Tag Archives: Faisal Aden

Week 4 Pac-12 Basketball Review

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This post can also be found at ryanrecker.com, the blog of podcaster extraordinaire and face of KVOA-TV sports, Ryan Recker.

If you need a metaphor for this year’s Pac-12, I present to you Chip Kelly.

Seriously though, if you’re a fan and you’ve been paying attention, nothing that happens in this conference should surprise you anymore. By that logic, things are following suit and by that logic we’re being treated to a pretty good Pac-12 season. While the basketball hasn’t been the prettiest, this weekend’s slate lived up to the billing of “moving day” in that there were some phenomenal games: AZ-CU, Cal-UW, UCLA-OSU, WSU-Cal.

But if Saturday was indeed “moving day” then we would have awoke Sunday with some clarity on league leadership and not had six teams within a game-and-a-half of first place. And who knows, maybe Kyle Williams wouldn’t have had to relive the 2009 Territorial Cup (joking aside, read this on Williams. Sports!).

Keep watching as this week the Pac-12 will make a rare appearance on the worldwide leader.

Leader in the Clubhouse: I seriously contemplated just filling this section with a single question mark. But I didn’t so I’m going to say it: Oregon is the best team in the Pac-12 right now. Sure, Cal is the most complete team but the loss of Richard Solomon, while it didn’t effect them (THURMANATOR!) against UW, his absence was felt against a much lesser Washington State squad. So Oregon it is. Sure they’ve lost to Cal but Cal’s pretty good. You know who isn’t that good? Oregon State and Washington State, the two teams the Golden Bears have fallen to. In doing a quick resume scan we note that Oregon’s five losses have come against teams that rank, on average, 43rd in KenPom’s ratings (the worst of which was UW). Cal’s five losses have come against an average rating of 50th (worst being WSU). And the Ducks have been winning on the road, always a sexy attribute in the eyes of the selection committee. But maybe resume’s are a moot point for this conference? In this week’s ESPN bracketology, the Ducks are excluded in lieu of Stanford, and Cal is a nine seed. In Rush the Court’s bracketology, only Cal is making the tournament. Look, Cal is the best representative but they have holes and as of right now, Oregon is playing the best and has the most favorable stretch of games (OSU followed by the Ski Trip). Plus they have got to leverage some of the Kelly returning excitement.

Game of the Weekend: I mean, if last week I’m going to pick Cal @ UW as the Game of the Weekend and it turns into a 69-66 thriller in which the Huskies had a drawn up shot to tie it as time expired, then I’m obviously going to re-point out that I was right. Cal lived up to their hype as the top team in this conference (at least until Saturday rolled around) and led throughout much of this contest. Abdul Gaddy reemerged in CJ Wilcox’s absence – a good sign for the now shorthanded Huskies – and Aziz N’Diaye took advantage of the undersized Bears. Alas, they didn’t get the W and Cal did. The Bears however needed a huge performance from walk-on Robert Thurman. The junior forward scored 16 points and grabbed 7 boards in a career high 21-minutes en route to occupying Jeff Goodman’s twitter avatar. If the Bears need the Thurmanator to play like that to remain the conference favorites, I’m not loving their chances. And if the Huskies can’t beat the Solomon-less Bears at home, I’m not loving their chances. But this isn’t a prediction section it’s a recap section and it was a helluva game that very few got to see on TV.

The Big Loser: UCLA. They were swept at the Oregon schools for the first time since 2004 and looked meek in doing it. But calling the Bruins this weekend’s biggest loser pertains to far more than bounce passes and jumpers. The sweep got BruinNation fired up (these guys spit fire) to the point that they laid out a succession plan for Ben Howland. Then, in a poll of their readers, 45% felt Howland has not earned the right to remain head coach. What’s worse is that even the reportedly mild-mannered and team first, Anthony Stover, is frustrated with Howland. The under-used center tweeted an article calling for him to receive more playing time (sorry I couldn’t find the link). It’s been discussed quite a bit how much this program has struggled and perhaps this weekend was the straw to break the camel’s back. Against Oregon, they were up thirteen at the half and playing well. In the second half, the Ducks tied the game up in less than five minutes and then won it down the stretch. It’s indeed a sorry state of affairs in Westwood/Watts/Anaheim and possibly only getting worse. I’d also like to give a shout out to ASU in this section as they lost to Utah by 21 and produced both Kyle Williams and Billy Cundiff (2009 MBA program graduate).

