Isaiah Averages 22.5 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds against the Bay Area schools this past win and went on to win his third POW award of his career and this season.
The Huskies remained out of the polls and Arizona moved up to 12/13 in the AP and ESPN/Coaches Polls.
Joe Lunardi's current Bracket has the Huskies as a 7 seed against Marquette in the first round again. Arizona is a 5 seed and UCLA is the last Pac-10 team at a 9 seed. WSU is part of the First Four Out category.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Stanford Univeristy Review 2
Final Score UW-87 Stanford-76
Interesting game tonight. The crowd was in it to start and died out during the game. The Huskies were up 84-64 with about 4 minutes to go before letting garbage time play turn into a too late run from the Cardinals.
The Huskies scored well, passed fairly well, defended well, and overall played a much more successful game than the last meeting. Terrence Ross had two monster dunks. One off the baseline and another off a put back from an MBA miss. The only weak point tonight was the rebounding. Free throw shooting wasn't great either.
Isaiah Thomas had a somewhat uncharacteristic night. He scored 22 points, but only had 1 assist and 5 turnovers. Venoy Overton on the other hands had one of his best nights of the season. 12 points, 4 assists, 0 turnovers. Brilliant.
Isaiah had a bit of a tough time shutting down Green tonight who was simply shooting over him. Sometimes I.T. can pull it off, tonight was not that night. Aziz N'Diaye also had some defensive problems early shutting down the baseline and allowing his man to get the inside lane and score the easy lay in.
The refs were loving the technical fouls tonight. 3 were called. All were legitimate. Stanford coach, Johnny Dawkins, picked one up for talking to the refs. A Stanford player picked one up for elbowing C.J. Wilcox in the face. Aziz picked one up for hanging on the rim after a monster jam. MBA nearly picked up a technical for elbowing, but did not make contact.
Scott Suggs fouled out tonight. Kind of odd. Not something I ever thought I would write. MBA had 4 and Aziz's lone foul was the technical. UW actually had the foul and free throw advantage tonight. Excellent.
I.T. was scoreless in the first 17:23 of the game then went on to score 14 points in the final two and a half minutes, hitting 4 3 pointers including 2 back to back that were about 30 feet out. After the final shot with 6 seconds to go in the half he pointed to the ground and yelled at his teammates "This is my house! This is our house!"
MBA and Ross had a vicious block on a driving Cardinal. Ross then brought the ball up and handed off to MBA for a great lay in. Got to love those kind of hustle plays. Always rewarding. C.J. Wilcox had a big block on Jeremy Green. Wilcox finished with 10 on 3-8 shooting, 2-7 from range. Not his normal production level, but he played some solid defense.
Justin Holiday was also low on the offensive end tonight, but his defense was excellent and he made some good hustle plays.
Aziz N'Diaye was finally aggressive on offense and was looking and begging for the ball. He wanted to score and ended with 9 points and 6 boards. 4-4 shooting, but only 1-5 from the free throw line. Someone get Rick Barry in the building. Aziz needs a new technique.
Ross was all over tonight. His defense is improving as is his court vision. His athleticism is off the charts. He picked up 6 boards as well, tonight, and dished out 3 assists. He only scored the 4 points off the dunks, but man were they impressive points.
A couple of strange things happened tonight. I'll start with what everyone watching the game saw. Half the lights in the arena went out during the first media timeout. There was an additional timeout added on as the lights warmed back up and the coaches agreed to playing in the lower light settings. The lights dimmed once more during half time. The second strange thing was Antoine Hosley playing 4 minutes while Brendan Sherrer rode the pine the entire game. Maybe he was hurt? Tired? Not sure. The final strange thing was something Percy Allen coined as "Fangate." A girl in the Dawg Pack was wearing a UW hat, but a Stanford sweatshirt and T-shirt. She was pointed out and booed until the ushers came and removed her. She was evidently a med student here, but did undergraduate work at Stanford. There is a rule that all members of the Dawg Pack have to wear UW school colors. This occurred after a game against Arizona where a UA fan was disguised as a Dawg Pack member revealed themselves and earned a lot of harassment. She returned later, crying, and a member of the media crew brought her a purple shirt to wear. Not sure why she thought that would be OK, nor am I sure why her friends thought it would be OK. You never wear opposing colors in the student section. Ever. If this was Oregon and she was an Oregon State fan, she would have been pushed around no doubt. Luckily, the Dawg Pack is much classier and is satisfied by substantial booing and removal.
What Needed Improvement
Rebounding
Stanford had the edge on the glass tonight and did a much better job getting the long rebounds and second chance opportunities from offensive boards. 36-33 in favor of Stanford. MBA, Aziz, and Ross all grabbed 6 boards, and Gant had 5 (excellent). All 4 did a good job, just needed a little more support from the other players. We shot 29 3 pointers tonight, which resulted in a lot of long rebounds that the Cardinals got their hands on.
Free Throws
60% overall tonight. MBA went 3-7 and Aziz was 1-5. I.T. went 6-7, his miss was the front end of a 1 and 1, and Venoy went 5-7. Wilcox nailed both his free throws after the technical. Got to work on our big men and their free throw shooting. Post players get to the line quite often so they need to make shots to benefit us.
Ball Control
MBA had 6 turnovers and I.T. had 5. These two guys are normally much better at handling the rock, but tonight they struggled. Those kind of numbers are only acceptable because we won, yet they still need to be looked at and corrected.
What Was Good
Defense
UW forced 19 turnovers tonight, had 6 blocks, and 6 steals. The Dawgs also drew several charges, a 5 second call, and nearly 2 over and backs. Minus a few slips here and there and the garbage time nonsense, UW played a solid defensive game. Green was the only Cardinal to do what he wanted regardless of defender.
