Washington Huskies Basketball

Somehow in this season of failed expectations, the Washington Huskies basketball team found its heart in a tournament where everything had gone wrong. 

With Venoy Overton riding the pine due to knuckle-headedness and a suspension, and referees making calls resembling blind chimpanzees, the surprising Huskies did what they’ve failed to do all season long.  Win not only two close games down the stretch in three days, but in this case, a game that had all but been lost.

A terrible blocking call against Darnel Gant with just under three minutes left in regulation had Arizona fans lighting victory cigars and popping off, as Derrick Williams converted both free throws. 

Seconds later, with the Wildcats holding a scant one-point lead, Terrance Ross missed a three-pointer, and Arizona quickly hit Solomon Hill for an easy two to make it 62-59 with 1:56 left.

And after soon-to-be hero Isaiah Thomas got called for another offensive foul on an obvious Arizona flop, things were looking bleak for the boys in black.  

Especially when Arizona’s Lamont Jones hit one of two free throws to give the Wildcats a 63-59 lead with 1:42 left.  Terrance Ross’s missed three-pointer again, 20 seconds later, didn’t help.

Another burned minute off the clock from sloppy play from both teams, and things looked even worse.  Arizona still clung to its four-point lead with 35 seconds left, after yet another missed three-point desperation lunge by CJ Wilcox. 

Fortunately for Washington, Isaiah Thomas grabbed the rebound and quickly hustled up his own desperation three, which he hit, to make it a one-point game three seconds later.

After a Huskies timeout, the Wildcats' Derrick Williams, who spent most of the game enjoying superstar NBA calls that baffled the Huskies faithful and TV pundits alike, hit a quick lay-in with only 22 seconds left to make it 65-62, aided by a worst-case foul on Scott Suggs.  A free throw later and the Huskies again trailed by four.

Arizona called a timeout, which gave the Huskies time to plan a scheme that got Terrence Ross open in the right-side corner, and he buried his three-pointer to bring the Huskies back within one at 66-65 with a mere 19 seconds left on the clock. 

Five seconds later, Isaiah Thomas was called for a backcourt foul that had patrons again beating their heads against seats, and Lamont Jones again hit both free throws for an Arizona 68-65 lead.

The Huskies quickly brought the ball upcourt with a streaking Isaiah Thomas down the middle, who faked a shot before hitting a wide-open CJ Wilcox on the left-side corner to tie the game with a miracle three-pointer.  But again, it almost went for naught, when Lamont Jones tossed up a desperation running three-pointer that rimmed off the far side with no time left. 

Overtime.  Panting fans littered the premises from both camps.  Sweat beaded off the foreheads of young and old patrons alike.

An improbable overtime, which the Huskies nearly muffed when Derrick Williams miraculously got whistled for a foul on Matthew Bryan-Amaning.  The Huskies center tossed a brick from the free-throw line but followed it with a made shot, giving the Dawgs their first lead of the extra period.

And from there, the Huskies enjoyed a slight one or two-point lead through the majority of the period, in spite of MBA fouling out. 

But with only 21 seconds left in overtime, Arizona again looked like it had survived when Kevin Parrom hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 75. 

This led to Isaiah Thomas' heroics.  Playing with four fouls since late in the fourth period and doing what every kid who has ever played make-believe basketball in his backyard envisions hundreds of times, Thomas made the game-winning shot.  One second left, a defender crawling all over him from 14 feet away, straight up, straight in, buzzer goes off just as the rock hits the net. 

Ball game.  Pandemonium.  Weeping women.  Squealing men.  Strangers hugging.  Man-piles on the court.  General mayhem and giddiness on one side; broken-hearted grumbling on the other.

The Huskies win the game and the Pac-10 tournament.

Of course all of this was made possible courtesy of our pals down in Oregon the night before. 

Call it domination by the Huskies, schizophrenia and hyperventilating by angry Ducks fans or even Dawg revenge for Oregon running up the score in football several months before. 

Whatever it was, the University of Washington Huskies settled the score with our feathered friends down yonder, by sending them back home to “Deep in the Woods” with a good old-fashioned thumping and humiliation that ended their season. 

And before that, there was that slumberfest against Washington State in the opener, when Klay Thomson went nuts and set a tournament scoring record before the Huskies finally slapped down their cross-state nemesis for the first time all season with the scant 89-87 nipping.

