Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

The guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - gathered one more time in the visiting coaches box high above Husky Stadium Saturday night to reflect on Washington's 26-16 loss to No. 4 Oregon. And there was plenty to talk about.

The first part was good; the Washington defense generated a turnover on Oregon's first possession and turned it into a touchdown. Then they were able to generate a safety after a great Race Porter punt backed the Ducks up about as close to their goal line as possible.

Then it all went south.

Washington Head Coach Jimmy Lake decided to go a tad nuts and go off on one of his players in the spirit of 'separating' them from either the officials or the other team. We're still not sure exactly what Lake saw from his vantage point that was so clearly different from what showed up on the replays...again and again.

Was it a fireable offense? Will UW AD Jen Cohen and President Ana Mari Cauce see it that way? Was it something that fans would have even batted an eyelash at 20 years ago? Ten?

But back to what took place on the field. The UW offense was horrific, the defensive players did what they could but were clearly handcuffed by a staff unwilling to stack the box and dare Oregon to put the ball in their quarterback's hands to win the game.

Even special teams was solid until they spectacularly weren't.

The Dawgman guys break things down from what happened early in the game to the adjustments that weren't made after halftime, to UW's inability to generate any sustainable offense that led to Oregon playing keep-away; the exact kind of scenario Lake wanted to see from his offense in an ideal world.

But this was far from ideal; it was insanity. It was a coaching staff asking their players to continue to do things over and over every week, expecting a different result.

Grinolds, Fetters, and Eklund finish the podcast wondering how hot Lake's seat is right now, and where Cohen et al go from here. One thing's for sure; Monday's press conference with Lake should be well attended.

Here's full audio from Jimmy Lake, Sean McGrew, and Jackson Sirmon after Washington fell 26-16 to No. 4 Oregon Saturday night in Seattle.

Today is a huge day for the Washington Huskies, but how big is it for the longer term? That's one of the big topics discussed by the Dawgman guys - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - ahead of the Oregon-Washington game this afternoon at Husky Stadium.

The first big topic of the pregame podcast had to do with Jimmy Lake's "academically prowess" comments made Monday when asked if Oregon and Washington are recruiting rivals. Was it a worthwhile attempt at some smack talk by Lake hurt by tripping over his delivery? Or did he even need to go there at all? And in the long run, will schools use it against the Huskies on the recruiting trail? How much will this dog the Huskies moving forward? 

The next big topic had to do with the result of the Oregon-Washington game. If the Huskies could somehow upset the No. 4 Ducks, how much goodwill would that give Lake in terms of his job security? And if UW lost the game, would losing to a top-4 team at home ratchet up the temperature on Lake's seat, or would that simply matter on how the game went? Put another way; would losing by one score - and every Pac-12 game played by UW this year has been decided by one score - move the needle at all? Or would it offer just another data point for those Washington fans already looking to move on from the Jimmy Lake era?

After a quick break to pay some bills, Kim and Chris talk about UW's 83-50 exhibition win for the men's basketball team Thursday night over Central Washington. How different do the Hoop Dawgs look compared to last year as their season-opener against Northern Illinois comes in just four days? And then Scott offers up a quick recruiting update, including some names of some prospects that are expected to be in Husky Stadium for the Oregon-UW game.

The Dawgman.com interns - Jack McCauley and Intern Emeritus Luke Mounger - break down what they've seen from the Oregon Ducks so far this season and how they match up against the Washington Huskies going into Saturday afternoon's game at Husky Stadium.

Luke tackles the Ducks' offense first, focusing with his take on their quarterback, Anthony Brown. He also touches on their offensive line and the skill players the Ducks should rely on to move the ball against Washington, namely Travis Dye, Johnny Johnson, Devon Williams, and Mycah Pittman. How will the Huskies try and stem UO's potent run game? They've had difficulty all year stopping good run offenses, but has the emergence of younger defenders like Carson Bruener and Voi Tunuufi help change that trend? And can Washington's pass defense, which has been really good all year long, continue to hold up and force Oregon into some uncomfortable down-and-distance situations? Do they resemble any other teams the Huskies have faced? 

Moving to the other side of the ball, Jack breaks down Oregon's players of note on their defense, starting with defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux. He also mentions Keyon Ware-Hudson, Popo Aumavae, and Brandon Dorlus as other defensive linemen to pay attention to. Moving to linebacker, Noah Sewell is the man in the middle for Oregon. He also talks about Oregon's secondary, including Mykael Wright, DJ James, Verone McKinley, Jamal Hill, Steve Stephens, and others, where they are the No. 10 pass defense in the Pac-12. Are there some holes in the Ducks' defense that Washington can exploit? Jack and Luke go into some of the UW players that would need to have big days to keep up with the No. 4 Ducks, as well as schemes and plays they expect to see from the Huskies to combat UO's defense. And they think the weather could be a factor too.

