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The Dawgs can’t wrangle the Buffs, lose 87-69

January 6, 2012 in Uncategorized by Themod | 8 comments

by: Griffin Bennett

Stop me if you’ve heard this before; a favored and more talented Husky team goes on the road and shows up with a lack of energy and walk out with a blowout loss in their pocket and talks of “next time”. Oh, you’re familiar with it? Well then I won’t bother repeating it.

Basically, it was a game of shooting percentages. The Dawgs shot 37.5% from the field and 20% from the free throws. Conversely, the Buffaloes shot 49% from the field and an above normal 57% from three. The difference is that Colorado played standard defense and UW played none. It might have been the worst overall defensive performance of the year. The Huskies looked completely lost at times on the defensive end with players not knowing who they are guarding, who they are supposed to be rotating to, or even if they are supposed to be played man or zone.

While I’m not close to being any sort of basketball expert, it appears as if their is little-to-no game plan coming in and that each teammate had just met each other a few minutes before the tip off. Chemistry, continuity, rhythm, whatever you want to call it, it’s not there when this team leaves the walls of Hec Ed.

With 16 games left now (15 in conference and 1 vs. SU) UW needs to go 12-4 the rest of the way to reach 20 wins which is normally the absolute minimum if you want an at-large bid to the Big Dance in March. Unfortunately, without a marquee non-conference win UW will need more like 22 wins this season.

On the other hand, it seems as if no team wants to win the conference this year. Cal, Arizona, and Stanford each lost on the road as well yesterday so winning the Pac 12 conference title is still possible, albeit unlikely with a future road win seemingly unattainable.

Also, the Huskies could always win the Pac-12 tournament for the third straight year and burst some better team’s bubble. The Huskies are bad but luckily the conference is worse.

Positives:

  • Tony Wroten – He’s the only player who shot over 40% on the day (9-16) with a game high 21 points as well as 6 rebounds, 3 assits, 5 turnovers, and an amazing 7 steals. He was abusing the other guards one-on-one but he still gets lazy and forgets to rotate or get back on D quick enough. Still, he’s our best defensive player, other than Aziz, on the team.
  • Rebounding – It wasn’t a bad night for rebounding, especially offensive boards, as they had 20 on offense and 38 overall. However, the team shooting 37.5% created a lot of extra opportunities. Ross led the team with 10 and Wroten was second with 6.

Negatives:

  • Defense – I went over it above. It’s just an embarrassing effort.
  • Abdul Gaddy- He played a team high of 33 minutes and finished with 4 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and no turnovers. How is that even possible? Was he trying to do nothing? He only took 5 shots, too. He wasn’t the offensive catalyst that he is supposed to be and his defense is below average. I think we need to start changing our expectations for him.
  • Darnell Gant – In a game in which he was desperately needed, he went 0-5 from the field, had 4 rebounds, 2 points, and 2 turnovers in 18 minutes. He doesn’t seem to know his role on this team and it leaves him in no man’s land most of the time. Similar to Holiday last year, he needs to focus entirely on defense and rebounding.
  • Martin Breunig – I almost feel bad for him. He plays with more energy than anyone else on the team but it’s never doing the right thing. He makes bad fouls, passes, shots, everything. It’s tough to watch.
  • Coaching – Just in general. Not getting your players ready on the road is on the coaching staff. It seems like a pick up game out there. Aziz only played 14 minutes, which is shocking to me, and Breunig was in for FAR too long after it was clear that he was struggling. If a game plan is being produced, it is not being taken onto the court. Romar and his coaching staff need to look in the mirror and makes some changes. Fast.

Summary:

There obviously are more negatives than the one’s I have listed so feel free to pile yours on in the comments. I have a feeling that it’s going to be a long season.

I can handle losing, don’t get me wrong. I’m a Husky fan in my twenties, I’m used to it. What I can’t handle is watching a terrible product. It’s not entertaining to watch these games and it is becoming a chore at times. Husky basketball is up-tempo and high octane with emotion and energy pouring out of the players. I don’t know what I’ve been watching when the team leaves Hec Ed.

Here’s an idea: if you’re Romar, tell them before the game that the player who he thinks puts out the worst effort on the court gets benched for rest of the month. Heck, why not tell them that he will get cut off the team. It seems that this team has a lack of motivation so let’s light a fire under them.

While a trip to the Dance isn’t out of the question yet, it sure doesn’t seem likely. A big change needs to happen and happen fast. Hope isn’t gone yet, but it’s fading quickly. Bow Down.

Game Preview: Colorado

January 4, 2012 in Uncategorized by Themod | 16 comments

by: John Chase

Colorado enters this game 9-4 on the season, 1-0 in Pac-12 play, most recently coming off a win against fellow newcomer Utah, whom the Buffaloes absolutely crushed 73-33. While I understand Utah is not even close to having the talent necessary to compete in Pac-12 yet, Colorado did not exactly come in with the highest hopes either after losing Alex Burk to the draft. That being said, Colorado has looked pretty decent in non-conference play with their biggest win a two pointer over Georgia, the same squad UW played last year in the NCAA tournament.

The Buffalo offense has been stable thus far with a low score of 54 and a high of 92. Most scores have been right around their season average of 71 points per game. Colorado receives its scoring from a variety of players with five putting up 9 or more per game and four of those in double digits. The Buffaloes also posses a very strong rebounder who has allowed them to remain one of the top in conference in terms of boards per outing. Much like the Huskies, Colorado does not do well at the free throw line.

Andre Roberson has been explosive for Colorado this season. Averaging 12 points and 12 rebounds per game, Roberson leads the team in boards and is second in points behind Carlon Brown who is scoring almost 13 per game (more on him later). Roberson is a tough, quick “guard” who has been near impossible to contain. At 6-7, most guards cannot match-up well with him, but at 195lb our forwards can do a little more muscling around. Roberson has been held to single digit rebounding only twice this season, while also having four games of 15 or more rebounds. The most recent was a season (and I believe career) high of 17 against Utah.

