2008 College Basketball - We Love Our Dawgs With Bite, Not Our Dogs With Bark

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

The University of Washington basketball season is well underway as Pac-10 league play has started and it appears that the Huskies are in for a very long season.

Two months ago in mid-November head coach Lorenzo Romar said, "We're still trying to get our defense right.

"We're not as far along as I thought defensively . . . Some are trying to sort it out. We did play four freshman," he continued, referring to an earned victory that led to Washington's NIT Season Tip-off action at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where the Huskies promptly lost by 14 points to Texas A&M and by 6 points to Syracuse.

Two months later in mid-January, Sagarin's latest ratings today (Tuesday, 1-15-08) have Texas A&M at 14-1 and rated No. 16, and Syracuse at 12-5 and rated No. 51. Washington is 9-7 (scary close to .500) and rated No. 72.

All 9 of Washington's victories have come against average to bad teams (average includes Washington). These include such powerhouses as New Jersey Tech (rated No. 340 among 341 NCAA Division 1A teams), Utah (#52), Eastern Washington (#263), Long Beach State (#279), Portland (#228), Portland State (#140), Cal State Northridge (#56), LSU (#153) and Idaho State (#294). In other words, the Huskies do not yet have a quality win.

In mid-December Lo-Ro (Lorenzo Romar) was at it again, reminding his hotshot freshman that defense would get them onto the floor faster than fancy offensive moves. It is rarer than 3 feet of snow in Seattle to see a kid coming out of high school who even knows what defense is, much less playing it.

They never played defense in high school and got an athletic scholarship with dunks and press clippings, so they must figure it is not important to winning at a higher level. This, of course, is why every good team and every championship team plays no defense whatsoever. Let us hope that if they cannot understand defense, they can at least understand sarcasm.

It seems that every high school kid who gets a shot at NCAA basketball today dreams of being the next Michael Jordan or LeBron James. Jordan and James are exceptional competitors who will not to be duplicated anytime soon. Even the most talented of these young Husky players could not begin to match the work ethic of Michael Jordan, who became an intense student of the game.

One could argue that 4 of Washington's 7 losses have been quality losses. You might point out that UCLA is now 15-1 and rated No. 5, Washington State is 14-1 and No. 7, Pittsburgh is 14-2 and No. 9, and Texas A&M is 14-1 and No. 16. I do not consider Southern Cal a quality loss as the Trojans are 10-6 and No. 41.

The Huskies have improved a little on defense, but still all but collapse late in the game when it matters most.

So what does it all mean? Just this: The Washington Huskies are likely to lose more games than they win in their remaining Pac-10 play, which would put them below .500 with no invitation to the NCAA or NIT playoffs.

This is not about Lo-Ro, who went 10-17 his first year and then improved to 19-12 in 2004 and a spot in the NCAA tournament. His 2005 team went 29-6, won the Great Alaskan Shootout, won the Pac-10 Tournament and made it the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament.

His 2006 team went 26-7, won the BCA Classic, and returned to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. Last year the Huskies went 19-13 and assumed they would at least get invited to the NCAA or NIT Tournament. They made a bad assumption.

Lo-Ro is the right guy in the right place at the right time. Those who think he should play freshmen who can't play defense are dead wrong.

A pretty successful guy in another sport—Knute Rockne at Notre Dame—was asked why he was not playing his 11 best players. He responded by saying, "The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team. As a coach I play not my 11 best, but my best 11."

In effect, Rockne was saying his 11 most talented players were not on the field; he chose to play the 11 players who worked best together as a team. In basketball, that includes defense as well as offense.

Washington is fortunate to have a workhorse in the paint like Jon Brockman and a pure shooter like Ryan Appleby, but that is not nearly enough to win at the level that will lead the Huskies into postseason play.

There are 10 other guys on the Husky team that need to step up and experience some serious personal growth (deciding to become a leader and a champion) as well as professional growth (learning to play team defense as well as increasing their offensive effectiveness).

It takes no talent to lose. It takes a lot of talent to win consistently. If you think you are talented and God's gift to basketball and are still losing, you need to shut up and work 5 times harder. We will figure out who you are when you win.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best, "This time, like all times, is a very good one, when we know what to do with it."

Editor's Note: Read my movie review on "Coach Was Color-Blind, He Only Wanted to Know If You Could Play Basketball", "Coach Carter Sends an Outstanding Message About a Coach with Integrity, Honor and Goodness" and my 4 basketball articles on the 2007 NCAA Basketball Tournament detailing Florida's National Championship run.

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