Bob,

At the risk of hyperbole, honestly I don’t think any one article has ever gotten me more excited about an upcoming Husky season than that article did.

Everything about it was exciting…but I think more than anything was this quote by Brockman:
"Everyone knows he can score. But the biggest thing I've noticed is how he can pass. His passing is really going to help this team."

If everything we’re hearing is true, IT needs to be on the court 35 minutes a game because he is EXACTLY what Huskies were missing last year and when he is on the court he will make Brockman, QPon and MBA better than we’ve ever seen them before.

Am I about to crap my pants thinking about that? As a matter of fact, yes I am.

But kudos to you for such a well-written article Bob. I hope some of the young Seattle athletes read it and were inspired. If I were a 17 year old Seattle basketball stud I know it would make me stop and think.

Hopefully Isaiah will stay away from this years SeaFair stuff. We don't want a Mike Halseth on our hands.

Bob, are you covering SeaFair this year? Watch for Marlenes year round sunburn.

Great article, Bob. How is Isaiah's arrival gonig to affect Venoy Overton, another exciting guard who can pass and, at times, make amazing plays seemingly out of nothing? On that note, I haven't heard much about Venoy's development in the offseason. Has he been working on his jumper? If so, we should have an awesome backcourt.

i bet this will affect dentmon more than overton. overton outperformaed dentmon last year as a freshman. i think this may eventually lead to the end of dentmon getting significant minutes for this team. i think that's a great thing. overton/thomas will probably be way more productive and control a game better. out with the old, in with the new. i know it sounds harsh, but i honestly feel the team would win more now with the younger two, and it would build chemistry for the future.

The Seattle times reporter is doing their job, getting husky nation fired up about silly predictions and rankings that has not come to fruition in the last 6 years. Looks like the huskies are going to win another pac-10 title between the lines of seattle times articles. Maybe that's why husky nation is so upset about their teams poor performance because of false hopes.

ut ohhhhhhhhhhhhh meat, looks like somebody else agrees with matty :) and I would assume the pac ten frosh of the year will follow. Not one of you on here has sided with me.....sure you still have derozen out there but im sure a scandal with him at usc will be dug up by pac ten play!

Those who hadn't seen Thomas much in the past two years are believing as well. One local college coach who witnessed Thomas playing pickup games in June in Tacoma alongside Rodney Stuckey of the Detroit Pistons predicted that Thomas will lead all Pac-10 freshmen in scoring next season.

Matty, you’re right, I haven’t sided with you. And, I keep reminding myself that in summer open gym a lot of guys look great (well obviously getting sucked into the hype of IT though). But still…I don’t think you sound as crazy as I thought you did a month ago. For the first time it seems realistic that IT can be Pac-10 Frosh of the year. Let’s keep hoping.

Good points sloth and 206er on Dentmon and Overton. We haven’t heard a single word on Overton (Bob?....Baaaaaahb…).

So much can change, but last year Overton averaged 20.5 minutes a game and Dentmon averaged 24.2. Right now, my best guess is Romar will be rotating IT, Overton and Dentmon with IT getting the chunk of the minutes and Overton and Dentmon probably picking up similar minutes as last year.

You’re right sloth, if Overton can improve his jumper though he is a better passer and defender than Dentmon. You’ve got to give credit though to Dentmon for what sounds like some great off-season work-outs - and he his experience in his favor. He isn’t far from being a really good guard (a little better defense…little better decision –making and upping his shooting %)…maybe he’ll finish strong his sr. year...and...rather than 'hurting' him, it's possible he'll be able to feed off of IT's abilities and actully be that much better when they are both on the floor - despite Huskies having the smallest back-court in the Pac-10.

mt, i understand what you're saying about dentmon and i think he's a nice guy so i feel bad speaking badly about his performance on the court. having great offseason workouts was the exact same thing we heard about dentmon last year. i think bob did a story about the rigorous daily routine of dentmon last year. i was excited, but when the season came along and he was still making the same foolish mistakes on the court i decided to move on. as you said overton is a better true point guard/defender than dentmon. i think he can and will improve his j. thomas is seemingly already futher along offensively than dentmon. we can't cling to dentmon just because he's a nice guy. i wouldn't slow overton/thomas' progress to make dentmon feel good.

206er, I agree with everything you say.

However, I felt like Romar has been partial to Dentmon when it sure appeared all last season Dentmon should have had 1/2 the minutes he did and Overton twice the minutes.