What makes Roberson so tough to stop is not only his own personal skills, but the rather large line-up Colorado is able to put on the floor. Against Utah, Colorado started players at 6-3, 6-5, 6-5, 6-7, 6-9. With the first four listed as guards. This team actually sizes up quite well with the Huskies who have tended to have a size advantage in the backcourt this season. Expect Darnell Gant and Desmond Simmons to draw shut down duty on Roberson. I suspect Simmons will be more successful in this endeavor as he is an avid rebounder like Roberson.

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Dawgs roast the Ducks 76-60

January 1, 2012 in Uncategorized by Themod | 4 comments

by: John Chase

Dean Rutz - Seattle Times

The Huskies started off conference play with a nice sweep over the Oregon schools and did so in fairly dominating fashion. The Dawgs won both games by 15+ points and led most of both games. Both OSU and UO made it close at times, but the Huskies were able to gut it out and regain the lead through strong offense and denying defense. Up next are newcomers Colorado and Utah, who faced each other last night where Colorado completed dominated a severely diminished Utah team 73-33. I’ll have more on them later, for now let’s talk about the game against the Ducks.

C.J. Wilcox came off the bench in the first half, allowing Tony Wroten to start. It wasn’t so much a demotion as a move to get the Huskies off to a fast start behind the legs and tenacity of Wroten. Wroten has been superb this year at attacking the hoop and, more often than not, completes the lay-in. Wilcox started the second half after entering the game and drilling some smooth shots with a consistent hand. Wilcox and Wroten helped the Dawgs keep the lead despite poor rebounding on both ends of the court and sub-par free throw shooting. With 3 minutes to go in the first half, Wilcox and Wroten accounted for half the Husky points. Wilcox finished the night with a game high 24 points tying his career high he set last March against UCLA when he dropped all 24 in the second half. Wilcox went 8-11 from the field last night, 6-8 from outside, and 2-2 from the free throw line.

E.J. Singler and Olu Ashaolu dominated the glass for the Ducks and combined for 21 rebounds, 9 on the offensive end leading to 16 second chance points as opposed to UW’s 6 total offensive boards and 2 second chance points. The Huskies often let smaller players sneak underneath them to grab boards they had no right taking. The Dawgs simply weren’t aggressive enough on the glass to get the type of numbers they are capable of.

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Huskies skin the Beavers 95-80

December 29, 2011 in Uncategorized by Themod | 7 comments

by: Griffin Bennett

With no MM writers able to cover tonight’s win, we’re letting our amazing community post their thoughts below in our comments section. When I get the time I will copy and paste the highlights into the actual post.

Post your thoughts below in the comments section! Thanks for letting me be on vacation. Bow Down!

Your thoughts:

  • The atmosphere was actually really, really amazing because Husky fans had two things to be excited about. 
  • The defense was just as bad as the football game’s, really, there were a lot of parallels. A lot of really awful fouls.
  • UW with nine turnovers, Wroten with 26 points, nine boards, four assists and two TO’s is actually pretty encouraging. Now the Dawgs have another huge challenge against Oregon. Backsliding is not an option. The Huskies need to keep playing at this level or it will be painful.
  • Nearly put up 100 points without much production from 3-point land.
  • Battled when OSU cut the lead, no hang-dog slumping attitude, just battled it out.
  • Simmons. I’m liking this guy as a sort of more athletic Bobby Jones type. He’s ahead of where Bobby was due to his redshirt year. I really like his energy and ability to contribute on both boards, a nice stroke, long arms, a real desire to play D….anyway he’ll be great to watch for 4 years.
  • Momentary lapses in concentration let the Beavs cut the lead at several junctures. Romar was very upset.
  • We are fixing our offensive problems by having poeple get in the lane, and the fact the wroten is starting to smake fouls shots is a huge plus.
(Thanks again, everyone!)

 

Game Preview: Oregon State

December 28, 2011 in Uncategorized by Themod | 2 comments

 

Editor’s Note: Due to the fact that all of us contributors here are either on vacation or watching the bowl game, for our post game report we will make it a community event. If you watch or attend the game, post your thoughts in the comments section of the “post game report” and I will copy and paste it into one big review. This should be very fun. On to the preview. 

by: John Chase

Sorry for the lack of coverage lately. Winter break is in full force meaning a lot of family time and going out with friends I don’t see most of the year. Unfortunately, I really won’t have a post game review for this game. Somehow the UW athletic department allowed themselves to schedule this game at the EXACT same time as the Alamo Bowl. My priority normally goes to basketball, but in this case I gotta watch the Bowl game. Hopefully I can link a few game reviews and get reader feedback from anyone who watches the game.

The Beavers are looking pretty solid this season after several disappointing finishes the past few seasons.  OSU comes into the conference opener with a 10-2 record and a streak of 4 straight wins, their latest coming against the Chicago State Cougars. The Beavers played a tight one against then #22 Vanderbilt, losing 64-62. Their other loss came against Idaho with a 74-60 score.

OSU is led by Jared Cunningham, without a doubt. Cunningham is a leading Pac-12 POY candidate and has had some monstrous games this season. In one week he had a 35 and 37 point game. He has been held to single digit scoring only twice this season, both games were OSU losses. The key to beating Oregon State? Shutting down Cunningham. He leads the team in scoring with 16.8 per game. Cunningham also snatches up around 4 rebounds per game, dishing out 3 assist and 2.4 turnovers per game. He also is one of the top defenders in the conference averaging a staggering 3 steals per game. The trick to shutting down Cunningham is forcing him to play outside the key. Cunningham is 11-46 on year outside the arc, while his inside presence can be absolutely vicious. He is a moderate free throw shooter, hitting a bit over 75% on the season.

OSU is a very balanced and seemingly talented team. Their youth last year has been turning into experience this season and is paying off in dividends. The Beavers receive significant contributions from 6 players outside of Cunningham, with each of those 6 scoring at least 5 points per game.

