Well, that was not a great first half. UW is down 47-33.
Dentmon looks like he is going to have another horrible game. I love Dentmon, I thought he had great potential coming into this season, but he is struggling. Pat and I think he is hurt and not telling anyone. He can't blow by anyone this year, and he is not pushing the ball like he did last year. He needs to pick it up.
These types of games were expected in Pac-10 play with how young the Huskies are, but we just look bad. I figured it was because other teams out gunned us, not because the other team out-gunned us, and we suck.
Lets see how we do in the second half. We need the shooters to start hitting from the outside.
I have started marinating tomorrow's BBQ special, and have bought the beer I will need to get through the game tomorrow. I am nervous. Very nervous.
I wonder if UW has enough to get by UCLA.
Wanna hear something sad, Taj Gibson had food poisoning when he lit up UW for 22 points and 10 rebounds. I guess he ate at a fast food restaurant the day before the game.
WSU beat USC tonight on a last second shot by Kyle Weaver. I am now more depressed.
Waking up this morning, I am still numb by the way the previous night's game transpired. I feel robbed, like I put money into the vending machine and my Pop Tarts are stuck, trapped by the spinning wheel pushing out my favorite treat.
The refs last night were breaking my balls. The Pac-10 has the reputation for having the worst set of officiating crews, and tonight's game did nothing to change this thought.
I am really in shock to how we lost that game. I am really surprised we made it into two OT's. With Pondexter sitting almost the entire 2nd half, along with Brockman, UW was playing one arm behind their backs. The officiating effectively took Dentmon, Brockman and Pondexter out of the game. Dentmon recorded another terrible game against a quality opponent. He needs to slow down and try to do a little less. He is trying to make the perfect play every time he touches the ball. Slow down, relax, hit the open guy. Brockman looked as though he was off to an explosive evening. He had 6 rebounds early, and was looking as though USC would not be able to stop him on the glass. The refs took care of that.
A very frustrating element of this game was UW's ineffectiveness in getting the ball into Hawes in the post. UW shot 26 (13-26) three pointers. Many of the missed shots were contested threes, and were rushed. There were spells in this game that Hawes did not touch the ball on the offensive end. UW WAKE UP, HAWES IS YOUR BEST PLAYER. Just like Shaq in the NBA, Hawes needs to touch the ball EVERY time down the court on O. Hawes is a tremendous passer. USC was showing that they were going to do anything to not let Hawes set up, and make his low post moves. A collapsing USC D would, if UW had gone into the post, resulted in many open three opportunities for Appleby, Brumiester and Gasser. Go to Hawes, he needs the rock!
Word to Hans Gasser. I know you looked up to Mike Jensen. Please do not channel the spirit of Mike Jensen. Your botched three in OT was very Jensen like, in the realm of unclutch plays at the end of games. Swing the rock to a player with an open shot.
Next up is UCLA - wow, if you are looking for a So-Cal split, UW went about it the wrong way. After UCLA was tested Thursday by Washington State, UCLA will be ready for UW. Does UW have enough to hang with UCLA? I do not believe they do. Their only chance is creating mismatches with Hawes in the post, and waiting for opportunities to exploit UCLA collapsing to stop Hawes.
Coach Romar may be too classy to say it, but I'm not. UW got jobbed last night. The Hec Heads went to sport to watch the game last night, and what can you say? For many key moments, USC effectively had 7 players on the court, two of them wearing stripes. Admittedly, I am very biased. But USC shot 27 more free throws than UW. UW had 8 travelling violations to USC's 1. And I don't think these numbers were due to USC playing cleaner basketball. On multiple occasions, USC players would switch or drag pivot foots, or go over the back of UW players without whistles, when similar or less egregious plays on the other end would result in travel or foul calls on UW. The absolute worst call was in the second overtime when a clean steal by Pondexter was called his fifth foul. The play was likely to result in a game tying dunk for Quincy and instead, put the game out of reach for UW. Even homer announcer Paul Westphal admitted it was a horrible call. Every year there are about 4 UW games like this, where the refs call an extremely one sided game (sometimes in our favor). The result is boring basketball.
