Conroy called up!

"Give Me Vaughn."

"You Mean Rick Vaughn?"

Will Conroy was called up to the Memphis Grizzlies today. He was playing for the Tulsa 66ers of the NBADL. He was averaging 15.3 points and 10.3 points per game. He is the DL's all-time triple-double leader, with 4.

Here is more information on the Seattle Times webpage.

Conroy joins the worst team in the league, seemingly the reason he is getting his shot this year. I really don't think he cares where he is going. Good Luck Will!

You will receive no easy road games.....

"...but on your death bed, you will receive total consciousness."

Maybe by dying a litte, UW gained a litte. By hitting rock bottom, only then could UW stop laying to themselves and everyone that things were going to be alright. Maybe by dying, you can lose the identity of your former self, and return as your own team, your own legacy. UW died in Pullman, they were reborn in Seattle.

UW is now lead by the person who has been through the largest trails and tribulations this season, Justin Dentmon. Life without Brandon Roy was harder then it ever seemed it was going to be. Turnovers, bad shooting nights, and a brusing of the "EGO" has been life for Dentmon over the past month. Over the previous two games, Dentmon has slashed, scrapped, and dug his was out of his hole, and back into the starting line. Roy is gone, Dentmon had to learn on his own, how to run this Husky tea.

UW's last two games have revived what some where calling a lost season, a total failure, a waste of Spencer Hawes' only NCAA season. After two wins, and 180 points in two games, this new-look Husky squad must travel to valley of the shadow of death to face what might be the worst of all villians written in the chapters of this year's story of turnarounds, comebacks, and NCAA births; the road.

"The road is fuckin' hard,

It's also really fuckin' tough,

There's no question that,

It don't take no guff.

The road is a be-a-itch my friend"

Tenacious D put it right, the road is fuckin' tough, but it is the only fuckin road I know. UW knows what is has to do now...it must win. Win or your season is done after the Pac-10 tourney. Let us not talk about NIT's, or wasting Hawes, but let us talk about turnarounds, NCAA tournament games, and beating Arizona State and Arizona on the road.

Baby steps to a NCAA birth. The first step is Thursday, Arizona State on the road. Win there, and UW will have won its first road game of the season, and in return, shoot the monkey dead that once was on their backs. Up after that is a STRUGGLING Arizona team that has begun suspending players about this time every year.

Seems to me, this is the best time to travel to the desert.

A modest suggestion for how to get Hawes more involved on offense

Last night's game was a good win, but it felt like our style of play would not be able to produce win after win after win, particularly on the offensive end. We are one of the best streak scoring teams in the country, but we need to develop a way to score when our high pick and role dribble game is not working. We did a good job of taking advantage of mistakes made by Oregon on D (like forgetting that Appleby will shoot three pointers), but as the season wears on, good teams make fewer mistakes. I don't think we could play a similar game on MacArthur court, when OU has Aaron Brooks, and expect to win.

In my mind the way to establish more consistency in the offense is to run the offense through Hawes more, which means we have to improve our ability to get him the ball. Last night we struggled mightily with this, as our offense was baffled by Oregon simply fronting Hawes (which they did ALL NIGHT).

For the front to work, a weakside defender has to be enough of a deterrent to the lob pass, without giving up an open shot to the man he is guarding. A typical way you see teams attack a post front is to clear out the lane, pull every other player to the perimeter, and then put your post feeder on the elbow of the same side of the court. This forces the weakside help to make a choice of what to guard. Help in the post and risk a quick ball rotation/skip pass from the center to your now open man who has been spotting up for some time. Or stay home, and watch as your opponents coordinated 7 footer gets a ton of easy finishes around the rim.

Right now, there are three things preventing UW from successfully dealing with the front:
1. UW primarily attacks from the weak side or the top of the key, and in general the ball handlers run the offense from too far out. This makes any entry pass into Hawes take too long, thus allowing the help defender to guard both the shooter and the lob pass.