Cunningham is supported in the backcourt by “5-9″ Ahmad Starks (I put it in quotations because he makes I.T. look tall and I.T. was measured by the NBA at 5-9) and 6-3 Roberto Nelson. Starks is third in scoring with 12.5 points per game and is shooting an impressive 39% from deep (18-28). Starks is also a perfect 18-18 from the charity stripe. Maybe he can give our guys a few pointers during the pregame warmups. Starks is ineffective inside, but give him room on the outside and his high arcing shot can do some serious damage. Starks has had three games with at least four 3-point makes.

Nelson comes in with a bit over 11 points per outing on top of 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2.5 turnovers a night. Nelson is another dangerous 3-point shooter who thrives on receiving the outlet pass after a drive by Cunningham. Nelson is shooting 44% behind the arc and has made 20 of his 46 attempts. Nelson is a scrappy guard who started the season slow with five straight games of 5 points or less. Since then, Nelson has scored at least 11 in every game and has two 20+ point games thus far. Nelson’s higher scoring games follow solid outside shooting nights. Nelson tends to be the first man off the bench and receivers starter minutes.

The OSU frontcourt is decent in its own right. Devon Collier stands at 6-7 and is second in scoring for the Beavers. Collier brings in 14 points and 5 rebounds a game. He is a very solid shooter from short to mid-range, but struggles at the line. Collier is averaging around 7 FT attempts per game and knows how to draw a foul. This is not necessarily a bad thing due to the fact he has made only 58% of his attempts. In crunch time this could prove to be a huge factor.

Angus Brandt is a 6-10 237lb F-C who likes to play quite mobile, taking shots inside the paint and outside the arc. Brandt is a very respectable 9-18 from deep and is a definite threat when given space and time. The key to preventing Brandt from taking deep shots is tight, pressure defense. Brandt tends to be more comfortable from longer distances as shown by his sub-par rebounding stats that do not make sense give his size. Brandt is only averaging 2.8 rebounds per game. The majority of the Beaver rebounding comes from 6-7 280lb Joe Burton and  6-10 201lb Eric Moreland.

Joe Burton is a big, big body that uses size rather than speed to make his move. Burton averages about 6.4 rebounds per game and has only attempted 6 outside shots, making 3. He is a better player in the paint, making around 50% of his shots and hitting 70% at the line. As much as I like the 4 guard line-up, Burton’s size combined with Brandt’s height demand Aziz N’Diaye to reenter the starting 5. Expect Darnell Gant to cover Brandt, while N’Diaye bodies up against Burton.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups:

Oregon State:

Ahmad Starks 5-9 165lb
Jared Cunningham 6-4 194lb
Devon Collier 6-7 206lb
Joe Burton 6-8 280lb
Angus Brandt 6-10 237lb

Washington:

Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb (Don’t be surprised if Tony Wroten replaces Gaddy in the starting 5)
C.J. Wilcox 6-5 190lb
Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
Darnell Gant 6-8 230lb
Aziz N’Diaye 7-0 260lb

Keys to the Game:

Rebounding:

OSU averages around 36 boards per game, while UW has been picking up around 41. With several strong 3-point shooters, OSU presents a challenge to the Husky team to collect every board they can. If the Dawgs allow OSU to gather up 10 or more offensive boards, the Huskies could very well find themselves looking at a big deficit due to outside shots raining in.

Defense:

This may seem broad and pretty obvious, but it is something the Huskies have struggled with, especially against teams with tough backcourts. OSU is in the top 10 for both points per game with 84 and assists with nearly 19 per night. The Beavers thrive on play making through passing rather than creating opportunities for themselves. If the Huskies can press early and hard, while preventing easy passes and wide open looks, their athleticism should help them prevail.

Ball Control:

This is another category that the Huskies have been on a roller coaster with, either dishing out a bunch of assists or turning it over every other possession. OSU averages 10 steals per game and force 20 turnovers per game. That is an extreme amount and is a testament to the brutal defense the Beavers put out on the court. Wroten will need to be very mindful of this and keep his risky passes to a minimum. To avoid turnovers the Huskies will need to run a fast offense with a lot of screens to lose their defender.

Final Thought:

This is a dangerous match-up for the Huskies. Hec-Ed has been kind to the Dawgs, but with a large majority of Husky fans opting to watch the Alamo Bowl, the home game feel likely won’t be there. The Dawgs cannot let this get to them and need to bring the type of game that nearly beat Marquette and stayed half competitive with Duke. If the Dawgs can execute and run an efficient offense I see no reason why they cannot win this game. That being said, this will likely be a close and stressful game.

Final Score Prediction:

UW-84 OSU-80

Game Preview: Cal State Northridge

December 20, 2011 in Uncategorized by Themod | 6 comments

There was a game on Sunday? What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.

by: John Chase

Sorry for a lack of game review following the humiliating and embarrassing loss to SDST, but I just couldn’t bring myself to relieve that experience. Arguably one of, if not thee, worst loss in the last 10 years and possibly in program history.

The only players I thought played a truly complete and solid game were Desmond Simmons and Darnell Gant. Simmons is a workhorse who’s attitude the entire team should emulate. Simmons had 11 boards, 7 offensive, and scored 8 points. Gant put up 10 rebounds, 5 offensive, and dropped 15. Outside of them, it was a lot of bad basketball and underachieving play.

On to Cal State.

Cal State is 3-6 on the year coming off two straight wins against Pepperdine and Pacifica (who the beat by 41). In each of their wins they have scored at least 73 points, with two games in the 90′s. Their losses have featured scores of 67 or less with a low of 49. On the year the Matadors are averaging just under 70 points and 37 boards per game. The are shooting 37% from the field as well.

The Matadors receive solid contributions from a number of players and are led in scoring by Stephan Hicks, a 6-5 190lb guard, who is averaging over 17 points per game and a team high 8.7 rebounds per game. He is a do-it-all, hard working player that is an extreme threat in all aspects of the game. Hicks is a fantastic free throw shooting who drains nearly 90% of his attempts from the line. What I wouldn’t do to have him coach Tony Wroten….

