UW beats Idaho, 87-76

We win, Pondexter, baller! Maybe Double-Player.

Turnovers tonight were good until that 5 minute stretch in the second half where both teams decided to play soccer instead of basketball.

UW CAME INTO THIS GAME WITH A -3.60 turnover margin for the season, last in the PAC-10. WOW...gotta clean it up!

Probably our most sound game of the season. Appleby needs to stop dribbling up and launching a three. It is a wasted O-position. He needs to have his feet set to shoot.

NOTE TO ALL HUSKIES - STOP JUMPING TO PASS! Also, the lob pass over top to the big man is HALF your turns. Stop, swing the ball around, and get your big man open on the other side!

UW Moves up in Polls

UW moved up to #11 in the ESPN/USA TODAY poll and moved up to #13 in the AP Poll.

Ohio State and UCLA are now a split #1

Dentmon: Is he UW's best player?

With all the attention being drawn by Washington's recruiting class of Pondexter, Oliver, Nelson and Hawes, many people have forgotten about the little guy running the point for the Huskies. He does not have the athleticism like Pondexter or Hawes, but could Justin Dentmon be UW's best player?

Dentmon performance on Friday night was classic clutch leading his team with 23 points, and hitting important free throws down the stretch to put the game into the "W" column. So, with more perfomances like these, Dentmon can definetly be considered the most clutch player on the team, but is he the best?

With Hawes recovering still from knee surgery, he still looks a bit slow, and Pondexter having up and down nights, I think Dentmon right now is UW's best player, and needs to take over, like he did down the stretch the other night over these next couple of games if UW wants to have a chance to enter the Pac-10 season undefeated. They have a great opportunity to do so, but have to avoid losing to LSU, who lost this week, and may not again for a while, and Gonzaga in Spokane.

Crazy Week in College Basketball

Who will be number 1 when the new polls are released on Monday? With Florida and North Carolina losing in the past 5 days, this could be an interesting week for team movement throughout the polls.

This week, Florida, UNC, LSU, Wisconsin, Duke, Memphis, Tennessee, Kentucky and Gonzaga have lost in the top 25. This week, there could be some dramatic movement.

Florida, UNC and LSU all lost to quality opponents in Kansas, Gonzaga, and Wichita State, the Shockers.

Gonzaga was poised for a huge jump in the polls, but foul trouble and a pesky Butler team, that looks really good, derailed them.

So, this brings me to the Huskies. Yes, we have had our problems the past two games. But, we figured out our problems and remain undefeated. Little can be said for teams like Kansas who lost at home to Oral Roberts (although they totally redeemed themselves with their win over Florida). We should be happy UW has not suffered the upset bug yet, and pray that they get better!

Joel Smith out another 4-7 weeks

Joel Smith reinjuried his foot earlier this week when Harvey Perry landed on him in practice. Joel will miss another 4-7 weeks, meaning he will not return until mid way through the seasson, which means, he is probably going to find himself at the end of the rotation for the rest of the year.

Romar commented at the end of the game tonight that Joel will not redshirt this year.

Well, with this news, I am happy that Adrian Oliver played so well tonight.

Team Profile: Oregon - Contenders or Pretenders

What will this year's Oregon team bring to the Pac-10 race. Oregon has been the mysterious team over the past two years recruiting several big recruits but never being able to put it all together. Aaron Brooks, Malik Hairston, and Chamberlain Oquchi have all played wildly inconsistent over the past two years and UO teams have gone from NCAA Tournament mainstays to NIT doormats.

The strength of this team this year is their senior leadership with Brooks and Hairston. They have been together for a few years and they are poised to make a run at being the fourth team in the Pac-10 to qualify for the NCAA tourney. Can they put it together? That will be the question.

Oregon is the sexy dark horse pick by many sports bloggers and analyists across the country to pull off some upsets in the Pac-10 and have a big year. Starting out 4-0 has made many in Eugene believe that this team is for real. Example being that at this point last year they were 2-2 and had just lost to Portland State. This year, Oregon blew out PSU by almost 30.

Interesting detail unknown by many: For Aaron Brooks suckerpunching of Ryan Appleby, Brooks will be suspended in the first game that UO plays against UW this year. HA!