Is UW ready for Pac 10 play? We'll find out tomorrow when they face USC. Team Trojan looks like an improved team, and is coming off a nice win against Wichita State, who came in ranked #8 in the nation. This has been their only impressive game of the season, however. Much like UW, they have played a fairly cupcake preseason, and only have one impressive win.
This team is not without troubles. They lost their starting point guard Ryan Francis when he was shot down last May. All Pac 10 player Gabe Pruitt is just coming back after missing all fall because he was academically ineligible.
Strengths: USC has a talented freshman post player in Taj Gibson (who has had freak games including an 18 rebound performance and an 11 turnover game). He is RAW, but has some nice skills and is a good rebounder.
Wing players. Lodrick Stewart, Nick Young, Gabe Pruitt, Daniel Hackett and Dwight Lewis are all in the 6'4" to 6'6", 190 to 210 pound range. None of them are truly point guards, but they can all slash and play decent D.
Team Defense. Currently holding opponents to under 40% from the field. That's good. Partially a result of having no rotation player under 6'4".
Weakness: Ball Handling. They don't have a real point guard on the team, and are currently averaging 19 turnovers per game. Wichita State was the first game they did a good job of taking care of the basketball and they won. The game before, against Kansas State, they had 27 turns and lost.
3 Point Shooting. They only take about 10 threes a game and make 36% of them. Not a horrible percentage, but a reluctance to take outside shots could make it tough for them to make up a large deficit. UW is making a similar percentage, but takes around 19 threes per game.
Size in the post. While they have fantastic "long length" on the perimeter, JuCo Transfer Abdoulaye N'diaye is their only player that weighs more than 215 pounds. He weighs 230. To put that in perspective, Hans Gasser, a player who has always lacked "size" weighs 230.
Keys to the game: 1. Will the Huskies start slow? This has been a problem for the dogs this year. It's a lot harder to play out of a hole on the road, especially in what will surely be a hostile environment.
2. How much will Brockman and Hawes dominate? Another 40 and 20 from this duo will make things tough for the Trojans. USC should have a lot of trouble keeping these two off the offensive boards.
3. Can our smaller guards contend with the USC's big back court? Will Appleby and Dentmon be liabilities on the defensive end against bigger players? Our guards need to hit open threes after USC is forced to double team the post.
4. Which team turns it over the most? Both teams struggle with this. If one team can reign it in for a game, it could be trouble for the opposition.
And he's tearing it up already. 16 points 10 rebounds and 8 assists is a pretty good way to announce that you're back in the running for the Rookie of the Year award. Looks like I'll have to start updating the R.O.Y watch...
Suck it, Ernie Kent! Your boy, Jordan Kent, has decided to concentrate on football, and forgo his last year on the Ducks basketball team. Although apparently this wasn't a suprise to most people who are in the know, I was totally caught off guard. I always had the fear that Kent was going to go off, and have another game like he did in Eugene two years ago.
On the rainy shores of Lake Washington this evening, the University of Washington Men's Basketball team beat LSU 88-72. In their most important win of the season, Jon Brockman and Spencer Hawes combined for 42 points and 26 rebounds. It was the zealous activity by Jon Brockman in the games first 10 minutes on the offensive and defensive end that set the tone for the successful Huskies.
Jon Brockman was the Most Valuable Player this evening for his work on the glass, and his blanket D on Glenn "Big Baby" Davis. Brockman was the catalyst for the energetic Huskies as they really never were challenged by the Tigers.
This is the type of play that Husky fans were looking forward to since the beginning of the season. Brockman looked to match his billing as a Wooden Award candidate and Spencer Hawes looks like he is more and more ready for the NBA after every game.
Do these Huskies have what it takes to win the Pac-10? After watching Arizona vs. Memphis before the Husky game came on, maybe. Arizona looked really aggressive, and Mustafa Shukar looks like after 4 year in the Lute Olson program to be maturing into a very valuable basketball player.
The Huskies now enter the Pac-10 season on the heels of perhaps their most important non-conference victory in several years (one could argue Gonzaga last season, but because of the age of this team, and the potential for a deep run in the NCAA Tourney, this has to be near the top of non-conference wins in Lorenzo Romar's coaching career), which won its 26th consecutive non-conference home game.