What We Learned: Well if Faisal Aden is making shots then that WSU team ain’t too bad. The senior guard blew up for 57 points on the weekend and shot 65% in doing such. He also fired up a Jared Cunningham-esque 20 FTs, connecting on 19 of them (Cunningham has shot the second most FTs in the nation). He’ll no doubt be named the POW as the Cougars swept the Bay schools. I unfortunately don’t think we learned a ton this weekend outside of the fact that Richard Solomon’s absence is going to hurt the Bears. Here’s a few bulleted thoughts:

  • Arizona so glaringly has no go-to player that they couldn’t settle on anyone to take the final shot Saturday at Colorado. They dribbled out the final thirty seconds before air balling a desperation three. Having used their final time out with more than two-minutes remaining, Sean Miller was unable to draw up a play the Wildcats so painfully needed.
  • Stanford may play a very tough, extended defense, but that doesn’t necessarily translate on the offensive end. They averaged just 66 ppg this weekend and are relying heavily on the three pointer – a shot they’ve taken more often than any other Pac-12 team and made at the fourth worst rate 34%.
  • THURMANTOR!
  • Colorado runs a staunch defense and has a legit shot to win this thing. They’ll host the Bay schools and their remaining toughest road swing is to Oregon. They still have to play at UCLA (worth reporting?) and at Arizona but with Carlon Brown filling it up, the Buffs have to like their chances.
  • Harper Kamp did not step up in Richard Solomon’s absence (see the aforementioned Robert Thurman). He averaged 10/3 for the weekend. Decent, but I maintain that Monty and Crew will need more from the AZ native if they’re going to make a big run at this.

Early Week Youtuber: Forever we’ve heard about how soft Pac-12 officials are. That there’s no bruising out here on the West Coast and fouls thirty-five feet from the basket are as abundant as gold circa 1949 . Well he may not be particularly hard, but check out this zebra:

Brock Motum’s Motor Could Make WSU Go

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While Kevin Pangos was busy not missing anything, the Washington State Cougars discovered they have a dynamic big man.

Brock Motum, the junior forward who averaged 7 points and 3 boards a year ago, was the motor and best player in maroon last night. His energy helped to ignite a near 19-point-comeback in the second half of an excitable game in Gonzaga’s Dog Kennel. The 6’10” Aussie scored 17 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and dished 4 assists against a ranked and bigger Gonzaga Bulldogs (take a peak at Robert Sacre vs. Brock Motum) and had energy for days.

Many have presumed the Cougars would go as their back court of Reggie Moore and Faisal Aden went; basically leaving Cougar fans with little to look forward to. Moore was coming off a very disappointing sophomore season and Aden can simply be too inefficient with the basketball.

If Monday night was any indication of what Ken Bone is going to get out of his starting front courtsman, don’t be surprised if the Cougars finish in the upper half of the conference. Of course for that to happen, Moore and Aden will have to continue to improve – if not impress – and the Cougars will need to overachieve on the whole.

Motum’s motor can go a long way in seeing WSU do just that.

Big year coming: Faisal Aden

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Faisal Aden was supposed to be the understudy.

He was transferring in to a Washington State team returning eventual lottery pick Klay Thompson, Pac-10 Freshman of the Year runner up, Reggie Moore, and more than capable big man, DeAngelo Casto. Needless to say, not much was expected of the slight, 6’4” 185 lbs guard.

He was supposed to learn.

But when Moore had to sit out the season’s first five games with a wrist injury, Aden threw himself a coming out party and never really stopped; averaging 21 points while the sophomore recovered. He would finish the season averaging 13.1 points and 3.4 rebounds – his scoring cooling with Moore’s return – but make no mistake, Aden can light it up. And he’ll need to if Ken Bone is going to expedite this rebuilding process, not aided by early departure.

But Klay’s gone now and Aden will be asked to be a major scoring threat. Fortunately, he is just that: a scorer. Similar to Thompson, Aden isn’t going to wow you with athleticism. He isn’t huge and doesn’t have remarkable quickness or spring. He’s also not going to blow up Ken Pomeroy’s number machine – he was 55th amongst all Pac-10 players last year in offensive rankings. He’s ultimately going to have to become more efficient.

But why can’t he? He’ll have a potentially elite point guard in Moore to bear much of the ball handling load and plenty of touches (not news as he took more shots than Thompson last year) with Thompson and Casto off to the NBA.

Look, Aden’s breakout season may be the loftiest of all the breakout players profiled on this site, but given Ken Bone’s active system, and their need to find scoring, I like Aden’s chances of putting up All-Conference numbers. And if you look at the shooting percentages, his dropped as the season progressed. At the half way point Aden was shooting a very solid 48% (he’d cool to 42%) a key indicator of fatigue and perhaps injury (he did miss a late season game with a sore knee). Keep in mind, last year was Aden’s first season of D-I hoops (he was a junior college transfer) and – as a motivated senior- Aden should arrive in shape and ready to contribute; in big ways.

While the Cougars’ success rides heavily on the shoulders of both Moore and Aden, Faisal is the key to a not-so-rebuilding year.

He’ll have to win over Pomeroy first, but the understudy may be ready for a second act.