Husky Men's Basketball Blog

WSU has regained control of this game and this is quickly becoming crunch time for the Huskies.

You may have noticed that the Cougars are again doubleteaming the post on almost every possession. They didn't do it as much in the first half, not really going to it at all until midway through.

But it seems to be taking its toll right now on the Huskies, who still don't seem to know how to handle it.

Thank Artem Wallace for this halftime lead as the sophomore big man has eight points on 4-6 shooting in 14 minutes.

He was forced to play more than usual with Spencer Hawes picking up his second foul with 8:20 left.

Then Ryan Appleby took over hitting three long three-pointers en route to nine points. That added to the 10 scored by Quincy Pondexter as the Huskies have led much of the way.

UW trailed by 11 and eight at halftime of the first two games against the Cougars.

The Huskies caught a break when Aron Baynes went to the bench at the 15:05 mark with his second foul.

UW has used his absence to assert dominance on the boards, which is helping the Huskies overcome some tough shooting. UW has a 9-5 rebounding advantage but is 4-12 from the floor.

The early matchups inside had Baynes on Brockman and Cowgill on Hawes.

Don't know how it sounds on TV, but there is not much noise in here --- the quietest for any of the games today, with a lot of people leaving after the USC game.

Not the intense atmosphere of either of the first two meetings.

Get ready for what may be the latest starting game --- in the Pacific time zone, anyway --- in UW history.

Overtime of USC-Stanford means the Huskies may not tip until about 9:10 or so. the UConn game last year began about 10 p.m. local time back east, but I don't ever remember a UW game that will go this late.

In fact, as I finish that at 8:48 p.m., UW has hit the court and it says 27 minutes on the clock. So that's a 9:15 tip time at best.

Probably has no real impact on the game, but it does on those of us covering it. Our deadlines are now tighter than ever.

I think the Huskies would have preferred that Stanford won that game. But all that matters right now is trying to beat the Cougs.

One of you asked about how the teams feel about the tournament being here. The reality is that Fox is the financial backing for the tournament and the network wants it here, so this is where it is going to stay through at least 2011.

I think most coaches and school officials realize that money talks loudest and while in a perfect world, they'd prefer it be moved around, they know for now, this is where it has to stay. Several people have made the comparison with the Big East Tournament, which is played every year in New York. They hope that eventually, maybe this tournament can take on that feel.

We're still about two hours to go before tipoff of the UW-WSU game here.

Which gives some more time for breaking it down.

One point of speculation is how WSU will matchup on UW inside.

In the game in Seattle three weeks ago, the Cougars mostly used Ivory Clark and Robbie Cowgill inside, with Aron Baynes getting 18 minutes off the bench.

Since then, however, WSU has altered its lineup, with Baynes starting and Clark sitting.

That's a significant difference in stature as Baynes is 6-10 while Clark is 6-6. Clark especially seemed to bother Spencer Hawes with his quickness, especially in that last five minutes when the Cougars held UW's interior players scoreless.

But Baynes is obviously a much bigger body to put on Hawes, who scored 22 points and hit 7-12 shots and 8-11 free throws.

Figure that Baynes will start on Hawes and the 6-10 Cowgill on Brockman.

Baynes also changes things for UW on the defensive end, as well, as he has suddenly become an offensive force, averaging 16.3 points and 4.5 rebounds in the last three games. That includes a standout performance against USC Saturday when he had 25 points in 34 minutes, hitting all 10 of his shots.

I asked one coach down here about WSU's change in personnel and he said it makes the Cougars much better suited for a long NCAA Tournament run as Baynes poses a lot more problems than does Clark due to his size.

For the Huskies, the trick will be staying out of foul trouble.

One thing we haven't noted much is that the Huskies got no bench scoring against Arizona State, with the bench only playing 37 minutes.

Some interesting reactions to UCLA's loss to Cal from Bruin coach Ben Howland, who seemed particularly down on his team afterward and several times made references to the loss to UW Saturday.

"I'm extremely disappointed in how we've played our last two games,'' Howland said. "If we don't play any better than we are playing right now, than any team in the field of 64 will beat us.''

Howland said UCLA is shooting too many threes right now --- the Bruins had 25 in 55 overall attempts against Cal.

Another problem --- Arron Afflalo seems to be hitting the wall a bit. He has had two straight poor games and some scouts here said they think he looks a little tired.

Another problem --- UCLA's guards seem to have switched roles. Darren Collison took 15 shots for the second straight game while Afflalo attempted only seven against the Bears.

By the way, the Huskies again practiced at UCLA today for their pre-game shootaround.

Step right up if you had Cal-Oregon in one semifinal of the Pac-10 tournament.

The bracket for the Pac-10 Tournament just broke wide open with Cal's upset of No. 1 seed UCLA.

It's the biggest upset since No. 8 UCLA beat No. Arizona in 2003. But that's the only win by a No. 8 seed since the tournament was reinstated before this year.