AHH-HOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEE! We got something hot simmering on the stove for dinner tonight! LSU brings their southern flavor to Hec Ed. It's a classic battle of purple an gold versus, um... purple and gold!
LSU has an interesting team, led by one of my favorite non-UW players Glen "Big Baby" Davis, who's currently putting up 20 and 10 per game. Tyrus Thomas is the only significant player they lost from last years team that made a fantastic run in the NCAA tournament. They are athletic, and pride themselves on defense. Their biggest weakness is depth. In many of their last few games, they have gone with essentially a 6 man rotation, only looking to play 7th man Rolle against weaker competition or when the other teams size demands another big on the court.
This game will be a battle of pace, with UW wanting to push the ball, while LSU will try to slow the game down, and take advantage of their dominant post player Davis. LSU has been on the road for at least a week, traveling to Oregon State before they came up to Seattle, and they may be weary. A fast paced game could equate dumb fouls and mistakes for the Tigers.
Key Matchups: Big Baby versus Brockman
UW needs Brockman to guard Big Baby. He is the only one besides Artem Wallace on the UW roster with enough strength to contend with Davis' strength in the post. I would rather see Hawes on the weak side, coming to provide help in the form of blocked shots, but also to keep himself from tiring out on the defensive end. If Brockman gets into early foul trouble, the Huskies may be in trouble.
Hawes versus Lazare/Rolle
LSU doesn't really have a good matchup to take on Hawes. He has a height advantage against all their post defenders, and if need be, will be able to shoot his bankshot jumpers and hook shots undeterred. Hawes needs to not only win, but dominate this matchup. Brockman will provide almost no offense tonight, so Hawes needs to be the post presence. LSU really only has 3 reliable bigs and Big Baby is not the best at running the floor. If Hawes can force one of Lazare or Rolle into foul trouble early, UW's should be able to rebound at will and get the fast break started.
Pondexter versus Tasmin Mitchell
Two very similar players here. I have no idea who does better.
UW's perimeter versus Mason, Temple and Minor
Dentmon has been inconsistent the last six games and needs to play well tonight. While UW could conceivably out play LSU in the post, UW must out play LSU's guards. We have too much depth and skill at those positions not to. LSU only plays three guards. Foul trouble for any of them would get LSU in big trouble.
I'm pretty sure that UW will pull out a win tonight. Either the refs will call a tight game, and LSU will have to deal with foul trouble, or we'll see a loosely called affair like the Gonzaga game, which will allow UW to run and tire out LSU. Either way, it looks like a win for UW. Final score UW 84, LSU 72.
Nate Rob has offered an apology and made some promising statements (free but requires a membership) after the skirmish with Denver. This is more like the Nate Rob we know and love. I love the quote at the end of the article:
“That’s not who I am,” he said. “That’s not the person I’m trying to influence kids to go out and be, because me, I’m fun, I’m happy all the time, I’m smiling. I work hard, I play hard and I’m just protecting my family.”
He also made some comments about not allowing his emotions to get the best of him. I know this probably will not always be possible for Nate, since he is such a passionate guy, but I hope this is a lesson for him. The more his mind is on what is best for the team, the better. I know that he wants to support his teammates at all times, and his rush to the defense of Mardy Collins is proof of that, but being a professional at all times is more valuable than Nate understands. Or hopefully, understood.
To eliminate any confusion, I think the reaction to "The Brawl" has been completely overblown. Participants in many fights worse than the Knicks Nuggets melee have b een punished less severely. Greg Anthony, another Knick, left the bench in street clothes in 1993 to sucker punch Kevin Johnson and only got 5 games. How is what anyone did on Saturday worse than that, let alone worth 3 times the punishment? Fights happen in sports, and in the case of the Knicks, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. They've been sucking, and every althelete has pride. Eventually one of them was going to snap. All that aside, Nate Rob has gone and done something stupid.
A few weeks ago he screwed up a toss to himself dunk in a close game against the Cavs and admitted it was dumb, saying he wouldn't try it again "Unless we're up by 20." In other words, he wouldn't do something needlessly flashy unless he was in a situation where he could show up the other team.
