Yesterday was a big day for Husky fans as Venoy Overton was officially cleared by the NCAA. Yes, just one day before classes started. There are a couple of big reasons why Venoy making it to Montlake are key:

1. While Justin Dentmon appears to be stronger and ready for a bounce back year, it's not a guarantee. And after the struggles the team had last year at the point, Venoy will not only be a decent backup, he could take over if Justin continues to slide.

2. Venoy is from Franklin High and played with Peyton Siva the last few years winning the 4A championship together in '06, they even live next door from one another. Now that Venoy is a Husky, we are no doubt one more step closer to landing Peyton who is by many accounts, the best prospect in WA for '09.

Go Huskies!

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Venoy Overton officially is a member of the Husky basketball team.  His LOI was received today. The addition of Venoy definetely adds to the already stacked backcourt. His presence in itself will help in Justin Dentmon getting back on track. The Huskies success begins and ends with his performance. I have been a harsh critic of Justin's performance this past season. His hard work and dedication this off season with undoubtedly pay off next season. I think we all can expect a great Junior campaign by Dentmon. Here is a link to Venoy's bio provided by the official husky website.

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The depature of Phil Nelson will have little, if any affect on the basketball team next season. With Dentmon, Overton and Morris taking all the minutes at the point, Appleby will go back to being the sixth man off of the bench. At the 2-guard you have Oliver starting and Appleby coming in for instant offense. Joel Smith will also see minutes at the 2-guard.

Phil Nelson saw that he was not going to get any minutes and saw that the best solution was for him to transfer. When Isaiah Thomas arrives he can play the 1 or 2 and obvioulsy would be ahead of Nelson for minutes. Elston Turner Jr. who also will be coming in is a 2-guard. Based on everything I have read and watched he is a stud who would most likely beat out Nelson for minutes. Throw in a Jrue Holiday and your team is all guards expect for Brockman, Wolf, Wallace and possibly Gant and Justin Holiday. Whether Gant actually gets a qualifying score is anybody's guess.

The biggest problem with Nelson's departure in my opinion is that this team keeps getting younger and younger. Losing Hawes and Nelson hurts the program in the long run. You cannot simulate game experience and especially road game experience.

The fact that Thomas, Dentmon, Brockman, Oliver, etc. are going to be here for most likely 3 if not 4 years will benefit this team greatly. The biggest obstacle facing "big time" college basketball schools is their ability to reload, rather than rebuild. I believe Romar will figure out how to handle that obstacle. Obviously sooner, rather than later is what we are all looking for in this case.

The Huskies ability to utilize the 3-guard set that is the identity of Husky basketball will determine how far this team goes. Players come to UW to play fast tempo, motion offense and 90 feet of defense. This past season Romar was forced to get away from that mindset from the start. When a talent like Spencer Hawes comes around you change to fit him into your offense. Sadly, when Hawes missed games and was sick for others it severely hurt the teams overall ability to move the ball and mostly win games.

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As expected, Spencer Hawes declared for the NBA draft minutes ago.  He will not hire an agent.  It seems that all projections have Hawes going in the 8-15 range.  I know the money is enticing, but why not wait until next year and be a sure Top 5 pick.

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With UCLA receiving a slow and painful death at the hands of Florida, the Pac-10 was officially eliminated from the 2007 NCAA Tournament.  The Pac-10 finished the tournament with a very impressive showing having 2 teams reach the Elite 8 and one making the Final Four for consecutive seasons.  Exclude the pathetic showing by an undeserving Stanford team and the Pac-10 played great in every game.  The best part is that the Pac-10 will only be better next season and seasons to come.

Next season looks to be crossroads for the Huskies Men's Basketball team.  The entire core group of players could very well be returning to improve on a very disappointing season.  Whether Spencer Hawes returns is the biggest question mark going into the off-season.  Currently NBADraft.net has Spencer being taken with the 10th pick overall.  The expectations of next season will be determined on his decision to stay or go.  I am part of the small minority that thinks he will return.  His college career thus far has been a bust.  Yes, we all may have had an unrealistic opinion on what his presence would bring to this team, but take out the LSU home game and he was not anything special.  To put him in the same group as a Greg Oden or Kevin Durant is just plain crazy talk.