To finish up the preview podcast, Jack and Luke give their confidence levels for a Washington win. There's no question if the Huskies were able to defeat Oregon it would be considered a big upset.

The guys from Dawgman.com - Chris Fetters and the Head of Hoops, Aaron Beach - give their immediate reactions after Washington's 83-50 exhibition win over Central Washington Thursday night at Alaska Airlines Arena.

The Huskies used some fierce trapping to turn Central over 25 times, leading to 34 points off turnovers, and a 24-2 run early in the second half to salt the game away.

In their instant reactions, Fetters and Beach not only break down what they saw in the game schematically, especially on defense, but also gave their quick takes on all the new faces seen on the court. Three of the five starters were brand-new (Terrell Brown, Jr., Emmitt Matthews, Jr., and Daejon Davis), and four of the five scholarship players that came off the bench next were also new (Langston Wilson, P.J. Fuller, Jackson Grant, and Samuel Ariyibi).

Finally, they revise their takes from the preseason. Beach definitely thinks what happened Thursday night can be replicated on the defensive end, while Fetters still wants to see a little bit more before jumping in with both feet. But there is no question there are some intriguing and exciting new parts to this Washington hoops program that will be fun to watch going forward.

Terrell Brown, Jr., Emmitt Matthews, Jr., and Mike Hopkins spoke to the media Thursday night after Washington's 83-50 exhibition win over Central Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Washington Head Coach Jimmy Lake spoke with the media one last time before the Huskies host the Oregon Ducks in a primetime matchup at Husky Stadium Saturday afternoon. He was asked to clarify his comments made earlier in the week Oregon being a recruiting rival and was also asked for his comment on the emergence of Montlake Futures, an NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) platform brought together as a resource outside of the University of Washington to help UW student-athletes create and take advantage of NIL opportunities.

With the 2021-22 men's basketball season upon us - the team plays Central Washington tonight in their lone exhibition game - it's time to break down what's expected from this year's Hoop Dawgs.

And the Dawgman interns - Jack McCauley and Intern Emeritus Luke Mounger - are joined by former Hoop Dawg Jason Crandall as he offers up his insight into the new players that he's gotten a chance to play against over the years.

And it's always a good thing to start the podcast off with some breaking news; senior forward Reagan Lundeen has been put on scholarship for his final year, according to Crandall. That certainly answers the question of how Hopkins was going to use the one scholarship available for this season.

They start with the incoming transfers, talking about the inclusion of Terrell Brown, Jr., Daejon Davis, Emmitt Matthews, Jr., P.J. Fuller, and others, and how this particular group of transfers offers something different from the previous groups of transfers that have shown up at Montlake, starting on defense.

How will Mike Hopkins use the lineup? Will it be pretty static with the starters, or do they think he'll mix and match more? And how will an infusion of length help the Huskies run Hopkins' Syracuse-based zone?

The guys then move to the other newcomers, namely Jackson Grant and Langston Wilson. Jack has been able to see Jackson evolve over the years, being from Grant's hometown of Olympia.

Crandall, with his UW-based contacts, offers insight into some of the players that stayed with the Huskies after last season, starting with Nate Roberts and moving to Cole Bajema, Jamal Bey, Riley Sorn, and others.

Talk then moves to the non-conference schedule and games against teams like Northern Illinois, Northern Arizona, the Crossover Classic in South Dakota (including games with Nevada, George Mason, and South Dakota State), and then the rest of the schedule - including a stretch of games against Arizona, UCLA, and at Gonzaga in early December, that will really test the mettle of this team before the Hoop Dawgs jump headfirst into Pac-12 play just before the new year.

To finish the 45-minute preview podcast up, the guys give their thoughts on just how successful the 2021-22 Huskies are going to be. With talk that this particular group is much tighter than ever before, it sounds great. But we've seen this movie play out before. Is this year going to be different? Will they be able to out-perform their 11th place league expectations?

On what he hopes to see tomorrow... We've been working on our defense and being active, so that and then getting our guys on the court in front of fans again, so the energy in the building.

On what he's been happy with so far from the new players... For the most part they have done a good job of getting down the basic foundation. They have really adapted well so far and I am really proud of them.

On defensive stuff... We've been working on the zone and we've been working on our man-to-man. We've got some depth, some size, guys who can play both and we're excited about their potential.

On the depth of the team... Right now, there's not much of a difference between our fifth guy and our sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th guys. They can all play.

