Washington Huskies Roundup: Pac-10 Alley

It was only last week that I decided to throw caution to the wind and drop a few controversial nuggets to my readers.

I went over to Dawgman and found the story had taken on a life of its own over there.  I then read Bob Condotta and found that it has a life over there also.

I don't know how to feel about that since this blog was originally started to be supportive of Willingham.  Even though that is the way it started, I decided that I would give him two full years without criticism.

As readers like "Dadco" can tell you, the wheels came off around midseason last year on that campaign.Anyway guys, I try to find the positive in Husky Football, but every once in a while I slip and tell the truth.

It's early June, so I guess timing is everything.

E.J.

E.J. Savannah once again proved that he isn't exactly a future Rhodes Scholar by breaking the humerus bone in his arm, allegedly arm wrestling, over the weekend.  "I would like to see the other guy..." sort of sounds like "The dog ate my homework," if you know what I mean.

E.J. will likely be out for the opener against Oregon, and possibly BYU and Oklahoma after that.  E.J. is hands down the best LB on the team, and possibly the best player on the defense, so his early season loss is quite a blow if it comes to that.  It would be great to see this kid play all in one piece.

Crew

The UW Women's Crew finished 2nd in the nation on Sunday, and that is quite a feat for 1st year coach Bob Ernst, who wasn't working with a full cupboard. Look for the Women's Husky Crew to be the nation's best in one or two years under Ernst's tutelage.

Johri Fogerson

Incoming Husky Johri Fogerson of O'Dea was named as the Boys Star of the Year today by the Seattle Times.  I have always felt that Fogerson has a chance to come in from the get go and make an impact.  For some reason he was under-recruited early last season, but after seeing him play I felt he was a man among boys.

"He's a great athlete and a great competitor, and when the lights are on, he's always at his best," said Monte Kohler, O'Dea football coach and athletic director. "He never gets intimidated by the moment or shies away. He prides himself on doing well in those situations."

C.J. Wilcox

C.J. Wilcox, a 6-foot-5, 180-pound shooting guard from Pleasant Grove, Utah, committed Monday to sign with the Huskies next fall. Wilcox will be a senior next season at Pleasant Grove High School and becomes the first commitment for UW's Class of 2009.

Washington coaches first saw Wilcox in a tournament in Houston a few months ago and began recruiting him heavily.  It was a rare AAU tournament for Wilcox, who hasn't played in a lot of them the last few years, preferring to work on his game in private sessions, something his father encouraged.  Craig Wilcox said he thinks that's why his son is not rated more highly by recruiting services.

Kevin White to Duke when Todd Turner was available?

The surgical procedure, done without the benefit of privacy or anesthesia, was performed on Kevin White on Nov. 30, 2004—the day the school's president and board of trustees ignored White's objections and fired football coach Tyrone Willingham. Ever since then, White has been circling overhead, parachute strapped to his back, waiting for the jump light to switch from red to green.

Pac Ten Alley

Let's start off with the Oregon blog, not much going on, but Michael Wines always makes an interesting contribution. "Today in History"

1961 John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev meet in Vienna

1957 Howard Cosell's 1st TV show

1946 1st bikini bathing suit displayed, Paris

1942 Battle of Midway Island begins

1875 Alexander Graham Bell makes 1st voice transmission

Jon Wilner chimes in from the Bay area with the rankings from the annual prognostication magazines.  I personally hate Lindy's because some guy named Lindy from Ballard has owed me 2,500 bucks for over twenty years.

Scanning the magazines at a local bookstore late last week, I noticed, among all the MLB and NFL issues, a college football cover!  It wasn’t even Memorial Day, and Lindy’s was already on the shelf.  I assume the others will be out soon, or are already out but weren’t at my local B&N, but Lindy’s was the only one I saw.  The first kickoff was more than three months away, and Lindy’s was there with its preseason top-25, its Heisman frontrunners, its Bowl Championship Series projections, its predictions for all major conferences.

It must suck to be Kevin O'Neill.

Looks like the University of Arizona and Jim Livengood are off the hook when it comes to Kevin O’Neill and the $375,000 he may have been owed for next season.  According to the Memphis (Tenn.) Commercial Appeal, O’Neill, who had been in the NBA prior to coming to UA as an assistant last season, is expected to be named an assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA.  After being removed from his position after last season when Lute Olson returned from an undisclosed medical condition, Olson announced O’Neill would no longer be on his coaching staff.