Five other players average over 8 points per game, with three of those players scoring double digit averages. Michael Lizarraga is third in scoring with 10 points per night and second in rebounding with 7 boards on average. Lizarraga stands at 6-7 240lb and is a very strong inside threat. Hopefully Aziz N’Diaye will be returning tomorrow as the game against SDST showed a glaring weakness in post defense without him on the court. Lizarraga is 0-3 from the FT line and 0-1 from outside. He does most of his work next to the rim and can be contained by keeping his touches outside the paint. Lizarraga has played in only one game this season so while his stats seem impressive, its hard to judge his abilities from a single outing.

Josh Greene leads the team in assists with 3.6 per game and is second in scoring, averaging 10.6 per outing. Greene is a 6-0 180lb guard with a sweet, sweet FT touch shooting 90.5% on the season and some great defensive abilities as well, leading the Matadors in steals. His outside shot is still being developed and has only made 16 of his 59 attempts on the year. Greene is second only to Vinnie McGee who is 17 of 91 on the season. As a team the Matadors are shooting a bit over 26% from outside, but are 78% from the FT line. Clearly this is a team that thrives on their inside game and getting to the foul line, where they average 22 attempts per game.

Vinnie McGee is a 5-10 170lb guard with 9.7 ppg on the year. He is second in assists with 2.7 per game, but is also averaging 2 turnovers per game.  He is a 75% free throw shooter and like the rest of his team does most of his work inside the paint. McGee does lead the team in 3-point makes, but with a 28% shooting average from deep, he is not a huge threat from outside.

Frankie Eteuati is their starting center and is build very similar to UW’s own Jernard Jerreau. Eteuati stands 6-10, but weighs in at only 190lb. He is not a big contributor averaging only 1.4 points and 2.1 rebounds in his 8 games thus far. The Matadors do not possess a true big man threat, something the Huskies would be good to attack.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups:

Cal State:

G – Vinnie McGee 5-10 170lb
G – Josh Greene 6-0 180lb
G – Aqeel Quinn 6-4 190lb
F – Stephan Hicks 6-5 190lb
F – FrankieEteuati 6-10 190lb

Washington:

G – Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
G – C.J. Wilcox 6-5 190lb
G – Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
F – Darnell Gant 6-8 230lb
C – Aziz N’Diaye 7-0 260lb (If N’Diaye is still out, I’d bet on Desmond Simmons starting)

Keys to the Game:

  • Attack the Rim - Only Tony Wroten has been doing this as of late. While I commend him for this, he has no right hand and this often leads to terrible lay-ins that clunk off the rim. I appreciate him drawing fouls, but he is still a terrible foul shot. Ross and Wilcox need to get aggressive and start taking shots inside. Wilcox has been better than Ross at this, but he all to often draws up short of contact, missing out on easy free throws. With the Matadors lacking a strong inside presence, UW can really affect the game by getting in the paint and attack them at their weakness.
  • Defense - This may seem vague, but after the horrendous defense UW put out against the Jackrabbits I feel like it has to be said. Too many players are not getting the lateral movement they need to stay in front of their man and in turn preventing them from driving the lanes. The Dawgs need to communicate better on defense to ensure rotations lead to tight man coverage rather than open shots.
  • Rebounding - This is something the Huskies can do either very well or very poorly depending on the game. Recently its been on the up-and-up with Simmons and Ross leading the way behind the ever constant N’Diaye. It’s all about controlling the offensive glass to give our shooters opportunities and maintaining the defensive glass to prevent second chance shots by the opposition. I think a big part of tomorrows game will be how well UW can use its superior size to eat up rebounds.

Final Score Prediction: - UW-85 CSN-70

I truly hope Romar watches the tape from our last game and begins to appreciate just what kind of work Simmons does for our team. He is one of the toughest, hardest working players I’ve seen since Jon Brockman was rocking the number 40. He needs more play time and a bigger role in the team’s game plan.

I also hope Romar begins to coach Wroten on how to use his right hand and begins to hold him more responsible for his wild plays and passes. He has to learn that this is college, not high school, and players are much more aware and capable of stopping his plays form happening.

If Ross and Wilcox and finally begin to deliver inside and develop into the players they should be, this team will greatly benefit from it. At this point, UW needs to win the conference title with at least 14 wins to secure an at-large bid, but I will not feel comfortable unless we secure the Pac-12 auto bid by winning the conference tournament.

I hope this team can turn things around because at this point the season has been a huge bust of wasted potential.

Go Dawgs!

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Game Preview: South Dakota State

December 17, 2011 in Uncategorized by Themod | 9 comments

by: John Chase

South Dakota State comes in with a 9-4 record, 2-0 in conference. They lost to the University of North Dakota 89-70 on the road in their last outing. SDST played UND 5 days earlier and won 92-54. Not sure the last time I’ve heard of a team playing two games against a team in less than a week. Not sure I’ve seen a team win by 40 then lose by 20 to the same team a week later either. Not sure what to think of that…

The Jackrabbits of SDST are a high scoring bunch. Their season average is 77 points, but they have 4 games of 92 or more points, including a 97 point game in OT. The Jackrabbits held their opposition to 60 points or less in two of those games. This is a team capable on both ends of the court and average nearly 38 rebounds a game. Second chance points are huge and SDST averages a bit under 12 offensive boards per game. The Huskies need to be more consistent in allowing 10 or less offensive boards. Many 3-point shots come after grabbing an offensive board and against a high scoring team like SDST that is a very real and very dangerous possibility. 6 players have over 10 3-point makes on the year and Griffan Callahan leads the team with 38 makes on 73 attempts.

One of the most dangerous aspects of the SDST team is their ability to get to the line. The Jackrabbits average nearly 24 free throw attempts per game and make around 16 per game. UW will need to play tough defense by sealing the lanes to prevent the type of penetration that often leads to free throws. With the Dawgs possibly rolling out the four guard line-up this could be a lot easier as our guards are much more mobile than some of our big men. Desmond Simmons and Darnell Gant move pretty well, but Martin Breunig and Shawn Kemp are not very quick on defense at times.

