Published: Thursday, January 14, 2010
Weak post play has been the bane of the Huskies men’s basketball team
Frontcourt’s improvement key to UW’s future success
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Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press
Washington’s Matthew Bryan-Amaning (left) gets his shot stuffed by Georgetown’s Julian Vaughn in the teams’ John R. Wooden Classic game on Dec. 12. The Huskies’ big men, including Bryan-Amaning, have been mostly ineffective this season and unless their post play improves, Washington will have a very difficult time repeating as Pacific-10 Conference champions.
SEATTLE — During an otherwise forgettable loss at the University of Arizona on Sunday afternoon, the University of Washington men’s basketball team discovered a couple more scoring options when pass-first point guard Abdul Gaddy and hot-and-cold shooter Elston Turner carried the offense most of the day.
While that’s all well and good, it doesn’t help this year’s Huskies where they need it the most.
Until UW’s post play improves, the Huskies (10-5 overall, 1-3 in the Pacific-10 Conference) can probably kiss their chances of repeating as conference champions good-bye.
During UW’s three-game losing streak, the three-headed inside trio of Matthew Bryan-Amaning, Darnell Gant and Tyreese Breshers have combined for just 25 points and 21 rebounds.
“I have confidence in them,” guard Isaiah Thomas said this week when asked about the Huskies’ post play. “I’m going to steady praise them. They’re our bigs, and we’re going to go as far as they take us.
The UW frontcourt hasn’t carried the Huskies very far in recent weeks. A team that was ranked as high as 14th in the country has fallen to the bottom of the Pac-10 standings heading into tonight’s home game against Stanford (8-7, 2-1). And the lack of an inside presence has been a big reason why.
“We have to get better that way,” a somewhat baffled Lorenzo Romar said this week. “Sometimes things like that work like an antibiotic, (they) take a while to get kicked in. Maybe it’s a gradual process. Maybe it happens right away.”
Bryan-Amaning has been so ineffective that he lost his starting job to Breshers. But the redshirt freshman hasn’t been a whole lot more productive when teaming with Gant in the starting lineup. No one from that trio has scored more than five points or had more than three rebounds in any of the Huskies’ past three games.
Things have gotten so bad that Romar has been using a lot of four-guard lineups in recent games.
“At this point — it shouldn’t be the case — sometimes we’re better off rebounding” with four guards on the floor, Romar said.
As a testament to how much the Huskies have struggled on the boards, the 5-foot-7 Thomas was UW’s leading rebounder in the loss to Arizona. The Wildcats out-rebounded the Huskies 40-23 in that game, while UW also got out-rebounded in the losses to ASU (39-29) and Oregon (35-31).
“You’ve got to have heart, first off, when it comes to rebounding,” said Thomas, who had five rebounds in the loss to Arizona. “You see a guy like (former Husky) Jon Brockman, he’s still getting boards, and he’s in the NBA — and he’s a 6-7 forward.
“It’s about dedication and heart and wanting to. We’ve got to install that into ourselves.
Since Brockman took his game to Sacramento, where he’s playing significant minutes as a rookie with the Kings, the Huskies have struggled to find any inside players to fill his shoes.
“When we played Portland and Texas A&M (in December), I thought our team was really developing an identity on the boards — a physical, defensive mindset,” Romar said. “When we came back from the Christmas break, it wasn’t at the level that it was before.
“What happened? Who knows what happened? That’s something we’re addressing now and trying to get back.”
While that’s all well and good, it doesn’t help this year’s Huskies where they need it the most.
Until UW’s post play improves, the Huskies (10-5 overall, 1-3 in the Pacific-10 Conference) can probably kiss their chances of repeating as conference champions good-bye.
During UW’s three-game losing streak, the three-headed inside trio of Matthew Bryan-Amaning, Darnell Gant and Tyreese Breshers have combined for just 25 points and 21 rebounds.
“I have confidence in them,” guard Isaiah Thomas said this week when asked about the Huskies’ post play. “I’m going to steady praise them. They’re our bigs, and we’re going to go as far as they take us.
The UW frontcourt hasn’t carried the Huskies very far in recent weeks. A team that was ranked as high as 14th in the country has fallen to the bottom of the Pac-10 standings heading into tonight’s home game against Stanford (8-7, 2-1). And the lack of an inside presence has been a big reason why.
“We have to get better that way,” a somewhat baffled Lorenzo Romar said this week. “Sometimes things like that work like an antibiotic, (they) take a while to get kicked in. Maybe it’s a gradual process. Maybe it happens right away.”
Bryan-Amaning has been so ineffective that he lost his starting job to Breshers. But the redshirt freshman hasn’t been a whole lot more productive when teaming with Gant in the starting lineup. No one from that trio has scored more than five points or had more than three rebounds in any of the Huskies’ past three games.
Things have gotten so bad that Romar has been using a lot of four-guard lineups in recent games.
“At this point — it shouldn’t be the case — sometimes we’re better off rebounding” with four guards on the floor, Romar said.
As a testament to how much the Huskies have struggled on the boards, the 5-foot-7 Thomas was UW’s leading rebounder in the loss to Arizona. The Wildcats out-rebounded the Huskies 40-23 in that game, while UW also got out-rebounded in the losses to ASU (39-29) and Oregon (35-31).
“You’ve got to have heart, first off, when it comes to rebounding,” said Thomas, who had five rebounds in the loss to Arizona. “You see a guy like (former Husky) Jon Brockman, he’s still getting boards, and he’s in the NBA — and he’s a 6-7 forward.
“It’s about dedication and heart and wanting to. We’ve got to install that into ourselves.
Since Brockman took his game to Sacramento, where he’s playing significant minutes as a rookie with the Kings, the Huskies have struggled to find any inside players to fill his shoes.
“When we played Portland and Texas A&M (in December), I thought our team was really developing an identity on the boards — a physical, defensive mindset,” Romar said. “When we came back from the Christmas break, it wasn’t at the level that it was before.
“What happened? Who knows what happened? That’s something we’re addressing now and trying to get back.”
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