It actually could happen, as it is not uncommon for kids this age to grow in leaps and bounds. Realistically we are probably looking at pretty close to what it is going to be this year, though it is also realistic that there could be some important adjustments made.

Darnell needs to be more aggressive when he gets the ball in scoring position. There was the one time that he got the offensive board and instead of going straight up and powering it in, which he is clearly capable of doing, he finessed it and drew the foul for two shots. It was fine that he got that rebound, but he needs to take it one step further.

Though it was good to see Breshers start, Ty needs to do more than what he did last night if he wants to really be the man in the middle. There needs to be a better passer in the post to complement him and get him the ball in close though.

Matt needs to become that guy, but he tried to do too much again on his own last night. MBA is probably the best option out there right now if you want a low post scorer and unfortunately that’s not saying much.

He needs to look to pass out of the double team much sooner. He has a low post offensive game and it will only be enhanced by a greater ability to better know when give up opportunities. If he were Jamaal Williams, the black hole approach might be more forgivable and with his height and length we’d looking at a high lottery pick, but he sorely needs to learn when to make the right pass when he is too surrounded.

Last year with Brockman, if Isaiah and Quincy forced shots up in the lane and they didn’t fall, Jon gets a ton of garbage buckets and foul outs and makes Qvale look like a big old country stiff instead of a player. Everyone laughs it off and UW wins handily. That is not happening this year, even with an improved Q, IT and the rest

UW’s only option is to get these three bigs to do their best at minimizing the loss of Jon and that’s why Romar has to go with the guy that gets the most rebounds per minute in Breshers over Gant, regardless to the speed and defensive skills that Darnell brings. You can’t run all over the place when you don’t have the ball.

Next year with Kanter, UW will probably have a solid llow post scorer that can clean the glass, plus take his game outside much better than Brockman ever did. If these three can bring their games up this year to a functional level, the pressure won’t be as great on the freshman and the Dawgs could effectively have a real national title contender.

Until then UW will have to find a way to minimize the loss of Brockman by committee. It was impressive to see the enthusiasm that Gant brought off the bench for his short stints in the 2nd half and that was a good sign. As long as Darnell plays hard like he wants to earn that spot back and only cares about the team, he Tyreese and Matt will not be a huge weakness.

If Darnell can take this move as motivation to learn to rebound the ball more effectively, this is a win/win for everyone. Conversely, if both Matt and Ty keep on improving in their abilities to score and rebound and keep getting better on the defensive end, UW should be able to win a lot of games this year.

Texas Tech and A+M are going to be very tough games and Georgetown is probably a loss, but if the big guys can give enough of an effort to quietly do their job, hopefully the guards can have games that were as good as the Montana game was bad and win 2 of 3.

That’s a huge if, especially with the two games on the road. I also like Q and IT as underdogs and hopefully this Montana game put them squarely back in the dog house where I hope they stay, at least in their own minds.

Muchas Gracias for putting the MyNorthwest.com College Hoops Blog up as a link!!