September 2010

by Craig Yamada

Long gone are the days where recruits have to worry about their national exposure if they play on the West Coast, and more importantly, for the University of Washington. This is great news for Dawg fans as recruits are running out of excuses to not choose the DUB.

The Pac 10 released its final TV schedule per a press release from GoHuskies.com. A printable version can be accessed here. There are a total of 13 guaranteed nationally televised games this season, starting with the Maui Invitational in late November. Here is a complete list of the games in which the entire nation will be watching:

Interesting to note that there are three games featured on Sunday that will be nationally televised. This should give our team some great exposure during a day that most NCAA teams aren’t playing. If I remember correctly, ACC Sunday Night Hoops was usually allotted this time slot.  Great opportunity for the East Coast doubters to see us play. Let’s just hope they stay up that late.

And with that, I leave you with a preview video of the UW 2010-11 season released by the UW Athletic Dept today:

Are you ready?

Courtesy of Scout

by Craig Yamada

Chalk one more verbal commit up for the class of 2011 as Husky Digest and Scout.com are reporting that Jernard Jarreau, 6-10 PF from Louisiana, has verbally committed to Romar and the Dawgs over VCU.

Here is Jernard’s profile:

• Height: 6’10″
• Weight: 200 lbs
• Position: PF
• High School: McDonogh 35
• AAU Team: New Orleans Revolution

Having not seen any film on Jernard, I can’t speculate as to what kind of a player he is. From everything I have read, he likens his game to Kevin Durant. He’s known for his shot blocking and defensive intensity, but has had the ability to stretch the floor on the offensive end with his range and athleticism. While he may be a project at the current time, UW may end up cashing in a serious sleeper in the long term with Jarreau. Given the upside we see with players like Anthony Davis (UK commit), Romar could possibly mold Jarreau into an athletic wing/post in the years to come.

UW is definitely trying to cover its bases for bigs in this 2011 class. With Kevin Davis likely signing this Fall, Jarreau would add some depth next year with the loss of MBA and Breshers. From the looks of him, he will definitely need to bulk up and get some serious strength conditioning.

The Scout.com article mentions that he may be a red-shirt candidate next year, but with UW’s need for bigs next year, I wouldn’t doubt Romar giving him a shot at some minutes next year. Jernard definitely has a lot of upside and we all hope Romar has landed a potential diamond in the rough with this signing.

If it means anything, Hikeem Stewart just tweeted:

RT  @HStewart_1 is Jerreau in for sure? Nice class coming together. Now get your guy @ToneTone13 back here to Seattle!-yes he is the boy is raw uw is in for a surprise next year

In Hikeem’s words, “raw” means good I believe?

Welcome to the Dub Jernard!

by Craig Yamada, Editor in Chief

Well, it’s never too early to commit for the year after next is it? After a bit of a twitter scare last night, Matt Prehm (UO Writer), tweeted that Andrew Andrews, PG out of Portland, verbally committed to the UW. However, he  did not specify what class he would be enrolling in school, leaving us all to believe that he would be a 2011 signee.

After some digging, we were able to uncover that Andrews will be enrolling in Prep School in 2011 to further develop his game, like IT did before enrolling at the UW. He will enter as a freshman as a member of the 2012 class which could feature a giant slew of bigs.

So breathe a sigh relief Dawg fans. The dream of a Tony Wroten/Jabari Brown 2011 backcourt still lives on. We haven’t heard anything on Jabari’s weekend visit just yet, but will keep you posted.

Andrew Andrews Bio:

• Position: PG
• Height: 6’2″
• High School: Benson HS
• PPG: 20
• APG: 8

In Andrews, Romar will be getting yet another true PG, whose highlights mirror a younger and quicker model of Abdul Gaddy. He has a good release on his jump shots and sees the floor very well. He looks great in transition and has an act for finding the open man. He definitely looks like more of a pass first mentality, much like Gaddy. He apparently had a great showing during his AAU summer league and is thought to be rising the charts as we speak. He chose UW over schools like WSU, Nebraska, Colorado, San Diego, and Portland. Looks like Romar and the UW coaches knew what they were doing with Andrews.

In Prehm’s article, Andrews was quoted to say that “[he] know[s] they have a lot of guards coming in and already in the program but this is something I think will help me down the road.” Perhaps there is some foreshadowing here? Does Andrews know something that we don’t? This definitely is a wise choice for Andrews who would figure to be part of a log jam of guards next year should Wroten and Brown both sign.

