Husky Men's Basketball Blog

I wrote a little bit about Aaron Brooks in an item for the newspaper today.

In the course of that conversation, Brooks referred indirectly to the incident here a year ago with Ryan Appleby. I couldn't help myself, so I asked Brooks if he had happened to see Appleby while he was here ---- all 10 teams stayed at the same hotel.

"No,'' he said. "If I did see him, I wouldn't say anything to him.''

Brooks said he hadn't realized how upset Appleby still is over the incident, but also indicated he's done trying to apologize. He tried to shake Brooks hand before the two teams played in Eugene last month but Appleby refused.

Brooks said he heard after the game in Eugene the talk that Appleby felt Brooks' apology wasn't sincere and should have been made in person.

"I tried to do it right after the game here (last year) but I couldn't get to the locker room,'' he said --- apparently, he wasn't allowed to get to the UW locker room that night. "I wasn't in Seattle that much this summer. He wants me to go to Washington just to do it? I mean, I don't know.''

While the Huskies are gone, we are still here, ready to cover the rest of the Pac-10 Tournament, so we'll continue to check in here from time to time.

The big news this afternoon was the announcement that the Pac-10 Tournament will stay at the Staples Center through 2012.

Officials for the Pac-10, Fox and the Staples Center said that other cities --- including Seattle --- put in bids to host the tournament.

But ultimately, Fox Sports Enterprises --- which runs the tournament --- wanted to keep it in LA where its base is and where it feels the tournament can be most successful.

"We feel building equity in a market is crucial,'' said Mitch Huberman, senior vice president of Fox Sports Enterprises. "As well as a chance to build a destination for schools.''

A Staples Center official said the tournament is among the most important events the arena hosts, right with the Emmys and the Grammys.

Pac-10 officials pointed to some improvements being made in the area that will make the tournament more of a happening for those who attend. A $2 billion complex of hotels, restaurants and clubs is being built across the street from Staples, with some of it due to be open next season.

The new five-year deal coincides with the five-year TV contract between Fox and the Pac-10.

I'm admittedly stealing this from reader Toby, but thought I would put it out here so it would maybe get more visibility.

Toby passed along the NIT-ology web site that publishes projections of the NIT draw. You can find the site here. Here, also, is the field broken down by bracket.

They have UW as a No. 6 seed, which means the Huskies would have to go on the road to face No. 3 seed Michigan.

Among the other three seeds listed are Bradley, Oklahoma State or Georgia, just to give you an indication of the possible level of competition.

All tough places to go, and all good experiences for a team that now has to use the NIT to build toward next year. Oklahoma State might be avoided as an opponent for UW since the Huskies are due to play there next Dec. 1 in the Pac-10-Big 12 Challenge.

Interestingly, the NIT-ology bracket has UW possibly facing Saint Louis in the second round, which would obviously be a matchup of Romar and his old school.

Here, as well, is the general NIT web site which should tell you all you need to know about the tournament.

The basics are that it is a 32-team field that unlike years past, is now seeded and bracketed like the NCAA Tournament. That means the higher seed teams host (unless there are extenuating circumstances why it can't) so if UW is a No. 6 seed, it likely wouldn't host any games unless there were upsets in its brackets.

I notice the NIT-ology site doesn't even list Santa Clara as a possibility. But a knowledgable source said last night that was one team already mentioned as a possible first-round foe for UW.

I know the Huskies have done what needed to host a game by submitting a formal bid, etc. and are hopeful of getting a home game. But now that the NCAA has taken over the tournament, the old days of bigger schools simply buying home games in the NIT are over.

The NIT bracket will be announced Sunday at 6 p.m. on ESPN2 and ESPNU.

Sure, it's been a longshot for a while.

But today is the first day we can write for certain that the Washington Huskies are not going to the NCAA Tournament.

That does not mean their season is over, however, as the NIT is sure to come calling and UW could have five more games. So, many of the questions some of you have asked about the future won't get answers from the coaches just yet as there is still some season to play.

My understanding is the team is taking today and tomorrow off, then will resume practice Sunday with an NIT game possible on Tuesday or Wednesday.

But certainly, the loss to WSU felt like an ending, eliciting in its wake a lot of questions about what happened and where things head now.

I'll try to a few of your questions here:

WHAT WAS UW'S BIGGEST PROBLEM THIS YEAR? I think the main thing, as was made evident again in the WSU game, was UW's defense out front. As one coach watching the tournament told me "they are not very good perimeter defenders.''

Ryan Appleby is good defending catch-and-shoot guys, as he showed last week against Arron Afflalo, but not as good guarding on the ball. Justin Dentmon struggled in every area all year, and his weight gain seemed to make him lose a step this year, which hurt him on defense. And Adrian Oliver, while showing promise, isn't yet ready to defend guys like Kyle Weaver or Derrick Low. WSU got 48 of its 74 points from its three starting guards and they shot 15-24 from the field.