I have no idea what this is about, but it is June in Berkeley.

Calum Wright did not go to Berkeley—that’s Berserkley, to those who remember the sixties—to be an activist.  He is a law-and-order type, reared among conservatives in London, and a member of the crew team, whose tastes run to khakis and polo shirts.  He likes the campus police.  But, not long ago, Wright, using the latest in protest technology—Facebook—was moved to organize a rally at the base of a campus oak, near Sproul Plaza, the storied place of free-speech happenings and Joan Baez concerts.  His cause: Students Against Hippies in Trees.  The action: to shout down a former Berkeley student named Michael (Fresh) Schuck, who had taken up residence in the oak seventeen days earlier.  The invitation, sent to some six hundred members of the SAHIT Facebook group, from “hippy hater no. 1,” read:

The Oregon State blog is still all about baseball, still waiting on the spring football report Jakey.

The NCAA Regionals are behind us, now it's time to look ahead to the 16 Super Regionals that will be contested this weekend:

Miami vs. Arizona

Georgia vs. NC State

Florida State vs. Wichita State

Cal State Fullerton vs. Stanford

Arizona State vs. Fresno State

Rice vs. Texas A&M

North Carolina vs. Coastal Carolina

LSU vs. UC Irvine

Surprise...USC opens the season on TV

Just got this from ESPN: ``Virginia will host defending Rose Bowl champion USC from the Pac-10 in the first meeting between the schools on Saturday, Aug. 30, at 3:30 p.m. on ABC and ESPN2.''  If this is true, it means the game starts at 12:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

ASU a favorite to win title.

The Tempe Super Regional between Fresno State and Arizona State begins at Winkles-Packard-Brock on Saturday at 6:00 PM with game 2 scheduled for Sunday night at 7.  Both games will be on the ESPN family of networks.  If a game 3 is necessary, and god willing it wont be, it'll be at 4 on Monday.  Despite being a four-seed, there's quite a bit of fight in the Bulldogs yet:-After beating #6 San Diego twice and #11 Long Beach State this past weekend to win the Long Beach Regional, the Bulldogs are back in the top 25 of the Baseball America poll, clocking in at #17.-With their 5-1 win over San Diego in the regional championship yesterday, the Bulldogs became only the second regional #4 seed to advance to a Super Regional.-FSU started the season as the preseason #18 team in the nation but stumbled to an 8-11 start. They then stormed through conference play and and beat Sacramento State, San Jose State, Hawai'i and Nevada to bring home their 3rd straight WAC title.-Holden Sprague and Justin Wilson anchor the Bulldogs pitching staff. Miller struck out 11 in Fresno's surprise win over Long Beach State while Sprague got the win to eliminate San Diego.-P Clayton Allison, 3B Tommy Mendonica and OF Steve Susdorf all made the all-regional team in Long Beach.-Fresno's top five everyday hitters all hit over .300 (Alan Ahmady .382, Erik Wetzel .361, Susdorf .342, Danny Muno .329 and Gavin Hedstrom .311) and have 36 home runs between them. However, none of them lead the team in dingers; that honor belongs to Mendonica and his 14.So as you can see, this team can bop and can pitch. It should be an entertaining series in Tempe.

The UCLA Blog keeps in hot pursuit of USC infractions—if only the NCAA showed as much interest.

Special agents for the FBI and IRS and members of U.S. Attorney's office have launched a joint investigation into "possible income tax evasion and fraud arising from the misuse of charitable organization funds," according to an attorney retained by Louis Johnson, a member of former USC guard O.J. Mayo's inner circle until three months ago.

If there is one blog that is doing its form in the offseason, it is the Cougar blog.

The NCAA preview mags are hitting the stands.  Lindy's hit last week, and now Athlon's has made it.  If you are scoring at home, Lindy's has us at 10th, while Athlon's sees us at 9th.  I guess it isn't a real surprise, given the questions of depth and losing guys like Brink, Bumpus, Collins, etc.  I still like EA Sports and the Armed Forces Bowl prediction, but we'll get into that later this summer.