All told, it was karma.  It was destiny.  Perhaps it was prayers.  The 2010-11 Washington Huskies basketball team morphed from a fringe bubble team, into an automatic NCAA tournament entry, using energy and miracle shooting that we hadn’t seen since early in the season.

Two Pac-10 tourneys in a row for the first time ever for any team.

Take a breath, Huskies fans, because next week we’re all going dancing!

Lorenzo Romar is one of the best coaches in college basketball when it comes to staying calm and not hitting the Huskies' Panic Button.

Throughout the season, when the team had its ups and downs, he maintained a sense of composure and self-control, even to the irritation of some Washington fans.

Part of Romar's calmness comes from having been down this road before.

This year's team is almost exactly where last year's team was, record-wise, at the conclusion of the regular season.

The 2009-10 Huskies finished up the regular season and headed into the Pac10 Tournament with a 21-9 record.

This year's team carries a 20-10 record.

Yes, this year's team has lost three of their last five games, so they don't have the same momentum.

But last year's squad had to overcome slumps and adversity too.

If the question is, "Can the Huskies get hot going into the conference tournament and move toward the Dance?" the answer is, Yes, they can.

If the next question is, "How can they?" the following may be some of the factors that can actually make this happen:

Isaiah Thomas Rediscovers his "Mojo" 

The first several games of the Pac-10 schedule, Huskie point guard Isaiah Thomas was in attack mode. He was scoring at will and he was finding his teammates in places where they could put the ball in the basket.

Down the stretch, Thomas has played more cautiously and his production (points and assists) has fallen off.

He is the engine that makes this team go. His recent game against Arizona is a good example of how he doesn't have to score a lot, but he was dictating the tempo of the game and making lots happen.

If Thomas rediscovers his "Mojo," the Huskies can make some noise in the conference tournament, and then play a couple of rounds, just like last year, in the NCAA Tournament.

The Seniors Need To Step Up

Matthew Bryan-Amaning, Justin Holiday and Venoy Overton form a talented senior trio.  

Together, they account for 33 ppg, 16 rpg, 7 apg and 3 bpg.

They head into the Pac-10 Tournament with a four-year record of 88-46, the second best record among senior classes in UDub history.

All three played a role in Washington making it to the Sweet 16 in last year's tournament.

This is the time of the year when seniors need to be playing like seniors.

Bryan-Amaning must stay out of foul trouble.

Holiday cannot repeat his scoreless outing versus USC.

And Overton needs to keep his level of offensive aggressiveness high.

If the senior trio can bump it up a notch, the Huskies will be a dangerous squad.

The Team Needs to Find the "Next Gear" Again

The Huskies are best when they are playing up-tempo, run-trap-and-press basketball.

Statistically, they are still the No. 3 scoring team in the nation (84 ppg).

But, in the last four games of the regular season, Washington is only averaging 67 ppg—a 17-point drop per game.

In the Huskies' 10 losses this season, they are averaging 68 ppg.

Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times said that Washington has looked like "the wrong team, playing the wrong game."

Isaiah Thomas needs to push the tempo and get the team into transition as much as possible.

The Huskies play cross-state rival Washington State in their first game of the Pac-10 tournament.

If I was Lorenzo Romar, I would tell the team that, I want them to play like the Mike D'Antoni Suns from a few years ago...seven seconds or less offense. Push the ball and get shots in the air.

Maybe not for the full game, but at least long enough to force them back into playing the style and tempo that made them a ranked team earlier in the season.

Regaining a sense of energy and punch is absolutely necessary for the Huskies to get hot at tourney time. This Washington team has talent, versatility and experience. They have players who can match up well with any team in the conference and many teams across the country.

Now, they have to get out and do it.

The Pac-10 referees have developed quite the reputation up and down the West Coast for what can only be described as inconsistent refereeing. 

On Saturday night, they put their talents on display in front of a national audience on ESPN and thoroughly embarrassed themselves yet again. 

What was a thrilling basketball game between two likely tournament-bound teams with the Pac-10 title on the line was ruined by awful officiating.  The University of Washington Huskies visited 13th-ranked University of Arizona in a game in which the Wildcats sought revenge for their previous loss at UW. 

