Washington Husky Huddle for Tuesday January 31st 2012 (Part Two)

Wroten did it all against ASU, but against the ‘Cats a strong team effort had to materialize or there would be no pay day and Wroten did what he needed to do to enable that happen as well. Arizona and Washington have become the new rivalry in the Pac-12.

Since Romar has been coaching the Dawgs, the games against the Wildcats have been intense. The last time these teams matched up, former Husky Isaiah Thomas hit the game winner in overtime against Arizona during the Pac-12 conference
championship game. To this day Husky fans get chills when they hear the saying “cold blooded”, the expression used by play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson to describe the moment.

Washington’s three headed monster, consisting of Wilcox, Wroten, and Ross didn’t disappoint. The three guards combined for 48 of the Huskies 69 points in a gutsy win, 69-67. Don’t think this game wasn’t personal between the coaches. Arizona
has been winning lately in the recruiting war against Washington, landing many of the recruits Washington has been recruiting. Romar soft pedaled that factor when he talked about it on his weekly call-in show.

“We go against (‘Zona) in recruiting all the time and not once have I heard them negative recruit us. Every time they recruit, they recruit in a way that’s positive. They believe in their program and that’s what they talk about. When we get out on the floor, they go at us and we go at them. So I think it’s been a really good healthy rivalry.”

Romar is all class, but you can bet that there was a lot on the line on many levels on Saturday for both teams, who are in competition for recruits as we speak. In a game that went back and forth, the player of the game was Arizona junior forward Solomon Hill. Hill finished with 28 points and 11 rebounds. Almost 100% in every category Hill was 9-10 from the field, 2-2 from the three point line, and 8-9 from the free throw line.

When it came down to defense, this was one of Washington’s best defensive games this year to get a road win in the face of this type of performance. The Huskies forced 15 TO’s, but what you don’t see in the stat line, is that the Huskies had ‘Zona rattled at times. UA was forced to use most of their shot clock to get a shot off quite a few times.

There is no question Ross, Wroten, and Wilcox could possibly be one of the best backcourts in the nation. When you have those three on the court together, anything can happen. All three have length and size and bring something different to the court.

With Ross, you have a player who lets the game come to him, which he displays night in and night out. Against the ‘Cats in the second half, he came up huge. Terrence had a huge one handed rebound that, after Wroten’s block was the play of the game.

He also had the most crucial shot of the game. With about 30 seconds left in the game and the Huskies only up 2 points, Ross knocked down a huge jump shot to extend the game to 4 points. Terrence finished with a stat stuffer that despite
Wilcox’s return and Tony’s continued heroics, probably qualified him for player of the game. Ross had 16 points, seven rebounds, three steals, three blocks, and two assists.

Even with Wilcox not 100% he still looks good on the court. Wilcox has progressed and now teams can’t just defend him as a shooter. He has come a long way and now is reliable to put the ball on the ground. At one point, Wilcox went cross court through the whole Arizona team for a layup. Without C.J.’s 15 points, UW certainly would have had a much tougher time. Ross may have been MVP and Tony the guy that casual observers would most remember, but Hill would have been the story in an Arizona win, were it not for Wilcox.

Wroten is just getting better every game and it’s hard not to see him leaving for the NBA. Although UW fans would want him to stay, Wroten is living up to the hype. Not too many people with his mentality and will to win have walked through
the Hec-Ed doors. On Tuesday Husky Haul looked at what NBA team’s might be the destination for Wroten and Ross, should they both go to the draft this season. They project Ross at 13th to the Lakers and Wroten at 20th to the Mavs, though it is unknown where those teams will pick at this time.

I feel that though both of these players could get drafted in June, I doubt that both will chose to go. Everything depends on how they perform from here on out this season, which is a win/win for UW fans. If they continue to “blow up”, they could move up in the draft so high that they cannot refuse the opportunity to jump. That means that UW will be the beneficiary.

If they don’t then UW could get one or both back next year where they could each have seasons that may rank among the best in UW history. Tony is close to having one of those already, getting to the rim whenever he feels like it. He has improved his free throw shooting in small ways every week and seems to step up against the better competition, as he did against ‘Zona going 5-7.

Wroten didn’t have a good shooting night but was big at the free throw line when it counted. The talented freshman also had a huge block to end the game, but junior post Aziz N’Diaye worked hard around the rim all game long. Although still
raw, the big man had 12 points and grabbed a team high eight rebounds.

The game was tight on the boards, as UW won 36-35 on the glass. Those rebs by Aziz played a huge role in the win. Senior post Darnell Gant also played a key supportive role against both Arizona schools. He scored eight points in the low
scoring ASU game with five boards.

Against ‘Zona Gant was less effective with two points and four boards in 24-minutes, plus four fouls. what Darnell was able to do however was execute the offense and the defense well, setting good picks, rotating well and being in the right place on the floor. Those are things that add up and are often more important than big scoring totals, because they allow your team to score and prevent the other team. It’s like the old adage, ‘It’s not what you say, it’s what you don’t say’.
Freshman post Desmond Simmons performed well in a similar role.

This was a game that had either team’s fan pulling their hair out when it was all said and done. Arizona is a good team and will be even better next year with their big-time recruiting class. UW has won the last two games against the Wildcats, but UW shot 7-16 from the free throw line, including a number of opportunities down the stretch which more than anything allowed ‘Zona to have a chance to win it in the last second. It was a magnificent battle and produced a number of memorable (YouTube) highlights.

With UW sharing first place with the Bears (who win the tie breaker because of their win in Seattle), they almost hold their own destiny for the rest of the season. The Huskies are playing how most teams have played under Coach Romar. It isn’t how you start but how you finish. With that being said, the Huskies are at their best late in the season.