Role Player Production
Aziz, Overton, and Wilcox all put up solid numbers tonight, something they haven't done a ton this season. It is always great to see normally quiet offensive players get aggressive and score.
Player by Player Reviews
Justin Holiday
Quiet offensively, 2-5 shooting, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 assist. Quiet overall. He was a real hustle player though, and did well defensively containing his man. Not a whole ton else to say about him, sadly.
Grade: B-
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
15 points, 6 boards, 6 turnovers. 6-10 shooting and 3-7 from the free throw line. Not his best night, but he did well moving in transition and drawing fouls. I was really hoping for a huge teabag dunk, but every opportunity resulted in a hard foul, including one intentional foul called against Stanford.
Grade: B-
Venoy Overton
Venoy picks up the MVP tonight, in my opinion. His 3-8 shooting was not impressive, but the 12 points and 4 assists with 0 turnovers were great. Fantastic performance tonight. His fire, drive, and talent is slowly returning as his injuries heal and confidence returns. Great passing work finding the open men down low and around the perimeter.
Grade: A-
Brendan Sherrer
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
Darnell Gant
No points tonight, 0-3 shooting, but he did grab 5 boards, dished out 2 assists, and snatched the ball out of the Cardinal hands once for a steal. Fairly solid numbers for only 17 minutes of play time. He is really shaping nicely into a good rebounder and with a little more weight and work, he could serve as a fill in for MBA if for whatever reason we do not land Angelo Chol.
Grade: B+
Scott Suggs
Despite fouling out and the somewhat lower point total, Suggs looked great shooting tonight. He went 3-5 over all and 1-1 from range. He took some nice fake pumps, dribbled in a step and knocked in the jumper. He is polishing his game nicely and is doing well to be more than just a catch and shoot player. 7 points, 2 assists, 1 turnover. Not terrible by any means.
Grade: B
Isaiah Thomas
Interesting play from Isaiah tonight. He scored in bunches and barely picked up an assist. His shot was hot to end the first half, but relatively cold the rest. He took a poke to the eye from teammate, Darnell Gant, and went to the training room to get looked at. He returned later after icing. Not sure why the assists were accumulating tonight, but it is what it is. I'll take 22 points.
Grade: B
Aziz N'Diaye
Loved the aggression offensively tonight. That technical was worth it. What a jam. Aziz needs to cherry pick at least once this season. I want to see an absurd dunk from him. His defense was not as good tonight, but he rebounded well still. Only 18 minutes tonight, likely due to the defensive issues.
Grade: B
Antoine Hosley
Played 4 minutes tonight. Scored 2 points off a nice jumper. Missed his 3 point shot.
Grade: A for effort
C.J. Wilcox
The shot aggressiveness is returning and so are his talents. He has a beautiful touch at the free throw line, a great, quick release. Drains every time. His long rage shot is still rattling around a bit during the game, but in warm ups it was looking sweet as candy. He drilled one shot from beyond NBA range.
Grade: B+
Terrence Ross
This kid is going to be a star, mark my words. All the pieces are there and starting to fall together. Bit by bit he is becoming more consistent, smarter with his shot choices, and improving his court vision His put back jam was vicious and his baseline dunk was just plain nasty. I'll post the highlight video once it is up on Youtube. Loved the rebounding and passing effort he put out tonight. He plays with confidence and never looks scared. He also handles the ball much better than Suggs or Wilcox in my opinion.
Grade: A-
Final Thoughts
Strange game, but a win none the less. UW led by 20 before garbage time. Won by 11. Got to carry this weeks momentum into the desert of Arizona. Two huge games coming up. Both are must wins. Lose to ASU and title aspirations all but disappear. Lose to UA and see them rise beyond our reach. Keep it going boys.
Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgArTX3JWzU&feature=feedu Starts with the Ross Baseline Dunk
Interesting game tonight. The crowd was in it to start and died out during the game. The Huskies were up 84-64 with about 4 minutes to go before letting garbage time play turn into a too late run from the Cardinals.
The Huskies scored well, passed fairly well, defended well, and overall played a much more successful game than the last meeting. Terrence Ross had two monster dunks. One off the baseline and another off a put back from an MBA miss. The only weak point tonight was the rebounding. Free throw shooting wasn't great either.
Isaiah Thomas had a somewhat uncharacteristic night. He scored 22 points, but only had 1 assist and 5 turnovers. Venoy Overton on the other hands had one of his best nights of the season. 12 points, 4 assists, 0 turnovers. Brilliant.
Isaiah had a bit of a tough time shutting down Green tonight who was simply shooting over him. Sometimes I.T. can pull it off, tonight was not that night. Aziz N'Diaye also had some defensive problems early shutting down the baseline and allowing his man to get the inside lane and score the easy lay in.
The refs were loving the technical fouls tonight. 3 were called. All were legitimate. Stanford coach, Johnny Dawkins, picked one up for talking to the refs. A Stanford player picked one up for elbowing C.J. Wilcox in the face. Aziz picked one up for hanging on the rim after a monster jam. MBA nearly picked up a technical for elbowing, but did not make contact.
Scott Suggs fouled out tonight. Kind of odd. Not something I ever thought I would write. MBA had 4 and Aziz's lone foul was the technical. UW actually had the foul and free throw advantage tonight. Excellent.
I.T. was scoreless in the first 17:23 of the game then went on to score 14 points in the final two and a half minutes, hitting 4 3 pointers including 2 back to back that were about 30 feet out. After the final shot with 6 seconds to go in the half he pointed to the ground and yelled at his teammates "This is my house! This is our house!"
