Lorenzo speaks

"For the first time since we have been at Washington we have size. We will have size without sacrificing quickness. This team has really good chemistry even though they are young. I think that this team will really play well together." --Lorenzo Romar

I saw the Romar quote and this was the first thing I thought of:
"So, in my recruiting, in all the years when I became a college coach, I'm recruiting for quickness. Now, you want a certain amount of size, but more coaches will give up some quickness to get more size. I would not. I would give up some size to get more quickness." --John Wooden

A Husky Homecoming

I was all set to go to The Dutchess to watch the game, when I called a friend who happened to have two unused tickets, which I gladly took. I told my friend Adam about it, and in no time we were off. The late change of plans meant we missed part of the game, but we were going, which made it all OK. As soon as I got to the gate, my day was made as we ran into none other than Lorenzo Romar himself. He was dressed sharply in grey velour leisure wear. I managed to call out "Lorenzo Romar is the best coach in the nation!", which he responded to with a smirk and a fist raised in solidarity. That man is so classy. If you put him in a bottle, he'd be Courvoisier.

I got to my seat just in time to watch my huskies get scored on and go down 7-0. The whole game the Huskies fought hard, but they just didn't have enough to pull out the overtime victory. That makes 3 last minute losses in four games. I was hoping for a W, but at least I got to see a team battle for their lives. Honestly, I don't think there has been a Husky team with as much fight as this one since the 2000 Rose Bowl team. Even though we are not pulling out victories, their heart brings hope to a downtrodden program. They never quit, even when they are clearly out matched. But for me, the highlights of the evening had nothing to do with the game.

We were sitting in section 33, which is on the first level right on the east end zone, right at the tunnel entry. They were high enough to see the whole field well, but low enough to fell like we were close. Around halftime a mountain of a man passes right by our seats, and it takes me a second to realize it's Todd McCullough, Husky Basketball Legend. He was honored this weekend by being placed in the Husky Hall of Fame, and I hope he was hanging out at the game while recovering from a long night spent reliving past glory. He only stayed in our area for a short time, so I didn't have a chance to say anything.

There was a large group of people sitting next to me that didn't seem like husky fans (one even had an old Steve Young 49ers jersey on), and I couldn't figure out who they were until a stadium staffer came by and asked them if they knew where Calvin was. They said he was still in the press box getting interviewed. Right then, the announcer says that after the third quarter UW would honor Husky legend Calvin Jones. Turns out the group next to me were members of Calvin Jones' congregation in San Francisco. We spent a while talking about that, and how sweet those old niners teams were (I lived in the bay area back then). I thought it was very cool that they came up to support him, and it made for a memorable day at Husky Stadium.

Calvin Jones is a meaningful figure in Husky football history, partly for his excellence on the field, but also, he was a defining figure amidst racial problems that tarnish UW's past. Calvin quit the team after the 1970 season due to obvious, deep seeded racism that swirled around the 1969-70 season. Here is a great essay by Carver Gayton, a former assistant coach at UW, which contemplates the history behind Jim Owens' coaching tenure and the tension surrounding his statue, which sits outside of the entrance to Husky Stadium. There is a large section that addresses Calvin Jones' part in this story, and is a worth while read if you have the time. Another article about this can be found here.

UW Basketball = Cash Money

Step 1: Hire Romar
Step 2: Profit

The most pertinent line in this recent Seattle PI article was:
"Basketball donations at the UW have increased from $250,000 during Romar's first season, 2002-03, to $2.5 million last year."

That's a ten fold increase in just 4 years. While this bodes well for the future of UW basketball, it is directly linked to increased season ticket prices, which sucks for me. I would expect this number to continue to climb as Romar piles on Sweet 16 appearances and continues to put players into the NBA. Boosters like winners. Additionally, long standing programs like Duke get millions from past players flush with NBA cash, and I would expect UW, who is winning with prominent local players, to see similar (by similar I mean less) give backs from Alumni.

While it's sad to say, cash is king in the world of college athletics, and fully funded teams have advantages over cash strapped programs. While Romar certainly doesn't need any help getting the players he wants, removing potential roadblocks from his path to a title will only make the journey smoother, and strong financial backing will make it harder for another school to pull him away from us.

Why would you leave Romar?

News today that CJ Giles, a former UW recruit, has been suspended from the Kansas Jayhawks basketball team.

What I don't understand, is why he left Seattle, and played for Kansas. After apparently saying to Husky nation over a radio broadcast that he was "99%" for sure a Husky, he left town and joined the Kansas Jayhawks. Now, I know his father was a Jayhawk, but how could you leave Romar?

From what I can tell, Romar is on a path that will forever be known as epic. In 5 short years here, he has changed UW Basketball from the Bob Bender & Doug Wrenn show of the late 90's, to the perinnial Sweet-16 powerhouse on the West Coast. I wish I could travel into the future and see the future implications of the Romar recruiting machine. It probably would be like in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure when they traveled into the future and James Earl Jones told them that their Rock Music would one day save the world. I am sure if I went into the future I would see a recruiting trip filled with family meals, a trip to church, a day doing what the recruit wants (like that show on MTV "Next" where the date comes out of the bus and does what ever the contestant wants, and when they lose, they say "I got Nexted" like it was a word...terrible, why don't they say the bitch kicked me to the curb), then ending the night with a rose ceremony between Romar, Coach K, Lute Olson, Roy Williams, and Bobby Knight. I guarantee that the rose goes to Romar 90% of the time. Give it 5, maybe 10 years and this will be the case.

Look, Romar has BRoy (6th pick, last years NBA draft) Nate Rob (22nd pick 2005 draft, slam dunk champ) and Bobby Jones (second round pick, 38th selection 2006) in the NBA after five years of being head coach at UW... Outside of Elton Brand, and a young Grant Hill, Dukies have a problem in the NBA...lastest case in point, Sheldon Williams. Don't get Pat started on Mike Dunleavy Jr., who is destroying his beloved Warriors.