Raise The Roof

Can we put a stop to the discussion of who is the best player in the Pac-10?  I’d take Derrick Williams and Klay Thompson on my team any day, even though Thompson drives me nuts, but no player is doing more better right now than Isaiah Thomas.  He’s gone from a very good shooting guard to the best point guard in the conference, and one of the best in the nation, in what seems like the blink of an eye.

As disappointing as it was to lose Abdul Gaddy for the year, and it would certainly be nice to have him around, his injury could be the catalyst for this team to jump to another level.  With Isaiah running the point to perfection, that allows UW to add one of their rangy swingmen to the line-up, which no team in the Pac can really match.  Or they play Overton and IT together and they can wreak havoc on the perimeter and in the lane.

Following Gaddy’s injury, Thomas seemed to take it upon himself to carry the team, and he has, despite the loss to Stanford.  IT spent the day before the first game without Gaddy proclaiming on Twitter that he was going to start the movement to bring back the Raise the Roof.  That night, he got his first dunk of his college career and started the movement.  He kept it up two nights later to win his first Pac-10 player of the week award, and tonight he posted his first double-double with 27 points and 12 assists, with only 1 turnover.  If the Huskies keep rolling to the conference title and IT plays anywhere close to this level the rest of the way, I can’t see how he doesn’t win the conference player of the year award. 

Keep it up, IT.  I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have running these Huskies.

Some notes after the jump!

• UW has a chance to jump ahead in the conference race when they host the Arizona schools this week.  ASU might be the worst team in the conference right now, but Arizona is sitting half a game behind the Huskies for first place right now.  A sweep would be huge, and the Dawgs should get it.  Can we get the Cougars to beat UA and lose to ASU?  Go Cougs!
• The Pac-10 is still a jumble.  ASU and Oregon are firmly at the bottom, UW is solid at the top, and everyone else is still tough to figure.  Arizona is 4-1 and playing well, but they seem only as good as their guards’ ability to get the ball down low to Williams.
• WSU has done little to distinguish itself, but there’s still plenty of time.  On talent, they certainly seem to belong in the top half of the league, if not the top three, but whether they can turn that into actual wins remains to be seen.  Now they have Reggie Moore suspended indefinitely for a drug related arrest.  A sweep this week would be huge for them.
• I guess I was wrong about the Bay Area being the easiest trip of the year.  I didn’t see the Stanford game, of course, but they’ve been solid all season.  California was not tonight, but they have a mix of a few solid veterans with talented freshman that could surprise a few teams.
• USC remains the enigma, like they usually are.  Outside of UW and maybe Arizona, they’re the scariest team in the conference, but they’re currently 2-3.  They host Cal and Stanford this week, so two wins would have them right back in the hunt.  Two losses for Cal would pretty well bury them.

-Matthew