2. UW does not vacate the post consistently. Too many times last night you saw Pondexter hanging out close to the rim with his defender near by. Quincy kept looking to receive an alley-oop pass that was never really available, and all he successfully did was screw over Hawes. If Q-Pon wants to get buckets for discount prices, he needs to wait at the three point line until Hawes gets the ball before he crashes the lane.

3. UW doesn't rotate the ball quickly. Too much dribbling allows the defenders to maintain decent position on the off the ball players. Pass the rock fast and get better angles, please. I don't think I saw one crisp two pass perimeter ball rotation from UW all game.

I found my special purpose!

Lorenzo Romar tried a new defensive strategy against Oregon last night, putting Phil Nelson on mighty mite Tejuan Porter when UW played man to man defense. The strategy paid off, as Porter was essentially useless whenever Nelson marked him (both his three balls were when Dentmon or Appleby guarded him). While foot speed is at time an issue for Nelson, it never was a problem in this matchup. Nelson, with a 14 inch height advantage over Porter, was able to be a deterrant to the outside shot while playing well off Porter. For most of the game Porter seemed rattled in the half court set, and struggled to initiate the offense.

Is this a sign of things to come? Nelson, who has looked horrible on D in general this year when guarding athletic wings, may have found a way to contribute defensively by taking on the ball handler at the top of the key. It was reminiscent of moves that opposing teams did to Nate Robinson from time to time, which typically resulted in UW struggling. It strikes me that most college players are pretty used to matching up against similar sized defenders, and are not quite sure what to do when the matchup is skewed so dramatically. It's good to see Romar take advantage of an asset we have in surplus (size) and use it to counteract an overall weakness of our team (quick feet).

A Night at Nike Town...

Tonight, I made a pilgrimage to Nike Town to purchase some Husky Basketball shorts. I received a couple of gift certificates for my birthday, and wanted some Husky shorts to workout in at the gym (read between the lines:sit on coach and watch Husky basketball). Anyways, in Nike Town the Husky Basketball shorts are in the College Basketball section with North Carolina, Gonzaga and now, the most heralded product to hit Nike shelves in years, Washington State beanies. Well, right next to the College Basketball items was the new clothing line, the Air Force One line, you know the commercial with all the NBA pros in White walking down the runway, with a fan blowing on them to make them look sweet....

Well, as I was backing up after selecting the shorts I wanted to look cool in as I sit on my couch watching the Oregon game tonight, guess who I bumped into, mutha-fuckin Seahawks Linebacker Lofa Tatupu. I recognized him in a half a second. When you see a pro-athlete, you just know who they are. Especially someone like Lofa. At that point, I had two decisions. I could lose my shit, go all mushy Seattle Sports fan on him, and just make him feel all uncomfortable, or take the high route and give him a quick "sorry" or a head nod to say I was sorry. To my later satisfaction, I choose the latter. I politely exchanged a quick sorry, and went on my way. I knew who he was, he knew I knew who he was, but I just moved on. I had always promised myself that if I ever met a famous person, I would keep myself under control, and not make an ass out of myself. If I was famous, I think I would hate it if dorky white dudes always came up to me when I was out on the town.

I think I didn't react that way to seeing Lofa Tatupu because I had trained not to react that way. While in college at UW, I was lab partners with Brandon Roy, and it was cool coming in everyday to class and talking about things that didn't pretain to basketball. I always thought he appreciated that I kept our conversations away from basketball. Nate Robinson was in that class, and so was Bobby Jones, so I guess if I was ever to go giddy over another man, that would have been my opportunity. All three of those ballers are in the NBA now...

So, when I saw Lofa tonight, it was an easy decision to just nod my head, and move to the counter. But guess what? When I got to the counter, mutha-fucking Minnesota Timberwolves guard Trenton Hassell was at the register. The check out girl was absolutely dying with an NBA star in front of her, and Lofa roaming the products in front of her station. She dropped my shorts twice, and couldn't swipe my gift cards with any frequency. She said to me "I can't concentrate, Lofa is right there, I want to talk to him so bad".