The off-season development of our freshman is crucial to any step forward for this basketball team.  Quincy Pondexter must be able to create his own shot and consistently score in the double digits night in and night out.  Adrian Oliver showed towards the end of the season confidence that was missing for a large portion of the season.  His ability to be more aggressive and bring more offense to the floor would greatly help take pressure off of Hawes and Pondexter.  Phil Nelson, who should of red-shirted last season will most likely, again is lost in the rotation.  Nelson will again be competing with Oliver, Appleby and Joel Smith for minutes at the 2-guard.

The arrival of Justin Holiday, Venoy Overton, Matt Bryan-Amaning and possibly Darnell Gant will bring in another highly touted recruiting class and more overall depth.   Point guard Venoy Overton will challenge Dentmon and Morris for playing time at the point.  After Dentmon's sophomore campaign it is possible that Overton could get considerable minutes next season.  Whether Darnell Gant will even qualify academically is a huge question mark and may be the reason why the Huskies on paper for next season seem over the limit.  It looks as if the Huskies coaching staff also is not sold on Gant making it into school.

Overall, anything besides an NCAA Tournament berth and atleast another Sweet 16 appearance will be a disappointment.  The talent will definetely be there next year.  Whether Romar and his staff do anything with it will be the second biggest question of the off-season.

On a side note, look for Ohio State to shock the Gators tonight in Atlanta.  Here also is a link to a Duke parity on Youtube if interested.

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The Oregon Ducks have a chance today to beat Florida and give the Pac-10 two representatives in the Final Four.  The Pac-10 has never had two teams in the Final Four.  UCLA's convincing 68-55 win over the Big 12 Champs, #2 Kansas showed the nation that the Pac-10 actually does play defense and can beat very good basketball teams.  With UCLA's victory yesterday the Pac-10 has a (10-4) record in this year's tournament.  It is hard to argue that the Pac-10 has been and still is the best conference in the nation this season.

The Oregon Ducks definetely have a opportunity to beat Florida today.  The Ducks are playing great basketball.  After a late season 3-game losing streak, the Ducks have won 9 in a row.  The #3 ranked Florida Gators come into the game having looked very vulnerable so far this tournament.  Close games against Purdue (74-67) and a down to the wire finish against Butler (65-57) have shown that Florida is definetely beatable.  The key to this game will be Ernie Kent's ability to come up with a gameplan that is able to isolate the inside game of Joakim Noah and Al Horford.  Oregon has no match for those two inside players averaging 12.1, 13.4 ppg respectively.  

I wouldn't be surprised to see Oregon come out in a 2-3 zone to try and make Florida beat them from the outside.  The main problem that brings out is that Florida shoots 40% from 3pt range and shoots 52% overall for the season.  It looks that either way the Oregon defense is going to have its hands full.

Obviously it pains me to root for the Oregon Ducks under any circumstance.  Many fans of opposing teams would never root for their hated rivals, let alone conference opponents.  Lots of people bring up that North Carolina fans would never root for Duke, Auburn fans would never root for Alabama, etc.  Pac-10 fans cannot look at it that way though when it comes to basketball.  

The difference is that the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big East and Big 12 have the respect of the nation.  The Pac-10 does not have that luxury.  So, when March Madness comes around all Pac-10 fans have to root for the whole conference, regardless of feelings about other teams.  We all want our conference to be on a level playing field respect wise with the other power conferences.  If and when that happens then we can all go back to rooting for eachother to be knocked out in the first round.  An Oregon victory would give the Pac-10 victories over the #2 and #3 ranked teams in consecutive days.  It also would knock out the Big 12 Champion Kansas Jayhawks and defending national hamps/SEC Champion Florida Gators.  The quality of basketball in the Pac-10 is at a very high level and only will continue to get better.  From this point on, it will be hard for nobody to notice.

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I dont follow Husky women's hoops, but I am sure some of you actually might.  June Daughtery was fired last night.

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So far it's been a little disappointing for the Pac-10.  The Pac is (5-3) with Oregon and USC playing today.  Oregon hanging on and UCLA squeezing out there victory last night put off calling the tournament a failure for the Pac-10.  Anybody that watches Pac-10 basketball knew that Stanford backed into a tourney bid and it could be argued that they did not even deserve a bid.  Arizona came out with a performance that was typical of the Wildcats in the second half of the season.  Washington State's clock struck midnight against a very good one thru five Vanderbilt team.

Victories for USC and Oregon would give the Pac-10 3 berths in the Sweet 16.  I think that would be a great accomplishment.  Definetely going deeper in the tournament would help the Pac-10's case in terms of national conference rankings.  Possible matchups between UNC/USC, UCLA/Pitt, Oregon/Wisconsin will be a great measuring stick for the quality of the conference this season.  I think UCLA has the ability to go the deepest in the tourney at this point.  GO PAC-10!!!!