Nate Wolters leads the team in scoring with 20.2 points per game, while also adding 5 rebounds and nearly 6 assists. Wolters is also picking up almost 2 steals per game and a bit over 2 turnovers per game. He is also a preseason pick for the Summit Player of the Year. Wolters is a 6-4 190lb guard who is extremely dangerous and I fully expect Terrence Ross or C.J. Wilcox to take on this duty after controlling UCSB’s star pretty well in the second half. Wolters is an prolific scorer who had a career high of 36 and already a 32 point game on the year. Containing and controlling Wolters is a huge key to winning this game.

Griffan Callahan is another tough body who is averaging over 11 points per game as well as a team high 6.2 boards per game. His 39% 3-point shooting is also a team high and he looks to be a very dangerous player as well. Callahan has three 20+ point games this season, but is on a streak of five games of 11 or less. His season high of 25 included 7 of 11 from deep. Callahan is a streaking shooter who is definitely looking to break out of a resent slump. Callahan clocks in at 6-4 200lb, meaning C.J. Wilcox, or even Tony Wroten, will likely draw this assignment as he is a superb shot blocker on the perimeter and knows how to read a 3-point specialist like himself.

Brayden Carlson rounds out their starting guards and also stands at 6-4 and 186lb. Unlike Wolters and Callahan, Carlson is not a high scoring guard, averaging only 6 points and 3 boards per game. Carlson also dishes out 3 assists and 2 turnovers per game. He has a season high of 11 points, but is on a streak of two straight 3 point outings.

Chad White comes off the bench as a 6-6 198lb guard and is third in scoring at 9 points per game, grabbing around 4 boards as well.

Jordan Dykstra and Tony Fiegen start in the frontcourt for the Jackrabbits. They stand at 6-8 222lb and 6-7 215lb respectively and combine for 15 points and 8 boards. The tallest player on the roster stands at 6-9, which is great for UW who will be without 7-0 Aziz N’Diaye until conference play. The Jackrabbit offense starts with the backcourt and is filled out by the frontcourt, similar to how UW itself operates.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups:

South Dakota:

G – Brayden Carlson 6-4 186lb
G – Nate Wolters 6-4 190lb
G – Griffan Callahan 6-4 200lb
F – Tony Fiegen 6-7 215lb
F – Jordan Dykstra 6-8 222lb

Washington:

G – Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
G – C.J. Wilcox 6-5 190lb
G – Tony Wroten 6-5 205lb
F – Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
F – Darnell Gant 6-8 225lb

Keys to the Game:

  • Free Throws - Wolters is a fantastic free throw shooter and went 7-7 in his last game. He gets to the line and usually makes about 3/4 of them. The Huskies can be a great free throw shooting team depending on who gets to the line. I give Wroten a ton of credit for working hard to the rack to get foul shots, but he needs to convert them at a higher rate. Wilcox and Ross need to take a page out of our point guards’ books and get to the line. Drive hard, create space with a cross over, fake pass, something…It’s easy enough to pump fake a shot and then jump into contact. UW could have pulled away from UCSB in the final minutes, but four straight free throws misses by UW made it a 3 point game rather than a 7 point game.
  • Rebounding - The biggest difference between SDST’s two games against UND was the rebounding. In the win the Jackrabbits pulled down 42 boards, in the loss only 27. Limiting the 3-point shooting starts by preventing second chance opportunities. UW did a fairly solid job last game without N’Diaye on the court, getting three players with 7 or more boards, but they allowed 14 offensive boards and 40 total boards. The Huskies need to do a bit better screen their guys and boxing out to grab the defensive boards.
  • Ball Movement - While it’s pretty impressive that we scored 87 points with only 8 assists, I don’t like how much our players are having to create on their own. This comes down to Romar and staff not drawing up solid plays. The movement and press options have improved, but are still a work in progress. Our players also need to understand how to give their shooters more opportunities. I love that Wroten is taking 20 shots and scoring 27 points, but when our two best shooters have less shots combined than Wroten, that is a bit strange and unacceptable. Drive and dish is a fantastic way to get some open looks on the perimeter as it collapses the defense.

Final Score Prediction: UW-88 SDST-75

I think this is a good match-up for the Huskies. The Jackrabbits play an uptempo game with similarly sized players. I think our line-up is more well rounded and we have a bit better post players in Gant and Simmons. Our guard play should be superior as well, but the Jackrabbits are not exactly scrubs themselves. Controlling Wolters will be a big priority and in turn the Dawgs need to keep on eye on sharpshooters like Callahan. If the Huskies can come out quick and put some pressure on SDST, they will be doing themselves a huge favor. I’d like to see some aggressiveness from Ross and Wilcox to compliment Wroten and Gaddy. If all four can show they are legitimate threats in the paint, our outside shots will open up and we could have ourselves quite a show.

Go Dawgs!

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UW wrangles the Gauchos 87-80

December 17, 2011 in Uncategorized by Themod | 4 comments

by: John Chase

DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Well that was a stressful win. That much is certain. UW had a 10 point lead with 4 minutes to go only to throw it away by giving up two straight 3-pointers and two lay-ins. All of a sudden it was tied at 77 in a span a hair longer than a minute. All this out of a timeout by UW. Where was the game plan? I can understand a 10-0 run, it happens, but not out of a timeout and not in the final minutes against a mid-major.

The refs started out decent enough in the first half. They were atrocious in the second. Between several very poor calls and misses as well as UW missing huge free throws at the end of the game kept this much closer than it should have been. Four straight free throws were missed with under a minute on the clock. Unacceptable.

Thankfully, Romar pulled Tony Wroten(who was playing out of his mind) after missing his third straight free throw in the closing minutes and put in Desmond Simmons who is an excellent free throw shooter. Wroten was 4-9 on the night. Not going to work. Not at all.

