The Crossover: Washington vs. West Virginia

Washington (26-9) - Pacific 10 Tournament Champions
versus
West Virginia (29-6) - Big East Tournament Champions

NCAA Tournament:

Washington with wins over Marquette 80-78, and New Mexico 82-64

West Virginia beat Morgan State 77-50 and Missouri 68-59

What Washington has to do to win?

Run, run, and run. With the loss of starting point guard Darryl “Truck” Bryant, West Virginia’s depth took a big blow leading up to this anticipated Sweet 16 contest. With depth an issue, Washington needs to push the pace to wear out the long and tall Mountaineers. West Virginia is not a very good shooting team, only shooting 33.4% behind the arc. This could be exasperated in the second half if Washington can get the tempo up to their chaotic pace and tire the legs of De’Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks.

That being said, WVU did an excellent job last Sunday limiting Missouri’s opportunities to press, and force an up-tempo game. West Virginia wants to keep this game in the high sixties, or low seventies. If this game gets pushed into the eighties, Washington will find itself playing the winner of the Kentucky/Cornell game in the elite 8. West Virginia has only won one game when scoring 80+ points in their past 22 games (2 total), and that was a blowout win (81-68) at Georgetown when the Hoyas were without leader Austin Freeman (previous to the win at Georgetown, WVU scored 95 points in a loss at Pittsburgh and 86pts in a win at home against Rutgers back on the 6^th of January).

Pushing the pace will be important because points in the paint will be hard to come by due to West Virginia’s length and height. Bobby Huggins’ team can play five players 6-7 or taller. With a bevy of players the height of Quincy Pondexter, do not be surprised if Quincy struggles early figuring out how to score against their very good defense. Forcing the pace can help QPon score in the open court, and see the ball go in the basket early. Q has a tendency to disappear at the beginning of games on the road. A quick start can ensure the Huskies are in this game at half time.

Washington has been terrific in the tournament when Isaiah Thomas thinks pass first, score second. Washington caught New Mexico off guard on made baskets by pushing and finding open big men streaking down court for layups. Thomas needs to continue to push that pace, and take shots when left open. In the tournament, Isaiah is averaging 17 points, and 7.5 assists per game. Not that this needs to be said, but those are monster numbers. With Pondexter being the focal point of the WVU D on Thursday, Isaiah will need to have another monster night if the Huskies are going to win.

Washington also needs to continue penetrating into the lane and kicking the ball out to their three point shooters. During Washington’s 9-game winning streak, Washington is shooting 40.8% from behind the three-point stripe. Early season shooting woes were caused by too much perimeter passing without freeing up our three point shooters. Couple with the fact that IT was not looking to kick it out to open shooters when penetrating to the basket. The Husky resurgence in 3pt shooting percentage over the past 9 games is largely due to getting more wide-open looks by getting the defense to collapse on the ball. Elston Turner, Scott Suggs and Justin Holiday are tremendously more effective when playing off of dribble penetration by our point guards.

The biggest issue facing Washington might be their ability to shoot in the Carrier Dome. With the football stadium being reduced to down to a basketball setting, the usual lines of vision of a basketball stadium do not exist in the Carrier Dome. The fans seating section in the Carrier Dome does not sit directly behind the basket like at Bank of America Arena. This can couse a lack of depth perception that can throw off a shooter. It is as if the space behind the basket is empty, rather than having a target. Hopefully coach Lorenzo Romar will use Wednesday shoot around to point out where to aim when shooting in this hollow arena. That being said, it affects both teams. But with WVU being such a poor shooting 3pt team (shooting 30% in the NCAA tourney), they do not make their living from outside like Washington has been of late.

What to look for in the game?

What’s the score at half? Is it 30-28 or 40-35? The latter is better for a Husky basketball win. According to my buddy Pat, the simple success of the Huskies, score 10 points every 5 minutes. If the former is true, look out for late game heroics by De’Sean Butler. He hit two buzzer beater shots in the Big-East tourney for wins.

Who is winning the Butler vs. Pondexter battle? This is the second time Q plays a former teammate from the USA U-21 team (The first being Lazar Hayward of Marquette, win Pondexter). Again if Q has 10+ points in the first half, Washington is playing their type of basketball.

Are we shooting 40%+ from 3pt? If not, West Virginia might drop into a 1-3-1 zone in the second half to slow the game down. If we are shooting well, WVU probably stays in the man-to-man D.

Has Justin Holiday added hustle points? JHoliday’s hustle points have saved the Huskies when Q starts slow. If he gets 2-3 quick buckets, steals, and rebounds the Huskies will be off and running.

