We don't always lose to Cal
Comments
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The Pitino article on ESPN made me think of Sprinkle. Pitino said all the same stuff Sprinkle has been saying. He brought in a bunch of mid-major scorers his first year and none could play defense or wanted to try. He said they put the team together too fast and looked for the wrong traits in the players they took. This year they went after P4 players with length and athleticism whether they could score or not. They were paired with a small core of players that stayed for a second season and they hammered home the need for toughness and defense to the new transfers/freshman all offseason. Sprinkle has said exactly the same all year. They lack length, they lack fast twitch guys and they lack consistent heart/effort. Mason and Harris have improved as the year has gone on, Frank is a nice glue guy and Zoom is a stronger left hand and a three point shot away from being really good. There’s your small core to imprint culture. Traore and Muldrew are fast twitch. Bundalo is a skilled big and Madaquit is a true, pass first PG. If Diomande decides not to go pro he’s another elite wing athlete. Pull in 1-2 athletes that can switch multiple positions on defense and UW is a completely different team next year. I like Sprinkle, he’s a tough love coach and will produce tough teams before long. His vibe during the second half of the season has been disgust and bewilderment. He brought in guys that just won’t do the dirty things necessary to win basketball games, guys that don’t love basketball and it dumbfounds him. I don’t think he will make that mistake again.
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An 18th place team is just 1-2 guys away from being successful? I find that hard to believe.
I also haven't watched a single minute of one UW basketball game in probably 10 years, though, so you might be right.
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One decent scorer away from being bottom third of the B10 or at least in the conversation for postseason basketball. Think someone like senior version of Andrew Andrews. A guy who can draw a foul when the other team is starting a run or hit a three with any kind of consistency. This UW team runs a nightly deficit of 4 points. Hopkins 2020 last place team ran a nightly deficit of 10 and Romars last place team in 2016 ran a deficit of 5. Both of those teams in the weaker P12 conferences. It’s bad because it is but if you squint you can see a silver lining.
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Yeah UW has looked similar to a lot of the tournament teams and even beat a few, such as Maryland. UCLA they should have found a way at home. They're better than some of teams making it to the conference tournament such as Minnesota.
It's the blowout losses to USC, the second half collapses against Nebraska and Rutgers that look bad and Hopkins-esque. We were run out of the gym at MSU and Ohio State. Awful look.
We should have been able to find a guard that isn't afraid to drive it consistently and not completely suck at it.
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UCLA, Nebraska, Rutgers, at Iowa, Illinois, Purdue all could have gone another way if UW had an alpha, aggressive scorer. Those two USC games were crazy. No one is beating USC or anyone that shoots like that. Buzzer beating bank shots, contested fall away shots, you name it they made it in both those games. Shake your head, pat them on the back and walk away. It was incredible.
