Thursday, January 13, 2011

Washington Will Try to Avoid Upset When they Travel to Stanford

Remember March, 6th, 2004? The day Washington upset #1 ranked Stanford 75-62 on Senior night to give Sanford not only their first Pac 10 loss of the season but gave them their first loss of the season overall. Well I do. It was the day that I got hooked on Huskies basketball. Since that game Huskies basketball has had some pretty amazing runs into the tournament including last years Sweet 16 finish as an 11 seed. For Stanford, the Cardinal were not able to get their season back on track after that loss  losing to Alabama in the second round in Seattle. Since that year Stanford has only had one really good team. That team was in 2007 with Brook and Robin Lopez that carried them to the Sweet 16 before losing to Texas.

Don't get me wrong, I am not comparing the 2004 Stanford team to the 2011 Washington team. Washington has knocked Stanford out of the Pac 10 tournament the last two years including last year when the Huskies beat Stanford 79-64.  The Cardinal will be looking for some revenge tonight and the Huskies could be in for a long night if they take this Stanford team lightly.

However, this Huskies team is full of potential and some experts think this team could go as far as the Elite eight or Final Four in Houston this year.

For that to be a reality this year the Huskies will have to face some adversity. Tomorrow will be the Huskies first road game without point guard Abdul Gaddy. For the Huskies to make it far into the tournament it will be a team effort. Washington has one of the deepest benches in the Pac 10 if not the deepest bench. Therefore, the bench play will be important but more important in these tough road games in conference play.

The Washington Huskies will also need a fast start. In all 15 of the Huskies have led at halftime in all of the games. However, the Huskies got off to slow start in their two games last week but still were able to lead at halftime.

Stanford comes into the game 9-5 and 2-1 in the Pac 10. Stanford is undefeated on their home floor and will not shy away from tough competition. Stanford is still looking for their big win that could put them on the bubble.

The bottom line is that the if the Huskies take this game seriously tonight then they should win. The Huskies have a better starting five and a better bench. Stanford will try its best to make the game as low scoring as possible. However, I don't see the Cardinal being able to shut down the Huskies explosive offense for the whole game and Washington will win 71-61.

The game is set for a 7pm tip off and the game is not on TV.

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