Projection: A fourth place finish in the Pac-10, with a shot to sneak into the top 3 if they play out of their minds. They will qualify for the NCAA's.

UW beats Eastern Washington

UW beats Eastern Washington tonight by 7 points, 90-83. We survived a 13 point defecit during the first half to win going away. I was really impressed by Justin Dentmon, Adrian Oliver, and Spencer Hawes tonight.

Adrian Oliver probably secured himself a starting spot tonight with his great offensive and great defensive effort. He started the second half, while Appleby earned himself a bench role for the entire second half until Dentmon fouled out near the end of the game.

Turnovers, again, were the story of the game. UW turned the ball over 12 times in the first half, and were down by one at half. UW did an AMAZING job in the second half committing only 4 turnovers and going a 7 minute stretch where they didn't commit a turnover. It seemed like many of the turnovers where on entry passes into Hawes, Brockman and other post players that went bad. If the Huskies can not clean up the turnovers, this could be a very hard season for Husky fans.

Highlight of the game was when Oliver drained the half court shoot at the end of the first half, meaning the Huskies would only be down by one at half, not four. It was a nice motivation grabber heading into the half.

I was really impressed by Ronny Stuckley. 31 points was very impressive. EWU has a nice team.

Next game: I have no clue. I had a heart attack tonight, let me recover.

Brandon Roy commercials

So, stayin in Portland for the Thanksgiving weekend. I have been here a little more then 24 hours. I have seen 20 Brandon Roy commericals. SAVIOR!

Gonzaga beats North Carolina!

Yeah, don't know exact score but Gonzaga, minus the 'stache, beat UNC tonight! Derek Ravio, I hate your Mountain View lovin ass! I went to Evergreen (Vancouver), which is Derek Ravio's high school's rival!

Nate Rob REJECTS Yao Ming!

Shoot son, did you see Nate Rob REJECT Yao Ming last night. That shit was baller!


Another highlight in the long list of Nate Rob jumping out of the building highlights.

Huskies #13 in ESPN/USA TODAY poll

After a victory that left a nasty taste in your mouth, here is something to clean your pallet. The Huskies have moved up to #13 in the latest ESPN/USA Today Poll, climbing 2 spots. The Huskies also moved up one spot in the AP from 17 to 16. View both polls here.

With win, Huskies need to address turnovers

Huskies won yesterday, but not after giving their loyal fans something to think about for the first 10 minutes. Trailing 29-16, I called Pat, and we were both in shock in the events that were occuring. A 32-9 run makes most feel good, and our troubles for this game were gone. But...

The turnovers. It is the 3rd time in 4 games the Huskies have had 20+ turnovers in a game tying their high with 24. If the Huskies have any idea about returning to the NCAA's, or winning the Pac-10, they have to focus on turnovers and limiting the chances for opposing teams to take advantage of them.

Face it, we have a very talented team. But all the talent in the world won't matter if they don't have the ball to throw it in the hoop!

Sacramento State - Hello Jamaal Williams' brother

That is right, ex-Husky Jamaal Williams' brother, Justin Williams will be at the Bank of America Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Sunday with the Sacramento State Hornets.

The Sacramento State Hornets are 1-2 this year after suffering loses to New Mexico, and U of San Francisco, and beating perennial punching bag Bethany College.

Justin is averaging a little over 8 points per game. Get this, he is 6-6 and a guard. Not like his bro who was 6-6 and a post player. Probably better suited for what he is trying to do.

My Prediction: UW 107-Sacramento State 72

Note from Editor: Brockman shakes off SI curse like hoes wanting his man-juice, and goes off for 25 and 10!

WHY SI? WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DO IT?

Why did SI have to put the Huskies on the front page. Living in a city who is dealing with the Super Bowl Losers curse, and the Madden Curse in THE SAME YEAR, here comes another one into our lives, THE SI CURSE. Now, it could be said that curses are what you make of it. Tell that to the Chicago Cubs, and the Boston Red Socks. Shit, tell that to any Seahawk fan right now. Alexander has been out since week 3 with a broken foot, Hasselbeck goes down with a knee injury, and won't be back for another week.