All in all, it was an eventful trip to Nike Town this evening.

Oregon: It's about that time of year

I was hanging out with my good friend and Oregon Alum Brook last night, and although he seemed pretty pleased with his ducks, you could see the fear in his eyes. The Ducks have yet again had a successful start to a season. And every Duck knows what this means. NOTHING. In years past, as a season rolls on, whether it be football or basketball, the ducks migratory instincts kick in, and their seasons prospects head South.

Is this the game that the doubts start creeping in? When the Ducks green turns to yellow? UW's record is horrible in the Pac 10, but had they been a bit luckier, they could just as easily been sitting at 14-4, with a 4-3 Pac 10 record. And while UW is not as bad as their record indicates, one wonders just how strong Oregon is on the road, where they have had only two nice, but close, wins (at Arizona and at Georgetown). They can clearly hang with top competition in Eugene, but how will they respond without their emotional leader and floor general, Aaron Brooks, who is suspended for being retarded?

I'm fired up because I'm going to the game tonight, and have the pleasure of watching 4 major Duck fans sweat over their beers before the game. This one is gonna be sweet.

Photo Diary of Isaiah Thomas and Matthew Bryan-Amaning

There is a good photo diary on the Seattle Times web page looking at the lives of Isaiah Thomas and Matthew Bryan-Amaning out in CT Prep School. Both are UW recruits.

It is sweet that both of them are playing together before transferring to WASHINGTON. Thomas is the true point guard that UW needs to right the ship. He may be more of shoot first type of guard like Mustfa Shakur is in Arizona, but he is also brilliant passing the basketball.

Click here to take you to the photo section of the Seattle Times. Click on Sports, scroll up to:
Finishing School: Popular Route to College Basketball

Joel Smith's return delayed

Here is a post on Bob Condotta's Husky Basketball Blog about Joel Smith's delay back from that stress fracture that has kept him out the entire season.

Sounded like Joel will not be ready of the Arizona road trip next week, and the new date of return will be the Bay area school at home in the second week of February.

Romar stated again this week that Smith WILL NOT redshirt this year because of the pending scholarships being full next year.

Another Curse?

So, do we have another curse on our hands?

Seattle this year has been through the curse of Super Bowl loser, Madden, and of the Chunky Campbell Soup. Each one of these curses systematically tore its way through the Seahawks offense and defensive secondary. But, is UW dealing with maybe the worst curse of them all....

...The CURSE OF MIKE JENSEN....

After looking at the the ESPN page about which curse is the strongest or has the strongest hold on their target, I pondered about a potential curse, and if there was one, what kind of curse it would be...and then it came to me....UW is suffering from the curse of Mike Jensen! Since Mike Jensen fouled Marcus Williams on his drive late in the fourth quarter of the Sweet 16 game in the NCAA tourney last year, UW has been facing an uphill battle since then. Let's ignore the fact that they graduated almost every important person from last year beside Dentmon and Brockman, but let's look at the injuries, and the things that have transpired since then.

They lose Joel Smith and Joe Wolfinger for almost the entire year in training camp. Two players which UW was counting on to contribute this season. Spencer Hawes is healthy all USA Juniors Games and then when he puts on a UW jersey, all of a sudden he has knee surgery to remove bone chips. A dozen other injuries, and a hockey arena full of ice, and the Huskies are in a world of hurt.

The biggest issue since the Jensen foul, is that UW's D has evaporated. Stopping penetration, and guarding on the perimeter have become obstacles not strengths. Gone also is the full court pressure that was essential to UW's winning past.

So I ponder, is this the Curse of Jensen? It could haunt the UW for the rest of this year, and for years to come. Solution to this problem, burn a bleach-blonde Mike Jensen effigy at half-time of the Oregon game. Exercise the demons, and get UW back on its winning ways.