Romar is seemingly buidling a fence around his NW neighborhood. With Jordan Tebbutt, another 2012 recruit, Romar could potentially have four Portland natives on the squad (Hosley and Ross are the other two).

Side Notes:

October 8th was confirmed as the date of Wroten’s announcement over Twitter today. He wants to 
“see how many UW fans gone b at my school for my announcement.” I just don’t know how many other ways we can prove that Tony will be wearing a purple and gold #13 next year.

All for now. And welcome to the DUB, AA.

Courtesy of the Seattle Times

by Craig Yamada, Editor In Chief

Retired? A weird term indeed to be used for a college basketball player, but nonetheless Romar announced today that Tyreese Breshers will hang up his high tops due to medical reasons, effective immediately. The full story can be seen here from UW’s site.

The article goes on to say that because of HIPAA regulations, the details of Breshers’ medical retirement cannot be disclosed.

Tyreese aka “Reesey” Breshers averaged 3.0 ppg and 2.6 rebounds last year. He was a big physical bruiser in the post that the UW will definitely miss as the season wears on them. Tyreese had a rough go about early last year struggling with foul trouble and conditioning, but progressed little by little over the course of the year. He proved to be a great rebounder and one of UW’s lone post presences that could work his way into the paint with his body, aside from MBA. He ranked 5th all time for Freshmen for blocks with 26 (3.1 per game).

So what is the immediate impact?

This will largely depend on what the match up will look like and how conditioning and practice progress in the next two months. Several scenarios seem plausible:

• Scenario #1 (most likely): The path is now clear for Darnell Gant to step up for bigger minutes going into his Junior season. If the season started today, Romar would likely look for Gant to start at the 4 spot with MBA at the 5. Things definitely can get shaken up at practice as we have heard great things about Desmond Simmons and the work ethic he possesses. He could definitely challenge Gant for that spot if he impresses the coaches in practice.

• Scenario #2: Hypothetically, Aziz N’Diaye works with the coaches to get his post skills refined to become a threat on both ends of the floor and steps into the 5 spot, moving MBA to the 4 spot. This is definitely something I would like to see as the season progresses, but since Aziz is reportedly a bit raw on the offensive end at the present time, he will take some time to develop.

• Scenario #3: Romar rolls the dice and starts with a smaller starting package: Terrence Ross/Justin Holiday at the 4 spot and leaving MBA at the 5. Think I am crazy? Think again. I know I am a broken record in saying this, but Q-Pon was not a traditional PF last year. He was more of a big wing. Ross has the range to be a threat from anywhere on the floor and the athleticism to get put backs on the glass. Ross is only an inch shorter than Q-Pon and has shown similar athletic ability, with slightly better body control from the film I have seen. Although, it is unlikely Romar will call Ross’ number out of the gates, this could be a possibility later in the season.  Likewise for Holiday as he has been refining his shot this offseason. This would open up the floor a lot more and allow someone like Suggs/Wilcox start at the 3 spot.

The Upside?

Don’t get me wrong, Tyreese will be missed and many discount his value to the team. His physical toughness was a unique characteristic that he brought to the post. He gets to stay at UW and complete his degree, which we all hope he does. But we will miss his presence on the defensive end next year. 

 However, with every disappointment comes a silver lining. UW gains an extra scholarship to be used either this season or next season. My guess is that they keep it in their back pocket in hopes of having 5 guaranteed schollies for the talented 2011 class. But the post definitely needs to be addressed in this coming class with MBA leaving next year and Breshers now departing. Davis sounds like a sure thing and Chol is likely a slight UW lean over Alabama in my opinion.

Best of luck to you Tyreese. You will be missed.

 by Griffin Bennett, Staff Writer

There’s been a lot of recruiting talk this year about Romar’s guard-heavy recruiting class that we all think he is building this year. It seems that every year Romar has recruits more guards than forwards, or at least better guards than forwards. I decided to get into the numbers and try and see, once and for all, if Romar truly is in love with his guards. I took a look at his recruiting numbers since he joined UW in 2002. I analyzed the rankings of his recruits (according to Scout.com) and the amount of each position recruited. Also, I looked at if the remaining structure of the team impacted what position Romar recruited. i.e. There are only four forwards on the roster for next year, so Romar signed 3 forwards. Let me debunk or support some of the common myths surround Romar’s recruiting strategy.
 
