UW beats Stanford, 800 pound gorilla leaves the room

The Huskies finally got the giant gorilla off their backs by defeating Stanford tonight 78-61. I am very pleased with this win, for a lot of reasons. One, the team bounced back after a tough, hard fought loss at Cal, showing grit and determination by defeating a team that was 5-0 at home in the conference. Second, Darnell Gant finally played, and played well. He was all over the glass, played good defense, and generally didn’t make a fool of himself on offense, unlike MBA or Breshers (I like both guys, but Breshers is a walking personal foul, and MBA thinks he is Olajuwon, which he is not…). I am trying to find some stats to back up my claim, but if basketball had a +/- like hockey, Gant’s would be off the charts good. When he was on the floor, the Huskies played great defense, and the offense seemed to flow better, probably because the black hole know as MBA was not in there. The Dawgs were down 8-2, Romar puts Overton and Gant in there, and boom, a 14-0 run. Same thing at the end of the game. Gant and Overton in there, and they close the door. Look, it’s do or die. Gaddy and Breshers will be fine players in a year or two, but right now, the Dawgs must go with the hot hands, and Overton and Gant played so well tonight, I expect them to see significant minutes from here on out. Of course, Pondexter played well, he was strong, as was Thomas, he has some nice assists. He certainly has a shooters mentality, sometimes for the good, and times for the bad. Holiday played flat out lockdown defense on Fields. Turner did his thing, knocking down a couple big three’s. Not to completely trash MBA, he did end up with 11 points, but my goodness, when he gets the ball on the block, it’s gut-wrenching! I really think Romar did a fine job tonight tightening up his rotation, and staying with the hot hands. I commend him for doing that. Let’s hope this philosophy stays intact over the next few weeks.

The expectation for this team is to win out in the regular season. USC is the best team they face that is left on their schedule, and that game is at home, along with UCLA. Those are must wins, and expected wins. And then, three road games to end it, all against inferior opponents: Cougs, Ducks and Beavs. Maybe I am drinking way too much kool aid, but I really see this team winning out the rest of the regular season, assuming of course they keep the defensive intensity at a high.

With all the nay-sayers out there, someone has to play the contrarian, why not me? All in all, a good night for the Huskies.

-Joe