Great ESPN.com feature story on Quincy Pondexter here.
Good to see a little Draft buzz for Q-Pon, who looks right now like a first-round pick, based on his play.
Hope scouts see it the same way.
You are currently browsing articles tagged Quincy Pondexter.
Tags: Quincy Pondexter
New polls came out today and the Dawgs remain in the Top 25. The Huskies dropped to 24th in the AP Poll and 21st in the Coaches’ Poll.
Texas Tech (16th AP/20th Coaches’) is now ranked above the Huskies in both polls, while next Tuesday’s opponent, Texas A&M, is ranked 23rd by the AP, and just barely unranked by the Coaches.
And, here’s a fun video of Quincy Pondexter getting fitted for his costume for The Nutcracker, where he’ll make a guest appearance playing Grandfather on December 23rd:
Tags: polls, Quincy Pondexter
“I believe this loss is my fault. . . I could have been a better leader. We could have gotten a lot more stops on the defensive end. My team played great, but I just think it’s all my fault.”
–Quincy Pondexter after the Huskies’ loss to Texas Tech in which he scored a career-high 31 points
“I’ll take the fault for that one too. I wasn’t making shots. Their team was zoning us, zoning me, and I didn’t knock down my shots. . .”
–Quincy Pondexter on the 14-2 run by Cal State Northridge to start the second half of an eventual 88-76 Husky victory in which Pondexter had 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks
Both of these quotes were delivered earnestly by Quincy, a class act of a guy who takes his role as the senior leader of this team very seriously, during a week of games that led to Pondexter being named Pac-10 Player of the Week.
By all accounts, Pondexter is a nearly flawless teammate, an extraordinarily hard worker, and is having an All-American type of season so far.
On the court, Quincy’s been everything a leader needs to be, carrying the team on his back for stretches. And, off the court, who could blame the guy for being so humble and deflecting criticism from his teammates?
Part of being a great leader, though, is about pushing your teammates and demanding excellence. And, sometimes, I think, it’s about not letting them off the hook so easily by accepting blame for everything that’s gone wrong. Particularly when it sounds as preposterous (given his superb play) as Pondexter’s statements last week.
Michael Jordan, Brett Favre, Kobe Bryant: not always the most well-liked leaders. Hell, Jordan was often no friendlier to teammates than opponents. But, all of them knew that the player in the best position to demand excellence was the best guy on the team.
I just wonder if Quincy’s really doing the team any good when he shoulders so much of the blame. Yes, a leader fesses up when he blows it, but he also knows how to hold a guy’s feet to the fire a little bit. It’s possible to demand accountability without throwing your teammates under the bus.
Sometimes, being a leader means doing exactly what Quincy’s been doing, shouldering the load on the court and off. But, other times, it means pushing your teammates to be as terrific as you are.
Tags: Quincy Pondexter
A few quick links after a busy Monday:
The Huskies dropped to 16th in the Coaches’ Poll and 17th in the AP poll after a week in which they lost at Texas Tech in overtime, and then defeated Cal State Northridge at home.
Quincy Pondexter won Pac-10 Player of the Week for the second time this season. Quincy averaged 25.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.5 blocks and 3.0 steals over the two games last week. We’ve got a long opinion piece on Quincy coming up tomorrow.
Tags: poll, Quincy Pondexter
Watching last week’s game against San Jose State, it’s apparent that the Huskies are going to see a lot of zone defense this season. I’m a little concerned about how effective the Spartan defense, employed by clearly less talented players, was so effective in keeping the Dawgs’ offense leashed last night.
Zone defenses will neutralize one of the things the Huskies do best: an up-tempo attack with plenty of guard penetration, and it will force them into more outside shooting, still a question mark for the team.
The good news is that this idea of teams trying to beat the Dawgs with a zone has been apparent since training camp, and the Huskies have been preparing for it. Coach Lorenzo Romar mentioned yesterday that Quincy Pondexter quickly becomes scoring option #1 when teams drop out of man-to-man defense. Quincy’s big game last night (including the first 13 Husky points of the second half, all against a zone) was a big part of the reason San Jose State’s upset dreams never came closer to fruition.
While Quincy will continue to find success working out of the high post against the zone, Isaiah may have his difficulties at times, particularly if his jumper isn’t falling.
In my opinion, there is a lineup the Huskies can employ that’ll be set up for dismantling the zone. However, it will at times require Lorenzo Romar to shorten his bench and take a leap of faith with his three best defensive players (Overton, Holiday, and Gant) all on the bench for certain stretches.