The game featured several great plays from Arizona's Derrick Williams (26 points, 11 rebounds) and Washington's Isaiah Thomas (12 points, 10 assists) among others, but unfortunately, the game was ultimately determined by the refs' calls.

Arizona, fueled by a raucous home crowd, had lead by as many as 12 early in the second half, but Washington clawed back with increased defensive intensity and Thomas' distribution of the ball.  They even took a four-point lead with 7:59 left in the game. 

The wild finish was fueled by complete inconsistency regarding when to, and when not to, blow the whistle.  The distinction between blocks and charges seemed to be made on the basis of a coin flip.  Players were assigned fouls despite being cemented to the ground, straight up in the air. 

The most obvious blown call was likely a critical missed goaltending on Kyryl Natyazhko's tip-in late in the second half.  Not only was the ball still in the cylinder, replays showed that it was actually resting on the rim of the basket when Natyazhko's fingers poked it home.

These gifted two points may not have mattered if the referees had handled the last play of the game correctly. 

With Arizona up one point with 2.2 seconds left, and Washington inbounding the ball under their offensive hoop, the pass went into Darnell Gant.  He caught it, turned, and threw up a hook shot that had clearly started its decent before Derrick Williams rose and spiked it out of bounds. 

After completing the "block," Williams turned around and looked at the official, expecting to be called for goaltending, but no call came.  He later said of the play, "I just tapped it perfectly and luckily they didn't call goaltending. I believe if we were at Washington they might have called it goaltending, but good thing we were at home."

To Husky fans, the play was scarily reminiscent of a block in overtime of the 2006 Sweet 16 game against the University of Connecticut.  What would have been a go-ahead layup by Brandon Roy with 42 seconds left in overtime, was instead deemed a clean block, and UConn went on to eliminate the Huskies in what was a crushing defeat. 

On Saturday evening in Tucson, as the roars from the crowd filled the space vacated by the absent whistle, the ball landed out of bounds with somewhere between 0.4 and 0.6 seconds left to play. 

Despite reviewing the previous play to correct the time on the clock, the referees didn't even look at the review of this play, and only gave the Huskies an inaccurate and inadequate 0.2 seconds to get a tip-off at the buzzer. 

While it is understandable to stop the clock a few fractions of a second late, it is inconceivable that after just reviewing a very similar play, the referees didn't deem it necessary to do so again at such a critical point in the game. Needless to say, the 0.2 seconds were futile, and Arizona went on to win the game.

Maybe it was the sea of white the Arizona fans flaunted that blinded the referees' eyes.  Maybe it was the all-too-good to resist story line of the All-American candidate Williams saving his team at the buzzer. 

Maybe it was the refs' plain and utter incompetency, as any attuned Pac-10 basketball fan would be inclined to agree.  But whatever it was, it sure wasn't justice to the University of Washington Huskies.

They now find themselves on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament.  A road victory over Arizona would have likely been a signature win in the eyes of the selection committee, effectively stamping their ticket to the Big Dance, but instead they could find themselves playing in the NIT come March.

After a surprisingly tight slugfest last night on the lower Husky campus, Isaiah Thomas and freshman Terrence Ross dropped the throttle with seven minutes left and the UW basketball machine left the Oregon Ducks in the dust. 

With Duck football fans celebrating and heading to Glendale in mass, things are not looking as rosy for the "deep in the woods" 0-3 basketball team.

Dressed ironically presentable for an Oregon team, the Ducks managed to hang with the Dawgs half ways through the second half. But by the time it was over, it appeared the Huskies had mutilated this upstart Oregon squad, and yet truth-be-told this game was disturbingly close.

Former Sonic stud announcer Kevin Calabro and equally stud former coach Lenny Wilkens called the game, and it felt special, and almost like a taunt to David Stern and the flat-topped punk that ripped off the NBA team.

Missing on the Husky squad was recently injured guard Abdul Gaddy, who ripped up his knee in practice and is out for the season.

The Huskies started the game with a 7-0 run as Oregon stayed back in their zone defense, but with sharp passes and quick looks down under, it proved to be a bit ineffective for the Ducks.