Or, we could just play better defense.

My hat is off to you, Bruce!

I change my mind on Bruce Pearl. I wrote a post about him earlier this year making fun of his skippy dances as he coaches and his god awful orange suit, and I thought I would give him props for his dedication towards his program and school by showing up to the UT women's game shirtless and painted orange.

HERE IS TO YOU BRUCE!

BRoy to the Rescue

Calm down, he ain't comin' back and playin' for UW...

Last night Roy had 28 points, and 9 boards as he hit the game winning shot to beat the Bucks.

Congrats to B-Roy. With last night's performance, it puts him squarely back into the R.O.Y. watch with Minnesota's Randy Foye.

UW is Young, plain and simple.

I have come to realization that we will not have a selection Sunday this year unless we can win the Pac-10 tourney. The Young Pups are just out manned right now.

Starting out the Pac-10 season with 6 out of 7 on the road was a tough way for these young pups to get their careers started at Washington. I kinda blame Romar and the scheduler for not getting this team on the road during their non-conference schedule.

Does UW have enough athleticism to compete in the Pac-10? It looks like whenever UW gets into a tough situation dribbling or on defense, the results usually go against the UW. Turnovers and getting beat on D are the two major problems facing UW.

Phil Nelson, Jon Brockman, Ryan Appleby, and even Quincy Pondexter look over matched having to play D on the perimeter. They consistently get beat off the dribble towards the basket, which consistently puts UW in compromising situations on D.

UW was great over the past three years by having a stifling D, being able to cause 20-2 runs with full court D. Their frantic pace helped set forth a tone that established UW early in games, and consistently made other teams play catch-up. This most often lead to more desperation threes, and teams getting away from their game plan to try to beat the UW D.

Gone from this year is UW's ability to regularly establish 10-15 points leads within the first 10 minutes of games based on the frantic pressure on the ball, and never allowing teams to time to catch their breath. Gone are hawking ball defenders like Bobby Jones, Brandon Roy, and Nate Robinson. Could Bobby Jones have been the catalyst for UW's run the past couple of season. Maybe.

The tendency I do not like seeing from UW is their lack luster effort on the defensive end. The regularly get beat getting back on D, and do not show the intensity that a competitive program needs to show to win games on the road.

Up next for UW is the Oregon schools at home. No Aaron Brooks means a possibility for a steal at home, and the righting of the ship on the shores of Lake Washington. If UW does not plug the holes in the walls of the boat, the ship will sink faster then Roller Girl going down on Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights.

Joe Lunardi says UW is in TROUBLE

Here is the opening paragraph to Joe Lunardi's column on ESPN.com's INSIDER. I don't have a subscription to the INSIDER, because most of ESPN is garbage on poop, but I was checkin out what they had to say about UO and their "inspiring" tale.

"Someone, somewhere, found it in his heart to give Washington two votes in this week's ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll. And why not? In the category "most likely to give away tight games by not guarding the other team," the Huskies definitely are Top 25 material."

OUCH!

Here are some other stats from his column that I got access too...doesn't look good for UW...

Consider:
• Washington is 1-5 in the Pac-10 and leads only woeful Arizona State (0-6) in the conference standings.
• The Huskies have lost six of their last 10 games and are an even more distressing 0-5 on the road.
• UW is 0-4 against InsideRPI Top 50 teams and must carry the additional burden of a No. 225 NonConf SOS.

No. 225 is not a good place to be....

Pondexter Update!!!!!!

Diagnosed as a ankle sprain. Did not practice Monday, will return in the middle of the week and be back by the time UW plays at Washington State this Saturday!

Good News!

UW and the NCAA, can we dance?

Two years removed from being the number 1 seed in the West section of the NCAA tournament, UW now faces the possibility of not getting invited to this springs NCAA tournament with their 1-5 start in Pac-10 play. Right now, most experts are projecting that 6 or 7 teams out of the Pac-10 will be dancing in March, but can the Huskies get there?