The best thing we had going for us was the Washington Huskies Basketball program. I mean, atleast Spencer Hawes and Justin Dentmon weren't on the cover. But, damn Brockman hurts. We can live if Appleby has a few stinkers after appearing on the cover, but if Brockman is off for a month after this, I am killing someone. The last Husky to be on the Cover of Sports Illustrated, Sonny Sixkiller, threw 4 interceptions and lost 17-6 to Stanford after a 4-0 start vaulted the Husky onto the front page.

The next time it sounds cool to be on the cover of SI, the Madden game, or LOSE THE SUPER BOWL, remember this: We live lives that depend heavily on the successes and failures of our local sports teams. When we believe we have a banner season approaching, it is a nightmare to hear a news report saying that Shaun Alexander will be the cover boy for Madden. I lost sleep for a week after that. Madden cover boy runner-up, LaDainian Tomlinson, is having a career season, and will most likely break Alexander's touchdown mark this year.

So, as I lose sleep for another week because of stupid Sports Illustrated putting my boy Jon Brockman on the cover, I look forward to Sunday's match-up against Sacramento State and to hoping for 25 and 10 from Brockman! Appleby, just hit two or three three-pointers please. It isn't like Sports Illustrated is that good of a magazine anyways....

Romar - If you ever go on the cover, I will never forgive you.

Brockman and Appleby on SI Cover

The seattlest, a nice local blog type site has this posted. This is the first time a husky has been on the cover since Sonny Sixkiller in 1971. Pretty cool...

Observations: Basketball Travelers Classic Review

My first thought when watching the games this weekend were how fast the Huskies were. This is extremely important in Romar system. I think this team will be better then last year's team because they do not depend so heavily upon one person to score (a la Brandon Roy). Basically, this tournament went off exactly how Romar would have wanted:
1. Easy, slightly tough game to start out...get his freshman involved.
2. A blowout against a zone, develop confidence in the three point shot.
3. A come-from-behind, gritty win that shows the heart of his team.

Spencer Hawes is clearly worth the billing of a top-5 recruit. Heck, top-3. Hawes' scoring will be great, but it is his passing that will make the Huskies a national title contender this year. Brockman has twelve points in that opening game without Hawes' passing. In Hawes, the Huskies finally have a player where we can play a half-court game with. In the past seasons, when the Huskies were forced to play half-court offense for an extended period of time, they has a hard time scoring consistently. Same can be said about opponents playing zone against us. We did not have the hieght to enter the ball into the the middle of the zone and kick it out to an open shooter or take the wide open shot that we have now in Hawes. Hawes creates mismatches and his ability to exploit those will be key. We saw against Nicholls State that when they packed the middle to prevent Hawes from scoring that the open shooters took care of business. Not too many people doubled down on Jamaal Williams last year because their big man was bigger than him. I am also impressed with how quick Hawes is.

Pondexter is going to be a 16 point, 9 rebound guy night in night out for the Huskies. I liked Bob Weiss comment this weekend that Pondexter probably hustles to the shower. The guy is everywhere, and I would not be surprised if he carried us all season. He is not all that flashy, but does everything, a la Brandon Roy.

Like Dentmon. He has developed nicely. Still has that ice cold water in his veins sinking those four free throws last night.

Get off Appleby. He is fine. He was fine in the first game as the second string point guard. I actually like Perry as the backup point guard more. That or Oliver. Once Joel Smith comes back, we will have our back-up point guard back. Joel Smith will have a big year off the bench. You heard it here.

Nelson looks lost. Like the speed of the game is too much for him. Needs to learn he can't guard people the distance of the court in College. Only playing 4 minutes last night might not be a good sign for the freshman. During practices leading upto the season, Romar was so impressed with Nelson. Maybe that is gone now.

Oliver looks good.

What about Hans Gasser? He has looked great in the first two games. I hope he plays well all season.

Next game: 11/19 at home versus Sacramento State

UW comes through late, wins tough one

I was worried about this game coming into it. Northern Iowa is a good team, and UW basically cruised against it's two previous opponenents. Also, NIU plays a lot of tough straight up defense, which would force UW to execute on offense, rather than rely on unconstested shots against a zone or as the result of a broken press. Brockman's early foul trouble was reminicent of past games when Bobby Jones would get a couple ticky tack fouls and end up being ineffective, while UW struggled without his defensive presence. We toughed it out, primarily because of big plays by Hawes, Appleby and Dentmon. This game is encouraging, especially since we managed a win against a team that will likely be in the tournament this year.