The “Zonebuster” squad looks like this: Abdul Gaddy, with his precision passing and more controlled tempo is necessary when the Huskies find themselves playing against a defense that neutralizes their athletic advantage. Isaiah Thomas is too good not to find a way to be successful against the zone, but will need to temper his urge to drive, and look more to dish once the defense has collapsed on him. Elston Turner is the perfect wing to receive these passes. Clearly more comfortable without a defender in his face, Turner could shoot 40%-45% from deep if most of his shots were the open ones often earned against the zone. Quincy Pondexter moving freely between the high post, or making back door cuts along the baseline, gives the Huskies a zonebusting specialist. And, Tyreese Breshers, who can receive the ball and get a shot up even against double coverage, rounds out my Zonebusters lineup. Breshers is enough of a presence not to get swallowed up even when outnumbered in the post.
What do you think? What will the Huskies do to combat the zone this season? Are you concerned? Let me know below, and thanks for coming.
Loading ...Tags: Abdul Gaddy, chalk talk, Elston Turner, Isaiah Thomas, Lorenzo Romar, poll, Quincy Pondexter, Tyreese Breshers, Zone defense
It wouldn’t have been possible for the excitement of this week to match that of last week, when the Huskies played three games in three nights to start their season.
This week, though, had its share of fun too, and most importantly left the Huskies still unbeaten:
Yo Adrian, how rocky did you leave things at UW!?: The Huskies defeated San Jose State, 80-70, in a mostly uninspired effort on Friday night. Quincy Pondexter, though, played like a man on fire, and let us all in on some of the dirty laundry left over from when Spartan guard Adrian Oliver transferred away from UW.
Jinx whut?: Isaiah Thomas made the cover of Sports Illustrated. There were six regional covers, and I.T. and the Dawgs were the only west coast team represented, and the cover distributed (as far as I can tell) throughout all of the Pac-10 areas.
A great pleasure this week was buying my copy from a newsstand at Oakland airport, and thinking about all of the Cal fans who must be tickled to walk in and buy their issue of SI with Isaiah’s mug on the cover. Buy an 11″ x 14″ print of the cover here.
The underappreciated superstar: We did this piece about how Isaiah Thomas looks like a better ballplayer this season, despite having such a strong freshman campaign last year. Percy Allen also pointed to this marked improvement and wrote this piece for the Times.
Big Josh signs and T.J. waiting: Josh Smith signed his letter of intent to play ball at UCLA on Tuesday, after announcing his decision last week. Here’s our post, which many readers disagreed with, listing three good things about not getting Josh. And, just as news of one recruiting drama was being put to bed, Terrence Jones decided to wait until the spring period to sign, likely meaning many more months of speculating about where he’ll end up.
Pac-10 floundering: No school in the conference has played more than four games, and only four teams remain unbeaten. Without a quality win yet, and several very bad losses (cue up the Sacramento State fight song!), the Pac-10 is looking more and more to be fulfilling the “down year” label it received from mcuh of the national media.
Thanks for coming!
Tags: Isaiah Thomas, Josh Smith, Percy Allen, Quincy Pondexter, Sports Illustrated, Terrence Jones, Week in Review
It was apparent last night that Quincy Pondexter was a man possessed during the Huskies’ 80-70 win over San Jose State.
It was more than Quincy’s 30 point, 15 rebound performance — it just looked like Pondexter was playing with a real chip on his shoulder. What was unclear until after the game was exactly why.
He spoke candidly during the post-game press conference about his feelings toward San Jose State guard Adrian Oliver, a UW transfer, and about his entire freshman class (Pondexter, Oliver, Phil Nelson, and Spencer Hawes), all of whom have left UW, except for Quincy, of course.
(on whether he spoke to Adrian much during the game): “I didn’t talk to him nearly as much as I talked to Phil. Adrian, he got what he wanted. He got a school where he could score as many points as he wants. But, I’d rather be here where I’m at. We’re winning games. He had 32. I got the win. I’m happy.”
(on whether Pondexter and Oliver left things on good terms): “I can answer that now. No. We didn’t leave things on good terms when he left. It just happened, y’know?”
(on whether he was disappointed that Adrian left): “I was disappointed the whole class left, starting from Spencer (Hawes). I thought if Spencer came back, and our team was back again together, working hard, a full summer, and knowing what the college game was like, I think we would’ve been fine. We won 19 games that year, us only being 18-year-old kids.”
“We could have done so much more that year. We were a game or two away from winning 20 games and going to the tournament, I believe, that year. It was a heartbreaking year for me to see everyone go. And, y’know, everyone’s in their different situation now — the situation that they picked, and the situation that they wanted to be, so I can’t complain.”
