Washington Huskies Weekly Update

Well the Washington Huskies basketball season is over after a 76-74 loss to the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday in Portland at the Rose Garden. UW came back from a 14 point deficit and almost won the game but ultimately came up short. A huge sequence took place with about a minute left in the game when the Huskies had the ball and had two shots blocked by JaJuan Johnson of Purdue. First Johnson blocked Isaiah Thomas then Quincy Pondexter.

The Huskies were led by Thomas (24 points), Pondexter (20 points and 10 rebounds) and of course Jon Brockman (20 points and 18 rebounds. 60th double-double of his career). Those 3 combined to score all but 10 of the Huskies points for the game. In my opinion the biggest key to the game was the virtual no shows of every other Husky besides Thomas, Pondexter and Brockman, with the exception of Venoy Overton who played great defense but didn't adjust to how closely the officials were calling the game.

Now that the season is over for the Dawgs most people think of what could of have been. I like to look into the future and think of how good this team will be next year. Granted the Huskies will be losing two major pieces to the team in Brockman and Justin Dentmon but they also gained a lot of experience and it was amazing to see how much better Quincy Pondexter played this year. UW will return 3 of the 5 starters as well as the top 4 guys off of the bench.

The recruiting class for 2009 is also going to be key as the Huskies have the #13 ranked class according to ESPN. They will bring in the #2 rated point guard, 6-3 Abdul Gaddy along with versatile power forward Clarence Trent, guard C.J. Wilcox and Junior College power forward Charles Garcia, Jr.

I'm disappointed the season ended for the Huskies but I am also amped for the possibility of what the Dawgs can do next year.

Washington Huskies Weekly Update

A little help from your enemies. That's what the Washington Huskies got this week when the Washington State Cougars beat the UCLA Bruins on Saturday. The Huskies now have a 1 1/2 game lead over the Bruins in the Pac-10. Arizona State is right behind the Huskies, only a 1/2 game back, they will have a chance to add to that lead when the Sun Devils visit B of A this Thursday. Should the Huskies prevail on Thursday that will give them at least a 1 1/2 game lead over the second place team in the Pac-10 with just 2 conference games remaining, both at home.

Unfortunately the Huskies were unable to beat UCLA last Thursday losing 85-76, but did manage to beat the USC Trojans on their home court on Saturday by the final of 60-51. The loss was only the second the Trojans have suffered all season. The heroes in this game against the Trojans were Quincy Pondexter who scored a season-high 22 points, and Venoy Overton who applied heavy pressure to USC's point guard Daniel Hackett. Overton entered the game with 6:20 remaining and helped shut down the Trojans, who led by 4 with 5:52 to play but scored only 1 point the rest of the way.

This week the Huskies entertain the Sun Devils on Thursday the 26th and the Arizona Wildcats Saturday the 28th, both at home.

Washington Huskies Weekly Update: KryptoNate!

Welcome back to the AP top 25 Dawgs. After being left out of last weeks top 25 the Huskies make a return this week at number 22. This after beating the Oregon schools at home (Oregon State Beavers 79-60 on Thursday, Oregon Ducks 103-84 on Saturday), both by 19 points. UW is in first place in the Pac-10 by a full game over the Arizona State Sun Devils.

Justin Dentmon continued his great play of late by scoring a total of 49 points and handing out 9 assists in the two games. Also in the Oregon game 4 of the 5 starters scored at least 20 points (Quincy Pondexter 20, Jon Brockman 21, Isaiah Thomas 24 and Dentmon 21).

Ex-Huskies also did pretty well over the NBA's All Star weekend with Nate Robinson winning the dunk contest in his all green suit of kryptonite over Superman Dwight Howard. Brandon Roy went for 14 points (on 7 of 8 shooting), 5 rebounds and 5 assists in Sundays All-Star game.

This week the Huskies face UCLA and USC both on the road. If they can pull off victories in both of those games that will put them in great position to win the Pac-10. After this weeks road games the Dawgs have the remaining 4 regular season games at home.

Washington Huskies Weekly Update

No Sweet 16 for Stanford. The Huskies finally broke through and beat the Stanford Cardinal in Palo Alto for the first time since 1993 on Sunday. The Cardinal scored 12 straight points midway through the first half to go up 25-15, but the Huskies closed the first half strong and went into the break up 35-34. UW kept up the pressure in the second half and ended up defeating the Cardinal 75-68. Quincy Pondexter lead the Dawgs with 20 points, Isaiah Thomas added 17 for his 17th consecutive game in double figures and Jon Brockman added his 11th double-double of the season.

Unfortunately the Huskies lost the first game of this Californication on Thursday night when they were soundly beaten by the California Golden Bears. UW held a 43-34 lead early in the second half but imploded after that and went on to lose 86-71.

The Huskies currently ranked 22nd in the nation are now a half game back of the UCLA Bruins for 1st place in the Pac-10 at 8-3.

This week the Huskies head back home to battle the Oregon State Beavers on Thursday and the Oregon Ducks on Valentines Day. Fitting because the Huskies Ducks have a real love/hate relationship, mostly hate. The Huskies are 13-1 this season at home, and with the Oregon schools being two of the worst in the Pac-10 the Dawgs should prevail in both of these games.

By the way, isn't it a shame that Oregon State and South Carolina don't play every year?