College Hoops in Full Swing

There is so much coverage out there, now that the college basketball season is fully underway, that we need to just stop and get caught up. One story that I thought was particularly good was Don Ruiz on the Morning News Tribune’s feature on the Tacoma players on the Washington team.

This story on Isaiah Thomas, Abdul Gaddy and Clarence Trent gives some important insight into where these guys come from and how much and how far they go back together.

The Dawgs have also been given more love from ESPN than usual so far this year. Andy Katz picked the UW-Wright State game as one of his games to watch in the 1st weekend of the season.

ESPN also picked the Georgetown game and the Cal game at Hec-Ed to be two of the top-25 games all season long.

The ESPN staff predicted who would win all of the “Big Six” conferences and other laurels like Player of the Year, Sleeper of the Year, Final-4 and Champ. Washington was picked by Fran Fraschilla, Joe Lunardi, Mark Schlabach and Jay Williams to win the Pac-10, while the other 6 scribes picked the Cal Bears.

There were a number of good stories about the Wright State game. Josh Anderson from Rivals did his usual outstanding job. AP did their usual quick wrap up. Scout did their usual more fleshed out recap. The Seattle Times Percy Allen did his game story which focused on the break out game by Matthew Bryan-Amaning. The Morning News Tribune did their usual morning after game story.

Belmont Game coverage was also pretty full. Ruiz of the Trib, Tim Booth of AP, Josh at Rivals and Scout all did full game stories. The Times did a game story and an analysis piece. Gohuskies did their usual treatment, while included a box score, photo gallery and quotes piece.

Scott Suggs is a player that seems to be carving out a niche for himself on Lorenzo Romar’s line-up card. He was the third leading scorer against Wright State after Thomas and Quincy Pondexter, then against Belmont he came in and grabbed 5 boards. He just seems like a guy that wants to take his versatile game and do whatever the team needs him to win games and that is a very good thing. Seattle Sports Net did a nice story on Scott.

Tyreese Breshers has been slowly working his way into the mix for Washington. Many are impressed with what he does when he’s in the game, though his limits have been quite limited so far. This feature on Tyreese by Scout’s Chris Wells shows the big kid from LA to have a competitive streak and a lot of self-confidence going for him as he continues on down the come back trail.

Class of 2010 UW signee forward Desmond Simmons has a very nice looking highlight reel that just debuted on You Tube.

Simmons so far is the lone signee this fall period for Washington, though we believe that the Dawgs are still involved with attempting to sign Terrence Jones before the period ends this next Wednesday. Josh Smith has still not signed his letter with UCLA, strangely enough, but reports are that he is waiting to set up some kind of signing ceremony and we doubt that there is anything up there. Seven-foot center Aziz N’Diaye is also in the picture, as are others, for consideration for the spring signing period. We will be reporting soon on a couple of other possible prospects for the class of 2010, but will wait to do that after the fall period ends.

The Dagger Blog of Rivals had a preview of future Husky opponent Georgetown. That game in Anaheim CA against the Hoyas will be a stern Challenge for the Dawgs, but if they can keep getting strong play from Matthew Bryan-Amaning, or a combination of Matt, Darnell Gant and further improvement from Tyreese, Clarence Trent and Justin Holiday (who also has been recovering from a groin injury and missed a lot of practices), they just may make a game of it.

KJR-AM’s Dave “Softy” Mahler is a funny guy, whether you are laughing with him or at him (I’ve never believed that it matters much). Dave did a preview video of the UW season for the Seattle Times Percy Allen, in which he picked Cal to win the Pac-10, UW to finish 2nd and Oregon to surprise and come all the way from last place to a strong 3rd.

Rivals had a roundtable today in which it debated how many NCAA Tournament bids each of the “Big Six” conferences would receive. Mike Huguenin felt that the Pac-10 would receive 5 bids, but the other three on the panel felt that the conference would only get in 4. I think Mike will be right this time. Washington was chosen by all 4 guys to make the dance.