So after being so hard on Dentmon (c'mon, has anyone on this board hammered Dentmon more than I have?) I'm slowly preparing myself for Romar starting him and talking myself into believing it won't be a bad thing.

Seriously though (see, I'm going to suck you in), IF Dentmon is stronger than ever before, and IF Dentmon has learned to make better decisions with the ball, and IF he can hit more of his shots, and IF he won't play crappy defense (ESPECIALLY away from the ball...like leaving 3 point shooters WIDE open...teams do know how to find the open man JD)...THEN...don't you think he can be an asset?

If you confess this every day you'll start to believe it (I have)...and if we all confess this together every day until November 15th, collectively we can make it happen.

We Believe!

It will be all about matchups. Anybody remember that Dentmon lit up Darren Collison for 24? Anybody remember that it was Dentmon that kept the ball a split second too long without looking to pass and making a shot after the buzzer against Pitt?
When he's hot, he's hot and he's not going to pass, when he's not, you better get back on defense in transition.
It will be nice if we again have a guy (IT or someone else) with some skills that also wants to be the guy with the ball at the end of the game that can see the clock.

I have to say though that Husky offense is pretty predictable. Isolation for the guy with the hot hand, feed the low post, or try to hit that guy coming off 3 screens for a 3 pointer.

I am a Husky fan first, but when I watch our cross-state rivals like GU and WSU that have multi-option attacks where everybody is moving and no one is afraid to shoot, I hope we make some improvements this year.

I am cautiously optimistic that we can get out of the PAC-10 cellar.

It is wonderful to know that the Husky coaches have helped inspire a young man to grow up and achieve such success in the classroom, and wonderful to hear that that is the thing that coach Romar focuses on. That's success that this Husky alumni can be proud of.

P.S. THE TYPE IN THE COMMENT BOX IS TOO SMALL ! ! !

The benefit to Dentmon is that he is a scorer. when he was not on the floor, everyone in the gym knew that we would have to go to Brockman. last year's team had no scorers. Pondexter has the ability and the talent but, as documented over and over again, he hasn't fully stepped up.

I believe this year, QPon will step up and be a major factor. Add a scorer like Thomas, Turner, Suggs, Dentmon and you have legit outside threats to compliment Brockman. NOW, throw in a hopefully improved MBA and Breashers and UW has a pretty tough inside outside game. Dentmon's value will still be his ability to score and at least for this year, his maturity to bring along the younger players.

Overton is the defensive specialist and speed merchant. He is the guy you stick on players like Jrue Holiday, Nic Wise, Collison etc... While he may not score much, his job is to contain these opponents stars and frustrate the heck out them.

Well said Husky 19.

I BELIEVE!!!

WOW!! Everyone, what happened to alittle bit of faith? Correct me if I'm wrong but alot of people, or should I say most people strongly doubted I.T. and his abilities due to how he played when he was here in Wa. Forgetting that this kid left here and became what you see now. A much improved player than he was when he left. The academic acheivement should be credited first and foremost. That's what they "should" be at the UW for. School. I.T. acheived that, on his own, that's why he's at the UW. As for everyone who is on the court I.T. has played along side some of these players and against some of them. Everyone can make all the predictions, analyze and critisize. But lets give them, all of them a chance and let's see who comes in strong and stays strong. They seem to have faith in themselves, lets give them ours. Who gets the minutes should be who's bringing in the bacon. Believe me if I.T. can't see the clock he will take it to the hoop so he can...

doubted him? let me have what your smokin guy? he dropped 50 on franklin in the playoffs as a soph I believe....nobody doubted him lol

i.t. is a "create your own score, scorer" something we lacked last year. we now have that, as well as better replacements... we lost joel smith, ryan appleby, and tim morris. sorry to say it but i.t. and the rest of the guys are better as freshman than those players were even last year (minus morris). Appleby is one dimensional.....

G,
Let's wait until the season. We probably had very high hopes for Oliver and Nelson as freshman, but that didn't really play out.

Mattysimone, I believe you miss understood me bout Isaiah. I was at that game when he did that, great performance. I meant that for those who don't believe this kid is the real deal. Or should say young man. Yea he did play along side stucky, they were up at the open gym at TCC. So what they are saying is true......i believe as well, lol and sorry don't smoke.....ha ha

Hey just curious, Michael K dropped off the radar. He was so busy letting it be known that I.T. wasn't going to make it. Well he is definately here and Oh by the way he did graduate and he passed his exam!!!!! So I wonder all where did Mr. Michael K go? I thought there would be some kind of comment. Guess not...... Or maybe he's still in shock..... lol just messin.