MBA and Ross had a vicious block on a driving Cardinal. Ross then brought the ball up and handed off to MBA for a great lay in. Got to love those kind of hustle plays. Always rewarding. C.J. Wilcox had a big block on Jeremy Green. Wilcox finished with 10 on 3-8 shooting, 2-7 from range. Not his normal production level, but he played some solid defense.
Justin Holiday was also low on the offensive end tonight, but his defense was excellent and he made some good hustle plays.
Aziz N'Diaye was finally aggressive on offense and was looking and begging for the ball. He wanted to score and ended with 9 points and 6 boards. 4-4 shooting, but only 1-5 from the free throw line. Someone get Rick Barry in the building. Aziz needs a new technique.
Ross was all over tonight. His defense is improving as is his court vision. His athleticism is off the charts. He picked up 6 boards as well, tonight, and dished out 3 assists. He only scored the 4 points off the dunks, but man were they impressive points.
A couple of strange things happened tonight. I'll start with what everyone watching the game saw. Half the lights in the arena went out during the first media timeout. There was an additional timeout added on as the lights warmed back up and the coaches agreed to playing in the lower light settings. The lights dimmed once more during half time. The second strange thing was Antoine Hosley playing 4 minutes while Brendan Sherrer rode the pine the entire game. Maybe he was hurt? Tired? Not sure. The final strange thing was something Percy Allen coined as "Fangate." A girl in the Dawg Pack was wearing a UW hat, but a Stanford sweatshirt and T-shirt. She was pointed out and booed until the ushers came and removed her. She was evidently a med student here, but did undergraduate work at Stanford. There is a rule that all members of the Dawg Pack have to wear UW school colors. This occurred after a game against Arizona where a UA fan was disguised as a Dawg Pack member revealed themselves and earned a lot of harassment. She returned later, crying, and a member of the media crew brought her a purple shirt to wear. Not sure why she thought that would be OK, nor am I sure why her friends thought it would be OK. You never wear opposing colors in the student section. Ever. If this was Oregon and she was an Oregon State fan, she would have been pushed around no doubt. Luckily, the Dawg Pack is much classier and is satisfied by substantial booing and removal.
What Needed Improvement
Rebounding
Stanford had the edge on the glass tonight and did a much better job getting the long rebounds and second chance opportunities from offensive boards. 36-33 in favor of Stanford. MBA, Aziz, and Ross all grabbed 6 boards, and Gant had 5 (excellent). All 4 did a good job, just needed a little more support from the other players. We shot 29 3 pointers tonight, which resulted in a lot of long rebounds that the Cardinals got their hands on.
Free Throws
60% overall tonight. MBA went 3-7 and Aziz was 1-5. I.T. went 6-7, his miss was the front end of a 1 and 1, and Venoy went 5-7. Wilcox nailed both his free throws after the technical. Got to work on our big men and their free throw shooting. Post players get to the line quite often so they need to make shots to benefit us.
Ball Control
MBA had 6 turnovers and I.T. had 5. These two guys are normally much better at handling the rock, but tonight they struggled. Those kind of numbers are only acceptable because we won, yet they still need to be looked at and corrected.
What Was Good
Defense
UW forced 19 turnovers tonight, had 6 blocks, and 6 steals. The Dawgs also drew several charges, a 5 second call, and nearly 2 over and backs. Minus a few slips here and there and the garbage time nonsense, UW played a solid defensive game. Green was the only Cardinal to do what he wanted regardless of defender.
Role Player Production
Aziz, Overton, and Wilcox all put up solid numbers tonight, something they haven't done a ton this season. It is always great to see normally quiet offensive players get aggressive and score.
Player by Player Reviews
Justin Holiday
Quiet offensively, 2-5 shooting, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 assist. Quiet overall. He was a real hustle player though, and did well defensively containing his man. Not a whole ton else to say about him, sadly.
Grade: B-
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
15 points, 6 boards, 6 turnovers. 6-10 shooting and 3-7 from the free throw line. Not his best night, but he did well moving in transition and drawing fouls. I was really hoping for a huge teabag dunk, but every opportunity resulted in a hard foul, including one intentional foul called against Stanford.
Grade: B-
Venoy Overton
Venoy picks up the MVP tonight, in my opinion. His 3-8 shooting was not impressive, but the 12 points and 4 assists with 0 turnovers were great. Fantastic performance tonight. His fire, drive, and talent is slowly returning as his injuries heal and confidence returns. Great passing work finding the open men down low and around the perimeter.
Grade: A-
Brendan Sherrer
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
Darnell Gant
No points tonight, 0-3 shooting, but he did grab 5 boards, dished out 2 assists, and snatched the ball out of the Cardinal hands once for a steal. Fairly solid numbers for only 17 minutes of play time. He is really shaping nicely into a good rebounder and with a little more weight and work, he could serve as a fill in for MBA if for whatever reason we do not land Angelo Chol.
Grade: B+
Scott Suggs
Despite fouling out and the somewhat lower point total, Suggs looked great shooting tonight. He went 3-5 over all and 1-1 from range. He took some nice fake pumps, dribbled in a step and knocked in the jumper. He is polishing his game nicely and is doing well to be more than just a catch and shoot player. 7 points, 2 assists, 1 turnover. Not terrible by any means.
Grade: B
Isaiah Thomas
Interesting play from Isaiah tonight. He scored in bunches and barely picked up an assist. His shot was hot to end the first half, but relatively cold the rest. He took a poke to the eye from teammate, Darnell Gant, and went to the training room to get looked at. He returned later after icing. Not sure why the assists were accumulating tonight, but it is what it is. I'll take 22 points.
Grade: B
Aziz N'Diaye
Loved the aggression offensively tonight. That technical was worth it. What a jam. Aziz needs to cherry pick at least once this season. I want to see an absurd dunk from him. His defense was not as good tonight, but he rebounded well still. Only 18 minutes tonight, likely due to the defensive issues.