Is WVU using the entire 35 second clock? If so, they are making a concerted effort to limit the number of possessions the Huskies will see during the game and trying to shorten the game. This is a tactic that Oregon State used to control Washington's touch on the game.

Starting Line-ups

Washington:

F Quincy Pondexter

F Justin Holiday

C Matthew Bryan-Amaning

G Isaiah Thomas

G Abdul Gaddy

West Virginia:

F De’Sean Butler

F Wellington Smith

F Devin Ebanks

F Kevin Jones

G Joe Mazzulla (in for injured Darryl Bryant)

Game Prediction:

Huskies are too hot for the Mountaineers of West Virginia. Huskies will be in the Elite 8 with a 82-74 win. With the win, Washington will have taken out the #2 & #3 seed in the East Bracket, with eyes on #1 Kentucky should they win.

It's Romar vs. Huggins

V.

The match-up is set. #11 Washington will take on #2 West Virginia.

It's class act Lorenzo Romar versus likely to be drunk Bobby Huggins.

Tell of the tape:

Lorenzo Romar - 171-90 (.655) with Washington. Pac-10 Tournament Champions

Career overall - 264-178 (.597) with three different teams
- 2 Pac-10 Tournament Championshoips (2005-2010)

- 3 Sweet sixteen appearances (2005, 2006, 2010, all with Washington)

- 6th overall NCAA appearance (4 with Washington, 2 with Saint Louis)

Notable players under Romar: Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson, Bobby Jones, Will Conroy, Jon Brockman, and Spencer Hawes

Bob Huggins - 77-29 (.716) with West Virginia. Big East Tournament Champions.
Career overall: 655-237 (.735) with three different teams

- 17th NCAA appearance

- 1 Final Four appearance (Cincinnati, 1992)

- 3 Elite Eight appearances (Cincinnati 1992, 1993, 1995)

- 6th Sweet 16 appearance

- 1 DUI

Notable players under Huggins: Kenyon Martin, Nick Van Exel, Ruben Patterson, Jason Maxiell, and Joe Alexander

Are You Sweet?

New Mexico is still catching its breath...

Washington outran New Mexico yesterday to earn a place in the Sweet 16! A place where many national "experts" would have never predicted Washington to be at this point of the tournament.

Washington has lasted longer that 5 Big East teams (Marquette, Villanova, Georgetown, Louisville and Notre Dame), and the overall #1 seed Kansas who got rocked yesterday by a guy who has the worst muttonchops in the history of college basketball. The UNI kid who shot the 3 with 30 seconds left in the game has the biggest onions in the history of college basketball.

Anyways, back to the Huskies. If you read my pre-game write-up on Friday, you would have gotten a good idea how I thought the game was going to go down. For those who didn't, let's just say I was about 100% correct in my projections.

From the opening tip, UW had this game won. Coach Lorenzo Romar completely outclassed New Mexico coach Steve Alford's redblazer. Kids, you don't win games dressed like this.

Washington looked like a final four team yesterday, but did not play their best game. That is the scary part of Washington's potential. We let up on the gas, but never stopped taking the ball at the New Mexico team. Washington was very successful in pushing the pace, and making life hard for New Mexico.

The Stars:

Washington's lone senior Quincy Pondexter was a beast yesterday. He played at the level Washington needs him to play at for the rest of the tournament. He scored 18 points for the second time this tournament. His 18 was a legitimate 18 as he went 7-12 from the floor and had 8 boards. Leaving the hotel yesterday, Q looked focused.

Four Huskies scored in doubt-digits, which shows the balance in Washington's game. Isaiah Thomas had 15, as did Matthew Bryan-Amaning. Elston Turner, who's continued hot shooting off the bench has helped keep the Husky's momentum going in the second part of the first half, had 10 points on 2-5 shoot from beyond the 3-point arc.

Yesterday's Loser:
New Mexico's rock star Darington Hobson shit the bed yesterday. He had a quiet 11 points and 5 boards. After the game, he bitterly called UW "they're not even that good. They just had a good game tonight." Listen, I understand you're a bit butt hurt from getting your doors blown off and having to run in a track meet for 40 minutes, but do not be a bitch. Comments like that do not help your personality profile moving to the next level. If you're Washington, you have got to love opponents so hurt by the way you played that they have nothing left but to be angry at the post-game press conference.

Looking ahead:
Washington now moves on to face the winner of the West Virginia / Missouri game this afternoon. Watching the 2nd half of the WVU/Mizzou game right now. Neither of these teams scare me. De'Sean Butler is a beast, but I think he is going to have a tough time dealing with the plethora of defenders UW can throw at him. JHoliday is a lot longer than many of these Big East teams have seen this year. Mizzou looks unorganized on O. Their M.O. is a lot like UW, pressure equals success. Some commentators call them the fastest 20 minutes in college basketball. They do not seem anywhere close to Washington's speed. WVU leads 52-44.