Stop throwing skip passes and get the ball to Hawes!

Please. After watching the pepperdine game last night, a few things really jumped out at me.
1. Pondexter looks really big, fast and coordinated. His size, combined with his quick feet allowed him to practically swallow up the opposing guards, and completely took away their penetration.
2. We only have one true point guard on the team in Dentmon. Appleby and Oliver are shoot first players and do not do a good job of running the offense.
3. Hawes and Brockman were the smartest players on the court. They did a great job of working together and often the result was easy layups.
4. If we had played more in control on offense we would have won by 30 (or more).

This game was exciting and troublesome at the same time. In years past, there were clear physical weaknesses for UW, with a lack of athletic depth and/or size. This will not be a problem this year. Our D was there, we forced 23 turnovers and the other teams ball handlers were clearly rattled for much of the game. For the most part, we took them out of their game plan of isolation, penetration and dish to open shooters early in the shot clock. Pepperdine often had to attempt 3 or 4 all out drives per possesion to get anything, and I can't recall more than a couple easy fast breaks for a team that is built on pressure D. Dentmon, Perry and Pondexter look like excellent perimeter defenders already, and should give teams fits all year.

We had 24 turnovers, plus about 5 or 6 plays where our big men rescued horrible passes that should have been turnovers. I want to rewatch the game, but if I had to guess, 15 of these were on either poor execution of breaking the press or slowly lobbed skip passes, mostly by Appleby, Nelson and Oliver. Also, although they were not "turnovers" per se, there were a few occasions when Hawes had great position on the near post, and instead of getting him the ball, we put up a quick shot off the dribble. And missed. Pretty much evey time Hawes touched the ball, something positive happened, so if we are not in a fast break, why not hit the big man? He'll either have a high percentage shot, or get doubled and make a pass to an open shooter spotting up (79% True shooting percentage last night, combined with only 2 turnovers on 7 assists).

I know it is early, but Appleby in particular does not seem to understand how to run an offense or create shots for himself or his teammates. He's a great spot up shooter, but until he learns to feed the post and look for kickouts on double teams he will struggle. Last night he was too content to pound the ball while his quicker defender stayed with him. From the way he was approaching offense, I was not surprised that his stat line looked as bad as it did. Last year he had the luxury of having both Dentmon and Roy act as facilitators on offense, and now that he is being asked to play this role, his lack of point guard skills is apparent. I hope he figures it out, because we do need his outside shot. Oliver had trouble with this as well, but he gets more of a free pass, since he's a freshman and this was his first real game.

It looks like our go to lineup right now is Hawes, Brockman, Pondexter, Perry and Dentmon. This group plays great D and the chemistry between Hawes and Brockman is beautiful. They both really understand offense, and Brockman probably got 10-12 points by anticipating the ball going to Hawes, cutting to the weak side of the basket, and putting in an easy layup on a nice feed from our center. Hawes is truely a special player, and even though he looked timid for some stretches, he was amazingly effective. I can't wait to see the numbers he puts up when he is strong enough to play 28 minutes a game. Pondexter is a great slasher, and is a beast in the open court. He has a great handle for his size and is a strong finisher. He does not look comfortable shooting from the outside, and his jump shot will be something to watch this year. That being said, you'll have to look hard to find a better starting frontcourt than Brockman/Pondexter/Hawes.

All in all, we'll take the win, and I'm looking forward to Nicholls State tonight.

<- look over there, it's the R.O.Y. Watch

Henry Abbot thought he was maybe the first person to state ROY=R.O.Y., but apparently some other dude did. Since we've only had a blog for like, less than two months and thus have no history to point to, I will not make any claims of predating their cleverness. Nor should I. Even if I am pretty sure I heard that somehwere long before the NBA draft, I have no proof to offer. I definitely did not come up with it on my own as I am a slow reader. It took me like 10 or 15 reps of Rrrr....Ooooo.....Y, Ruh....OYE, Ruh..OYE, RUH-OYE, ROY! before I felt comfortable saying his name off the cuff. In related news, I am very close to being able to tell which one of these things is not like the others, and which one of these things does not belong.