UW came out with a 4 guard line-up featuring Tony Wroten with Aziz N’Diaye on the sidelines due to his knee injury. UW came out in the second half with C.J. Wilcox on the bench and Desmond Simmons in the starting 5. This was a good move as Wilcox was cold tonight and we needed a big man in the post to shore up the defense. It paid off as UCSB had 26 points in the paint in the first half and only 10 in the second.

Tony Wroten. He is the best, most frustrating player I’ve ever seen. Yet he is the heart and soul of this team. We have been asking who’s this teams leader. I have an answer, Tony Wroten. Say all you want about the turnovers, as long as he keeps playing this way I am OK with it. Keep it to 5 and under, that is my limit. 27 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist (more on this later), 5 turnovers, and 1 steal. I’ll take that stat line. He could have had 30 if he made his free throws. He was visibly upset with himself after missing the last 3 free throws. This was great to see. It means he is starting to take the free throws seriously and understands what kind of impact free throws have on a game. He had a monster slam after juking out his defender with a sweet fake pass. I thought for sure it would be on SportCenter, but sadly it was not. His assist, however, was.

Terrence Ross. When can we get a full 40 out of you?? Yet again, it took a huge second half for Ross to break double digits. Ross had only 2 points in the first half. He tallied up 14 in the second half and finished with 5 rebounds, an assist, two steals, and just one turnover. Ross nabbed the number 2 spot on the Top Ten with another vicious jam courtesy of Tony Wroten. It would have been number 1 if not for a great 3/4 court shot that swished at the end of half. Hard to argue against that. Wroten lobbed up a beautiful assist that Ross turned into a full 360 jam. Absolutely monstrous. Ross went 4-4 from the charity stripe with all 4 coming in crunch time. He hit 2 of 4 from deep and shot 5 of 12 on the night. Wroten had 21 shots compared to a combined total of 17 for Wilcox and Ross. I like that Wroten is taking the initiative and getting to the rack, but Wilcox and Ross are our best shooters and need to have more opportunities.

Desmond Simmons had another stellar night and continues to impress me with his solid shot and great work effort. 9 points on 4-5 shooting including a dime from deep, 8 rebounds, and 2 steals. He did miss his lone free throw, which was infuriating simply because he is a solid player at the line. Simmons best plays often come defending in the post where he deflects passes left and right. Both of his steals came from deflecting passes and chasing down the loose ball. If Tony hadn’t willed this team to victory tonight I would be expecting Romar to throw Simmons in the starting 5 simply because of how much of an impact he has on the game. I think Simmons is one of the more underrated and valued players on the team and possibly in the Pac-12. Game in and game out he performs well.

Abdul Gaddy silently shot his way to 17 points. I didn’t even realize he did that well until I looked at the post-game stats. He only had 1 assist, but given the fact that the team only had 8 assist on the night it hard to expect him to get much more than that. Gaddy was 6-10 on the night and drilled 2 of his 3 3-pointers. He also tallied 2 boards and 0 turnovers. Not bad. He looked much more aggressive tonight and seems to be taking a page out of Wroten’s book.

Darnell Gant was all sorts tonight. His 2-7 shooting was sub par. He was 4-5 from the line and ended with 9 points and 8 boards, 4 of which were offensive. That was great to see, especially with N’Diaye out of the game. He also dished out an assist and had a steal, going without a turnover tonight.

C.J. Wilcox all but disappeared tonight. He took only 5 shots and hit just 2 of them. Wilcox had picked up 4 fouls with over 15 minutes to go in the second half, which in part contributed to his lack of opportunities. Wilcox needs to get aggressive and attack the hoop. He has a fantastic inside shot that is underused. He still seems to have the streaky mentality where is he cold he can’t get hot, if he is hot his shots just wont stop draining through the net.

What Needed Improvement:

  • Free Throws - 19-30 from the line is atrocious. I plan on writing an article on free throws in the next few days so I’ll try not to rant too much on this post. This mainly falls on Wroten who was 4-9 from the line. Gaddy was also a tad behind with a 3-5 night from the stripe and Kemp was 2-4 on the night. The rest of the team was nearly perfect.
  • Rebounding - UW got out rebounded 40-35. Three players had 7 or more boards. Usually I’d be ecstatic about this, especially considering the Dawgs were without N’Diaye. What upset me were the 14 offensive boards UCSB collected leading to 12 second chance points. We have got to get better at preventing these second chance opportunities.
  • Assists - We scorer nearly 90 points while only handing out 8 assists. I don’t even know how that is possible. While I like the fact that the team has enough players that can create their own opportunities, I like us dishing out 15+ assists much more. It shows movement and team unity.

What was Good:

  • Defensive Tenacity - The Huskies forced 17 turnovers (only committing 7 themselves) and had 8 steals. I’d like to see a count of how many tipped balls UW had because they were all over the place. I loved the group effort. I realize the Gauchos scored quite a bit today, but to be fair Orlando Johnson was on fire and could not miss. He kept UCSB in the game much longer than I thought was possible.
  • Inside Presence - I don’t mean our post players, I mean attacking the rim. Wroten highlighted it, but Ross had his fair share of nice inside shots in the second half. Gaddy was another force inside with a couple of nice drives. I still want to see Ross and Wilcox get to the hoop and earn some real free throws. Tonight, their shots came from late game fouls designed to slow us down and give UCSB a chance at an upset comeback.

Final Thoughts:

Giving up the 10 point lead in a matter of seconds was just plain ugly. I don’t know how Romar doesn’t use a time out after the back-to-back 3′s to rally the team and reorganize the offense. They need to keep the pedal to the metal.

Wroten could end up as the leading scorer for this team with the way he is going. Ross and Wilcox need to find their identity and get their game going for the full 40. A win is a win and hopefully this will inspire some great play. There is a lot of work to be done if they want to make the NCAA and it all starts here at Hec-Ed. No better place to do it than at home.
Go Dawgs!