In other news, my bracket is officially DEAD. With the loss of Kansas (and Georgetown for an elite 8 finish), my bracket really never took off.

Without further ado, the DANCIN DAWGS!

Washington v. U of New Mexico Game Preview

Round 2 of the NCAA Tournament!

A month ago, who would have thought we would be in the second round! I would say about 10% of Seattle...us die hards...

Washington (25-9) versus University of New Mexico (30-4)

Last game:

Washington over Marquette - 80-78 in the first round of the NCAA tournament

New Mexico over Montana - 62-57 in round one of the NCAA tournament

Quick New Mexico synopsis: New Mexico is GOOD. They have victories over California, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Montana. All common opponents. UNM has won 41 straight games when holding a team under 60 points (I mean, that is not a very telling stat. You should win if you hold a team under 60!). UNM is very successful when controlling the pace (see victory over Montana).

What does Washington have to do to win?: Push. The. Pace. If the Huskies push the pace and put this game into the 70's or 80's, Washington will win going away. They must pass the ball with reason to get the open shots it did against Marquette. On the other side of the ball, let's try holding this team under 50% shooting. Marquette almost shot us out of the gym last game.

On Offense:

Get the BIG MAN involved. Matthew Bryan-Amaning is a key offensively for Washington. UNM's tallest starter in the front court is 6-8 A.J. Hardeman. The need to push the pace, but at the same time when the game creeps to a snail's pace, MBA has to be the focal point of the Husky O. MBA had a quick start on Thursday against Marquette. His quick start provided a second option to Isaiah Thomas while Quincy Pondexter struggled to get off to a quick start.

The second thing is try to get QPon to see the ball go into the bucket early. The game plan on Thursday looked as if Lorenzo Romar wanted to get MBA involved early, but I think Romar needs to get Q some quick hoops to ignite his star. If Q goes through another first half like he did on Thursday, I might break a TV.

Lastly, I.T. has finally accepted the role of play maker when the Huskies get into a half court game. His team high 9 assists on Thursday helped find open Husky three point shooters who connected on a season high 9/14 shots (64%). He must continue to do that in order for UW to find easy baskets in the high court where our offense seems to become stagnate from time to time.

On D:
They also need to control Darington Hobson. He is their most versatile and complete player. Darinigton will come into the game banged up. He hurt his left wrist (he's left handed) in Thursday night's win over Montana. He had a X-ray on Friday, but all results came back negative. If the Huskies can not contain the 6-7 Junior, it might be a long day for the Huskies. Look for Justin Holiday to get the first look on Hobson. Jrue's little brother better get ready to get dirty on D, which he typically does.

Things to look for in the game:

Thing that will tip you to how the game might turn out:

1.) If you neck is getting tired watching the ball go up and down the court, that is good for UW.

2.) Is Washington getting UNM to commit turns? If not, Washington better shoot well.

3.) Is Venoy and MBA in foul trouble? If those two are in foul trouble...our bench needs to step up!

4.) How many points does Quincy have at half? When Q has 12+ points at half, the Huskies are hard to beat.

5.) Is UW having trouble guarding Hobson?

6.) How does LoRo look? He's usually very stylish.

My humble opinion:

The Huskies have a great opportunity to make the Sweet 16. I do not think New Mexico has enough fire power to hang with the running Huskies. If UW pushes the pace, and gets out running and makes UNM play faster than they like, UW will win this game by double digits.

Prediction: Washington over University of New Mexico 80-70

Onto the Sweet 16 Dawg fans!

Starting line-ups:

New Mexico:

F AJ Hardeman

F Roman Martinez

F Darington Hobson - STAR

G Phillip McDonald

G Diarsee Gary

Washington:

F Quincy Pondexter

F Justin Holiday

C Matthew Bryan-Holiday

G Isaiah Thomas

G Abdul Gaddy (though, it should be Venoy!)

Welcome to My New Sports Blog!

My name is Gabriel Pedersen, a Seattle Sports fan who is devoted to following all things Seattle sports.

This blog will follow the Huskies, Mariners, Seahawks, Sounders and all sports from the 206.

Like many Seattle sports fans, I am horribly optimistic inregards to our beleaguered teams. While my heart has been ripped out more times than I care to count, I remain devoted to Seattle sports.

Hope you enjoy! First post to come shortly!

Gabe