It was a tough weekend for the Huskies, not necessarily Seattle, but I might have found an answer to the Huskies’ front court woes. Below, pictured on the left, is a seven foot post with 360-range and a max speed of 12.5mph. Even two years of eligibility remaining. He could remedy some Dawg issues:
Indeed, that is what I spent my Saturday doing at my dad’s request and bless his heart he enjoyed every second of that Segway tour through Golden Gate Park. I didn’t necessarily want to go – and he’d be quick to tell you I fought it – but in the end I enjoyed myself. In being convinced to go, I was as defenseless as the Oregon Ducks to his paternal request. And so I rode through that park in single filed glory on the warmest day of 2014 and thus the most crowded day in GG Park. But the Segway is interesting. It’s built to be balanced. You can’t move too far forward or too far back. You can’t rock the proverbial boat as she only leans left and right. She won’t let you go too fast but also won’t ever let you be completely still. She’s ultimately engineered to move forward. And forward we shall.
Leader in the Clubhouse: Once again we could easily call this one to the number one team in the AP, Coaches, Sagarin, KenPom, and Titus rankings. But the Arizona Wildcats are best suited to just being good and not wildly discussed. I could be wrong (I am just look at the text logs between me and everyone I grew up with). So the California Golden Bears will be our clubhouse leader. They’re hotter than a [insert simile]. That aforementioned balance? They’ve got it. Yeah, they’re like a damn Segway those Cal Bears, balanced and moving forward. They’ve got seven players with a greater than 19% shot percentage. No other Pac-12 team has more than four. Everyone’s getting theirs and they’re riding that to a 5-0 conference record with an average margin of victory of lots (14.4 points). I wrote about Richard Solomon last week and could write similarly about Justin Cobbs. This team might not wow you that much (Segway) but they’re going to keep moving forward. Shout out here to the Utah Utes – home sweep – but 3-3 just won’t cut it for a clubhouse leader.
Biggest Loser: It’d be easy to say that the team I noted as having the most to lose this weekend (the Washington Huskies) is our biggest loser. After all they lost both their games and put up what seemed to be little fight. The Huskies certainly came back down to earth and indeed lost the sweet momentum they’d previously gained. But in my estimation it’s hard to call anyone but the Oregon Ducks the biggest losers this weekend. They’ve dropped four straight in conference and continue to yield well more than a point per possession in each of those losses. If their offense isn’t going to carry them through, they’ll need some stops. WHO’S GOING TO DO IT? On the Segway, while momentum will drive you forward, there’s a built in mechanism to force your weight backward, the emergency stop. Sure we’ve used the analogy of forward movement as a good thing to this point but sometimes we move forward and it’s only because that’s the direction of our momentum. Right now, Oregon needs the emergency mechanism. Yes, emergency is a big word but something must kick in to break this negative momentum.
What We Learned: A lot about the toughness of Askia Booker. I needed a place to effuse about this kid and what he’s done in the wake of Spencer Dinwiddie’s injury. He’s been a lightning bolt of criticism and I’ve defended him all over the place. In that linked piece I said, “He’s the hero Colorado deserves and the hero it needs right now.” Those words hold truer than ever as he assumes a whole new roll in Boulder. So how’d he fair in his first weekend as the man? Against UCLA he dropped 21 points on 7-11 shooting. In a word: efficient. Then, against USC he goes for 13 points on 3-5 shooting and takes 6 free throws. In a word: Dinwiddie-esque. And that’s with me neglecting to mention he assisted a season-high six assists. The hero they need.
In Defense Of: Me! Actually I can’t really do it. This is moderately inexcusable. Indefensible, really, which is to say Oregonian:
The http://t.co/lA664z625r game of the week folks: pic.twitter.com/LLudzDPt3m
— Adam Butler (@pachoopsab) January 16, 2014
Brutal, Adam. I mean, that call was almost as bad as taking a Segway tour (love ya, pops!).
YouTuber: Just one person on our tour did anything remotely close to this and I’m proud to say it was neither me nor Pops.