Grade: B
Antoine Hosley
Played 4 minutes tonight. Scored 2 points off a nice jumper. Missed his 3 point shot.
Grade: A for effort
C.J. Wilcox
The shot aggressiveness is returning and so are his talents. He has a beautiful touch at the free throw line, a great, quick release. Drains every time. His long rage shot is still rattling around a bit during the game, but in warm ups it was looking sweet as candy. He drilled one shot from beyond NBA range.
Grade: B+
Terrence Ross
This kid is going to be a star, mark my words. All the pieces are there and starting to fall together. Bit by bit he is becoming more consistent, smarter with his shot choices, and improving his court vision His put back jam was vicious and his baseline dunk was just plain nasty. I'll post the highlight video once it is up on Youtube. Loved the rebounding and passing effort he put out tonight. He plays with confidence and never looks scared. He also handles the ball much better than Suggs or Wilcox in my opinion.
Grade: A-
Final Thoughts
Strange game, but a win none the less. UW led by 20 before garbage time. Won by 11. Got to carry this weeks momentum into the desert of Arizona. Two huge games coming up. Both are must wins. Lose to ASU and title aspirations all but disappear. Lose to UA and see them rise beyond our reach. Keep it going boys.
Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgArTX3JWzU&feature=feedu Starts with the Ross Baseline Dunk
Stanford University Preview 2
Stanford is 13-10 on the year and 6-6 in conference, most recently having beat WSU on the road. UW lost a nail biter in a terribly played game by the Huskies.
Stanford runs a 9 to 10 man rotation with 6 players getting 20+ minutes a game.
Stanford is led by Jeremy Green, a solid 6-4 guard who took the backseat last season to Landry Fields. He is currently leading the team in scoring with 15.3 points per game. Green is a good shooter with a nice outside shot, currently 61 of 145 (42.1%) on the year. Green averages 32 minutes per outing. He also averages 1.2 assist per game and 2.0 turnovers per game.
Aaron Bright, 5-11, is putting up 2.1 assists and 1.1 turnovers, while Jarrett Mann is sitting at 3.7 assists and 2.4 turnovers per game.
Josh Owens is a solid 6-8 forward/center who is second in scoring at 11.4 points per game and 6.8 rebounds per game, 1st on the team.
Dwight Powell is the last starter for the Cardinals. At 6-9 and 227lbs he is a fairly big forward and is third on the team in scoring with 9.0 points per game and second in rebounding at 4.9 boards per game. As a team the Cardinals grab 35 rebounds per game.
Perhaps the most telling stat is that Stanford averages 2 more turnovers than they do assists. They also shoot free throws as terribly as us with both Stanford and UW shooting 66.7% on the year.
Starting Line Up Predictions
Stanford
Aaron Bright 5-11 175lb G
Jarrett Mann 6-4 190lb G
Jeremy Green 6-4 198lb G
Josh Owens 6-8 230lb F/C
Dwight Powell 6-9 227lb F
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185lb G
Scott Suggs 195lb 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
UW did a great job against Cal cleaning the glass. MBA has been a monster in the post all conference season and Aziz is shaping up pretty well. Terrence Ross, Holiday, and I.T. have been great supporting members and Darnell Gant has done a great job stepping his game up.
Passing
UW plays its best game when they are dishing the ball out and finding the open shot instead of forcing it. With Isaiah averaging nearly 5.9 assists per game its easy to see why our team has been so solid. Overton is also performing quite well with 3.6 per game and an assist/turnover ratio of 3.2. These two begin the attack, but without the support of our wings the ball doesn't move as well. This is where Holiday, Ross, Wilcox, Suggs, and even Gant and MBA come in. They don't necessarily need to get the assist, but the better they pass around and use their field vision to find open shots, the better we are.
Ross had 6 assists in the last game. Very nice.
Perimeter Defense
Jeremy Green is a good shooter. Powell shows potential. Anthony Brown and Aaron Bright both have legit shots. UW cannot afford to let them get hot. With 3 or 4 good outside shooters it is important to move our feet well, transition off of screens, and get a hand in their face. Prevent the outside shot and prevent Green from lighting us up. That's where our defensive game plan should start. Man to Man all the way.
Free Throws
Stanford is a terrible free throw shooting team like us. Bright and Green are their best FT shooters. Keep them off the line and make our shots and the game will have one less way for Stanford to stay in it. We have had problems getting to the line this year, something the Dawgs thrived on in '08-'09. Each one is big and that makes them extremely important whether we are up a bunch or in a close game. In our last game we only attempted 7 free throws to Cal's 37, absurd. How 'bout some home cooking refs?
Work the Post
With MBA riding a hot streak and Aziz drawing all sorts of pressure, an inside out game plan is a great basis for our starting attack. MBA and Aziz don't need to take the shot, but if they at least get a look or two and are able to move the defense about our perimeter shooters will have an easier time of getting into open space. Also look for I.T. and Overton to drive the lane and create space that way.
Final Thoughts
UW has some vengeance to exact after the 2 point loss on the road. After crushing Cal so solidly it looks like UW has returned to its winning ways, but anything could happen. With the home crowd behind them the Dawgs are unstoppable. Sadly, we have to play places other than Hec Ed so the real question answerer will not be this game, it'll be on the road at Arizona. Win that and get respect and seeding. Lose and show weakness. This game is huge because a loss at home will kill all title hopes and makes us a bubble team, no doubt.
Final Score Prediction
UW-95 Stanford-70
Stanford runs a 9 to 10 man rotation with 6 players getting 20+ minutes a game.