Falling out of the coaches poll this week, and getting swept in the Bay Area, the Huskies return home this week for a showdown against the Oregon schools, and the Pac-10's hottest team, UofO, who won at Arizona last night. UW MUST WIN this ball game to have a shot at making the Big Dance. UW has little wiggle room as it tries to fill out it's resume for NCAA officials come March. First off though, we have to travel to Pullman and face a STRONG Washington State Cougars team that has defeated Gonzaga and Arizona this year and are ranked #21 in this week's coaches poll. UW must win this game against a quality opponent on the road...

UW's non-conference schedule will come back to hurt the Huskies in the RPI, and in final determination of who gets a bid into the tournament. This week, Coach Romar admitted he wished he had played one or two more road games before the Pac-10 season started to acclimate his young team to the hostile road crowds.

UW can pull itself into the tourney. But they must start NOW!

Between suicide and homicide...

As a sports fan, outside of say Philadelphia, Seattle has to be the worst city to be a sports fan of any professional or college sport. Outside of Philly, can you name one city more jinx then Seattle. LA has recently won NBA titles and successful college basketball and football teams, Chicago had the White Sox two years ago, NY has the Yankees, and Dallas has the Mavericks, and the state of Texas had the Longhorns win the BCS title two years ago. THE LAST MEN'S NATIONAL TITLE in Seattle has to be the Huskies '90 National Championship Football team. Sure the UW Volleyball team won the NCAA title last season, and the Storm won the WNBA title a couple of years ago, but I am talking about sports that truly haunt the base of the population which lives in the city.

In the past 5 years, the Mariners have gone from the best team in baseball to maybe the worst organized team in the history of professional sports. The Seahawks seem to tease us with up and down performances. The UW football program, which may be on the rise, has fallen on hard times, and now, after all that, the UW Men's Basketball team has hit rock bottom. Sonics, don't go there...

I think EVERY UW student, Alumni, and follower was able to gut through this last 5-7 football season because they knew that Basketball season was around the corner. Where do we go from here? What do we do if the Huskies can pull up from this nose dive?

The loss today by the Seahawks culminated another terrible year for Seattle sports that started with the loss in the Super Bowl last season. Cry about the refs ruining that game, we still played like ass....

Pat, congrats on your Bears...I hope Grossman fucks you in N.O.!

Pac-10, Big 12 sign series contract

The Pac-10 and Big 12 have signed a series contract that will pit all Pac-10 teams against the Big 12. UW will play at Oklahoma State on Dec. 1st. This is the same format as the Big 10 & ACC match-up. From the way the Pac-10 looks this year, the Big 12 looks like it is in TROUBLE.

I think ALL of our teams our worthy of beating the teams that they are matched against. Oregon State at home against Iowa State may be the only exception. Who knows how good UCLA will be next year when they get Texas with the departure of Aaron Afflalo. Of course, no one expects Texas freshman sensation Kevin Durant to return next season.

Here is the game schedule:

Thurs., Nov. 29, 2007
Oregon at Kansas State
Oklahoma at USC

Fri., Nov. 30, 2007
Washington State at Baylor
Iowa State at Oregon State

Sat., Dec. 1, 2007
Washington at Oklahoma State
Missouri at California

Sun., Dec. 2, 2007
Arizona State at Nebraska
Stanford at Colorado
Texas at UCLA
Texas A&M at Arizona

Outside the 10-game series window:
Arizona at Kansas (Sun., Nov. 25)
Stanford vs. Texas Tech (Sat., Dec. 22)

UW gets SWEPT in the BAY AREA!

UW just didn't look like they wanted to win this game as bad as Cal did. Cal was more aggressive, and we just didn't look good.

