15. I.T. was 8-16. Holiday was 9-14. C.J. missed his first pair of shots, but drained the third, hopefully signaling the end of his slump. Holiday opened the half receiving 2 passes from I.T. and draining both 3 pointers back to back.

Passing

While I.T. obviously led the way with his 13 assists, the rest of the team did a good job of opening themselves up and moving the ball around. They were able to get it inside with easy, which allowed MBA to take over. Highlight pass has to be I.T. going behind the back to Holiday, who drained the 3.

Rebounding

MBA continued to dominate the boards in conference play, finishing with 11. Gant came off the bench and grabbed 6, a great performance by him. Suggs, Ross, and I.T. all added 4. A +16 margin on a Pac-10 team is fantastic.

I would have liked to have seen us get more offensive boards, finishing only with 9. Usually, Aziz grabs offensive boards at a high rate, but he was fairly ineffective today. We did hold Cal to 6 offensive boards, so that is one positive.

Free Throws

I am mainly talking about I.T. who went 8-8 from the line tonight. He continues to show off the new free throw motion and it continues to be working great for him. I'll have to look at which game he changed and his stats since then. MBA went 2-3, Aziz split his pair, and Ross missed both of his shots.

What Needed Improvement

Fouling

Our bigs found themselves in some foul trouble again, especially Aziz who tends to foul out almost every game. He has not been able to get the position he needs to avoid fouling. Gant also fouled out late in the game. MBA had 3 and I.T. picked up a somewhat surprising 4 fouls, including a charge. Cal got to the line twice as much as us, taking 30 attempts to our 15. With Derrick Williams coming into town Thursday our bigs need to avoid fouling. It seems as though anytime Williams is touched he gets to shoot free throws. I believe he had back to back games where he attempted 22 free throws and finished the nights with 30 and 31 points. While Sherrer may be able to play with some of the Pac-10 frontcourt, Williams would have his way down low if Sherrer was forced to come in.

Player by Player Reviews

Venoy Overton

After starting the few games since Abdul Gaddy's injury, Overton was put back on the bench in favor of Suggs. I agree with the decision. Overton is a solid point guard and coming off the bench allows us to sub out I.T. or Suggs if necessary and not drop off in terms of execution ability. He only scored 3 points on the night and had 2 rebounds on top of an assist and a steal. It was an average night, but with Isaiah stealing the show, its no wonder Overton has not had the best of stats. He did only play 14 minutes. Overall I didn't see anything bad about his game, it just wasn't an outstanding night.
Grade: B

Justin Holiday

Man, what a game for Holiday. He continued the hot streak he found in the second half against Stanford and scored a career high 23 points. He shot extremely well and was the beneficiary of several I.T. dimes. His long range shots meant he was further from the basket and as such he didn't have the chance to grab rebounds like he normally does. Thankfully Gant has toughened up considerably and took over where Holiday left off. Holiday did some nice passing of his own and helped take some of the load off I.T. It was great to see his shot falling again after having had a few sub par shooting nights the last week or two.
Grade: A

Matthew Bryan-Amaning

22 points and 11 rebounds. Another double double for the big Brit. He got his 19th and 20th points along with his 10th rebound in a great put back. He shot 66% from the field and made some nice post moves to get his points. He played one of his better games of the season thanks to I.T. giving him shots left and right. If not for I.T. he would have MVP of the game honors. It is also no surprise that went MBA is shooting and scoring, we are scoring more and winning. Inside-out basketball is the way to play. MBA showed up strong allowing our perimeter play to open up. The big question now is: How will MBA fair Thursday against arguably the best post player in the Pac-10, Derrick Williams? If MBA can be an impacting force on either offense and match Williams' output or on defense by shutting Williams down it should be considered a successful night. If he can do both, it'll be fantastic. If he does neither, I won't be terribly surprised, though I would be a bit disappointed.
Grade: A+

Brendan Sherrer

Saw only a few minutes at the end of the game, despite the foul trouble in the frontcourt. No stats today.
Grade: A for effort

Scott Suggs

Suggs started his first official collegiate game. He did start the exhibition game against St. Martin's, but sadly that game does not count in the record books. Suggs finished on 1 of 3 shooting with 3 points, adding 4 boards, an assist, a steal, and a turnover. He did play 24 minutes and ran the plays a bit at point guard. It's good to see he can run the point when necessary, though his ball handling is a little lower quality than I would like to see. Give him more time and I am sure it will improve.
Grade: B

