Category Archives: Huskies Basketball

Kind of a strange game.  Just a few quick thoughts:

• Everything came together against the Huskies in the second half.  The Cougars came out with a lot more energy and seemed to get every bounce until late in the game, and questionable officiating gave MBA a third foul early that took away his aggressiveness, especially defending Casto.  I was never really worried they were going to lose, but it was just a matter of finding a spark to swing the momentum.
• It looks like I was wrong about MBA.  He says he’s not doing anything differently, but he looks like he’s being more patient with the ball.  Who knows if it’ll carry into next season, but right now he looks like a potential all Pac-1o player next year.
• Klay Thompson is really not a good player right now.  He seems like the prototypical streaky player who lets bad shooting affect the rest of his game.  He rallied a bit in the second half to make a few nice plays, but there was really no difference between him and Elston Turner last night, except that Thompson played a lot more minutes and missed a lot more shots.
• I’m no expert on the Cougars roster, but I’d be a little worried if I were them.  I think Ken Bone’s a solid coach, but they don’t have too many difference makers right now.  Casto’s solid, but he doesn’t seem like a player who will ever be able to carry the team.  Thompson might, but he has to be more consistent and improve his demeanor and body language.  Reggie Moore is a solid point guard but nothing special, and I’m not sure he’s going to improve a lot on what he is now. They look like a team that will play hard and steal some games but lacks the talent to be a consistent threat in the conference.  I could be wrong, but I’ve seen nothing in their few games I’ve watched to tell me otherwise.
• I wonder if Gaddy would have played much more in the second half if he hadn’t got that fourth foul.  I thought they badly needed him when they were struggling to score and Venoy was pretty well a non-factor.  Gaddy has a very settling effect and seems to get the team better shots.  Romar eventually pulled Venoy and let IT run the point, and then put Venoy back in once the tempo had picked up.  It was a good move, but he should have made it five minutes earlier.
• Venoy has to learn how to get around screens better.  Teams that run a screen in the backcourt bringing the ball up take him totally out of his game.  Yesterday, he seemed to be watching for a screen along the three point line and would be caught out of position, letting Moore or whoever drive right by him.  Not his best game, although there’s no one I’d rather have shooting those late free throws.

Two more games.  The Huskies need to keep at least their third seed for the tournament so they’ll only face Cal in the title game, if at all.  That would be their only chance of an at-large bid, and even that is a tiny chance.  Go Dawgs!

-Matthew

Every team has that player who fans insist has all the talent in the world, but can never quite put it together.  For the 2009-2010 UW Huskies basketball team, that player is Matthew Bryan Amaning.  An athletic big man who shows occasional elite skills, he just as often shows a surprised expression as the ball bounces off his hands out of bounds.  He’s played better the last few weeks, leading many to hope that he is about to become the dominant post player Dawg fans have hoped for.

I’m pretty skeptical. I think MBA will remain a semi-talented big man with good athleticism, bad hands and questionable basketball smarts.  But I think we are overlooking one important piece of the puzzle in our analysis:

Matthew Bryan Amaning is a pretty sweet name.

It’s deceptively simple. None of the three names are too weird, so at first glance the only thing out of the ordinary is that there are three of them, but that’s hardly uncommon.  Dig a little deeper.  He has two first names, or does he?  Is Bryan a second first name, or part of a hyphenated last name frequently missing the hyphen? Or is it a middle name he really likes?  I was always under the impression it was a double last name, but now I’m not sure.  Neither are TV announcers.  They fluctuate between calling him Amaning and Bryan-Amaning before usually settling on Matthew or MBA or nothing at all, and are undoubtedly relieved when he takes his frequent seat on the bench.  Maybe it’s a British by way of prep school thing.  And how do you pronounce Amaning? Is it AM-an-ing? or a-MAN-ing?  I’ve heard his own coach use both pronounciations in the same interview.

Wherever his meandering career takes us in the next 15 games and senior season, we will remain confused.  But we will be sure of one thing: MBA in the NBA would be a good time for all.

-Matthew