The Dawgs have played 21 games, with nine remaining in the regular season, with only one guaranteed to happen in the post season. Regardless to that fact, the mid-way point in conference play does feel like the half-way point in a number of
important ways. While the first half of the season had more games, every game seems much more important from here out.

On Tuesday Percy Allen of the Seattle Times gave his choices for the Pac-12 mid-season awards and chose Wroten as Frosh of the year and Romar as Coach of the Year, to this point. Allen said of Lorenzo, “Romar has taken a team that lost three
starters and four prominent players and guided them to a first-place tie in the conference race”. I agree with Percy.

Wroten and Ross were named to the 5-man first team, while N’Diaye was named to the All-Defensive team. UCLA senior guard Lazeric Jones and junior post Travis Wear were mentioned on the third team, which brings me to an interesting question. Do the Dawgs and their fans underestimate UCLA? The Huskies beat the Bruins, based almost solely on a lights out effort from Wilcox last year at Hec-Ed and beat the Bruins more soundly at Pauley in what ended up being the last game from Gaddy before his knee injury.

The truth is that UCLA has turned it around and are really becoming the team that most, myself included, picked to win the league this season. They have two senior PG’s in Jones and Jerime Anderson. They have underrated talent on the wing in sophomore Tyler Lamb and up and coming frosh Norman Powell. They still have the most fearsome front court in the Pac-12 with sophomore Josh Smith, sophomore Anthony Stover and juniors Travis and David Wear.

They lost a tremendous talent in Reeves Nelson, but the news that he has been released by the pro team in Europe that signed him after his dismissal, adds fuel to the fire of the notion that coach Ben Howland is fighting the good fight. A major effort will be necessary for UW to beat a UCLA team that has won five of their last seven in conference play.

All of those wins were at home except over struggling USC across town, but their last outing produced a 17 point win over Colorado, a team that beat the Dawgs like a drum by 18 in Boulder. The Bruins have turned a corner, and although UW has
too, one wonders if the Dawgs recent success against UCLA, including every home match-up since 2004, will make UW take this brutally physical and talented team less seriously.

Romar seemed appropriately reverent to the strength of UCLA, when he spoke to the media on Tuesday, but when I asked him if the success last season affects his team, he denied that it played into it. I did not like the way that UW played in the loss to Cal, who they dominated last season. UW fans have to hope that Lorenzo is able to properly motivate his team for this huge challenge.

Also against Cal, Romar faced a milestone in getting his 300th college head coaching win and failed. UW fans must hope that the fact that against the Bruins he will be coaching in his 500th college game provides a similar result. Romar and
the Dawgs fate may come down to something other than what most feel is far superior guard play to the Bruins.

UW’s fate may come down to freshman post Austin Seferian-Jenkins ability to help Aziz deal with big Josh and the bullish Bruin front line that drove Andre Roberson and the Buffs off the Santa Monica Pier. “ASJ” must help UW hold their footing in the paint and Austin has shown signs of backing down to no one. The way he made scrappy ‘Zona senior post Jesse Perry bounce off him like a high school kid was a telling highlight of the Dawgs win over ‘Zona.

Austin is a guy that any team needs to win games in this league and especially against the Bruins. Like Artem Wallace in 2008 when he kept Kevin Love out of the middle, “ASJ” is the man who wears the black hat. The bad guy that the Dawgs need to take the heat off N’Diaye. On Friday Husky Haul ran a piece on Austin that talked about how important his contributions have been.

The Dawgs may have a “bad guy”, but this UW team (with the guidance of their coach) are in truth good guys. On Wednesday gohuskies.com ran a piece on homeless man Manin Dubois, whom the Dawgs connected with in September when they served meals at Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. It is very uplifting to hear that the UW team went so far out of their way to make a struggling person feel special and important.

Former Dawgs Doing Well

Isaiah Thomas was also special and important for three years at UW, in all of them achieving a Pac-10 title (one regular season and two tournament championships). To think of what this year’s UW team would be with both Thomas and Wroten
drawing fouls and attacking the rim is mind boggling.

Last Tuesday Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times wrote a column which stated that Isaiah is “proving he belongs in the NBA” and I agree with Kelley. Thomas has been a productive fit for Sacramento, but with the weak draft this year for PG’s he would have not only been drafted much higher this season, but broken every record at UW that a guard is likely to, plus a number of conference marks.

Add to that, the fact that he would have been the favorite for Pac-12 POY and a certain All-American candidate, I still feel that he would have done best to stay for his senior year. The good news is that he is doing well, so at least it’s a win/win and no tragedy either way.

Another Dawg who has had a rougher road, but seems to have the meddle to survive in the pro game is Justin Dentmon. Though the NBA has eluded him thus far (he did get a tryout this fall with New Orleans), “JD” is on fire so far this season in the NBDL. Dentmon is averaging 24 PPG, five RPG and five APG. With numbers like that, Justin should get another call up.

Maybe Dentmon will never make the NBA, but he should be able to make a lot of money overseas regardless. It’s a long road to success in hoops for most that achieve it, but in the end it’s the journey that is the reward. Few if any former Dawgs have had the journey that former coach Tippy Dye has.

Dye led the Dawgs to their last Final Four appearance in 1953, back when the event had a consolation game, which UW won to grab 3rd place. Behind All-American Bob Houbregs, the ’53 Huskies went further than any other Husky team since. In a feature on Tuesday in sportspressnw.com Dye’s life was profiled. Still with us at 97, his accomplishments were much more than just his storied tenure at Washington. Definitely a worthwhile read.

(Jason McCleary of leftcoastrecruiting.com contributed to this post)