Oregon took a time out and re-entered with “man on man” defense, and things immediately went better as lanes were suddenly jammed and the cold Huskies missed from the outside.  Several minutes later it was a scant 11-7 lead for the Dawgs.  The Ducks went to a harassing full-court press, but quick  Isaiah Thomas passes to a wide open Darnell Gant, the Huskies fended off it off.

But the tempo of the game had been set, and Oregon managed to hang around with fast breaks and long passes.

The Huskies jumped out to a 22-13 lead with a couple nice three-pointers from blistering hot Terrence Ross with 11 minutes left in the half, but when Oregon went back to their zone defense, the Huskies again struggled as the Ducks cut the lead back down to 24-21.

And they cut it further when the Dawg’s Bryan-Amaning missed an easy layup and the Ducks came roaring back for a quick three.

With five minutes left, the Ducks had the ball and were down only 26-24. For a couple minutes teams traded turnovers and missed layins.

Oregon finally broke the impasse to get within a single point at 28-27. The Huskies appeared stunned and a bit annoyed, yet still remained sluggish and ineffective as they attempted to beat the zone with deep passes in both corners.

Fortunately freshman Terrance Ross, awarded more minutes from the Gaddy injury, was just beginning to hit his stride.  But with two minutes left in the half it was a minuscule 31-29 Husky lead that was to get smaller yet.

Lenny Wilkens lectured viewers at home how unwise it was to let a lightweight team like Oregon hang around.  With the game tied at 31 with 2-1/2 minutes left, perhaps this was where UW Coach Lorenzo Romar most missed the “calming” influence of Gaddy?

Still the Huskies demonstrated why they are favored to win the Pac-10, as they managed a spurt with six quick points on several fast breaks by Terrance Ross and Thomas to bolt out 37-31.

At the break Ross's 11 points had kept the Huskies ahead, while junior teammate Scott Suggs six didn't hurt either. But it was too close, and an agitated Coach Romar pounded that point home at halftime, both to sideline reporters and in the locker room.

As the second half opened with a Husky 39-33 lead, it was more of the same. Oregon’s various mixed zones had the Huskies guessing and making uncharacteristic turnovers.

When the Ducks nailed a quick three to cut the lead to 39-35, fans at Bank America Arena (fondly known as Hec Ed to the rest of the world) were getting a bit nervous.  Especially when Oregon’s senior forward Joevan Catron hit a another three to cut it to 41-40 with 18 minutes left.

Standing at a brutish 6'6” and 245 pounds, Catron represented the bulk of the size-challenged Oregon front line. The big brute came right back with a nifty spin move on the left side to give the Ducks a surprising 42-41 lead on free throws, and murmuring filled the arena.

Catron, with 14 points and eight rebounds at this point in the game, was giving the Huskies fits down under. And when Oregon’s guard John Lloyd nailed a long three pointer from the right side of the key, they Ducks had a 47-46 lead.

Both Husky fans and the team looked downright timid, in a "deer in the headlights" kind of way.  

But slowly the Husky defense began to tighten, and after several minutes of sloppy ugly play with nobody scoring, time was called with 15 minutes left in the game. That seemed to give the Huskies new energy from that point forward.

Oregon got it down to a point again at 50-49, but the Dawg's "BA" got to the line for only the second and third Husky free throws of the night, missing one.

The green-clad Ducks fought back and tied it at 51, but when Isaiah Thomas nailed a three, the Huskies finally decided to take control.

The Ducks kept up with their zone, but things had changed for UW. Bryan-Armaning was loitering closer to the rim to pound home several missed long Husky shots, and the Huskies quickly jumped out with a 5-0 run. 

And with 13 minutes left in the game, things really started to go the Dawg’s way. The Ducks tried to counter with a 2-3 zone, which briefly showed promise highlighted by a mere three point 56-53 UW lead.  But several Husky fast breaks later the game became a track meet.

Several long full-court passes finished with quick lay-ins gave the Dawgs a 9-2 run in just over a minute, to make it 60-53.

Oregon took a time out to catch their breath, and afterwards Catron again wreaked havoc in the middle with four more points from the line.  But the 23^rd ranked Huskies seemed to be gaining confidence and sharpness, and had the Ducks looking like a team ready to fold. 

By 9:38 left it was 62-55 Dawgs, and Catron was carrying Oregon on his back while the Huskies were  unable to effectively cover him.     