What I can say that is we are the first site that I know of to have an official "Brandon R.O.Y Watch", which tracks his progress over the course of the season. You may have already noticed it. It's that thingy on the left there that says "Brandon R.O.Y. Watch". Look for marginal craptastic improvements as I steal learn from other peoples html code.

Pepperdine - Lighting it up!

Sunday's opponent Pepperdine has been lighting it up in it's first two exhibition games, averaging 106.5 points per game. Man, this game is going to be an up and down affair. This will test the Huskies on both sides of the court, trying to slow down this offense under their new coach, Vance Walberg, and trying to score enough points to win.

Should be a good one!

NateRob - season update

3 games into the season, Nate Robinson is producing for the Knicks. He is averaging 14.0 ppg off the bench in 23 minutes. Not bad. Nate needs to put out a higher assist per turnover ratio 1.33 TO to 1 apg.

Brandon Roy watch - Update!

We will be adding a Brandon Roy watch column to our blog here in the next couple of days. Through 3 games, Brandon is off to a fast start in the NBA, averaging 18.3 points per game, 5.0 assists, 4.3 rebounds, and 38.3 minutes per game. Click here to view the rest of B-Roy's stats.

It will be interesting to see how Brandon holds up for an entire NBA season. He has already commented in the media about several games being a bit different then is used to. I think Nate needs to use him a bit less then 38 minutes a game, but that is just me. Interesting stat is that Roy has missed all 8 three pointers he has taken this year, and is only shooting 38.3% from the field.

Here is an article from opening night as Roy shined in Seattle.

UW ranked as 16th best team by Collegehoops.net

Click here to read the review of this year's Husky squad. They really say nothing new.

UW #17 in AP Poll

Washington starts #17 in the AP poll. Last year, Washington started unranked in both polls, so a #17 start in the AP and a #16 start in the ESPN/USA TODAY Poll is something to be proud of.

Florida again was ranked number 1, with UNC 2, and Kansas 3.

Personally, I think the AP Poll is a more accurate depiction of where these teams actually are. Having Ohio State as the 4 in the ESPN Poll is a joke because it is all dependant of having Greg Oden healthy, and he may not be ready to go until late January. Click here to view both polls side by side.

UW 108-Saint Martins 74

UW won it's first game of the season, an exhibition game against Saint Martins of Lacey, Washington. Saint Martin posed a lot more problems for the Huskies then previously thought. Only up by 1 point with 4 minutes to play in the first half, Romar was not pleased at half. Romar used his classic "take off your cool jackets and play some ball" line at half, and the Huskies came back out and dominated.

Ryan Appleby and Adrian Oliver lead the way with 20 each. Both Brockman and Dentmon struggled. Check full box score here.

Where are they now: Jamaal Williams

France! I randomly found this today (um, yeah... randomly. I look through french basketball sites like, all the time, so shutup (no, not really)). I'm glad our favorite 6'5" post threat found a place to play.

Roy for ROY

Well, it is appearent that taking Sheldon Williams at pick 5 could be the worst move ever looking at the stat line of Brandon Roy last night.

Brandon Roy 35 minutes, 10-16 shooting, 20 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists

Here a look at other rookies this year in the debut games in the regular season.

Shelden Williams 16 minutes, 0-2 shooting, 0 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block
Adam Morrison 32 minutes, 5-13 shooting, 14 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists - Buzzer beater end of 1st.
Tyrus Thomas 16 minutes, 4 points, 5 boards.
Rajon Rondo - 23 minutes 2-6 shooting, 6 point, 4 rebounds, 3 assists
Andrea Bargnani 9 minutes, 2 points

Roy for ROY, oh yeah, he got a "W" against his hometown Sonics too!

Washington Alumni, doing the Romar system justice!

WORST SUIT EVER!

Is this a cast member of a broadway musicial, no it is Bruce Pearl, coach of Tennessee. Really, really, really ugly! You should see it when he sweats through it.

Husky Pocket Schedule Released - Brockman!

Here is the Husky Pocket Book Schedule! Brockman! Where is the faceguard?

Here is a quote from this morning's Seattle Times:
"Sure, Brockman is honored he's the cover boy for the team's pocket schedule this season. He just wishes the folks digging through his file of photos would have helped him out a little bit. "They could have picked a better one or maybe photo-shopped it a little bit to make my biceps bigger," Brockman joked."