Weekend Picks

Cal -7 over Huskies - My pick might be a different story if the QB situation was sorted out, but with Jake Locker likely out Saturday I don't see how the Dawgs can pull this one out. With Locker I think they have a chance to win any game and Cal is certainly not the team they appeared to be at the start of the season. But you have to worry about a let up now that UW is officially going to miss a bowl game and have a losing record once again. In the end Cal is simply a more talented team and their offense should be quite the handful for UW's awful defense.

Huskies can win if: Jake Locker plays or if Bonnell can come up with some more big pass plays like he did in relief last week and the Huskies D can force some turnovers. They won't be able to stop them, but if they can get some easy points it will give them a chance. Cal 34, UW 24

Seahawks -5.5 over Bears - This game is not the marquee match up it was supposed to be (it even got bumped from prime time), but the Bears are still a team that can be good on any given day. Plus the Hawks have only won back to back games one time this season and lost to the Bears twice last season. But look for the Hawks' D to turn in another dominate performance and I wouldn't be surprised if the Bears have another QB decision to make after this game. The crowd should be extra pumped for this one, as should the players, after the two losses last season. Focusing on the pass seems to be working so far and it could get even better with the return of Deion Branch this week. The Hawks badly need to string some wins together and get some momentum going.

Seahawks can win if: They stop the run and force Rex Grossman to make plays to win the game. Also putting constant pressure on Grossman will be key and if they can do that they should be able to snag a couple turnovers. Seattle 27, Chicago 17

Initial Husky Thoughts

The Husky basketball season is underway and the Dawgs are headed to New York to play in the semi-finals of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Tonight's win over Utah was big, because now the Huskies get two more guaranteed games against big name teams on national TV. Throw those games in with games against Pitt, at LSU and at Oklahoma State and the Huskies should have a pretty good non-conference schedule come March. Playing these games, the road games in particular, should prove to be good preparation for the Pac-10 season. That is something UW lacked last season and they ended up winning just one road game. After watching tonight's game, here are just some random thoughts on the team, new players, etc.

• Venoy Overton reminds me a lot of Will Conroy and not just because of the tattoos. He plays great pressure D, forcing a few turnovers, loves to push the ball on the break and just has a knack for finding open teammates and getting them the ball. Conroy's ability to do these things allowed Nate Robinson to play more of the off guard and be more of the true scorer that he was and it appears that Overton will allow Justin Dentmon to do the same thing.
  

• Jon Brockman will probably be an All-American. Tonight he had 31 points and 18 rebounds against a 7-footer who will probably play in the NBA. He is just an absolute monster underneath the hoop and continues to improve. The Huskies will need him to continue to carry the scoring load like he did tonight, but it looks like he is ready to do so. Word was that he had worked hard on his jump shot in the off-season and he knocked down a couple tonight. If he can hit that mid-range shot consistently then he will be that much more dangerous.
  

• Someone needs to step up and help Brockman with the scoring. This team's strength is probably it's depth and the way they run so much will spread the scoring around as well, but they need a consistent number two scoring option. Pondexter seemed the most likely candidate before the season, but he hasn't really been very assertive so far, taking just five shots tonight and eight last night. Now that it looks like Overton will be getting big minutes and playing alongside Dentmon in the back court, that should allow Dentmon to take on a bigger share of the scoring load and he had a solid game tonight with 16 points.
  

• This is till a young team and will take time to reach their full potential. There were still a few sloppy stretches in tonights game with bad turnovers and some breakdowns on defense. But remember, the most experienced player on the team is Joel Smith and he is just a junior who sat out last season on a medical red shirt. The non-conference schedule should help a lot in getting ready for Pac-10 play and getting Appleby back in December will add another experienced ball handler to the back court.
  

Presti's Plan

It' still early in the season, but the Sonics still don't have a victory and all signs point to being in the lottery once again after the season. But that shouldn't stop Sonics fans from believing in new general manager Sam Presti and his plan to return the Sonics to being a perennial contender. With all the uncertainty surrounding where the team will be playing next year, it would have been real easy for Presti to take lottery pick Kevin Durant, team him with existing stars Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis and hope the three dynamic offensive players could lead the Sonics back to the playoffs. Who knows, it may have worked. But the reality is the Sonics may have been good enough to make the playoffs, but probably not good enough to do much more than that. Even more likely would be the possibility that the same old Sonics plus Durant would have been the same old Sonics they were before Durant; an exciting team with plenty of offensive firepower, but one who's lack of D had them stuck in mediocrity. Instead Preti chose a different path, a path that most pro general managers don't like to go down. The term rebuilding is not one that will excite a fan base that you are hoping is going to fork over big bucks to build a new arena. But Presti clearly isn't as short sighted as your average GM. So Presti shipped Allen to the Boston Celtics and Lewis went to the Orlando in a sign and trade deal. Seemingly overnight the Sonics became one of the youngest teams in the NBA. But for all the talk of what the Sonics lost, what they gained is a future. After next season the Sonics will likely have one or two more lottery picks to team with Durant and Jeff Green and the most cap room in the league thanks to the expiring contracts of Wally Szczerbiak and Kurt Thomas. Throw in another first round pick obtained in the Lewis trade and young combo guard Delonte West obtained in the Allen deal and you have a team that is built to be a competitive team for the long haul. The only type of team more frustrating to watch as a fan than a losing team is an aging, losing team. Seattle sports fans should know this well thanks to those 2004 Seattle Mariners, who saw basically the entire core of the team show it's age at the exact same time. On the other hand, watching a young team develop has a certain satisfaction to it. Although success may be limited at the start, you know that the future will be better and when it finally comes it is that much more satisfying. Although no one knows where the Sonics will be playing in the future, everyone should be able to take comfort in the fact that Presti has his own plans for the future of the team.