U.S.S Olson Out Of Steam? Not yet...

Winning 20 games every year, and making the NCAA tournament year in and year out is good for some programs, but at Arizona, where Final Four appearances and National Championships are the custom, the past two seasons have been deemed failures in the Valley of the Sun.

In what has looked like a coach hanging on for too long, Coach Lute Olson has begun a resurrection in the desert with the shake up of his coaching staff. Lute created quite a stir in Tucson when he let long time assistant coach Jim Rosborough go and Olson re-hired former assistant Kevin O'Neill, who will take over as defensive guru and drill Sargent for UofA. The re-focus to the defensive side of the basketball is a common theme that has weighed heavily in many camps this off-season after the Pac-10 went offensive crazy last season.

Like USC, Arizona lost three of their starting five, but from this article out of SportingNews.com, people are thrilled that Ivan Radenovic, Mustafa Shakur and Marcus Williams have hit the road. These three were responsible with over 44% of the team's offensive production last season, but 44% of zero is still zero. It was clear to anyone who watched Arizona basketball last season that the team clearly did not have the same aggressiveness or tenacity that it had even two seasons before. The departure of these three has opened the door for younger and hungrier players to assume the roles that were haphazardly played by this underachieving trio.

With the departure of Williams, the ball and scoring responsibility is now in the hands of ex-volleyball player Chase Budinger and exciting sharp shooter and play maker Jawann McClellan. Budinger has big time talent, who averaged 15.8 ppg while pulling in 5.8 rebounds per game in his freshman season. McClellan is a super talent of his own, but injuries have been the Achilles heel of his development as a true superstar. There are times when you watch Arizona Basketball and you just have that feeling that McClellan is about to go off. This is usually right after he nails a three from two or three feet beyond the arc. These two players must carry the load if UofA has any shot at competing for a Pac-10 title (as mentioned yesterday, they will not be able to compete with UCLA this year).

Arizona also added talented point-guard Jerryd Bayless in this last freshman class. He brings pure scoring talent, along with the ability to put the ball on the floor and create his own shot. Does this sound familiar??? Yeah, he is Mustafa Shakur 2.0. Shakur was a big-time high school recruit who always played shot first pass never and that did not help him develop into the point guard that Olson was hoping that Shakur would turn into, ala Mike Bibby or Damon Stoudamire. While those last two players could create their own shots, they were also very talented passers who had success at the next level as NBA point guards. Hopefully Bayless will not be the same type of person that Shakur was, as Shakur was often disciplined and at times suspended from the Arizona Basketball team for conduct detrimental to the team.

WHERE DOES ARIZONA END UP: Chemistry must be the first problem addressed by Lute Olson and coaching staff this season. With the subtraction of locker room cancers Shakur and Williams, Budinger and co. take over a program that has underachieved the past two years. Arizona will be competitive, but is still a year away from being that dominate team that we are used to seeing in Tucson. Look for Budinger to have an All-Pac 10 First Team type of performance (and possibly First Team All-American type Performance, he was named to collegehoops.com All-American First team), and for McClellan to also have an All-Pac 10 Second Team year. This team will compete for the 2-4 spots this year in the Pac-10. Can it beat WSU, UO or even USC, that will remain to be seen. My projection, they finish 4th in the Pac-10 and again win 20 games behind UCLA, WSU and UO. A 4th place finish may keep Chase Budinger in Tucson for one more year, looking to compete for a Pac-10 title before venturing into the NBA. Budginer reminds me of a young Sean Elliot...does anyone else see that resemblance?

#4 in Pac-10...but building for the future.

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.

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.

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!

Arizona State - Root for the Mascot

Herb Sendek has his hands full after moving over from North Carolina State. What to say about Arizona State....umm, I love their mascot. In all seriousness, Arizona State is going to have an awful time this year trying to find a replacement for leading scorer, and ASU record holder for most minutes played per game (38.98 mpg), Kevin Kruger, who tranferred to UNLV, citing the new NCAA rule to transfer schools after he graduated this past spring. The rule states that if a student-athlete who is enrolled in a specific graduate degree program of an institution other than the institution from which he or she previously received a baccalaureate degree to participate in intercollegiate athletics regardless of any previous transfer. This is a very controversal new rule by the NCAA, I wonder how long it will be until someone gets in trouble for violating or pushing this rule too far. ASU will also have to find a replacement for second leading scorer Bryson Krueger, who was kicked off the team following his arrest for possesion of firearms and various drugs. Congratulations Krueger, you are at the top of the Delta pledge class.

Weaknesses: TOO MANY TO COVER - Missing top two scorers from a team that was only 11-17 last season (5-13 in league). The sad thing is this, if the Krugers comeback this year, this is potential a middle of the pack Pac-10 team. Now, with the loss of their two best players, this will be a young team, with a new coach, trying to find itself on the shoulders of a sophomore who didn't have to be the number one option last year. Kruger, who was over 40% from 3-point line last year gone, ASU now will suffer from long range, something that Sendek overemphasises in his offense.

Strengths: Sendek. I know, he is the coach, but his offenses are alway potent, and he will get a lot out of this ASU team that will need to learn quickly how to score points. ASU FANS GOTTA LOVE THIS THOUGH, Sendek is 1-0 versus Lute Olson and the Arizona Wildcats. Sendek beat Olson when he was with Miami (Ohio) in the 1995 NCAA Tournament. Pendergraph is a all-around assest. But, will a sophomore be able to handle the pressure of being the number one option. His 8.0 rebound per game last season is very impressive.

Players to watch: Jeff Pendergraph. The Pac-10 All Freshman team selection averaged almost 15.0 ppg over the last nine games last season, and must shoulder more of the load this season with the lost of Kruger and Kruger. Good luck to you sir!