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Game Preview: UCSB

December 15, 2011 in Uncategorized by Themod | 5 comments

by: John Chase

UCSB comes in with a 5-2 record, both losses coming in overtime. Their most recent game was a 65-61 win over USD. This game had a chance to turn into a loss when a few Santa Barbara fans threw tortillas on the court with .6 seconds remaining. Rather than assess the Gauchos with a technical, the refs opted to give the fans a formal warning and let play continue. A technical would have meant two free throws and possession of the ball. Making both free throws and sinking a quick shot could have given USD a 1 point win instead of a 4 point loss.

The Gauchos are a pretty solid offensive team averaging nearly 80 points and over 40 rebounds per game. They are also dishing out 16 assists per game and hitting around 46% from the field. Their defense is fairly proficient as well, allowing only 66 points and 33 boards per game.

Santa Barbara is only forcing 12 turnovers per game but are committing only 11 per game themselves. They have very solid point guards who know how to handle pressure situations and make the smart decision nearly every time. The Husky defense will need to bring the pressure hard to force the UCSB guards into uncomfortable situations.

Orlando Johnson is a superstar for the Gauchos. He leads the team in every major statistical category. He is averaging over 22 points, almost 7 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and over a steal per game. Johnson has been absolutely stellar thus far and the Huskies will need to work their defensive magic to control his impact on the game. At 6-5 205lb, Johnson is a bit of a mismatch for both guards and forwards. I suspect C.J. Wilcox or Terrence Ross will draw this assignment as they have the length and athleticism to stay in his face and play more preventative defense.

James Nunnally is another strong player for Santa Barbara. At 6-7 205lb, Nunnally is a bit small for a forward, but taller than your average guard. He is averaging 18 points and nearly 6 boards per game. He is a fantastic free throw shooter with 31 makes on 38 attempts. He also has decent range with 11 makes on 33 attempts from deep. I suspect Desmond Simmons will draw this assignment should he take Aziz N’Diaye‘s starting position. Simmons has the speed, mobility, and tenacity to play tight D on Nunnally anywhere on the court.

Jamie Serna rounds out the tough UCSB back court. He is listed at 6-9 and 235lb. He is the only other double digit scorer with 11.6 points per game. He is also third in rebounding at 4.9 boards per game. Serna is not an outside shooter, but he does do a solid job of drawing fouls and has attempted 30 free throws on the year.

Santa Barbara also features 7-2 245lb Greg Somogyi from Hungary. Somogyi averages only 12 minutes, 3 points, and a bit under 4 rebounds per game.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups:

Santa Barbara:

G – Nate Garth 6-2 180lb
G – Christian Peterson 6-3 219lb
G – Orlando Johnson 6-5 205lb
F – James Nunnally 6-7 205lb
F – Jamie Serna 6-9 235lb

Washington:

G – Abdul Gaddy 6-3 185lb
G – C.J. Wilcox 6-5 190lb
G – Terrence Ross 6-6 195lb
F – Desmond Simmons 6-7 220lb
F – Darnell Gant 6-8 230lb

Keys to the Game:

  • Defensive Pressure - With a strong UCSB frontcourt and the absence of N’Diaye, the Huskies will have their work cutout for them when it comes to containing the oppositions scoring in the paint. Simmons and Gant will need to step up their games and the Husky bench will need to rise to the occasion. This means Shawn Kemp and Martin Breunig need to shake off the freshman jitters and establish themselves as contributing members of the team on a consistent basis.
  • Rebounding - The Gauchos know how to rebound and so do the Dawgs. After watching Duke take apart the Huskies on long rebounds, it’ll be interesting to see how UW bounces back and if they can bang down low with Nunnally and Johnson. The Husky backcourt needs to go back to what they were doing to start the year by collapsing on the boards and picking up the mid range stuff outside the grasp of our frontcourt.
  • Free Throws - If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. Free throws win ball games, plain and simple. Ross and Wilcox are simply not doing enough to get to the line. So much so that Wilcox has not attempted a free throw in 5 games. Tony Wroten has more makes than anyone else on the team has attempted and his free throw shooting, while seemingly improving (thank god), is still terrible on the season. The UW backcourt, and even the frontcourt, can and needs to do much more to draw shooting fouls. Play through the contact, go strong to the hoop, pull of some dribble moves to get the defender off balance and make it happen.

Final Score Prediction: UW-86 UCSB-76
 
This is the first of 5 straight home games for the Huskies who have sorely missed the confines of Hec-Ed. The terrible road woes continue to be an issue, but something that must be corrected immediately if they want to get back the NCAA.

I think this is a winnable game for the Dawgs as they have a better backcourt and a decent enough frontcourt to content with the Gaucho big men. The key is playing a solid 40 minute rather than the 25 or 30 they have been the past few games. 4-4 is a bad place to be, especially considering they have lost the last 4 of 5.

These guys know how to win, they just need to execute and not give up early. Wroten has been tough these past few games and is really proving how valuable he is to this team. Yes, the turnovers are maddening and against Duke he went from a point guard to a shooting guard since no one else was attacking the rim. He may very well continue to develop this role if Wilcox and Ross refuse to draw fouls. While I appreciate the nice inside shots Wilcox took and made against Duke, he stopped well short of contact that could have had minimal effect on his shot and drawn a foul as well. UW needs to do everything it can to get Johnson into foul trouble early. This means a fast, motion offense with plenty of screens and players running hard and tight off of those screens.

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Huskies lose to #5 Duke at MSG 80-86

December 11, 2011 in Uncategorized by Themod | 13 comments

by: John Chase

Well, at least it was close at the end. UW came back from another terrible first half to make the game somewhat competitive. After going down by up to 19 points several times, UW rallied at the end with a C.J. Wilcox 3-pointer at the end of regulation to make it a 6 point game. Unfortunately, the Huskies simply couldn’t put together enough stops to truly get back in the game as time dwindled.

Abdul Gaddy made it a 6 point game with a minute left and poor Duke free throw shooting kept the Huskies in the game. The night was off to an ominous start when Wilcox air-balled a his first 3-point attempt of the night (he went 2-7 from outside).