The Knicks were down 20 at home. If it were the other way around, Nate would have absolutely tried to get a highlight reel dunk in before time expired. But his reaction to the play by J.R. Smith is completely contradictory to his comments about his own show boating. "They just wanted to embarrass us. It was a slap in the face to us. As a team, as a franchise, we weren't going to let that happen." Nate should have to take it if he wants to give it out. His role in this fight highlights his immaturity, and to me, indicates a regression from his behavior at UW.
As much as I felt Larry Brown was going to be a great mentor for Nate, I believe Isiah is the worst possible coach for Nate. Larry Brown was always about playing winning basketball. Doing it the right way, making good choices and playing as a team are his priorities. Isiah clearly views basketball (and maybe life) as a series of personal wars, and places a lot of value in not only winning, but establishing dominance over the other team.
"The attack by those who want to die - this is the attack against which you cannot prepare a perfect defense." - exerpt from "The Dosadi Experiment" by Frank Herbert
I hated Isiah Thomas growing up. Being a kid in Chicago that was too young to know that Chitown was Isiah's before it was Jordans, he was the bully we couldn't beat. The guy we should have beat but couldn't. The Pistons were the only true rival of the Jordan led Bulls teams. The Celtics had already faded when the Bulls got really good, and the Knicks were never really a threat. Jordan and the Bulls were talented enough to beat the Pistons the two years they lost to them in the eastern conference finals. We had a strong enough roster, but the Pistons would do whatever it took to win. Isiah set the tone for those Piston teams. He was the general, Liambeer was the sergeant at arms, and the Bulls were their bitches. Domination was all that mattered. Isiah was a suicide bomber on the court.
Nate Rob has always been an instigator. He was the engine behind UW when he played here. Everyone fed off of his fearless nature and his desire to completely destroy the opponent. At the same time, Nate Rob is addicted to flash, and clearly likes to be the center of attention. Nate wants to be on sportscenter, he wants to excite the crowd, and he want to rip his opponents still beating heart from his chest (Kali Ma!). At UW, I felt the win was what drove Nate more than anything. Occasionally you'd see him do something dumb to show up the competition (like the time expiring dunk he put on Oregon), but for the most part, proving UW was a team to fear appeared to be his top priority.
On the Knicks, Nate Rob is more concerned with himself. This is a cultural problem that centers around Isiah. Isiah made it OK to openly question coach Brown, and tacitly allowed the Knicks to put their own personal goals ahead of the teams. Nate Rob, in the center of this, decided his own pride is what mattered most. Nate clearly has a passion for the game, but with the team he is currently on, he is unable to see himself as the selfless player that could be great. Instead, he's little more than a punk. And it makes me sad.
I poured myself a Jack and Coke this evening as I sat down to watch what kind of Husky team would appear this evening. As I wrote in the previous column, Romar would know about his team after that loss to Gonzaga. His answer this evening was impressive.
The Huskies were totally dominate. A 32 point win is a good way to move on after a sloppy, and unfocused game last Saturday. Romar found out his team can play REALLY good D, and can shoot lights out. I believe the Husky team he had at practice this past week was one that was focused, determined, and ready to take the PAC-10 conference by storm. Sometimes after a loss, your freshman relax. Being perfect is something all freshman strive to be. When they realize that there is life after losing, sometimes they relax, calm down, and play solid basketball. That happened tonight.
Three guys who had really rough nights at Gonzaga, Hawes (stat sheet from Gonzaga lies), Pondexter, and Dentmon all had stellar games this evening. All five Husky starters were in double figures.
I believe this is the Husky team you will see now coming onto the court. Focused, and determined never to have a game like the Gonzaga game. Obivously D was the focus this past week. PSU missed their first 18 out of 24 shots and that was the difference in the game.
Next is LSU at home! I am getting ready for UW to make it's mark. UW 82-LSU 73.
As a fan of any and all basketball (except for 90's style Knicks murderball), I am very curious about the euro basketball scene. But at this point, it's basically a mythical fantasy land to me. A place full of slow-but-coordinated 6'11" jump shooters who can pass. A place where Orlando Woolridge was king (my dad's favorite line about him when I was growing up in Chicago: "There's a D in Woolridge, but it's silent."). Where fundamentally sound NCAA players go to bang hot French chicks and populate the world with Tony Parkers. Is this heaven? No, it's Europe...