The obvious implication for the Huskies is that anything now seems possible in this tournament for any of the teams that are left.

Cal simply outworked the Bruins, especially at the start, and Omar Wilkes did nice job defending Arron Afflalo while Ayinde Ubaka played like an all-conference player throughout, especially at the end.

Washington coaches and players are pretty much in lockstep on what the Huskies have to do to win tonight's game --- play hard, play good defense and take care of the ball.

But here's a little bit more in their own words.

UW coach Lorenzo Romar: "We've got to defend, take care of the basketball and be every disciplined because they are a team that takes advantage of every single mistake that you make, mentally or physically.

UW forward Jon Brockman: "They are a great team. Personally, I've never beaten them and it's a big game. We know they are great on defense and great on offense and they work together really well. We've got to come out and have a great game.''

Brockman on what UW has to do differently this time: "Ultimately, we've just got to come out and defend and play hard. We've got to come out and play hard like we did last time and take care of the ball and step it up a notch the last half of the game. The last time we were right there with them and then the turnovers and the stops we didn't get really hurt us.''

Cal has a 31-20 lead on UCLA as I write this, which would certainly be an interesting turn of events if it holds. The Huskies a lot of work to do before this game would have impact them, but obviously removing UCLA would be beneficial.

I'm sitting right behind the Cal bench and the Bears seem as into this game as any other team has here during the tournament.

There was an interesting aftermath to the Oregon-Arizona game as Wildcat coach Lute Olson turned a question on Maarty Leunen into a rant on the fact that the Pac-10 had just nine players on its all-conference team instead of the usual 10 --- the conference said it was because only nine players received votes on half of the ballots cast.

"It's an embarrassment to our league that we have the best league, the best this conference has ever been, and we can't find 10 guys who deserve to be all-conference,'' Olson said. "It's a really, really embarrassing situation. ... I've talked with the people there (at the Pac-10) and I'm embarrassed for them that they couldn't come up with a 10th guy.''

Olson said he wasn't just lobbying for one more of his players, mentioning Leunen and Lodrick Stewart and Gabe Pruitt and several others as those he thought deserved it.

Olson said he figured he'll get in trouble with Pac-10 officials for speaking and that maybe he'd get a one-game suspension.

"If they'll name a 10th player, I'll be happy to sit out the first game next season,'' he said.

It was the first time since 1985 that there were just nine players on the All-Pac-10 team.

Of the Pac-10 Tournament, that is.

Arizona put up surprisingly little fight in this one, continuing the erratic play that colored the entire season and raising further questions about the direction of that program.

The Ducks, meanwhile, have won four in a row and figure to give UCLA a real game tomorrow, assuming the Bruins beat Cal next.

Somebody asked who is UW's second-best three-point shooter after Ryan Appleby.

It's an especially relevant question heading into tonight's game against WSU. The Cougars at times are susceptible to leaving outside shooters open with their emphasis on doubling the post. Consider that Oregon swept the Cougars this year by making a combined 23 of 50 three-pointers in two games.

The Huskies weren't quite as successful in their two losses to WSU, going 11-33.

Appleby is by far UW's most dangerous three-point shooter, making 81 of UW's 186 treys this season.

Second on the team in terms of makes is Phil Nelson (24) but he has made just 29.3 percent. In terms of percentage, the second-best shooter is Quincy Pondexter (18-47, 38.3 percent).

But the player who could emerge as the complimentary threat to Appleby is Justin Dentmon. He shot just 31.9 percent for the season (23-72) but has been better of late, making 3-4 against Arizona State Wednesday and has made six of his last 12 in the last three games.

Promise I'll have some Husky stuff on here soon.

For now, here's an interesting column today from the Eugene Register-Guard with Oregon AD Pat Kilkenny refuting rumors that Mark Few to Oregon is a done deal.

Think what you want of Aaron Brooks, but those of us who thought he should have been the Pac-10 Player of the Year this season are getting plenty of ammunition in the opening minutes of Oregon's game against Arizona.

He has 16 points with seven minutes left in the first half --- as many as Arizona, with Oregon holding a 24-16 lead --- and also has two of the more impressive defensive plays I've seen all year with his blocks at the rim of 6-10 Ivan Radenovic and Jawann McClellan.

Have to admit, an Oregon-Washington final would be a lot of fun.

I'm here for the tipoff of the Oregon-Arizona game, which should be a good one.

Each won on the other's home court this year by margins of three points or less in what were two of the best games of the Pac-10 season.

And --- in what I'll admit is a cheap shot --- Husky fans can watch to see if Aaron Brooks can make it through a complete tournament game.

I'm heading out to the arena soon for the first of four games today.

Once there, we'll have plenty on here, including a breakdown of the UW-WSU game, and observations on other games.

For now, I'll link to our coverage of last night's win over ASU, including our game story and Steve Kelley's column, all of which you can find here.