The end of the game was pretty strange. UW was without a post player due to Aziz N’Diaye leaving with some sort of knee injury (not sure if it’s a sprain or something worse, I’ll update when I hear more) and Darnell Gant fouling out. UW was also without its two star point guards and ended with Hikeem Stewart on the court for the final 30 seconds. Both Tony Wroten and Abdul Gaddy fouled out of the game.

Speaking of Tony Wroten, he has gone from a pass first guard to an attack 2 guard. He was one of the few players to really attack the lanes and get to the line. He went 6-8 from the free throw line on the night, another marked improvements from the first games of the year. He finished with a game high 23 points, 0 assists (bleh….), and 5 turnovers (this is normal for him, I am not surprised). He went 8-12 from the field, but could have gone 10-12 if he could make the easy lay-ins by using his opposite hand like a true college player.

Abdul Gaddy played a very quiet game opposite Wroten. Only 7 points on 2-4 shooting (0-2 from range) and went 3-5 from the line, a stat he and the rest of the team need to drastically improve on. What he did well is what he always does, 7 assists to 1 turnover. He is the calm to Wroten’s chaos. I’d like him to attack the hoop more. Not necessarily take the shot, just drive to collapse the lanes and free up our shooters. He still looked slow on the court and hesitant at times. He did a much better job getting in towards the rim at the end of the game, but his efforts came too late.

C.J. Wilcox was excellent minus his outside shooting. He drove the lane hard throughout the final 20 minutes and consistently scored with a strange, yet beautiful leaping Superman-esque move to float the shot over the defenders. I don’t know how he does it. He did it a few times last season as well and it is becoming his signature move in a way. His 22 points and aggressive attack of the hoop were great to see and were definitely needed, but yet again did not attempt a single free throw. I’m only OK with that because he scored in bunches and made his shots inside.

Terrence Ross was off tonight. He still managed 16 points but it took 17 attempts. He missed his AND1 opportunity and that was the only action he saw at the charity stripe. He is still very tentative about getting inside the paint at times and it really holds him back from his true potential. If he starts attacking with authority more often he’ll average over 20 points a game just by getting to the free throw line. Ross did try to throw down a monster jam over Plumlee, but it rattled loose from the hoop.

Aziz N’Diaye looked solid tonight on the defensive end. He only had 4 points and 5 rebounds before injuring his knee. Hopefully nothing is torn and it is just a minor sprain allowing him to return quickly. We will miss his size in the paint and I imagine that UW might go with a 4 guard line up to start most games. This could put Tony Wroten in the starting 5. We may also see Martin Breunig or Desmond Simmons in the starting 5 if N’Diaye must sit out. He managed to contain Plumlee pretty effectively and moved well on the court. The defense as a whole rotated much better tonight.

As I write this, Kentucky just got beat by Indiana on a last second three. At least Karma is still punishing the wicked.

I also need to give Romar some credit. I’m going to pretend that he reads my articles and implemented the high post and full court pressure because I told him to. He finally used full court pressure with over 10 minutes on the clock and low and behold the game went from a 19 point deficit to 6 at the end of the game. The pressure forced Duke to take poor shots, turn the ball over, and it gave UW that many more opportunities. It worked just as I said it would. UW has terrific athletes who can run and gun all day. Full court pressure allows us many more chances at fast breaks and open lanes. The high post ran through Ross and Gant and led to the only good 3-point shots. UW was struggling to get their shooters open and when they were open, they missed. UW (and Duke) went 5-17 from deep. Well below the Huskies talent and potential.

What Needed Improvement:

  • Rebounding - The Huskies should have dominated this aspect of the game, but Duke came out on top 37-33. Many of the Duke rebounds came off long misses that the Blue Devils tipped out to their guards who were not blocked out and contained by the Huskies. Those long offensive boards also led to at least 2 of the Blue Devils 3-pointers, which is exactly what I said would happen in my pregame analysis. Ross led the Huskies with 7 boards and Simmons collected 6. N’Diaye only had 5 on the night in his 17 minutes of play.
  • Shooting - UW was not hitting the open baskets and missed several critical easy lay-ins that shut down whatever momentum the Dawgs had going. Our players need to knock down the open shots because they have been few and far between lately, it would seem. I know our guys can shoot and I know players have cold nights, but tonight it seemed like everyone was cold at once and that is absolutely killer.
  • Free Throw Shooting - 13-23…That is unacceptable. Thank the stars that Tony Wroten has been getting better and made 6-8 on the night. I’ll take 75% shooting from the Dawgs just about any night. No other player had more than 3 makes for the Dawgs. Wilcox and Ross, our two best free throw shooters, combined for only 1 free throw. That is unacceptable. These guys need to get the ball and take their man to the rack for some good old fashioned basketball.

What was Good:

  • Gut and Drive - After getting down early once more, the Huskies fought back and worked their asses off to get back in the game. After scoring only 26 in the first half, UW doubled their scoring with 54 in the second. If UW could have managed 35 or 40 in the first half, UW would have won with ease. Statistically the Huskies and Blue Devils were essentially identical outside of the poor shooting in the first 10 minutes. The tenacity displayed by Wilcox and Wroten was fantastic. These players are starting to feel the heat and are dying to get back to their winning ways.

Final Thoughts: 

Tough week in the Big Apple for the Dawgs. They needed a big win, but came up short in both match-ups. All said, they Huskies looked much better than the maligned efforts they displayed in St. Louis and Nevada. No one in the Pac-12 plays like Duke or Marquette, which gives me hope that the Huskies can pretty much run the slate come conference and finished with 14, maybe 15 wins.

If the Dawgs can win at least 13 and make the final game of the conference tournament, they should go into March with 22 wins or so and 9 or 10 losses. That should be enough for an NCAA bid, though it will be a low seed. The pieces are here, the will to win is coming into its own, and the Huskies are just a few mistakes away from being 6-2 or 7-1 even. Our team is young, but talented and can do a lot of damage when they get their heads in the right place. Let’s get it done, boys.

Go Dawgs!

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