Darnell Gant

A pretty solid night for the 6-8 junior. Though he only added 5 points and fouled out, he grabbed 6 rebounds. That is a solid stat coming off the bench. If he can continue to perform like that throughout the season he will put up a strong argument for replacing MBA in the starting 5 next season after MBA has graduated. Gant hit a sweet 3 from the top of the key. Good to see his shot is still solid from outside the arc.
Grade: B+

Isaiah Thomas

MVP of the night. Sure, he had 5 turnovers, but he finished with an assist/turnover ratio of 2.6 That is damn impressive. I.T. scored 18 of his 27 points in the first half. 13 assists. Man, I am still amazed. He drove the line, he shot from range, he passed behind his back. He was a BEAST on the court. He played fairly well against Stanford, but this was absurd. I.T. had a great floater over 6-10 Richard Soloman. He "pushed it down" after sinking a nice 3 pointer. He was 3 points shy of his career high set last season against Wright State.
Grade: A+

Aziz N'Diaye

A lack luster night for the 7 footer. He continues to take up space well on defense and prevents the drive that way, but other than that he didn't do terribly much. After showing so much promise in the fouling category, he has fallen back a bit and has fouled out in almost every conference game thus far. If he wants to get more time and put more stats in the book he will need to learn to position himself better and avoid silly fouls.
Grade: C

Antoine Hosley

No stats for the other walk-on either. *EDIT* Hosley did grab a long rebound in the last minute.
Grade: A for effort

C.J. Wilcox

Only 6 minutes, but he did manage 5 points on 2-6 shooting. C.J. still seems to be in a little bit of a slump. His shot does look better though, minus the first airball. Hopefully he is close to being fully healed after his Staph infection. Still not where he was earlier in the season, but that happens with freshmen.
Grade: C+

Terrence Ross

Ross saw the most minutes off the bench, with 17. He finished with 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from range, 0-2 from the FT line). He rebounded well and handled the ball pretty well. He did have a pair of sloppy turnovers, including one on a drive where he went to dish and lost control of the ball. Ross also added 2 assists. Not a great shooting night, but the one he did hit was an in your face shot that was pretty filthy.
Grade: B-

Final Thoughts

A great way to bounce back after a bad game. They showed great concentration and appeared to be having much more fun with their game. MBA, IT, and Holiday took over and as such no other player scored in double digits and the next closest had 5 (Wilcox and Ross). In games like this, you don't always need bench production in terms of points. The bench did do a good job of rebounding and avoiding turnovers. Sitting at 5-1 with Arizona coming in Thursday at 4-1 gives the game huge implications for the conference title. If UW beats UA, they will be 6-1 with a 1.5 game lead on Arizona while losing gives Arizona a .5 game lead. UW has played extremely well at home this year and hopefully the Dawgs can carry this momentum home with them and build on it with the support of the home crowd.

Video Highlights: http://www.athletixnation.com/video/753288543001

University of California-Berkeley Preview

After a disappointing loss to Stanford, UW is looking to split the Bay area trip with a win over California who is coming off a 7 point win in overtime against WSU. Cal is 9-7 on the year and 2-2 in conference.

Cal is a solid team despite some lack luster performances this year including a 5 point first half against Notre Dame. I am certain, that in 20 minutes, I could put up 5 points.

Cal is lead in scoring by Harper Kamp at 13.4 points per game. Jorge Guitierrez is second with 12.7 points per game. Two other Cal players are scoring 10+ a game. Allen Crabbe is scoring 10.8 per game. Markhuri Sanders-Frision comes in at 10.3 points per game.

Cal rebounds pretty well and are second in the nation at defending against the offensive rebounding, only allowing opponents to grab 23% of their offensive misses. MSF leads Cal with 8.3 boards per game. Kamp is picking up 5.5 and Crabbe is grabbing 5.4 boards per game.

Cal is averaging 14.9 assists and turnovers per game. Jorge Guitierrez is leading Cal in both categories with 4 assists and 3 turnovers per outing. The starting guards for Cal average 6.5 turnovers and 9.2 assists per game.

Cal runs a 9 to 10 man rotation with 7 players getting 15+ minutes per game and 5 significant point contributors (8+ pts per game).