While this is all lollipops and fuzzy bunnies, there is a darker, more mysterious side to European basketball. I don't know much about it, because all of their secrets are in some strange, non-English language. All I know is that I am not allowed to find out where they buried Tre Simmons' body. And that bothers me, cause I spent about two hours this morning digging through Spanish league websites trying to find him to no avail. The lesson here is it's very very difficult to find simple information about many of the Euro leagues if you do not speak the native language of the league (or you are unwilling to shell out 29 cents a day). As much as I've seen euros complain on US basketball blogs about self centered we are when it comes to basketball, you'd think that there would be some nice internet resources out there for us "stupid Americans". But there aren't. At least as far as I can tell. While there are nice sites for The Euroleague (which is a best of the best league like the UEFA Champions League is for soccer football), there are very few English language resources for the national leagues.
I suppose part of my problem is that I am looking for somewhat marginal players. Chester "Tre" Simmons and Jamaal Willams are not exactly world beaters and play on marginal teams. And although I did find some information on each player (I was more lucky with Jamaal Willams), a lot of it was old, and none of it was in English. If I was Europe, and I wanted to show off my basketballs to dumb Americans increase the exposure of European basketball in the US, I would create an English language website that helps college fans to track the progress of their favorite gritty team player from their college team who are ballerin' it up over there. I would read that site daily. I would put a link to it on Hec Heads.
First off, I hurt. Like my blogger friend Bobby Jones 2.0, it has taken me several days to be able to talk about that loss. Cougar acquaintances (notice I did not say friends, because no Husky and Cougar can be friends, kinda like the argument in When Harry Met Sally that men and women can't be friends because sex always gets in the way, well, replace sex with hatred, and you understand a Cougar and Husky relationship) have been ripping on me all week because THEY beat Gonzaga. Two things, first, Gonzaga at home is like Ivan Drago in Rocky 4 when he killed Apollo Creed, tough, strong, and willing to kill. Second, Fuck your couch Cougars, we won the Apple Cup.
Man, I knew it was going to be a tough night when the announcers came on the air, and the crowd was so intense that you could barely hear the two announcers. This spelled doom for the Huskies.
First off, FUCK CRAIG EHLO. What is worse then watching your team suffer a soul crushing 20 point loss? The ANSWER - LISTENING to Craig Ehlo do the color commentary while your team suffering a soul crushing 20 point loss. FUCK YOU EHLO! Worst color commentator ever! Side note: If you google Craig Ehlo in the image section, half the pictures that come up are of Michael Jordan. HAHAHAHA, there is even one of Jordan golfing! How one person owned another like this is really funny, Ehlo probably pukes everytime he hears the name Michael Jordan!
Secondly, They should not have started discussing Gonzaga vs. UW 2007, and whether there would be a game next year before this year's game because it gave Gonzaga something to fight for...OR...WAS THIS ROMAR'S PLAN?
Hear me out...You take a near freshman/sophomore team, have their first 7 games at home versus powder puff teams (Northern Iowa the exception), and then go, get them slaughtered on the road so that they will really dial in for the rest of the season. Romar knows what it is like to be a freshman, you are all bad ass, thinking you're tough. Nothing like making your first game on the road be AT GONZAGA. I think Romar was hoping for this. This will show was his team is made out of. They can curl up in a ball, or focus at practice and try to DESTROY the next 10 teams they play to show that that game was a fluke, nothing more. I think Romar had this planned. He planned this ass whoopin' to get his players attention.
I think we all saw the game, had nightmares about the game, and have digested the game. Enough said, Portland State this week.
Good Luck Huskies, I am sure Romar is making you run lines, and sit in the chair position since Sunday morning.
The Aftermath: Just a little dirty, it's still good
Well, that hurt. It took me two full days before posting about the Gonzaga game, because, well, what is there to say? Gonzaga owns us. As the game went on, it was obvious that we were not ready to play a game like that. Primarily because we hadn't yet played a real road game. I thought that it was a fairly poor performance by the team as a whole - a lack of D on the backdoor cut, poor rebounding, bad outside shooting, and an unwillingness to be factors on the offensive end. UW's game is predicated on rebounding the basketball and creating turnovers, and for most of the game we didn't do that.