First of all, let me lay down some of my qualifications:
The 2002 recruiting class of Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson, and Bobby Jones are not counted on Romar’s record because former coach Bob Bender was highly involved in that class
Players such as Martell Webster and Charles Garcia are included on this list because I am trying to analyze Romar’s recruiting strategy and these players were highly involved in that aspect, regardless of whether they played for UW or not.
For the sake of argument, I am leaving out centers. Coach Romar has recruited 5 centers in 8 years and only Hawes and N’Diaye have been ranked above 2 star recruits. It also allows me to compare the two guard positions to the two forward positions.
 
Myth #1: Romar recruits more guards than forward.
 
            Since 2003, Romar has signed 12 guards. On the other hand, Romar has signed 14 forwards since 2003. While many of us, including me, feel as if Romar always has a loaded backcourt, the numbers seem to show that Romar is at least trying to sign a very balanced team. In the first half of his tenure at UW (2003-2006) he signed only four guards while signing seven forwards. During his second half (2007-2010) he has signed a more even seven guards to seven forwards. What does this mean? Nothing really. I was most shocked to see that Romar has actually nabbed more forwards than guards but my gut reaction to that information leads my to the next myth…
 
Myth #2: Romar recruits better guards than forwards.
 
            Now this has to be true, right? Well, it kind of is true. Since 2003, Romar’s average guard recruit’s ranking has been 3.66 stars. His average forward recruit’s ranking has been 3.57 stars. Finally something looks about right.
These guard rankings, however, include the skewing ranking of Martell Webster’s 5 stars. If you were to remove Martell’s 5 stars and Garcia’s 3 stars, the average guard and forward rankings come out to 3.45 and 3.61 respectively.
Now what does this mean? Once again, it really means nothing. I was shocked again to read those numbers as it seems we have been guard heavy, forever. Maybe the answer lies in the next myth…
Myth #3: Romar has had more forward recruits become “busts” than guards.
 
            Of Romar’s 12 guard recruits, here is a list of the players who underperformed relative to their ranking: Harvey Perry (3), and the jury is out on Abdul Gaddy (5). That’s the list. I’m not including the transfers (Adrian Oliver and Elston Turner) because that has nothing to do with Romar’s eye for talent.
Of his 14 forward recruits, here is a list of the players who underperformed relative to their ranking: Artem Wallace (4) and maybe Joel Smith (4).
I would call this one a push, and this myth definitely doesn’t have any legs. Since it’s hard to have three star athletes become busts (10 of the 26 recruits were three star recruits), it leads to a very safe team. Well what if the opposite is true….?
 
Myth #4: Romar has had more guard recruits become “booms” than forwards.
 
            By “boom” I mean players who outperformed their original ranking. Of the 12 guard recruits under Romar, here is a list of these “boom” players: Tre Simmons (3), Isaiah Thomas (3), and you could argue Justin Dentmon (3) counts too.
In comparison, here is a list of the “boom” forward recruits: does Phil Nelson (3) count? Basically, there are none for the forwards. Finally, here is a myth that actually can be considered true. I think this says good things about Coach Romar that he has a great eye for talent, especially the guard position.
 
In Conclusion:
 
            As I looked at the numbers and compared them to the teams to the teams for which they played for, I can only come to one rock-solid conclusion: there is more to recruiting than just the numbers. As we know, Scout.com isn’t perfect with their rankings, nor is any other site or even coach out there.
There are so many things that go into compiling a recruiting class that I don’t think there will ever be a blueprint for Romar’s true recruiting strategy. Things like local recruits, national position depth, regional position depth, Romar’s long term recruiting efforts, team success, personal relationships, coaching reputation and program stability can all be factors in creating Romar’s recruiting classes.
Regarding the 2011 class, local players (all guards) are heavily influencing the direction in which it is headed. Players such as Hikeem Stewart, Tony Wroten, and Brett Kingma have been on Romar’s list for years and they just all happen to be guards. These are fluctuations that happen every year and can not be controlled. However, predicting them can be a true art form for coaches.
While 2011 may be guard-heavy, 2012 could be forward-heavy. The only true recruiting numbers that matter are the ones that those players put on the scoreboard.