Dear Huskies: Enough With the Turnovers Already!

Last night the Huskies beat, barely, a crappy Cal team in a game that they should've won by 20. Once again, turnovers-a-plenty (16) held the Dawgs back.

The Huskies turn the ball over 16.2 times a game, on average. That's worst in the Pac-10, and 248th out of 325 D1 teams. Now, under Romar, the Huskies have always tended to be on the high side with turnovers--never averaging less than 14 per game. But the 02-06 teams were running teams.

What's so frustrating about turnovers this year is that if the Dawgs would just throw the ball at the basket instead losing it with lazy passes near halfcourt, they'd stand a good shot of scoring. With their huge front line of Hawes and Brockman, the Dawgs get 8.4 more boards a game than their opponents--that best in the Pac-10 and 6th-best in the whole country.

The Huskies' strength in 02-06 was speed and perimeter defense, leading to fast break points. Now, with Justin Dentmon and Ryan Appleby at guard, fast break points aren't going to happen. The Huskies must rely on getting the ball inside to their bruisers--sometimes a shot may be the best way to do it.