Frision is an undersized center at 6-7, but he weighs 265lbs. Much like Jon Brockman, Frision is able to get position and use his strength to get the boards. At 8.3 rebounds per game he is a threat MBA and Aziz will have to deal with.

Guitierrez has had to step up his game after Cal lost 4 of their 5 starters and something like 90% of their scoring. He went from 5.5 points to 12.7 by necessity and opportunity. Recently he was switched from point guard to shooting guard as he was unsuccessful at the 1. Brandon Smith has stepped in as the starting point guard.

3 players on Cal's team have made 20 or more 3 pointers this season. Jorge Guitierrez is leading in percentage at 20 of 48. Crabbe has the most makes at 29 of 81 attempts. Gary Franklin has made 24 of 82. *Edit* Gary Franklin has transferred to Baylor.

Starting Line Ups

California

Brandon Smith 5-11 185lb PG
Jorge Guitierrez 6-3 195lb SG
Allen Crabbe 6-4 205lb G
Harper Kamp 6-8 245lb F
Markhuri Sanders-Frision 6-7 265lb C

Washington

Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185lb G
Venoy Overton 6-0 185lb G
Justin Holiday 6-6 185lb F
Matthew Bryan-Amaning 6-9 240lb F
Aziz N'Diaye 7-0 260lb C

Keys to the Game

Rebounding

Good rebounding against Stanford kept the game manageable as UW won the battle of the boards 33-26. This will be a big factor again as Cal rebounds slightly better than Stanford and is much better on the defensive end. If Aziz and MBA can pick up a bunch of rebounds again, it will be a good starting place for the Dawgs to build off of.

Perimeter Defense

UW did a good job of shutting down Stanford's outside shot, holding them to 2-11. Cal shoots much better from range and has 3 legitimate threats from outside the arc and UW will have its hands full trying to keep a hand in their face. Shutting down the outside shot will force Cal to look inside where our size should give us an advantage.

Ball Handling

UW did a poor job of handling the ball against Stanford, committing 14 turnovers and only completing 11 assists. It seemed as if anytime UW made a great defensive stop or steal they would turn the ball over or miss an easy lay-in. The USC game was the first win where we had more turnovers than assists. When we pass well, we play well and we win. Limiting turnovers is the name of the game.

Force the Middle

I don't mean make unnecessary drives or taking bad shots. I mean get the ball down low to the post players and give them some looks. MBA only took one shot in the second half due to tough defense by Stanford. Without TV coverage it is hard to tell if UW was simply unable to get him and Aziz the ball or if they didn't look to them. Holiday was shooting well, but that doesn't mean ignore MBA who had scored on the first three possessions. With so much extra size on our side down low, UW needs to take advantage of the mismatch and get the big boys rolling.

Bench Production

UW had no production from our bench, though Suggs did hit a pair of big three points including the tying shot with about 1 minute to go. We need Ross, Suggs, or Wilcox to get going and get going early. Without an outside shot presence coming off the bench we lack a good scoring option like we have thrived on in the first half of the year. Even Gant getting some points would be great for the team. Either way we need our bench players to help the starters get points on the board. Cal allows their opponents 66.6 a game and scores 67.6 points per game. UW scores 86.8 and  allows 67.4 points per game. The difference in scoring is our bench production. Without our bench, Cal will be right in this game.

Free Throw Shooting

UW went 6-12 from the line. Stanford went 14-21. If UW had matched Stanford percentage (66%) the game would have been tied. Make 75% and UW wins by 1. Overton missed the front end of a 1 and 1. Personally that should count as 2 misses because you can't make what you don't get.  Holiday missed the front end of his free throws at the end of the game, forcing him to intentionally miss the second. MBA went 2-4. With him alone we tie the game. 6 missed points, any two of which could have tied it up. UW has struggled with free throws all year and something needs to change if they want to win the close ones.

Final Thoughts

The loss at Stanford hopefully woke the team up a bit and made them realize just how hard they need to work to win games in the Pac-10. No matter how favored they are, UW cannot let up. The Pac-10 teams are by no means slackers, down year or not. Cal could pull the upset if UW doesn't bring their A-game. Get the ball to MBA, let him score. Get hot on the shot. Rebound well.


Final Score Prediction

After the loss to Stanford its hard for me to judge where this game will go. I think UW will show up with a little more intensity and emotion than the last. I'll call it UW over Cal 80-69.