Catching Up

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, January 18, 2007

It’s been awhile since I’ve had anything new, but I’m going to try to be more consistent in getting things on here in the future.

Starting with basketball, Washington should be relatively healthy for its game against Washington State Saturday after having real issues earlier this week. Quincy Pondexter (ankle), Adrian Oliver (quad contusion) and Spencer Hawes (flu) all missed practice time and the Huskies ended Wednesday’s practice with just seven healthy players. But those three are expected to play Saturday. Hawes said he’s feeling better and is starting to eat more, but he’s lost a significant ammount of weight in the last couple weeks as he’s tried to shake this illness, and that’s certainly one of the reasons why he’s struggled. People like to say that if he’s on the court, it shouldn’t matter whether he’s sick or not, he should perform. But that’s nonsense. Think about how you feel when you’re sick, and then ask yourself if you could get out on the basketball court and simply put the illness aside and play a great game. Hawes is an outstanding player and in good shape, but he’s also only human and that stuff does have an impact.

We’ll have a bit more on basketball later, but it’s been an even busier day for the Huskies football team.

First, Washington and Washington State moved the date of the Apple Cup from Nov. 17 to Nov. 24, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This will be the first time the game is played on the holiday weekend since 1978. That in turn allowed Washington to move its earlier game with Cal to Nov. 17 and gives the Huskies a bye after five games. That’s a huge move as not having a bye this season clearly wore the team down later in the season.

Washington also tentatively scheduled a 13th game at Hawaii on Dec. 1. If you remember, the Huskies were scheduled to play Hawaii in 2006 but much to the chagrin of many (including the beat writers and their families), it was cancelled. But it looks like this one will be on if the UW can find a date in the future to play host to Hawaii. The game adds to an already brutal schedule that includes Boise State and Ohio State as well as the Pac-10 games. Hawaii hammered Arizona State in the Hawaii Bowl this season and will return one of the nation’s top quarterbacks in Colt Brennan. The Huskies are scheduled to open the season Sept. 1 at Syracuse, though it’s possible that game will move to Aug. 31.

Another basketball issue is the long-awaited video scoreboard is expected to be unveiled Saturday at the women’s game against Washington State. So that might be reason enough to go to that game.

I’ll be on Ken Weinman’s show on KRKO 1380 AM at around 6:30 tonight to talk some UW and Pac-10 basketball and anything else that might come up, if anyone out there is interested.