Again, UW looked young, and inexperienced on the road. Dentmon choked this game away down the stretch, and could have redeemed himself by making both free throws...Dentmon did end up with 12 points, and 9 rebounds. But he did have a lot of turnovers down the stretch, and shot 5-16 from the field. UW shot 25-60 from the field, 41% and only 14-25 from the line, missing 11 shots! Can't do that on the road, and win...

UW loses 77-69...

Well, that makes UW 1-5 in the Pac-10, while it is not early enough to count out the Huskies in the Pac-10, this is an uphill battle from here on out. We are sitting last in the Pac-10, and we return home where we need to WIN ALL OF OUR GAMES!

UW is now 11-6, we were once 10-1, so you can do the math on how things have gone.

Again, Quincy Pondexter hurt his ankle in the second half, and did not return to action. If this is serious, this is a MAJOR loss for UW, and could result more in more loses for UW.

Coming into the season, UW had many injuries, and did not get to practice with a full squad for all of Winter warm-up. We lost Joel Smith, a veteran, who had been to three consecutive NCAA tourneys, and lost there other post threat in Wolfinger. It looks as though this team has not come together, and has not found a way to exploit other teams. They rely on Hawes WAY too much, and we can not shot inside the three point line with enough accuracy.

Bank of America Arena stands quite today, hopefully when it's team returns, it will hug them, and tell them that everything will be alright.

UW has yet to score in OT, 57.7 seconds left

UW down 73-67...haven't scored in OT, Cal at the line.

Doesn't look good.

Down 7....

OH Boy...

Oliver fouls out, Hawes travels, and an Offensive Foul on Brockman. UW has yet to take a shot in OT.

Cal up, with the ball, 71-67.

Oliver has fouled out in the first minute of OT...

Oliver done, and Pondexter has not returned...Nelson in.

HOLY SHIT BALLS!

Well, we are going to Overtime...

Hang on to your hats folks!

UW is 0-1 in overtime this year while Cal is 1-0.

DENTMON TO THE LINE down 1 with .02 left

UW down 67-66, Dentmon at the line shooting two. In the last three minutes, Dentmon has two turns and missed three shots...

Timeout Cal, tries to freeze Dentmon...

UW allowed a wide-open three pointer by Cal to take the one point lead.

Dentmon....is 1-2 today...

Dentmon....misses the first....

Dentmon....timeout Cal, if he misses UW is 1-5 in the Pac-10, if he makes it we are going to Overtime...

Dentmon....the announcer just predicted Dentmon makes it....Dentmon MAKES IT!

OVERTIME!

Appleby HUGE THREE out of TIMEOUT

UW up 66-64. 37.8 seconds left, UW Ball with 10 sec. left on 35 second shot clock.

Dentmon single-handly losing this game for UW..

He has two turns in the last two minutes...

UW down 64-63

UW is attrocious from the line today

UW has missed 10 foul shots, while Brockman is 1-6, and his form looks terrible.

If you losed this game...blame it on foul shots.

UW down by 1, 62-61...

So if WSU smoked Cal...

And we are barely grinding by Cal at the moment, what does this mean????

I think you know...

Pondexter hobbles off the court hurt...

From the reply, looks like Q-Pond rolled his ankle. He looks like he is in tremendous pain. Dont know the severity, but he probably will not return.

8:27 left, UW up 52-51, Dentmon playing somewhat well...

Hawes and Brockman have been on the bench together for a while, while Wallace and Gasser have been in for 5 minutes now.

UW down 53-52 with 8:14 left...

UW down at half, 35-33

UW is heading toward being 1-5 in the Pac-10. UW is down at half by two, and they are not playing very sound D.

UW is shooting 48% in the first half, but have turned the ball over way too much (dont know the total), alot on lob passes into the interior.

UW needs to shut down the Cal shooters in the second half to have a chance.