The good news is that the perimeter defense should be much improved next year. Tim Morris and Joel Smith are each capable defenders who apparently have often been getting the better of this year's starters in practices of late. I think there is some sentiment that Smith would be starting right now were he healthy, in large part due to his defense.

And Oliver will be a year older and Dentmon probably in better shape and with a renewed focused. Then there's Venoy Overton, who will have some adjusting to do but has the quickness and athleticism to make an impact on defense immediately.

WILL SPENCER HAWES BE BACK? Hate to punt on this one, but it's still too early to tell. I don't think he's told the coaches anything yet. Word here is that he's still a top 10-20 pick at worst, so the question is going to be whether he wants to come back to improve his stock a little bit, but maybe more so to leave a greater legacy at UW --- which could prove to be the biggest factor in the end.

As for Hawes, he was outplayed Thursday by WSU's big guys, specifically Robbie Cowgill. He struggles more against quicker, more athletic defenders, and theh Cougars did the right thing using Cowgill and Clark on Hawes rather than Baynes. Hawes also isn't yet a great defender, which has compounded the problems out front.

WILL ANYONE REDSHIRT NEXT YEAR TO MAKE ROOM FOR EVERYBODY? That's really hard to tell right now and I don't think the c oaches have such things in mind right now. Of the guys coming in, I know the plan is for Overton and Bryan-Amaning to play a lot immediately, especially in the case of MBA if Hawes leaves. Plans always change, however. I think they wanted to redshirt Phil Nelson this year but couldn't when Joel Smith got hurt. At the moment, I wouldn't think any of the current roster would redshirt next season for reasons other than injury, etc.

HOW MUCH BLAME DOES ROMAR TAKE FOR THIS SEASON? Certainly, as the head coach, the ultimate responsibility falls on him. But at the risk of sounding like an apologist, I don't think this has been a bad coaching job. I haven't talked to anyone here who scratches their head and wonders why this team isn't doing better. This team has some physical deficiencies that have become obvious during the season, mostly the perimeter defending stuff mentioned above. The UW coaches did try some things this year, mostly playing more zone defense than ever before, and slowing down the offense.

With just 10 players all season, there were pretty limited options for a lot of things, but the Huskies did try a number of different lineups before finally settling on the one that seemed to work best --- it just wasn't good enough. Again, at the risk of sounding like an excuse maker, it's also hard to take the Hawes illness thing out of the equation. Maybe if UW had won at least won on that Bay Area trip, when Hawes was really beginning to struggle, things might have turned out a lot differently. This team didn't seem to react real well to adversity once it hit, and when it lost momentum on that trip, seemed to lose a lot of confidence. How much of that falls on Romar is really hard to judge. With such a new team, I think it's more accurate to judge him on many of these issues a year from now, when youth and inexperience is no longer a factor.

Also, I would point out that a 19-win season by UW's historical standards is still pretty good. UW's only had 10 seasons of 19 or more wins since the formation of the Pac-10 in 1978 --- Romar has coached four of them.

On a side note, I'm staying here to cover the rest of the tournament and while this is a Husky blog first, I plan to post some things that I think may be of general interest, as well.

Ultimately, that was Lorenzo Romar's analysis of Washington's 74-64 loss to Washington State Thursday night.

"The better team won,'' he said.

Impossible for anyone to argue when one team beats another three times --- once on your floor, once on their floor and once on a neutral court.

Certainly, there is some deeper analysis you can make.

Robbie Cowgill outplayed Spencer Hawes, pushing him out to the free throw line and never letting him get the ball close to the hoop; the UW guards couldn't defend their Cougar counterparts especially at crunch time; and the Huskies didn't catch a lot of breaks on the officiating, or didn't do anything to create them, as WSU had a 29-10 free throw attempt advantage and 25-7 in the second half.

Add it up, and the Cougars were simply better.

Experience, certainly, played a factor, something both coaches mentioned.

"Washington's young --- they have some inexperience --- and our experience showed for us,'' said WSU coach Tony Bennett.

Here's our coverage of it --- our game story; the notebook, which mostly due to deadline issues leads off with information on some of the earlier games but does include some UW material; and Steve Kelley's column.

Now, the Huskies head to the NIT.

The selections will be announced Sunday at 6 p.m. and UW seems likely to host a game on Tuesday or Wednesday against a team such as Santa Clara or San Diego State.

It's a consolation prize, to be sure. But for a team that is undeniably young, also one that holds lots of value. UW could play as many as five games, giving the Huskies that much more experience for next season.