This past week while the blog was down the Huskies dropped games to Oklahoma State (71-96) and Pittsburgh (74-75).  Despite playing a close game against the #12 Panthers and nearly pulling off a win on a last second shot by Justin Dentmon that didn't get off in time, the Huskies now find themselves at 4-4 a month into the season.

While it's early to do too much statistical analysis of the season thus far, let's take a look at how the Huskies stack up according to Ken Pomeroy's indicators.   Note: For those that aren't familiar, Pomeroy is considered one of the leaders in statistical analysis for college hoops.

As a team, the Huskies have an RPI of 178 and Pomeroy ranks the team at 104.  Not too impressive considering that the reason for the tougher schedule against non-conference opponents was to boost those numbers.  But you have to win some of these games for it to work out.  So far, the Huskies just haven't.  Now, I do have to say that I do not think we are as bad as some might say based off of those basic figures at face value.

There is some encouraging news if you look at little closer.  The up-tempo style of offense is back this season ranking 34 in the nation (with 74.2 possessions per game), which has translated into an efficient offensive attack (as Pomeroy measures us at 48th in the nation).  So what does all of that mean?  It means that we can win games that are up and down the court battles.  We an out hustle teams.  It means that this team has been built for speed and it can use its athleticism as a threat.

There is also a "but" though, right?  And there are definitely some factors for why this up-tempo approach hasn't translated into success just yet.  I've been saying it from the beginning of the season, but this team's nucleus is very young.  Inexperience usually shows up somewhere in the stats and I'll point to a few that we should monitor as the Huskies progress.  Free throws have been a huge problem.  We have shot 59.5% from the line good for 318 of 341 teams.  Even worse, with a FT Rate of 19.3 (essentially the number of FT Attempts per 100 FG) ranks us at 286th in the country.  So it isn't just that we aren't making free throws, but we aren't shooting enough of them either.  Good teams take advantage of the mistakes their opponents make.  In basketball, you can turn those mistakes directly into points, but right now the Huskies just aren't cashing in.

The other reason I'd say that the offensive efficiency hasn't translated into wins is that this team turns over the ball too much.  High tempo offenses do tend to commit more turnovers due to the desire to force the ball up court quickly and run the fast break.  Right now the Huskies are at a Turnover Percentage of 21.4, which places them at 138th in the country.  If they can get that number down a little bit and make a few less mistakes a game, I think eventually that will translate into wins.

Overall, if I had to grade this team after a month, I'd say that they get a C+.  There are some glaring problems, but I think a lot of it has to do with the need to develop chemistry among players and some individual problems (like poor free throw shooting).  There have been some things to be pleased with as well though.  Overton's ability as a freshman gives me a lot of hope for what is to come over the next few seasons.  Brockman continues to be a low post threat.  We've even seen glimpses of what Dentmon and Pondexter are capable of when they are on their game.  And yes, having Ryan Appleby back as a shooting threat off the bench helps this team.  They just haven't put it all together yet.

I'm not going to get into too much individual analysis just yet at this point in the season.  Brockman is clearly the leader of this team and can carry them when his game on the post is working.  But there is still a lot yet to be seen and so I'll hold off comment until the end of the month before we head into Pac-10 play.