Its past time for Washington to take solace in moral victories

NEW YORK - Lorenzo Romar said a lot in the 10 or so minutes that he was in front of the microphones after his Washington team lost to Marquette 79-77 on Tuesday in the Jimmy V Classic, but there was one quote in particular that stood out:

"Tonight, we didn't finish, but I thought we played a pretty good game. If we do that, we will win our fair share."

For a team that has been nothing more than a borderline top 25 program over the last few years, winning their "fair share" is not a bad thing. Moral victories like hanging with a talented Marquette team on national television in Madison Square Garden is a positive, a beacon sent out to east coasters that says 'Hey, we may play late at night and on weird TV stations, but we still have some kids that can hoop'.


And frankly, this Husky program has not been anything special of late. After losing to Marquette, Washington is now 4-3 on the season, having dropped road dates against St. Louis and Nevada. Last season, the Huskies finished third in a thoroughly mediocre Pac-10 and ended the year with a 24-11 record. The season before that, in 2009-2010, Washington again struggled their way through the regular season, needing to win seven games in a row at the end of the year -- three of which came in the Pac-10 Tournament -- just to earn an at-large bid.

The problem is that Lorenzo Romar consistently stocks his roster with as much raw talent as anyone in the country. This year, its guys like Terrence Ross, CJ Wilcox and Tony Wroten that are taking the reins. Last year, Isaiah Thomas, Justin Holiday and Matthew Bryan-Amaning were on the roster. The year before that Quincy Pondexter was.

Washington is too good to be saying we'll win games eventually if we continue to play like that.

Its past time for them to start actually winning these close games.

Because if the Huskies settle for another moral victory against Duke on Saturday at the Garden, there is a real chance that Washington could end up on the outside looking in on Selection Sunday. Don't believe me? Take a look at their non-conference schedule. Their best win right now is against Portland. After Duke, the Huskies host UC-Santa Barbara and South Dakota State, as well as Cal St. Northridge. And while both UCSB and SDSU will have a chance to compete in their respective conferences, they are far from what you would consider a resume victory. (In fact, they are just good enough that U-Dub will need to be on serious upset alert.)

After that, we get into league play, and the Pac-12 has been anything but impressive this year. Right now Cal appears to be the best team -- and the only team that deserves any top 25 consideration -- in the league, and they have a 39 point loss to Missouri on their resume. And if Washington's schedule wasn't already weak enough, they only get one shot at Cal in league play this year.

So you can see why so much is being made out of Saturday's game.

"We're aware of that," Romar said of the importance of getting a win on Saturday. But, in typical coach speak, he also tried to downplay it. "When you go out and play, you have to concentrate on being your best. We don't tack on 'Oh, by the way, we gotta win this - extra' because of what's at stake."

Its a fair point.

He's avoiding having to put extra pressure on a team that has not proven the ability to handle adversity or a road environment the past two-plus seasons is probably not a good idea.

But maybe this Washington team needs a wake-up call. Maybe they need a dose of perspective. Maybe they need Tony Wroten to understand the consequences of playing so reckless and aggressive. Maybe they need Terrence Ross to understand why he's being asked to become a dominant presence. Maybe they need to learn that you aren't going to go far at this level playing lackadaisical defense and making poor decisions on offense.

More than anything, Washington, and Romar in particular, needs to start taking advantage of the talent on their roster.

Settling for moral victories, taking solace in the we-played-well-enough-to-win-but-didn't theory, is no longer acceptable for this Washington program.
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Greg Monroe may be living up to his potential

"Greg Monroe is one of the most talented players in the country."

Pretty tough to argue with that statement, isn't it? I mean, we are talking about a kid that is 6'11", left-handed, and an excellent passer with a solid jumper and a developing post game. That sentence alone is probably enough to get a player drafted.

But what if I were to say this:

"Greg Monroe is one of the best players in the country."

Up until last night, I would have argued that point feverishly.

Greg Monroe showed a glimpse of how good he can be last night.
(photo credit: Yahoo!)

Living in DC, I've seen Monroe play enough over the last year and change to be able to break down his game pretty effectively. He relies a little too much on his left (dominant) hand, especially when finishing a drive. His strength and athleticism can stand to be improved. He has god-given potential for days, but he needs to improve his back-to-the-basket game, adding more advanced moves and counter moves.