(on how recently he had spoken to Oliver): “I hadn’t talked to Adrian from when he left that December — he left our apartment — I didn’t talk to him a few weeks when he was staying there, and I didn’t talk to him until two months ago. So, it happened. He’s in a situation. I’m in my situation.”
(on whether Oliver’s leaving was the reason for the bad feelings): “Yeah, I think, I felt stranded, y’know. He left me as a teammate. He left me as a friend. He left me with the rent. . . (laughter). . . That was the last person I was close to, so it was really tough my sophomore year, because people bond to people that are in their recruiting class. You come in together. You’re friends. That’s how it was. And, our team wasn’t as close, and I was kind of alone a lot of times. And, that next year, I bonded with Jon (Brockman) more. And, got the whole team together more, and it really helped us.”
(on why Pondexter and Oliver spoke two months ago): “He called me. It’s a funny story. There was a rumor going around that I got married. He called, and I was in my car driving. And, I thought I saw a 206 area-code number, but I didn’t have his number, and I had just gotten a new phone.
So, I answered it, and he’s like ‘please don’t say you got married.’ And I was like, ‘first of all who is this? I don’t know.’ And I looked at the phone again and saw it was a 209 area code where he’s from, and he’s like, ‘it’s A.O.’
I was like, ‘man, if I’d have known it was you, I wouldn’t have answered probably.’ We talked. We just said, ‘man, whatever happened in the past is in the past.’ He’s in a situation. I’m in my situation. We caught up, and we’re good, so, I’m proud of him. He did a terrific job tonight.”
Thanks for coming!
Tags: Adrian Oliver, Jon Brockman, Phil Nelson, Quincy Pondexter, Spencer Hawes
Joe Nicholson / AP
The Washington Huskies defeated the San Jose State Spartans 80-70 Friday night at Hec Edmundson Pavilion to raise their record to 4-0.
The Least You Should Know:
This was a business-like win for the Dawgs, who were not nearly as dynamic or energetic as they were in any of last weekend’s games.
Quincy Pondexter continued to put together the beginnings of a monster season, reaching career-highs in points (30) and rebounds (15) again.
Ryan Petitt / UDubSports.com
The Huskies defeated the Portland State Vikings 111-55 Sunday Night at the Bank of America Arena in the final game of the Athletes in Action Classic to raise their record to 3-0.
The Least You Should Know:
The Dawgs were absolutely dominant tonight. The entire team played hard, and played well.
Quincy Pondexter had his best game statistically as a Husky, filling up the box score with 29 points, 13 rebounds, and three assists. Isaiah Thomas had 21 points and six boards.
Ryan Petitt / UDubSports.com
Coach Lorenzo Romar may have gotten all the proof he needed, during last week’s exhibition game as Tyreese Breshers was dazzling the arena, that this year’s team may be a lot more similar to last season’s squad than originally envisioned.
Today’s decision to redshirt freshman C.J. Wilcox, universally proclaimed by coaches and teammates to be the Huskies’ “best shooter,” seemed like an odd move to me at first. We’re just not deep enough with shooters for C.J. to be expendable. Not if we’re a team that, having lost its best forward, will rely much more heavily on its strong backcourt for production.
But, then it clicked. Maybe in Coach’s ideal vision, we’re not going to play all that differently from last year. And, if we’re going to rely heavily on our inside game, who’s going to lead that charge? Do we trust MBA yet? Not completely. At least, I don’t.
I kept hearing voices mention Tyreese Breshers. There were hints on media day. Heck, Jon Brockman even said it to me. And more recently statements by Coach Romar that a starting role may be in line once he’s healthy enough to run 20-25 minutes per game.
A lot more is being expected of Breshers, once he’s finally healthy, than I’d anticipated coming into this season. And, if he can live up to these expectations, and we can get some major production in the paint, then we can get by with one sharpshooter on the roster, with Elston Turner playing the role of gunner-off-the-bench. This allows C.J. to be a part of Husky basketball until 2014, and helps ease some of the crowding in the Husky backcourt.
Of course, Breshers needs to get fully healthy. If Coach too often needs to move Quincy Pondexter down low to the “4″ spot just to firm up a weakness in rebounding, or the lack of a low-post scoring threat, I think there will be nights we miss C.J. too much to make the move worth it.
But, if Tyreese can live up to the growing cacophony of whispers, and be that main presence in the paint, this years’ Dawgs might resemble last years’ more than we ever expected.
Tags: C.J. Wilcox, Elston Turner, Jon Brockman, Lorenzo Romar, Matthew Bryan-Amaning, Quincy Pondexter, Tyreese Breshers
Awesome Products and Services