Click here to view ASU's roster, outside of Pendergraph, you will not recognize a single name.

A Husky Fan's Take: YES, count those as gimmie games. Why is there only two on the roster.

Prediction: Horrible, with a shade of pathetic. I hope Pendergraph is amazing this year. Should battle the offensively challenged Washington State Cougars for last in the Pac-10.

Arizona - Can Williams handle being number one?

Arizona

Perennial Final Four threat Arizona returns with their most talented team in the past three of four years. The Wildcats, rated on ESPN.com as the number 6^th ranked team heading out of the summer, welcome prized freshman Chase Budinger. Folks around the Arizona program claim this could be the best freshman ever at Arizona, and that says something. With Marcus Williams as the leading contender for Pacific 10 player of the year, and Mustafa Shakur leading the point again this year, this going to be an extremely dangerous team. Arizona returns four starters - Williams (13.0 ppg/4.7 rpg), Shakur (11.2 ppg/4.7 apg), junior F Ivan Radenovic (12.1 ppg/6.3 rpg) and junior C Kirk Walters (6.1 ppg/3.5 rpg).

Strengths: Williams was a work horse in 2005. Williams, who is originally from Seattle, led all freshmen in the Pac-10 in scoring (13.0 ppg). He scored in double digits in each of the final six games of the season, averaging 17.8 points during that span. Williams must carry the scoring load for this young Wildcats team to be able to hang with UCLA and Washington in the Pac-10.

Weakness: If Williams struggles in his sophomore year, where will the scoring come from? With little post presence, where will the easy points come from? Radenovic and Walters must provide an established post presence for an Arizona team that struggled to score inside last season with much consistency. Eight of the 15 players on the roster are freshman or sophomores, which could be rocky for the Wildcats out of the gate this year. It might be a good thing Lute Olson is known for his tight player rotation.

Games to watch: Arizona has an impressive non-conference schedule. This will give a couple of NCAA type games to the young squad before the calendar reads 2007. They play Virginia, Illinois, Louisville, and Memphis before starting Pac-10 play. Lute Olson is going to forge this team by fire, which all the Pac-10 is hoping backfires, and this young team wilts.

Players to watch: Williams, who was mention above. Extremely talented player, but must accept the fact that he is number one option this year after Hassan Adams graduated. The other focal point will be Shakur. He must improve his point guard play his senior year for the Wildcats to have a chance at winning the conference. He will be key in distributing the ball to his horses Williams and Budinger. His inconsistency has driven Coach Olson wild.

Departed players: Adams, Chris Rodgers, and Isaiah Fox. Adams was a great player, but with his numerous off-court violations of the Arizona player code, including a DUI, Olson has to be glad this player is out of the locker room.

Incoming players: CHASE BUDINGER. The most decorated high school player on this roster. A Parade magazine first team All-American, and co-MVP of the McDonalds High School All-America Game, this big red-headed freshman has all the tools to be the “Tango” to Williams’ “Cash”. Budinger was ranked as the No. 7 overall prospect in the country and the No. 2 small forward by Bob Gibbons’ All-Star Sports Top 100. Budinger can ball. He was also named the Most Valuable Player of the Nike Junior World Championships in Douai, France, in June 2006, where he averaged 28 points and eight rebounds per game as Team USA went 6-0. A little known fact, Budinger was a three-time San Diego County volleyball player of the year. I bet that gets brought up in the locker room all year long.

A Husky Fan’s Prospective: FUCK MARCUS WILLIAMS. He had the opportunity to play for UW, stay home and be the next Brandon Roy. Imagine the front court this year of Williams, Brockman, and Hawes. I hope Brockman hits him HARD this year. They are going to be good this year. They could poise the biggest threat to the Husky’s chances of winning the Pac-10. With UCLA losing Jordan Farmar and several other key seniors, Arizona has to be considered the front runner in the Pac-10 at this moment. With Arizona, UCLA, and UW all ranked in the top 20 in ESPN’s hot summer 50 teams to start the year (6,11,19 respectively), the Pac-10 is up in the air.

Roster:

11 Bagga, David G 6-5 186 So. Foothill Ranch, Calif. (Mater Dei H.S.)
44 Brielmaier, Bret F 6-6 237 Jr. Mankato, Minn. (Loyola H.S.)
34 Budinger, Chase F 6-7 205 Fr. Encinitas, Calif. (LaCosta Canyon H.S.)
12 Dillon, Daniel G 6-3 203 Jr. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (North Laurel (Ky.) H.S.)
43 Hill, Jordan F 6-9 211 Fr. Atlanta, Ga. (The Patterson School (N.C.))
5 McClellan, Jawann G 6-4 211 Jr. Houston, Texas (Charles H. Milby H.S.)
24 Onobun, Fendi F 6-6 239 So. Houston, Texas (Alief Taylor H.S.)
30 Prince, J.P. G 6-6 186 So. Memphis, Tenn. (White Station H.S.)
55 Radenovic, Ivan F 6-10 240 Sr. Belgrade, Serbia (Secondary School of Sports)
15 Shakur, Mustafa G 6-3 190 Sr. Philadelphia, Pa. (Friends Central H.S.)
14 Tangara, Mohamed F 6-9 241 So. Bamako, Mali (Mt. Zion Christian Academy (N.C.))
54 Walters, Kirk C 6-11 254 Sr. Grand Rapids, Mich. (South Christian H.S.)
3 Williams, Marcus F 6-7 205 So. Seattle, Wash. (Roosevelt H.S.)
13 Wise, Nic G 5-9 190 Fr. Kingwood, Texas (Kingwood H.S.)

Prediction: If Marcus Williams is a stud, and Budinger is as good as advertised, Arizona will win the Pac-10. The other two teams (UCLA and UW) have too many questions to answer to be the overall favorite for the Pac-10 title.