But he's 19.

What 19 year old is a finished product?

Not too many.

If Monroe keeps working hard, there is no reason he can't live up to that potential.

This issue with Monroe has always been his aggressiveness. His assertiveness. For all that potential, it was rare to see the big fella take a game over.

He did last night.

Monroe scored 25 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, shut down Matt Howard defensively, and, perhaps most importantly, took 20 shots from the floor, a career high.

"[Monroe] was playing with a real authoritative spirit," Butler head coach Brad Stevens said after the game. "He's a tough guy to guard."

Part of what makes Monroe's aggressiveness so important is his ability to pass. You want opponents to be forced to double team Monroe on the block. At 6'11", he can see over the defense and will find the open shooter or the cutter. The Hoyas have a savvy, unselfish basketball team that knows how to move the ball. If Monroe gets doubled and kicks the ball out, odds are good Georgetown is going to end up with a high percentage shot.


"Greg is an unselfish player," coach John Thompson III said after the game. "We have an unselfish team. We have a lot of people in that locker room that can score. The number of shots one takes is not important to this group. It is how we play and if it is the right shots and if we get victories. That is what important."

It is more than just scoring, however.

The Hoyas last season really struggled on the glass, especially at the defensive end. Butler is not a big team by any stretch of the imagination, but Georgetown dominated the boards last night, finished with a 43-30 rebounding and 12 offensive rebounds.

Monroe was also the biggest reason that Howard struggled so much. It was obvious watching the game that the reigning Horizon player of the year was cognizant of Monroe's presence as a shot blocker. He missed his first eight shots, the majority of which came right at the rim.

With as well as Monroe played, it is clear there is still room for improvement. He only made 9-20 shots, missing a number of easy lay-ups.

"If you had told me he was 9-for-20," Stevens said, "and he shot ten free throws and he ended up with 24 points, I would have said that's not all bad against us."

That will come with time. Monroe is still learning how to score in the post and how to handle being a guy that Georgetown needs to post a double-double every night.

But if you can go for 24 and 15, and people are saying you still have a great deal of room for improvement, what happens when you reach that threshold?

Only time will tell.
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Tuesday's Pregame Beat

Jimmy V Classic:

• 7:oo pm: Georgetown vs. Butler: We finally get a chance to see how good Georgetown is. The Hoyas come in largely untested except for a slugfest with a very mediocre Temple team. The Hoyas top five is talented, but they have no bench to speak of. They are don't have much size inside. Butler, on the other hand, is very good, but they struggled out in Anaheim, going 1-2. Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack are both playing well this season, but Matt Howard has yet to find a groove. Expect Howard to have a big day against a relatively weak Georgetown frontline.
  
• 9:30 pm: Indiana vs. Pitt: The Hoosiers and the Panthers are both down this season. Indiana has some talented youngsters on their team, specifically Maurice Creek and Christian Watford, but they are still at least a year away from being able to compete for an NCAA Tournament berth. For Pitt, it is more a result of what they lost last season. But Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker have been playing well of late, Dante Taylor will eventually be a good post player, and there are rumblings that Jermaine Dixon will be suiting up tonight.
  

7:00 pm: Dayton @ George Mason: Dayton was predicted by many to be the flag-bearer in the A-10, but they have been a bit of a disappointment in this young season. The one thing the Flyers bring to the table is toughness, both defensively and on the glass. It may be too much for a young George Mason squad.

8:30 pm: Vanderbilt @ Illinois: Important game for both teams. I would expect both the Commodores and the Illini to make the tournament this season, but a game like this could have implications for both conference RPI and seeding come March.

9:00 pm: Xavier @ Kansas State: Kansas State can be a player in the Big XII with their size and athleticism up front and their dynamic back court of Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen. X is a question mark, however. The Musketeers, and Jordan Crawford specifically, have been inconsistent this season. With losses to Marquette and Baylor already this season, Xavier needs a couple good wins if they play on dancing.

10:00 pm: Arizona State @ BYU: Arizona State could end up being the third (or second) team from the Pac-10 to make the dance, but with how weak the Pac-10 has looked, winning this game on the road would be huge. BYU will compete atop the talented MWC, but they have yet to really beat anyone of note.