UW decline proportionate to Dentmon's slide

UW's slide, and grind to the basement of the Pac-10 has been proportionate to the downfall of Justin Dentmon. Earlier this year, after UW's game against Eastern Washington, I proposed that Dentmon might be UW's best player. Since then, Dentmon has been in a free fall, turning the ball over, and being benched. UW NEEDS DENTMON ON THE FLOOR. I love Appleby's O, but his D stinks. Dentmon needs to overcome his lack of confidence, and lead this team back into Pac-10 contention.

Early on in the Bay Area against Cal, Dentmon looks good. 6 points, and an assist. Still looks like Dentmon dribbles himself into uncompromising situations along the baseline, and in the middle of the paint which causes him to make quick passes when he is not ready. Dentmon is also jumping to pass too frequently which is leading to his high turnover rate.

Cal is out rebounding UW early, 11-6, and they seem to be a bit more active. Both these teams are desperate for a win, and I think Cal can sense a weak UW team has arrived in the Arena today. Hawes is still affected by the flu virus that is limited him to 6 points on Thursday night. We are seeing Artem Wallace early today.

UW enters tonight as the 9th highest scoring team in the country at 84.3, and 6th in field goal percentage in the country. We have started the game 9-16. But they are giving up 76.3 points per game. Way up from last year. Romar has already been yelling and getting on several players today. I think soft puppy love time from Romar is over. WE NEED A WIN!

It has been snowing in downtown today for like 3 hours.

UW LOOKS LIKE SHIT EARLY

ROUGH START! THE ROAD HAS NOT BEEN FRIENDLY...Brockman and Hawes getting dominated inside so far.

ALMOST GAME TIME!

UW NEEDS A WIN! ENOUGH SAID. Cal is without both their inside big men. The focus should be on Brockman and Hawes today, get them going, get a win, get home where we play our next 5 out of 7.

I can not believe FSN is showing the UW Women's game inside of the UW Men's game. GAME IS ON COMCAST 17!

Excuse our absence over the past couple of days. Pat and I are coaching UW Ultimate, and we are busy, and I just started a new job. Been busy.

We will keep on top of this shit, trust me!

I WILL BE LIVE BLOGGING TODAY! This is the first time I have done this, so it may suck!

UW needs to sweep the bay

And it won't be all that easy. After Oregon and Wazzou toppled UCLA and Arizona (respectively), it looks like the Pac 10 is the toughest conference in the nation. All this is good news for the Dawgs, as the stronger the conference looks, the more likely the possibility of getting 6 teams from the Pac 10 into the show. Stanford is coming off an impressive road win against Virginia after losing at home to Cal last Thursday. Before that win, neither team had really shown much (I'm not counting Cal's win against a Bill Walker-less Kansas state team as a significant win).

This trip is an opportunity for the Dawgs to leapfrog both bay area schools and take over 6th place in the conference. While this is no extraordinary feat, it would set up UW for a nice second half run at a top 3 finish in the Pac 10. Additionally, we've got a brutal pair of games after these two, travelling to Wazzou and then facing Oregon at home. If we can get a couple road wins under our belt, it may give the confidence chance to take it to Wazzou, and/or get a nice home win against Oregon (who will be without Aaron Brooks - suspended for the sucker punch he laid on Appleby in the pac 10 tourney). Escaping this stretch with only one loss, plus what should be easy wins against OSU and ASU would put us at 6-4 in the conference and would be a huge step forward for our young team. By that time, Joel Smith should be healthy and back in the rotation, just in time to face the top of the conference the second time around.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Our dogs have some real flaws right now, particularly with our ball handling and perimeter defense. For UW to be successful, Justin Dentmon needs to play well. It appears like his confidence was genuinely shaken by the long, atheletic matchups he's had to face against USC, UCLA, and Arizona. In his first 4 pac 10 games, he looked like he was aiming the ball and overthinking his passes. Something has to happen to get him confident again, and I think he will find it in the Bay Area. Or he will completely crumble (I hope not, but after all, the game at Stanford was where he made one of the dumbest mistakes you could ever make, and cost us the game). Quincy Pondexter also looked shocked by the athleticism of the Pac 10. His supreme offensive performance against Arizona aside, he has been caught in double teams numerous times and his rebounding numbers have dropped. He seems surprised every time a player his size can move as fast or faster than he can. He will get through this, he is at least as atheletic as Bobby Jones, and has proven to be a hard worker. It's just a matter of when. Oliver has almost the opposite problem. While he takes everything in stride and does't look too overwhelmed (for the most part), it's almost like he is afraid to be noticed on the court. Adrian is only taking 4 shots a game in about 26 minutes (in pac 10 play).