I finally looked at the box score today and was surprised by what most of what I saw. - Romar only really trusts 7 guys on the roster. Harvey Perry, are you listening? Joel Smith, please get healthy. - 12 missed shots and 4 turnovers by Dentmon. While I think the turnovers are something we will see all year, his shooting numbers were an aberration. Dentmon can get it done against good players, but he will have games like this. - No rebounds and only 7 shots by Pondexter, including 0 sweet drives. After being such a great rebounder and slasher for the last 5 games, he totally disappeared. Chalk this up to freshmanness. He will have to adjust to playing against more talented players, but he is too talented to be held down for long. An 18 point 7 rebound game from Pondexter would have made the outcome much different. - 8 assists from Appleby? I think most of these were entry passes into Hawes, so this number is deceptive. - 4 fouls by Oliver. He got jobbed in this game with 3 50/50 calls going against him. - Hawes has that strange ability to look bad for large stretches and still end up with great numbers. His little runs where he scores on 4 straight possessions are so sneaky. At one point in this game he was 2-8 with 3 turnovers and 6 points. He finished 9-16 with 4 turns, meaning he scored 14 points on 7 shots and 2 free throws down the stretch with only one turnover. One of these days, he's gonna be great from start to finish and end up with 40 points. - Take away Dentmon and Appleby's 3 for 20 combined, and the rest of the team shot 28/52.
This team still has problems, and it is apparent that not having Joel Smith will hurt us in the Pac-10, but after this little exercise I feel much better.
Well, I am not going to say it, ok I will. Bobby Jones 2.0 posted yesterday about Appleby channeling his inner Tre, and look what he does. He pops off for a career high 24 points. I am not going to call BJones 2.0 a profit, but, maybe....
With the billing of being the number 8 team in the coaches poll this week, the Huskies did not disappoint, winning 87-72. Overcoming ANOTHER 20 turnover performance, Romar sounded quite pleased with the win. "That was the game we've been looking for, to put it together for all 40 minutes," Romar said.
Well, all around good game from the Huskies. Got out to a lead, and really never looked back. Spencer Hawes started out rough, and, was that a smattering of boos I heard after he missed his second consecetive left handed lay-in? Or was that because the refs called that foul on Brockman for trying to dunk home Hawes' miss?
Appleby needs to play like that more. Especially, this upcoming Saturday against Gonzaga. Gonzaga is going to be occupied trying to stop Hawes like they did Hansbrough from UNC. If the Huskies can swing the ball around the perimeter, and not turn the ball over, they are going to have open shots. Zags will show a zone, if Hawes can catch the ball in the middle of the zone, it will collapse the D, and it will leave a shooter like Appleby or Nelson wide open.
Nelson played well.
Here is a quote from Romar about Appleby's shooting performance, "When he shoots the ball like that, you don't think he's ever going to miss," Romar said. "Like ever. Like the kids say, 'Infinity." And folks, this is why I love Romar!
Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times provides us with another sufficiently insightful game preview/team status article. Southern Utah is a good shooting team, period. They averaging 6.4 threes a game on 15.5 attempts (good for 41.1 percent), and their overall shooting percentage is right at 50%. So far they have been running a 9 man rotation, but rely heavily on senior guard Steve Barnes, who leads SUU in points, assists and steals while playing 34.4 minutes per game. ESPN lists him as 5'11", and 80lbs. I hope for his sake that's a typo, otherwise the UW student section will blow him off the court with their cheers. Their only other player over 30 minutes is junior transfer Orlando Griego, whose stat line is not very impressive, so he must do the dirty work or something.
SUU is a short team. They have one giant junior named Brad Kanis, who is 7'2". He doesn't play much and scores even less. Other than him, no one on SUU tops 6'7", and nobody on their roster averages 5+ rebounds a game. This leads to at least one obvious mismatch problem for them when they face UW. If Spencer Hawes does not get the ball early in this game, it won't be a lack of trying, it will simply be due to SUU going all out to deny him the ball, leaving easy shots for the rest of the UW team.