Other notable games:

• 7:00 pm: Morgan State @ Minnesota
• 7:00 pm: Temple @ Miami OH
• 8:00 pm: UW-Milwaukee @ Marquette
• 8:05 pm: Iowa @ Northern Iowa

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Jimmy V Week: Let's Get It Right

The ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The Pac 10-Big XII Series. And now we have the SEC-Big East Invitational. I love them. I think these competitions are great for basketball. Think about it. If these didn't exist, would we see as many great games during December, college basketball's down time, as we currently do? This year we get Duke-Purdue, UNC-Michigan State, Texas-UCLA, USC-Oklahoma, even games with so-so teams like Wisconsin-Virginia Tech or Penn State-Georgia Tech end up turning into classics on national TV during primetime.

Maybe I am a just too much of a junkie, but anytime you can get games on ESPN, it is a good thing for the sport. Fans get excited that for the games. Players get amped up for them. The families and friends of players at a school like Penn State or Virginia, who rarely make it on ESPN these days, get a chance to see their loved ones on national television in a game called by one of the people they hear talking about the sport every night. The same goes for the pre-season tournaments like the Maui and the Old Spice. It is a great thing for the sport.

So my question is, how come ESPN hasn't capitalized on this yet? I doubt that it is more than a few years away already, but how come the Pac 10-Big XII and SEC-Big East competitions haven't grown to the size of the ACC-Big 10 Challenge? Again, it may just be because I am a college hoops fanatic, but think about how great this could be.

What sports are on during the week right now? NBA games, but no one cares about the NBA until the last month of the season and the playoffs. NHL games, but no one cares about the NHL ever. You have the mid-major college football games, but most of those are done by the week after Thanksgiving. NFL plays games on Monday and Thursday nights, but the Thursday night games are on the NFL Network and the Monday night games have been mediocre at best this year.

ESPN is promoting this as Jimmy V week, and it runs from Dec. 3rd-9th, culminating in the Jimmy V Classic on the 9th. Why half-ass it? Here is my proposition (and all you ESPN folks, remember where you heard it first). Starting the Monday after Feast Week (i.e. the Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend), start Jimmy V Week. Instead of just having a few games for the Pac 10-Big XII and the SEC-Big East, turn those into league wide competitions a la the ACC-Big 10 Challenge. Stagger them so that there are two marquee games on every night of the week, Monday-Friday, on ESPN and two more games a night on both ESPN2 and ESPN U. Six games a night over five nights is 30 games. As there will still be a few left over (by my calculations, with the size of each league there are 33 total games - 11 in the ACC-Big 10, 12 in the SEC-Big East, 10 in the Pac 10-Big XII), play them on Saturday afternoon (ESPN has basketball games on this Saturday as it is - Duke-Michigan and Miami FL-Kentucky).

Think about how exciting that would be. Think about the number of great games. Think about how much ESPN could promote that. Take this year as an example. Friday night, ESPN is airing Portland against Boston and ESPN 2 has the MAC football championship (Ball State against Buffalo). Again, it could be just me, but wouldn't you rather watch a game like UConn-Tennesee or Arizona State-Baylor?

Then, on the following Monday and/or Tuesday, hold the Jimmy V Classic. I know that ESPN would make money over hand and foot if this were to be implemented, but also think about how much money the V Foundation would make.

You could even take it a step further. The leagues with the two best records in their respective challenges will go head-to-head the next year. Third will play fourth, and fifth will play sixth. The way that two conferences are compared these days are you set up hypothetical match-ups between the best, the second best, etc. teams in each of the conferences, and see who ends up with a better record. So by having the two best conferences from the previous year square off, isn't that an easy way to settle the "who is the best conference debate"?

Yea, there are some logistical issues with that. For one, if the two best conferences play, then they are both likely to end up with a mediocre record that year, lowering their rank for the next season's competition. Also, if league's on opposite coasts (i.e. the Big East and the Pac 10) were to end up playing each other, travel could be come a big problem. Do you really want to fly a team from New York to California for one game during the week? Not only would it wreak havoc on the kids internal clocks, but it would be a big hinderance in class and study schedules with finals coming.

So it is not perfect yet, but tell me that this wouldn't be exciting for everyone associated with the sport. Continue reading...