Stanford is led by Jeremy Green, a solid 6-4 guard who took the backseat last season to Landry Fields. He is currently leading the team in scoring with 15.3 points per game. Green is a good shooter with a nice outside shot, currently 61 of 145 (42.1%) on the year. Green averages 32 minutes per outing. He also averages 1.2 assist per game and 2.0 turnovers per game.
Aaron Bright, 5-11, is putting up 2.1 assists and 1.1 turnovers, while Jarrett Mann is sitting at 3.7 assists and 2.4 turnovers per game.
Josh Owens is a solid 6-8 forward/center who is second in scoring at 11.4 points per game and 6.8 rebounds per game, 1st on the team.
Dwight Powell is the last starter for the Cardinals. At 6-9 and 227lbs he is a fairly big forward and is third on the team in scoring with 9.0 points per game and second in rebounding at 4.9 boards per game. As a team the Cardinals grab 35 rebounds per game.
Perhaps the most telling stat is that Stanford averages 2 more turnovers than they do assists. They also shoot free throws as terribly as us with both Stanford and UW shooting 66.7% on the year.
Starting Line Up Predictions
Stanford
Aaron Bright 5-11 175lb G
Jarrett Mann 6-4 190lb G
Jeremy Green 6-4 198lb G
Josh Owens 6-8 230lb F/C
Dwight Powell 6-9 227lb F
Washington
Isaiah Thomas 5-9 185lb G
Scott Suggs 195lb 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
UW did a great job against Cal cleaning the glass. MBA has been a monster in the post all conference season and Aziz is shaping up pretty well. Terrence Ross, Holiday, and I.T. have been great supporting members and Darnell Gant has done a great job stepping his game up.
Passing
UW plays its best game when they are dishing the ball out and finding the open shot instead of forcing it. With Isaiah averaging nearly 5.9 assists per game its easy to see why our team has been so solid. Overton is also performing quite well with 3.6 per game and an assist/turnover ratio of 3.2. These two begin the attack, but without the support of our wings the ball doesn't move as well. This is where Holiday, Ross, Wilcox, Suggs, and even Gant and MBA come in. They don't necessarily need to get the assist, but the better they pass around and use their field vision to find open shots, the better we are.
Ross had 6 assists in the last game. Very nice.
Perimeter Defense
Jeremy Green is a good shooter. Powell shows potential. Anthony Brown and Aaron Bright both have legit shots. UW cannot afford to let them get hot. With 3 or 4 good outside shooters it is important to move our feet well, transition off of screens, and get a hand in their face. Prevent the outside shot and prevent Green from lighting us up. That's where our defensive game plan should start. Man to Man all the way.
Free Throws
Stanford is a terrible free throw shooting team like us. Bright and Green are their best FT shooters. Keep them off the line and make our shots and the game will have one less way for Stanford to stay in it. We have had problems getting to the line this year, something the Dawgs thrived on in '08-'09. Each one is big and that makes them extremely important whether we are up a bunch or in a close game. In our last game we only attempted 7 free throws to Cal's 37, absurd. How 'bout some home cooking refs?
Work the Post
With MBA riding a hot streak and Aziz drawing all sorts of pressure, an inside out game plan is a great basis for our starting attack. MBA and Aziz don't need to take the shot, but if they at least get a look or two and are able to move the defense about our perimeter shooters will have an easier time of getting into open space. Also look for I.T. and Overton to drive the lane and create space that way.
Final Thoughts
UW has some vengeance to exact after the 2 point loss on the road. After crushing Cal so solidly it looks like UW has returned to its winning ways, but anything could happen. With the home crowd behind them the Dawgs are unstoppable. Sadly, we have to play places other than Hec Ed so the real question answerer will not be this game, it'll be on the road at Arizona. Win that and get respect and seeding. Lose and show weakness. This game is huge because a loss at home will kill all title hopes and makes us a bubble team, no doubt.
Final Score Prediction
UW-95 Stanford-70
Thursday, February 10, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
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
Dirt is here: http://tinyurl.com/DPD-CAL
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
University of Oregon Review 2
Final Score: UW-76 UO-81
I don't even know what to write any more. Days like today are when I wish I didn't care. I wish I could come home and be like the other thousands of students who don't follow the team religious, but I do care. I care a lot. This sucks. I don't know what is wrong with our team. They are not playing smart basketball. They are playing horrid interior defense. They can't handle the ball. They aren't hitting their free throws. To top it off, the refs love letting our players get mauled and not calling the fouls.
I'd like to say we can salvage this and still go on to win the title. I just don't believe it'll happen. I don't see Arizona getting upset anytime soon. Their closest contests should be UW and WSU, but the way we have been playing, UA will blow us out. At this point the best we can do is 14-4. I bet we will be 13-5 or 12-6 by seasons end, in second or third place. We will get a 10 seed in the tournament and likely lose once more in the 2nd round or the Sweet Sixteen. We simply are not executing our offense with enough efficiency to win games away from home. We don't have that fire that drove us to win in L.A.
Our players had decent enough games. They were slightly better on defense, but their interior defense was atrocious for the 3rd straight game. Our free throw shooting was just as bad. The ball handling was what did us in.
One critical play stands out. UW was down 2 points when the poked the ball loose to Scott Suggs. He took about 2 dribbles and looked to pass to I.T. next to him. He threw it right into the hands of an Oregon defender who took it in to score. Instead of a tie ball game. We are down 4 again. That play right there sealed it off with 3 minute left.
UW was forced into 15 turnover. Overton committed 4. Isaiah had 2. Holiday had 3. UW only forced 8 errors for Oregon and allowed them to complete 21 assists to our 19. Bad zone play and rotation led to easy feeds down low to waiting post players and backdoor cuts.