At that point the Ducks managed to slow things down with a lumbering half court game, and after both teams turned it over several times, two more minutes were burned.

Oregon called a time out trailing 64-57 with just over seven minutes left, but that only encouraged both the Husky crowd and team as things started to get louder and louder!

The Huskies went into a 2-3 zone of their own, and it was at this point that Terrance Ross started banging in three pointers from a mile away.  The Ducks tried to withstand it, but the quickness of the Huskies led to more Duck turnovers, and after Oregon missed half a dozen lay-ins it was all but over. 

UW built their lead to 12 points after several offensive rebounds with five minutes remaining, 71-59, and Oregon appeared to have given up.

The Husky zone did the damage, forcing the confused Ducks to cast off from too far away. The Huskies answered every onslaught with quick fast breaks, including one notable blocked shot on a Lloyd Oregon layup. 

When Isaiah Thomas hit a runner to make it 75-59 with 3:48 left in the game, Husky fans knew this baby was in the bag.

Sideline FoxNW reporter Jen Mueller noted that Coach Romar was now somewhat settled down, unlike how he had been a few minutes earlier.  And for good reason too, as the Huskies had vaulted out to a 16 point lead with three minutes left.

The Huskies finished the game with a run-the-clock down half court offense, and when Isaiah Thomas nailed another three and Terrance Ross hit an off-balance stumbler, the lead ballooned to 19 points at 82-63.  And then to 84-63 when Thomas stole another errant Oregon pass and tomahawk jammed it home with the roaring crowd going nuts. 

Terrence Ross finished with 25 sensational points, most from the outside, and fellow bench player teammate Scott Suggs had 13. The Dawg's depth won this game, demonstrating why they are picked to dominate the conference this year. 

Football revenge for Husky fans? Naaa, Sark’s guys will likely take care of that next year. But it did feel good to pummel a school whose fans routinely behave like obnoxious boobs.   

Still, in spite of the final, the game had an eerily deja-vu feeling to it, only with the school’s roles reversed from the football game of last month. 

Like the Huskies had done, the Ducks hung around until late in the game and then it ended up with a score that misled into thinking it was a rout, but felt closer with the favored team sweating bullets for most of the contest.

The bottom line is this macho Husky basketball team is still undefeated in the Pac-10, played with a swagger that gave home fans confidence too, and fans felt a surge of payback. 

But the Dawgs could have played better, and they'll need to play MUCH better when they travel down to central Hippiesville next month to visit Phil-Knight’s newly christened “pine tree” palace with the goofy looking floor!

For the last year the Pac-10 has had to sit back and suffer the ignoble insults of a nation that has mocked the conferences wherewithal on the hard court.

Sports talking heads, whose jobs depend on assessing hoops talent, smile smugly, look straight into the camera and say things like, "The Pac-10 is the worst major conference in college basketball."

In preseason polls for the 2010 season, only the Washington Huskies were given any love by these pundits, marking the second year in row that the conference round ball prowess was besmirched in the "open court" of the press.

And in that time, many fans of the conference, particularly those of the aforementioned Huskies, would angrily reply something to the effect of, "We're not that bad and soon the nation will find out!"

Guess what Pac-10 fan? It appears the rest of the nation was right after all.

Approaching the halfway point in the regular season, this conference has been abysmal.

Even the Huskies, who, right or wrong, were expected to carry the banner for the conferences respectability, have been mediocre at best.

Glance at the AP top-25 poll of Dec. 20 and guess what you won't find?

That's right, a Pac-10 team.

The closest to finding themselves in that select company is indeed the Huskies but alas, they are only 28th.

"Wait a minute," say indignant Washington fans, "8-3 isn't that bad!"

Maybe not, but when you take a closer look, it isn't all that good either.

Mirroring the conferences futility in this area, Washington has crafted a dismal record against good teams, you know, those who ARE in the top 25.

In those games, against then No. 9 Kentucky and No. 2 Michigan State, the Huskies have managed an 0-2 record.

But they are not alone in underwhelming quality opponents.

Joining the Huskies in the zero column in victories against good competition are Oregon and Arizona who have also managed 0-2 records as well.

Arizona State lost their only foray into top-25 competition but on the plus side, Cal and UCLA have managed to craft victories against top-flight opponents.