Other than that, this team is sweet! Here's to hoping for good guard play against Stanford
tonight.

Being a Seattle Sports fan

Is about this close from sucking!

Fuck you Madden Curse! Fuck you Super Bowl Losers Curse! Fuck you Chunky Campbell's Soup Curse! Fuck you!!!

FUCK YOU ROMO! Fuck you for fucking Jessica Simpson, and Claire Underwood! This is your balancing act! The world made itself balanced today!

Now we take on Chicago! DA BEARS! SUCK!!!!! GROSSMAN, lazy, not prepared!

What? Eh? No Way....

Got No food...Got No Job...Our Pet's Head Keep falling off!!!!!!

What is with the Pac-10? On a day when UCLA and Arizona are upset on the road, who can you depend on in the Pac-10 to pull out a win? Is the Pac-10 the strongest conference in the country? Yes! I think the evidence of this was UCLA, UW and Arizona's run in the NCAA Tourney last season. It was a sign of things to come.

Oregon today wins a close game against UCLA, WSU (who I hate more then Judge Smails in Caddyshack) beats Arizona, and Arizona State almost beats UW on the road. Thank G.O.D for Appleby!

Who is going to overcome this ridiculousness? UW, with three loses in conference, is not dead to win this thing! Think about it? USC, UCLA, UO, UW, and UofA all look as though they could win this title. UW just went through the roughest stretch of their schedule. Anything can happen! Who do I give the upper hand? No, not UW...Arizona. Yeah, so, they lost tonight. They were just coming off a high against UW. They have the most talent, but, can you trust their depth? I also give UO a huge advantage. Those UO guys have played together for several years now and they are playing stronger....

Wow, this shit is going to get intense!!!!!!!

There's no place like home

Ugh. Eek. Ack. Balls. Wow. We just got demolished. It feels like the 03/04 season all over again. My faith in Romar keeps me warm at night, and visions of an impeding run help me to keep the faith. But this team feels flawed in a way I did not anticipate this year. We miss Joel Smith BAAAAD. We miss Dentmon's mojo from earlier this year. We miss the athleticism and confidence of BJones, Jamaal Williams and BRoy.

Most of all what we seem to be lacking is the ability to strike first and strength of will to play well through lulls when we are not shooting well. When our shot stopped falling in LA, we began to press and made more mental errors. This, more than anything, reminds me of 03/04. The tools and fight needed to be a unique and exciting team are there, but we just don't know how to put it together from start to finish. 3 years ago, it took an inspired performance by NateRob to give his team the confidence and grit to be a great team.

Hawes will surely be a great player, but he will develop at his own pace, and needs to make mistakes as he learns. Brockman has also played strong much of the year. More that anything, we lack consistency and confidence in at least one ball handler. Right now, Dentmon is the best suited to do this. And you know what? He know's it.

The next game is against another powerhouse. It's a team that is built very similarly to USC and UCLA. Arizona's strength is in its size and athleticism at guard/wing positions. Right now, I don't think UW knows how to solve this sort of puzzle. Hopefully, the home croud will help us to be strong. Hopefully, Dentmon can look inside and find what he needs to demolish bigger foes. UW needs courage and brains from him. So far we have only shown heart and luckily, for the next two games are safe at home.