Rainout

Softball Town

 A Seattle team is OKC bound, but this time, we can be happy. With their 9th trip to the WCWS (that's Women's College World Series, not World Championship Wrestling Softballers), it's now official. Seattle is a softball town.

Nick Holt Thinks You Are...Awesome

New Husky defensive coordinator Nick Holt thinks we are awesome. Making $700K annually is pretty awesome too...man.

This is an awesome place. This is the only other school in the Pac-10 that's won a national championship in the last 25 years; this place and the University of Southern California. This place has awesome alumni, it has awesome tradition, it has awesome people like you, and this is a sleeping giant. 

Sarkisian Is Our Steez

Every major seattle sports team will have a new guy at the helm next year. Of all the poly-syllabic hirings lately (Zdurienek, Wokamatsu, Sarkisian...eh Mora), I like this one the best. 

Why? Recruiting. Sure, USC is a fairly easy sell but Sarkisian seems to have done well. Check out his Scout.com profile and see that he's snagged two five star recruits and two four star recruits for USC's class of 2009. This includes getting credit for Matt Barkley, believed by many to be the top QB prospect in the country.

This bodes well for his ability to keep all-everything QB Jake Heaps in state. Consider the following quote from Jake's dad upon hearing of the Sarkisian hire:

We're very interested to see what Coach Sarkisian will bring to Washington," Heaps' father, Steve, said. "I know the kind of success USC has had over the years, and a lot of that was due to the kind of offense they ran. They ran a pro-style offense, which is what Jake is comfortable with, and I'm sure that's what he'll run at Washington.
"Jake has always maintained a high interest in playing close to home and Washington will always be a program that will be in it for the long run. We visited USC last summer and met briefly with Coach Sarkisian, although we talked mostly with Coach Carroll. At this point, we're open to listen to see what he has to say but we're definitely intrigued, I can tell you that much."

So let's see what kind of a class Sarkisian can bring in next year. Even if we get USC's sloppy seconds, I'm all for it.

It's So Bad, Even Boston Feels Sorry for Us

So I was reading the Boston Globe and Dan Shaugnessy had an article that made me go hmmmmm. Our current sports malaise is so bad ("how bad is it?!") that even salty New Englanders take notice and commiserate.

"But even in the lean years, our town never had a stretch like this. This is cruel and unusual. Seattle stinks. At everything. It is the sports opposite of Boston."

I Walk Around Like I Got a S on My Chest

Score!!! We just nabbed Abdul Gaddy, the #2 rated HS point guard in the nation. With Gaddy joining Isaiah Thomas and Venoy Overton, is there a better young back court in the land? 

For full irony, see the video clip below. It's filmed at Arizona and touts him as a future wildcat. Taste!!!

 

Excessive Penaltization

I dont care about rules being rules, this was hogwash. I suggest reading what the Pac-10 head of officiating had to say. He was actually quite fair and seems to recognize the need to re-examine the "high in the air" wording.

The Wilt Chamberlain of Great Britain

Our very own Matthew Bryan-Amaning (MBA) is killin' it for the Great Britain U-20 National Team.  Folks out in the UK who are reading the Daily Telegraph over some Bangers and Mash will be quite pleased with this line put up by MBA against the Czech Republic yesterday:

• 35 minutes played
• 41 points
• 16 for 28 from the field
• 9 of 12 from the stripe
• 11 rebounds
• 4 blocked shots

EIther MBA is the British re-incarnation of WIlt the Stilt or we need to jettison the entire Husky team from the Pac-10 and put them on the FIBA U-20 circuit next year. Here are his stats through 6 games.

The Real Reason the Husky Men's BB Program Has Fallen Apart

The two latest downturns in Husky basketball were caused by two unlikely sources, our star centers.  Todd MacCulloch in the late '90s and Spencer Hawes in '06 were effective  low post players but their mere presence completely hijacked the Huskies style of play. Their respective departures were followed by several years of shoddy play.  I would argue that the downturns were caused not by an inability to replace their talent, but in the drastic change in the style of play that was required.

Going from a half-court, low-post-centric (word?) offense to a smaller, faster-paced style of play is much more difficult than vice versa. Anyone can throw the ball down low to a burly, awkward Canadian but not everyone can maintain the spacing, timing and conditioning required to get up and run on a regular basis. Just ask Shaq.

If anyone misses MacCulloch or Hawes, just watch this sampling of their NBA careers.  Coming to a poster near you...

Guest Post From Zognard: Husky Men

The first in a series of guest posts from Zognard:

"Now that march madness has turned to April madness and the Romar's rebels are still not in the final four it is time to reflect back on how mediocre the Dawgs have been for the last couple of years.  UW is now the thrid best program in the state, behind Gonzaga and WSU.  I think people are more apathetic about UW b-ball than football, but is ty's hotseat gonna be followed by ROMAR's?  All I am saying is that the husky men blow and we as fans need to care a little more about the program so we are not mired in mediocrity for the next decade."

Beasley is Beastly

Turns out the NCAA keeps pretty decent stats, although the reporting could use some work. Linked below is a file pulled off their site for individual stats through February 21st.  I've highlighted a few names that, based on stats alone, would seem frontrunners for the Naismith award.

One thing certainly stands out, Michael Beasley is having A YEAR.  Those stats compare favorable to our very own Kevin Durant who was the unanimous (or near unanimous?) Naismith award winnner last year as a Freshman.

Jon Brockman ranks nicely in rebounds/game. Would be nice to see him nab first-team Pac-10 honors but that's looking like a crowded frontcourt with Kevin Love, that dude Anderson from Cal and whoever is the better of the Lopez twins (can't remember and dont care about looking it up).

Download mens_rankings_individual_stats.xls