Cougars Win Big in Home Opener

The WSU Cougars won their 1st regular season game over Mississippi Valley State in Pullman on Friday Night 94-66. Klay Thompson and DeAngelo Casto had 20 and 18 points respectively, while Reggie Moore and Marcus Capers both had 10. Moore also led the team with 6 assists. Everyone played for the Cougs in the blow out, including raw boned Steven Bjornstad who many thought may red-shirt. Abe Lodwick joined Klay, Moore, Capers and Casto in the starting line-up and though he had a poor shooting night, led both teams with 9 rebounds. That is an encouraging stat as the knock on Lodwick was that he was a big tall shooter that didn’t like to bang enough.

Here’s a good game story from the Times Bud Withers.

The Cougars jumped out to a 9-0 lead and really never looked back. The Cougs dominated almost every category, but had 19 turnovers. This was a stat that you would never see during the Bennett era, but there had to be some growing pains expected when you take a team that is used to play that slow and deliberate of a style and really pick up the pace to the point of scoring in the 90’s. I would expect that Coach Ken Bone will be all over them this week to take better care of the ball.

Redhawks Lose Opener in Stillwater

Seattle U lost to Oklahoma State in Stillwater, but the silver lining for the Redhawks here is that this loss is not near as bad as the last time Cameron Dollar brought a team into that gym. In that game James Anderson and the Cowboys just destroyed the Washington Huskies on a barrage of 2nd half threes, 96-71. James again led his team to a convincing 86-64 win over Seattle U, but the Redhawks didn’t go away quietly.

Former Husky signee Charles Garcia led SU with 18 points and 9 rebounds, while being double and triple teamed. If Dollar can get some other guys to use the opportunities that are going to be created by Garcia, this team will win some pretty big games this year. Garcia has the look at feel of an NBA player, according to a number of observers in the talent evaluation business and the hope for Seattle U fans has got to be that he stays another year.

Either way, this can’t hurt Dollar’s ability to recruit to have a player that he can get right to the NBA on his squad. If you haven’t seen him and the Redhawks play, this Thursday’s home opener Nov. 19 against Fresno State at the Key Arena is just the ticket. Here’s the game story from the Seattle U Athletic Department including box score.

Zags Also Beat Up MSVS

After WSU routed MSVU, the visitors went up the road last night to Gonzaga and were once again shellacked, but by a smaller margin 92-74. Matt Bouldin had 22 points followed by Elias Harris (18), Robert Sacre (17 and Steven Gray (16). Robert added 9 boards.

Pac-10 Scoreboard

Oregon destroyed UC Davis 95-64, as Teondre Williams again started the game last night. Tajuan Porter led all scorers with 26 points. Malcolm Armstead led the Ducks with 7 assists, while freshman Jamil Wilson also played starters minutes off the bench. Big Michael Dunigan only logged 19 minutes, but scored 11 points and had 8 rebounds.

Oregon State went to 1-1 by beating South Dakota 62-47 last night, after losing surprisingly and convincingly to Texas A+M C.C. on Friday in the Duel in the Desert Tournament in Lubbock TX. Roeland Schaftenaar, Calvin Haynes and Daniel Deane led the way with 14, 14 and 10 respectively. The Beavers then faced future Washington road opponent and tournament host Texas Tech today and lost a close one 64-60. Senior Seth Tarver, frosh center Joe Burton and senior Roeland Schaftenaar led the Beavs with 17, 15 and 13 points respectively, who are now 1-2 on the year.

‘Zona beat N. Arizona from the Big Sky 87-71 today in Tucson. Solomon Hill led the ‘Cats with 17 points and senior guard Nick Wise added 15 points. The ‘Cats started Wise, junior forward Jamelle Horne, sophomore guard Brendon Lavender, freshmen center Kyryl Natyazhko and frosh guard Lamont Jones. The bench rotation included Fogg, freshman forward Derrick Williams, Hill and Garland Judkins. UA freshman, Kevin Parrom was sidelined with a sore foot.