"It's like a dream": Justin Dentmon Player Profile

Justin Dentmon knows how to be clutch. It's just that he forgets sometimes. The Stanford game happened in front of our eyes, and probably reoccured thousands of times in Justin's mind. That moment may have cost us a win, but it doesn't take away from the many moments where his play was crucial to a UW victory. 17 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and two steals against Gonzaga on night that we only got 10 from BRoy and still managed to win. Big time plays in wins against UCLA, Cal and Illinois. In an article about Dentmon's clutch AAU play, His coach had this to say: "He won probably about six games for us in the two years he's played on the Warriors," said his Illinois Warriors AAU coach, Larry Butler. "You can't teach that." In Justin's words, "it's like a dream, everything in the game is like a cloud. It's just you and the defender."

Dentmon led the Huskies in free throw shooting percentage, steals and turnovers and was second in assists and minutes played. Strong work for a freshman asked to fill the hole at point left by Will Conroy and Nate Robinson. His free throw stroke suggests the potential for an outside shot, but last year he was unable to hit from the outside consistently, especially off the dribble, shooting 41% from the field and 29% from three. That has to change this year as he will be a primary focus of opposing defenses. Also, without a player like Brandon Roy to take charge of the offense, Dentmon will have to show he can take care of the basketball - and assist to turnover ratio of 1.4 to 1 from Dentmon will cost us games this year.

My hopes for Dentmon are as high as they are for any player. He will be a year more mature and in control of the fast paced husky attack. If he can show modest gains in shooting percentage (44% and 33% would do), he will be a devastating weapon for UW.

Last seasons stats:
Min: 27.7
Points: 8.3 .409 .286 .814
Rebounds: 3.5
Assists: 3.8
TO: 2.7
Steals: 1.6

Projected stats for this year:
Min: 30.0
Points: 12.0 .438 .331 .804
Rebounds: 4.0
Assists: 6.8
TO: 2.8
Steals: 2.0