Why does Romar refuse to press the ball on defense? Down 4 points with 3 minutes left. PRESS, DAMMIT! You don't have the time to sit back and let them run out the clock. Make them work to get it up the court. Get a 10 second violation. We have the speed and players to do it, so why not? And why does he refuse to run a press breaker? It is not that hard. Oregon forced us into way to many turnovers by PRESSING! Amazing how something so simple can get a team out of rhythm enough to force them into terrible play.
Our shots were much better tonight with Justin Holiday and Terrence Ross leading the way from outside and MBA from the interior. Isaiah continued his struggles from range on 1-5 shooting outside and continued his struggle to get to the free throw line.
Speaking of fouls. I hate the Pac-10 refs. They have absolutely killed us. They are not the reason we have lost games, but they sure do like to keep them out of reach. MBA got his nose busted up pretty good today and was getting scratched on his, yet no foul was called. That is unacceptable to miss. If a player starts bleeding profusely from the nose...HE WAS FOULED! I.T. was getting hammered on the arms while he drove the lane and was getting no help. They barely called the foul when Aziz took an elbow to the head as well. On the other end, Oregon was getting weak calls left and right. Blocks that were clearly charges, etc. I expect some home biasing, it always happens, but the refs need to call a better game. UO attempted 23 free throws to UW's 11. Absurd, especially considering we had only 3 fouls more than UO. The refs just won't give it to us on the shot.
Turnovers did us in once more. UO had something like 30 points off turnovers. Cut the turnovers in half or even take 4 to 5 turnovers away and suddenly UW is up 4 or 5 points. If Scott Suggs makes that pass or hold onto it, tie ball game. No need to foul. Too many mental lapses at critical moments in the game.
The starting 5 rebounded well. Aziz led the team with 9 followed by MBA, I.T., and Holiday with 5 a piece and Suggs with 4. Darnell Gant played only 5 minutes as he suffered some sort of injury in practice on Friday, but did grab 2 rebounds in his limited play.
UW passed better as a team. I.T. led with 6. Holiday had 5 assists and Suggs had 4.
Why can't we hit our free throws? Overton was 1-4, Aziz was 1-2, MBA was 1-3. I.T. made both of his going 2-2. 6 missed free throws. Even if we had hit just 3 more for a respectable percentage this game would have turned out entirely different. While the score shows a 5 point win, it was a 2 point game in the final 2 minutes. UW had to foul to get the ball. 3 isn't unreasonable to ask either. Overton needs to made 2 more to shoot how he normally does and MBA just needs to go 67% from the line by hitting 1 more.
I am wondering what it is going to take to get this team rolling again. Sure we play 5 of 7 at home to finish conference play, but WSU or USC could come in here and steal one. Stanford could do the same. After all they already have beaten us once. Hell even UCLA is playing strong enough to do it. The ASU game shouldn't be a problem, but with as terrible as we have been, we could get swept in Arizona. We got swept in Oregon, why not there?
Player by Player Reviews
Venoy Overton
While his late game scores where fast and important, his turnovers and horrendous free throw shooting killed us. He played 14 minutes and finished with 4 points, 4 turnovers, 2 assists, and 2 rebounds. Where is his fire? Where is Venoyance? We need him back.
Grade: D+ for the late game baskets, otherwise it'd be a D
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
He started extremely hot and did not miss a shot until the play he was whacked in the face and did not get a foul call. He then missed 6 of the next 9 shots he took. Kind of hard to run and breathe well when you have to have cotton shoved up your nose to stop the bleeding. He went 10-16 from the field, had 21 points, and 5 rebounds. he also had a steal and a block. We did a good job feeding him. His defense was decent enough. I didn't notice him being at fault for too many of the backdoor cuts, but as the center for most of the 2-3 zone he has a big responsibility to plug that up from happening.
Grade: B+, without him we would have been toast
Justin Holiday
MVP of the game without a doubt. He played a quieter game. Doing everything pretty well. I thought he was pretty bad in the zone defense. Then again it could just be a coaching thing. E.J. Singler and the other Ducks were wide open way to often in the corners where the outside players in the "3" part of the 2-3 zone are supposed to cover. Holiday really didn't have much choice as the top 2 were rotating poorly to cover the open man at the top of the key who would dish to the corner or cutting player. Holiday had 16 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks, and 3 turnovers. A pretty decent night over all. The assists were great as were the blocks. The turnovers...not so much.
Grade: B+
Brendan Sherrer
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
Darnell Gant
It is hard to give a grade to a player who was out there for only 5 minutes, but I'll give it a shot. Gant evidently suffered a quad bruise in practice and it can be assumed that is why he was limited in play. In just 5 minutes he snagged 2 rebounds, had 1 assist, and 1 turnover. He missed his only shot attempt. He was no better or worse in the zone than MBA or Aziz.
Grade: B
Scott Suggs
After a pretty hot night against OSU, Suggs was stone cold. He finished with 3 points on 1-5 shooting, including 1-4 from range. While I don't want to blame the loss on one player, his turnover effectively cost us our last shot at winning. 4 rebounds in 21 minutes along with 4 assist is pretty good. He had 2 turnovers. UW should not have been in a position for that 1 turnover to be so critical, but they were and it was.
Grade: C
Isaiah Thomas
I.T. controlled the ball a little better tonight, only committing 2 turnovers and handing out 6 assist. He had only 3 points until he became aggressive the second half when our shooters started to heat up from range and the lane opened up for him. I counted 2 made baskets and 3 missed shots where there should have been a foul call. Maybe I am too biased. I don't know, but the fouls that weren't being called for us were being called for Oregon on the other end. If you are going to be terrible refs, at least be terrible for both teams.