Sadly, however, the Bruins and Bears have also lost twice as many as they won, offering 1-2 records against the best in the nation.

Only Washington State, whose surprising start includes a 1-1 record against the top-25, and USC have managed respectable records when dealing with the better teams.

In fact, USC's 2-1 record against ranked foes, which includes victories over then No. 20 Texas and a road win at No. 18 Tennessee, could be 3-0 if not for a last-minute three-pointer which cost them a victory on the road at Kansas.

Just for the record, USC was picked to finish in the bottom half of the Pac-10 conference according to the media that covers it.

Finally, we have Stanford and Oregon State, whose non conference schedule didn't include any top-25 teams.

I guess you can't lose them if you don't play them eh?

All together, the conference has managed a pathetic 5-13 record against the nations best.

Pretty sad.

Now, entering conference play, the Pac-10 will turn its attention to beating each other up.

And the rest of the nation will turn the other way, secure in the knowledge that this conference isn't really worthy of their attention.

At least come tournament time, the Pac-10 will have a chance to redeem itself at the big dance.

Perhaps someone will come roaring out of the west to set the college basketball world on fire.

Perhaps a team like Washington can live up to its reputation as the "best" on the left coast.

Perhaps.

But if the postseason is anything like what we have seen so far...

Don't count on it.

Just when we all thought the Oregon Duck design team had maxed out on craziness from the latest Oakland Raider lookalike football uniforms, now comes the new basketball court donned with pine trees and some sort of Stonehenge thing under the “O” at center court.

Now you know me. I’m not the kind that would ever say a critical word about the University of Oregon athletic department or coaches that run up the score with a hurry-up offense late in the fourth quarter.

I rather like all the varied designs of Duck sports paraphernalia, but I nearly had a heart attack when I first saw this floor.  Initially it came across as some sort of hideous paint spill destined to ruin the plans of opening night.

But then after watching the video, I started studying the design with new appreciation for what I was seeing.

First of all, the name of the Nike designer, Tinker Hatfield, has what could be one of the all-time coolest names ever labeled to an infant. Kudos to the elder Hatfields for coming up with it (assuming it was them and not some stunning re-branding campaign by Nike?).

Secondly, although it does have that accidental look to it, I kinda like the little treetops there surrounding the floor. All it really needs is an image of a hippie-ish 1976 version of Trail Blazer Bill Walton hugging a stump, and I think you’d have that unshaved Oregon thing completely nailed.

The Stonehenge logo is actually a Japanese culture symbol for a sacred place, according to Todd Van Horne, in his video on the nikeblog.com site. And it's cool that they're honoring Phil Knight's memories with his son, although I don't think most people seeing this new palace will know that when they first eye the center court logo.

Curiously, the same article also admits unashamedly that “Nike and the University of Oregon go together like ham and burger.” 

An interesting statement, because I’m not sure I’ve ever enjoyed ham on my burgers. Perhaps this is somewhat of an Oregon staple unadored by the rest of the country?

The Oregon–Nike relationship that the site bragged about is also interesting, because most of us in the Pac-10 see this more in terms of a "George Steinbrenner tinkering with the Yankees thing," than the burger thing. 

Nike and Phil Knight are well known for being the best owners in college sports.

The gray seats surrounding the floor are indeed a huge improvement over the previous complex, but once again I am curious what the color gray plays in Oregon’s tradition,  other than the tradition of last week's Civil War football game?

Tinker says he wanted to capture the spirit of the 1939 “Tall Firs” National Championship team, and that “if you’re an opposing player you aught to dread coming to play there.”

Well he certainly succeeded there, but I don’t think it’s because of the caliber of basketball play nor the intimidation factor.

Meanwhile Todd Van Horne, in his video, said that they wanted the "Forward-thinking modern lines that is reflected in the Oregon identity."

Pine trees are modern lines? Really? 

And I’m noting that even Oregon’s own fans are a bit hesitant over this newest cutting-edge design.  Referees may be too, since the minor unimportant things on a basketball floor, like out-of-bounds lines and free-throw lines, look like an afterthought.

But overall, this Husky likes the floor. It is very Oregon. Scattered, capturing the pure environmental message that 75 different uniform combinations send to the rest of the planet.

And weird in an “Animal House” kind of way. Like mushrooms and other recreational forest products that Duck students have long since used at parties.