On the chemistry... I have been saying this, but these guys just really get along. They love to win, they love to work, they love to be connected and it's exciting. There's a lot of pride. The competition in practice is as good as we've had since we've been here. They battle in practice, but they leave it there and they just like hanging out with each other.

On Nate Roberts' growth... He's just grown into being comfortable with who he is. Last year was tough for a lot of people. We had a scrimmage last week and you can see the growth in him, the maturity, the confidence, and it's really his actions. He's unselfish. He's always trying to pick up his teammates and lift them up. He's been great.

On Quincy Pondexter's contributions so far... He's such a role model for these players. He's where they want to be. He had the chance to be a one-and-done, but he stayed all four seasons and his work with Jamal Bey has been great. Kids equate love with time and he's a guy who is always in the gym and always working with them. They feel how much he cares. He's been doing a great job.

On the four local players coming home... It's almost like they're brothers. They fight like brothers, they argue like brothers. They have embraced everyone and the guys that are here are all bonded and I've had guys come up to me and say this is the closest team they've been on since they got here.

On the rotation... All of our players are good players. It will be fun how things play out. Some guys need to get in better shape and understand the system better, but we've been working on how many (eight, 10) will be in the rotation and we'll have to see how it plays out.

On the identity of the team now... You'll see a team that is tougher, has more heart, and a team that will have pride and be a team that people can be proud of. It's a long road and a tough season, but we like where we're at right now and we're not worried about that now. We're worried about where we are at the end of the season.

On any 'wow' moments in camp... A lot of them. We've got a lot of guys who play above the rim. The luxury of having two point guards with experience (five and six years) and their assist to turnover ratio was really good, so we're hoping to see a shift there. Some lobs, transition runs, there's an I.Q. there that will allow them to make plays.

On getting stops... One stat from our scrimmage was with Nate Roberts and he had just one foul. That's a guy who always struggled with foul trouble last year, so you can see his maturity and growth as a player. We've been focusing on defending without fouling and that will be huge for us and we'll see how we've progressed tomorrow night (against Central Washington).

On his excitement for this team... My first year here, we had a g ...

On getting started... It's been a long time. It's been a long year.

On the Montlake Madness event... It was a lot of fun. It was a great experience. It was good to get to see the Dawg Pack out, expose them to some of the new guys, it was real lit.

On the new players being embraced by the Dawg Pack... It's been great. They've shown a lot of love. Everyone's excited. I think a lot of people are excited to get back into games and cheer for us this year.

On the new pieces of the team and how they fit in... I think we've always lived and died by the zone, but this team is different. We have a lot of size and length. We can shut things down with that and we can space things out more with our shooters. A lot of athleticism that we can use off the dribble and make plays.

On being better conditioned... Our plan is to run a lot this year, so we want to be the best conditioned team in the country. It had to do with a lot of running. There's a hill over in Woodinville that we've run three times so far this year. I think, before this year, we've run it maybe three times total, so we've been doing that and we've been working on getting out fast in transition and running and going up-tempo.

On how Wyking Jones has helped him... Being dominant in everything. 'No Mercy', that's what he says to be every day he sees me. He wants me using my feet and not my hands. He's been a great help to me.

On the upcoming season... This is my fourth year here and we've worked hard. We're bringing stuff together. Last season was tough, but we have a new season and energy. I'm excited for people to get the chance to see us play and the attitude we're going to have. We've been beating on each other for the past three months, so it's exciting we get to get started and play against someone else and start to come together.

On Bill Walton... That's my guy. People were telling me when he covers our games, that he was always talking about me, even when I wasn't playing, so then last year, he talked about me more because I was playing more. I got to really meet him at Pac 12 media day and he's a ball of energy. To get advice for an "OG" like him is something you always have to take in.

On finding their identity... Being a tougher and more together team. Handling adversity better and not folding when something bad happens. We're striving to be more mentally tough.

On the new guys... I would just start with Samuel Ariyibi, he's a quick learner. It was surprising to me how quickly he adjusted to the system. He's long and athletic and can shoot off the catch. He's going to be a great rebounder. With Jackson Grant, it's obvious why he was so highly touted. As a freshman, everything comes at you so quick, so he is going to mess up, but we make sure he just keeps his head and keeps getting better. On PJ Fuller, he's a great teammate to have. His instincts are great and his energy is always there, he's athletic, he can penetrate. With Emmitt Matthews Jr., he's from West Virginia, he's been on a top 15 team every year and knows what it takes. He's got a great defensive mindset, he's tough, he can shoot and he's a leader. Then our 'super seniors', Terrell Brown Jr. and Daejon Davis, they know what it takes to win this conference, they've both done it. Th ...