I understand shooters need to shoot to get out of slumps, but 1-5 range shooting hurts. His looks were pretty good and fairly open, but they wouldn't fall. Have to make the open shots. Have to. If it isn't falling that night, keep passing. Find whoever is hot handed. I.T. ended up with 13 points and would have had more if the refs would throw him a bone.
Grade: B+
Aziz N'Diaye
He rebounded really well tonight, finishing with 9 (4 offensive). He also made two very nice slam dunks, including a trailing tip dunk off of a miss. He looked better against the UO zone than he has in the past. Maybe he is starting to find himself a bit. That blow to the head took him out a bit. He needed help off the court after attempting the free throws. The big man did what we needed him to do tonight. He did well enough on defense and scored on occasion. He was decent at free throws and rebounded very well.
Grade: A-
Antoine Hosley
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
C.J. Wilcox
His shot looked a little better tonight, but he still went 1-3 from range and 1-4 overall. 1 rebound and 1 assist. No turnovers. Only 12 minutes.
Grade: B-
Terrence Ross
He played another pretty big game against Oregon. All 12 of his points were from range (4-9 beyond the arc, 4-10 overall). He grabbed 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 0 turnovers. His defense was decent, but like Holiday there was often an open man in the corner where he was responsible for the player. To me that screams coaching versus player fault. Have to improve the zone play. Have to.
Grade: B
Final Thoughts
I am going into disconnect mode. Try to separate myself emotionally from this team so this losses stop taking me out of it. Sure UW could go on to win the next 7, go 14-4 and win the title, but I don't see it happening. Not when play like this continues on the road. This is just looking like another making of the '08-'09 or '09-'10 teams that show so much promise and all the pieces to win big game, only to drop them on their own toes. Don't know the reason, but it needs to change. The difference between a team like us and a team like Duke or Ohio State is not the players, it is the drive and consistency. They need to fix their problems and fix them now. Luckily we have 2 games coming at home this week against California and Stanford that will hopefully allow us to get our heads out of the dirt, brush off the shoulders, and get back to playing hard, tough, Husky defense and basketball.
I don't even know what to write any more. Days like today are when I wish I didn't care. I wish I could come home and be like the other thousands of students who don't follow the team religious, but I do care. I care a lot. This sucks. I don't know what is wrong with our team. They are not playing smart basketball. They are playing horrid interior defense. They can't handle the ball. They aren't hitting their free throws. To top it off, the refs love letting our players get mauled and not calling the fouls.
I'd like to say we can salvage this and still go on to win the title. I just don't believe it'll happen. I don't see Arizona getting upset anytime soon. Their closest contests should be UW and WSU, but the way we have been playing, UA will blow us out. At this point the best we can do is 14-4. I bet we will be 13-5 or 12-6 by seasons end, in second or third place. We will get a 10 seed in the tournament and likely lose once more in the 2nd round or the Sweet Sixteen. We simply are not executing our offense with enough efficiency to win games away from home. We don't have that fire that drove us to win in L.A.
Our players had decent enough games. They were slightly better on defense, but their interior defense was atrocious for the 3rd straight game. Our free throw shooting was just as bad. The ball handling was what did us in.
One critical play stands out. UW was down 2 points when the poked the ball loose to Scott Suggs. He took about 2 dribbles and looked to pass to I.T. next to him. He threw it right into the hands of an Oregon defender who took it in to score. Instead of a tie ball game. We are down 4 again. That play right there sealed it off with 3 minute left.
UW was forced into 15 turnover. Overton committed 4. Isaiah had 2. Holiday had 3. UW only forced 8 errors for Oregon and allowed them to complete 21 assists to our 19. Bad zone play and rotation led to easy feeds down low to waiting post players and backdoor cuts.
Why does Romar refuse to press the ball on defense? Down 4 points with 3 minutes left. PRESS, DAMMIT! You don't have the time to sit back and let them run out the clock. Make them work to get it up the court. Get a 10 second violation. We have the speed and players to do it, so why not? And why does he refuse to run a press breaker? It is not that hard. Oregon forced us into way to many turnovers by PRESSING! Amazing how something so simple can get a team out of rhythm enough to force them into terrible play.
Our shots were much better tonight with Justin Holiday and Terrence Ross leading the way from outside and MBA from the interior. Isaiah continued his struggles from range on 1-5 shooting outside and continued his struggle to get to the free throw line.
Speaking of fouls. I hate the Pac-10 refs. They have absolutely killed us. They are not the reason we have lost games, but they sure do like to keep them out of reach. MBA got his nose busted up pretty good today and was getting scratched on his, yet no foul was called. That is unacceptable to miss. If a player starts bleeding profusely from the nose...HE WAS FOULED! I.T. was getting hammered on the arms while he drove the lane and was getting no help. They barely called the foul when Aziz took an elbow to the head as well. On the other end, Oregon was getting weak calls left and right. Blocks that were clearly charges, etc. I expect some home biasing, it always happens, but the refs need to call a better game. UO attempted 23 free throws to UW's 11. Absurd, especially considering we had only 3 fouls more than UO. The refs just won't give it to us on the shot.
Turnovers did us in once more. UO had something like 30 points off turnovers. Cut the turnovers in half or even take 4 to 5 turnovers away and suddenly UW is up 4 or 5 points. If Scott Suggs makes that pass or hold onto it, tie ball game. No need to foul. Too many mental lapses at critical moments in the game.
The starting 5 rebounded well. Aziz led the team with 9 followed by MBA, I.T., and Holiday with 5 a piece and Suggs with 4. Darnell Gant played only 5 minutes as he suffered some sort of injury in practice on Friday, but did grab 2 rebounds in his limited play.
UW passed better as a team. I.T. led with 6. Holiday had 5 assists and Suggs had 4.
