I’m a believer in writing-as-therapy, so consider this a self-prescribed session on the couch in hopes of getting over Washington’s heartrending home defeat on Saturday against the ‘Cats — a game that would have been very nice to have for a team that’s fighting for an NCAA tournament berth and will spend the rest of the season trying to make up for home losses to Oakland and UC Santa Barbara in December, which … see, I’m getting upset again. Time for some optimism.
1. The audacity of youth
At one point in the first half, Marquese Chriss went up for an attempted dunk over Arizona center Kaleb Tarczewski that, if completed, would have perhaps been the greatest moment in the history of Hec Edmundson Pavilion, a building that has hosted presidents. (Fine, maybe second-best behind Nate Robinson’s alley-oop against Arizona in 2004). Later, DeJounte Murray had a clear path to the basket on a two-on-one break, but instead tried a behind-the-back dribble that resulted in a turnover and, shortly thereafter, two points for the Wildcats.
In retrospect, it would be easy to point to these two plays and think, man, those two missed opportunities could have been the six-point swing the UW needed to win. But to do so would be to miss the point.
What makes the Huskies good (and from a selfish perspective, what makes them so thrilling to watch) is that they will try anything, and more often than not, it works out. The quartet of Chriss, Murray, Malik Dime and Matisse Thybulle in particular are still figuring out some of the specifics of how to play basketball at this level but possess such raw talent so as to turn their experimentation into must-see TV.
There will be the possessions where Chriss misses a dunk, or where Murray throws an insane alley-oop toward Dime that the big man wasn’t ready for. But there are also the possessions where Thybulle’s extend-o-arms shoot into the passing lanes for a steal, then he and Murray ping passes back and forth until Thybulle finishes it with a monster alley-oop. There will be the stretches where Chriss hits 18-foot fadeaways on back-to-back trips, sandwiched around a blocked shot. You don’t get one without the other.
The hope is that it will eventually all coalesce into something more, whether that’s this postseason or at some later date, when the Huskies’ fleet of freshman is instead a corps of upperclassmen. But even if that never happens, for the rest of this season, don’t get caught up in the UW’s mistakes. Appreciate the fact that they see an enormous Polish man between them and the hoop and think, “Yeah, I can probably dunk on that guy.”
2. Matisse Thybulle, growing up
The freshman from Eastside Catholic was a menace against the Wildcats, finishing with 11 points and six steals. After a pretty clear hesitance in most aspects of his game during November, Thybulle has been growing more and more confident as the season goes on (especially when it comes to glaring at refs after they call a foul on him). His length on the perimeter was an obvious factor in the UW creating so many turnovers on Saturday, and an increasing willingness to drive to the bucket bodes well for the team’s offensive diversity going forward.
3. David Crisp finally being taller than someone
Thanks, Jackson Parker-Cartwright. The three last names are always a crowd-pleaser, too.
4. Play-by-play announcer Tim Brando saying “most pundits thought these Huskies would return to the NCAA tournament this year”
The UW was picked 11th in the preseason media poll. This narrowly edge Brando saying that Arizona big man Dusan Ristic is “very skilled, as most Europeans would be” as his strangest pronouncement of the afternoon.
5. Brando’s call of, “He drops a dime to a bigger Dime!” on an Andrew Andrews assist to Malik Dime
Credit where credit’s due.
6. Dime moving into second place on the UW single-season blocks list
The big man did so with four rejection on Saturday afternoon, giving him 67 in 23 games this far. The all-time mark is 85, set by Robert Upshaw during his, um, abbreviated 2014-15 campaign. I don’t know if we appreciate enough that this team features a 6-foot-9 dude from Senegal with a massive flattop who speaks eight languages, has really good hands and is one of the best shot-blockers in the nation. Life is like a box of chocolates.
7. The lack of replay reviews
Wait, never mind. I forgot that our fearless officials went to the monitor in the first half on the most obvious shot-clock violation in the history of basketball.
8. Andrew Andrews in the clutch
Since the Huskies lost, it didn’t really matter, but the fifth-year senior hit two massive shots from long range, the first with an even 10:00 on the clock to tie the score at 56 and another one to tie it at 66 with 4:30 to play. Both triples capped mini 5-0 runs that kept the Huskies in the game. I think concerns that Andrews’ so-called slump in the past few games was more of a regression to the mean were genuine, so it was promising to see the player of the year candidate look like his old self in netting 20 points.
9. Kadeem Allen’s flopping master class
It was probably a foul both times Allen hit the deck — first drawing a charge from Andrews, then later from Murray — so perhaps “flopping” is the wrong word. Maybe “enhancement”? Either way, it’s a genuine skill to play up legitimate contact when it’s been made, so bravo, Kadeem. Take a bow.
10. The return of the Dawg Pack
It warmed the cockles of my purple-and-gold heart to see the photos on Twitter of a full student section more than an hour before game time, which has been an infrequent occurrence the past five-or-so years. I’m not the sort who thinks the students have some sort of moral obligation to attend games and go nuts. To be honest, that’s on the team — if you build it, they will come, and all that. But it makes everything more fun when Hec Ed is hopping. Here’s hoping this, like all other aspects of the program’s revival this season, keeps up in the weeks to come.