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Many things went horribly wrong for the basketball team.  From point guard play to coaching and unrealistic expectations.  Here a couple things that should be addressed.

1. Coaching Staff- How many times were the Huskies simply unprepared for games?  Blowouts at Arizona, Gonzaga and WSU showed a lack of focus and showed how unprepared the team was.  Lack of a consistent point guard play hampered the team all year.  Cameron Dollar being a point guard should of been able to help Dentmon atleast a little bit.  Dentmon regressed considerably this season.  When was this team taught entry passes to big men?  This team looked confused running a half court offense all season long.  A change in the coaching staff should be taken into consideration.  Bringing in a defensive coach like Ken Bone will only help the Huskies.  Maybe Romar should of spent less time coaching Team USA and more watching his own team's development.

2. The Offense-  Player's come to Washington to play uptempo, fast paced, run and gun offense.  Romar has recruited player's to fit that type of offense.  Brining in Hawes changed how Romar's team plays at Washington.  It's hard to argue changing the offense for a Spencer Hawes type player.  It's also hard to agree with it though after seeing the results.  Going back to a 3 guard set is in the best interest of Washington.  If Hawes does not come back, I believe this will happen.  If so, Wallace and Wolfinger may never see the court.

3. Point Guard Play- How many games did Justin Dentmon lose for the Huskies?  The lack of a true point guard cost the Huskies a trip to the NCAA Tournament.  Bringing in a true point guard is a high priority.  Hopefully Tim Morris can bring in some stability at the point.  The competition between Dentmon, Oliver, Morris and Overton will only improve the production out of the point.  Ryan Appleby was forced to play full-time when he is only a role player due to Dentmon's inability to run the point.  Romar likes point guards that contribute offensively, saying without point guards that score it is basically 4 against 5.  That may be true, but if your point guard cannot dribble, pass or score then you are in big trouble.

4. Scheduling- Romar need to re-evaluate his out of conference scheduling.  This team needs games on the road at the beginning of the season.  No, you don't have to play at UConn, UNC, etc, but you can play at mid-level schools like BYU, New Mexico and San Diego State.  It helps in many ways.  You can never have too much experience on the road.  Playing decent teams also help the RPI.  It prepares you for your conference away games.  Playing 10 or so games at home and then going to Gonzaga and getting drilled doesn't help your team at all.  The benefit of playing the Great Alaska Shootout was a #1 Seeding two years ago.  We all now know that if you don't win on the road, regardless of your overall record you will not be invited to the Big Dance, let alone the NIT.

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The Dawgs went 19-13, 8-10 in the Pac-10 and had some good wins. U-Dub beat UCLA, Oregon and USC. They were feel-good wins in a lost season.

Sure, we knew UW wasn't going dancing this season, but we were anticipating an NIT game in a very strong NIT field. Maybe even at home.

What's that? Washington didn't make the NIT? Really? Oh, well fuck you very much then.

Strange. And Stanford is dancing? That seems wrong on so many levels.

A little comparison, if you will.

Stanford:

Record: 18-12, 10-8 Pac-10
RPI: 65
Big Wins: Washington State, UCLA, at Virginia, Texas Tech.
Notable Loss: At home against Air Force. By 34. Thirty fucking four.

Washington:

Record: 19-13, 8-10 Pac-10
RPI: 81
Big Wins: UCLA, Oregon, USC, Stanford.
Notable Loss: Oregon State.

Those resumés aren't all that different. And the NIT committee -- may they rot in hell -- thinks that UW is 32 teams worse than the Cardinal?

We're confused. Then again Arkansas got an at-large bid and Drexel got an NIT three-seed. Is Josh Heytvelt dealing now? Gotta be.

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Here is an update on players that have committed to UW-
Elston Turner Jr
Justin Holiday

Finally, a guy that the Huskies really, really want to get. Justin Holiday's younger brother that is a true point guard.-
Jrue Holiday

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It's either win or go home tonight.  The matchup could not of been scripted better for the Huskies.  I have a hard time believing that WSU can beat us 3 times in one season.  Then again, I have a hard time believing we have lost to WSU five times in a row.  The keys to the game are below-

WHOSE HOUSE? DAWGS HOUSE!!!!!!

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