Now Let's Play Basketball Travelers Classic...Basketball
The Hec Ed PA announcer actually said that, before an unexpectedly entertaining Northern Iowa/Nicholls St. clash to kick off the Basketball Travelers round robin.
Washington's first game of the year, which came next, was expectedly entertaining. It would've been more so had the refs not called the game like a seniors' rec league, calling 52 fouls.
The Huskies jumped out to an early lead on the strength of true freshman Quincy Pondexter's ferocious defense, open floor magic, and energetic rebounding. Three minutes into his college career, we already had a man crush on him.
Looks like Romar will use Pondexter like he did Bobby Jones, matching up against the other team's top scorer. Pondexter has incredibly quick feet, and long arms so when he does get beat he can reach back and swat a guy.
Much more heralded recruit Spencer Hawes was impressive, more for his passing than anything else. He never displayed such a deft passing touch when we saw him play last year for Seattle Prep--probably because he didn't have anyone to pass to. Hawes got fired up more about his passes than his scores, and he led the team in assists.
Think about it--a 7-0 true freshman leading a team in assists in his first game. Maybe that's happened before in the history of college basketball, but we strongly doubt it.
The one weird feeling we got was this: when it's crunchtime, who will take the big shot. Who will the rest of the team feel comfortable with when they come in the game? As of now, that leader will have to be the sophomore Dentmon. As he goes, so will go the Huskies. If Dentmon can be a leader, they could go a long way.
The Dawgs have tremendous depth this year--after the jump are our observations on the rest of the players:
Justin Dentmon--looked good, clearly the best ballhandler on the court. Hit some threes.
Jon Brockman--still uses too much finesse down low, but is a monster on the boards. He and Hawes seem to play well together.
Artem Wallace--agile for a big man. If Hawes weren't around, he'd get tons more time. We're guessing that several times this season Hawes will get in foul trouble and the Dawgs will need Wallace.
Ryan Appleby--appears to have regressed. He's even a worse ballhandler and defender than we remember, and he was the only Husky who didn't score.
Harvey Perry--the redshirt freshman had a bad game. Not sure yet what he can do. Oh--he's got big ups.
Adrian Oliver--true freshman guard who dribbles too much.
Hans Gasser--played 11 minutes and didn't hurt the team, which is all you can ask of him. He hit a nice jumper and took a charge.
Phil Nelson--looked lost on defense, missed four threes. We're guessing he'll get better.