I expect Brockman to have a huge game tonight, cleaning up garbage and getting easy dunks layups on offensive rebounds and passes from Hawes. SUU will have to double Hawes to contain him. If UW shows any outside touch, at least some of these double teams will come from the weakside post defender, leaving Brockman to do what he does best - finding open space near the rim and converting high percentage looks.
Prediction: UW wins in a rout, dominating the offensive glass and getting SUU into early foul trouble.
This year Appleby was going to display a better all around game that included taking the ball to the basket and creating offense for other players. His size and athleticism have always been an issue, but the thought was that his offense and effort overcome these defincencies. Thus far, the Appleby experiment has failed, and he has lost his starting spot to Adrian Oliver. While I do not believe that stats mean everything, Ryan's stats are telling. 16 turnovers to 8 assists. 0.375 from the field (.366 from 3). 8 rebounds. In about half the minutes, Brandon Burmeister has 9 assists to 3 turns, 9 rebounds, and is shooting .476 from the field (.421 from 3).
Although Romar has said that the reason that Oliver is starting is primarily defense, Appleby would still be starting if he was nailing open jumpers, creating easy scores for teammates and limiting his mistakes. Romar basketball is built heavily on the principle of having more easy scores than the other team, so when Appleby is not hitting shots and is giving the ball back to the other team, his liabilities are more glaring. Given the choice of two mistake prone guards, Romar is taking the one that has more upside and can maybe get it back on the defensive end.
Appleby is a streaky shooter, but that is fine for the way Romar coaches basketball. In previous years Romar has shown a great knack for getting the ball into hot hands. Many times when a player hits a three for Romar, he gets a play called for him to shoot another on the next possesion. Tre Simmons benefited from this approach more than anyone in the past. It took Tre much of his first season at UW to figure out how to be effective, with the result often being forced, turnover prone basketball. But eventually, Tre got confidence in his shot, and started looking for that part of his offense more than anything. He would catch the ball with his feet and his body ready to shoot, so that the defense would have to fly out to guard him whenever he caught the ball. With the defense on edge, the rest of the game flowed, but it all started with him believing that he was a dangerous shooter. Tre turned it on at the end of the year, scoring nearly 15 points per game over his last ten, and contributed as much as anyone to UW's dramatic push through the end of the 2004 Pac-10 season.
For much of this season, Appleby has looked lost. He looks like he is catching the ball with an agenda, making a choice of what he is going to do with the basketball regardless of the situation on the court. He doesn't catch the ball in a ready to shoot position as much as last year. The result has been him forcing drives and passes that simply aren't there. Everytime Appleby catches the ball on the perimeter, he should at least pause in the triple threat position to allow the defense to commit to closing on him. Right now, he's trying to operate too fast and is putting the ball on the floor without establishing the threat of a shot. Since he's too small and too slow and to have a successful drive to the hoop without the defense fearing him as a catch and insta-shoot player, he's getting into bad situations.
Harvey Perry quits, decides to transfer from Washington
Harvey Perry, a red-shirt freshman, who returned this year from a back injury that kept him out of last season has decided to transfer from UW in hope of getting more playing time somewhere else. With Perry's departure, this leaves UW with only 10 healthy players until Joel Smith returns.
Division II will likely be the place Perry ends up. Already 21, Perry is anxious about finding a home quickly to contribute.
This frees up a scholarship that UW needed for next year's recruiting class. Two over the allowable limit, UW needed to find a way to trim it's scholarships by two. With Perry leaving, and Hawes projected to leave UW to enter the NBA, UW would be at the limit mark of 13.
I am not shocked by this at all. Perry looked obviously frustrated during UW's win against Idaho last week. He was earning only garbage minutes, and had only played 35 minutes all year. Good luck to him, we here at Hec Heads are sad to see him go.
So, this leaves an interesting situation. With knee surgery, and the fact Hawes does not look sharp early in the season (a la Brandon Roy after knee surgery), does he stay another year? Tim Morris has already stated he would pass up his scholarship for his senior season and be a walk on if UW needed him to. With the scholarship situation a bit cleared up, what will Hawes do if he only averages 12 points and 7 rebounds a game this season.
