Venoy and Glasser is a Marquee Match-up

Tonight’s game between Washington and ASU in Tempe, AZ at 7:30 PM (PST) on FSN will feature two very physical teams. Doug Haller of the Arizona Republic focused on the physicality of both clubs in his game preview and I agree with a lot of what he has to say.

Last year at Hec-Ed Pavilion against an ASU team that featured the great James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph, the most memorable visual was the physical confrontation between Derek Glasser and Venoy Overton that nearly erupted into a brawl. Glasser told Haller that even though he doubt’s there will be trouble, he’s not ruling it out on their home floor.

“They’re a tough, physical team. We’re not going to back down from anybody, but I think we’re both tough teams. I’m not saying anything’s going to happen because I doubt there will be. But it’s basketball, not dancing, so you never know.”

Overton seemed much better natured about the whole thing, but you can bet that he will be his usual fiery self down in the Valley of the Sun. Venoy said to Percy Allen in a feature that the Times ran today on the match-up between Glasser and Venoy, “People are going to make whatever they want out of it, but it was never no beef we had with each other”.

Haller also mentioned in his “5 things to know entering tonight’s game vs. Washington” feature that rebounding is a key. He points out that Washington leads the Pac-10 in scoring, rebounding and offensive rebounding, but all three times that UW has lost they’ve also been out-rebounded.

Rivals did its position power rankings again and mentioned a number of in-state players and coaches. They chose Isaiah Thomas as the #`16 PG, Quincy Pondexter as #3 SF and Lorenzo Romar as a coach who was just dropped from the top-25. Gonzaga was the best represented with Mark Few as the #18 coach,

Matt Bouldin chosen as #23 SG, Elias Harris as #10 frosh and Robert Sacre who like Romar was mentioned as being dropped. Seattle U’s Charles Garcia was chosen as the #17 center while Klay Thompson was selected as the #8 SG.

Husky Digest sources are telling us that Ricardo Ratliffe, a class of 2010 six-foot-eight PF from Central Florida Community College is being recruited by Washington, despite today’s mention of him in Rivals’ Jerry Meyer’s Mailbag feature which does not mention the Dawgs.

Meyer mentions UConn, which our source has told us are the main competition for Ratliffe and Louisville who we also heard are in the mix, but not the Dawgs, who are also not mentioned in Ricardo’s profiles on Rivals, Scout or ESPN. We feel we have good information that the Dawgs are on this guy and there is mutual interest. We’ll continue to follow this story.

Andy Katz continued to fan the fire that Seattle U’s big win over Oregon State caused in the college basketball world and in doing so also let the cat out of the bag. In his mention of the game he mentioned that, “The WCC would be wise to look at expansion with Seattle” then added that, “Gonzaga may not like the idea, but the Redhawks are looking like a good fit again within Division I”.

If anyone would know the intimate details of Mark Few’s thinking it would be Katz, who goes scarcely a day year round without hyping the Zags. Nice to know that Mark is that big of a man to stand in the way of Seattle U joining his league which would be the best fit for them.

What is wrong with Mark? Is there any wonder that so few high major programs including UW don’t want to schedule home and homes with the Zags?

Oregon is starting to get some well deserved recognition after its two big wins in the state of Washington. Rivals Steve Megargee did this in depth piece in which he looks closely at Ernie Kent’s tenure at Oregon. He states astutely that Ernie “Has a knack for coming up with a big season when he needs it most”.