Why can't we hit our free throws? Overton was 1-4, Aziz was 1-2, MBA was 1-3. I.T. made both of his going 2-2. 6 missed free throws. Even if we had hit just 3 more for a respectable percentage this game would have turned out entirely different. While the score shows a 5 point win, it was a 2 point game in the final 2 minutes. UW had to foul to get the ball. 3 isn't unreasonable to ask either. Overton needs to made 2 more to shoot how he normally does and MBA just needs to go 67% from the line by hitting 1 more.
I am wondering what it is going to take to get this team rolling again. Sure we play 5 of 7 at home to finish conference play, but WSU or USC could come in here and steal one. Stanford could do the same. After all they already have beaten us once. Hell even UCLA is playing strong enough to do it. The ASU game shouldn't be a problem, but with as terrible as we have been, we could get swept in Arizona. We got swept in Oregon, why not there?
Player by Player Reviews
Venoy Overton
While his late game scores where fast and important, his turnovers and horrendous free throw shooting killed us. He played 14 minutes and finished with 4 points, 4 turnovers, 2 assists, and 2 rebounds. Where is his fire? Where is Venoyance? We need him back.
Grade: D+ for the late game baskets, otherwise it'd be a D
Matthew Bryan-Amaning
He started extremely hot and did not miss a shot until the play he was whacked in the face and did not get a foul call. He then missed 6 of the next 9 shots he took. Kind of hard to run and breathe well when you have to have cotton shoved up your nose to stop the bleeding. He went 10-16 from the field, had 21 points, and 5 rebounds. he also had a steal and a block. We did a good job feeding him. His defense was decent enough. I didn't notice him being at fault for too many of the backdoor cuts, but as the center for most of the 2-3 zone he has a big responsibility to plug that up from happening.
Grade: B+, without him we would have been toast
Justin Holiday
MVP of the game without a doubt. He played a quieter game. Doing everything pretty well. I thought he was pretty bad in the zone defense. Then again it could just be a coaching thing. E.J. Singler and the other Ducks were wide open way to often in the corners where the outside players in the "3" part of the 2-3 zone are supposed to cover. Holiday really didn't have much choice as the top 2 were rotating poorly to cover the open man at the top of the key who would dish to the corner or cutting player. Holiday had 16 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks, and 3 turnovers. A pretty decent night over all. The assists were great as were the blocks. The turnovers...not so much.
Grade: B+
Brendan Sherrer
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
Darnell Gant
It is hard to give a grade to a player who was out there for only 5 minutes, but I'll give it a shot. Gant evidently suffered a quad bruise in practice and it can be assumed that is why he was limited in play. In just 5 minutes he snagged 2 rebounds, had 1 assist, and 1 turnover. He missed his only shot attempt. He was no better or worse in the zone than MBA or Aziz.
Grade: B
Scott Suggs
After a pretty hot night against OSU, Suggs was stone cold. He finished with 3 points on 1-5 shooting, including 1-4 from range. While I don't want to blame the loss on one player, his turnover effectively cost us our last shot at winning. 4 rebounds in 21 minutes along with 4 assist is pretty good. He had 2 turnovers. UW should not have been in a position for that 1 turnover to be so critical, but they were and it was.
Grade: C
Isaiah Thomas
I.T. controlled the ball a little better tonight, only committing 2 turnovers and handing out 6 assist. He had only 3 points until he became aggressive the second half when our shooters started to heat up from range and the lane opened up for him. I counted 2 made baskets and 3 missed shots where there should have been a foul call. Maybe I am too biased. I don't know, but the fouls that weren't being called for us were being called for Oregon on the other end. If you are going to be terrible refs, at least be terrible for both teams.
I understand shooters need to shoot to get out of slumps, but 1-5 range shooting hurts. His looks were pretty good and fairly open, but they wouldn't fall. Have to make the open shots. Have to. If it isn't falling that night, keep passing. Find whoever is hot handed. I.T. ended up with 13 points and would have had more if the refs would throw him a bone.
Grade: B+
Aziz N'Diaye
He rebounded really well tonight, finishing with 9 (4 offensive). He also made two very nice slam dunks, including a trailing tip dunk off of a miss. He looked better against the UO zone than he has in the past. Maybe he is starting to find himself a bit. That blow to the head took him out a bit. He needed help off the court after attempting the free throws. The big man did what we needed him to do tonight. He did well enough on defense and scored on occasion. He was decent at free throws and rebounded very well.
Grade: A-
Antoine Hosley
Did not play.
Grade: N/A
C.J. Wilcox
His shot looked a little better tonight, but he still went 1-3 from range and 1-4 overall. 1 rebound and 1 assist. No turnovers. Only 12 minutes.
Grade: B-
Terrence Ross
He played another pretty big game against Oregon. All 12 of his points were from range (4-9 beyond the arc, 4-10 overall). He grabbed 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 0 turnovers. His defense was decent, but like Holiday there was often an open man in the corner where he was responsible for the player. To me that screams coaching versus player fault. Have to improve the zone play. Have to.
Grade: B
Final Thoughts
I am going into disconnect mode. Try to separate myself emotionally from this team so this losses stop taking me out of it. Sure UW could go on to win the next 7, go 14-4 and win the title, but I don't see it happening. Not when play like this continues on the road. This is just looking like another making of the '08-'09 or '09-'10 teams that show so much promise and all the pieces to win big game, only to drop them on their own toes. Don't know the reason, but it needs to change. The difference between a team like us and a team like Duke or Ohio State is not the players, it is the drive and consistency. They need to fix their problems and fix them now. Luckily we have 2 games coming at home this week against California and Stanford that will hopefully allow us to get our heads out of the dirt, brush off the shoulders, and get back to playing hard, tough, Husky defense and basketball.
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