[Rubie sez: while we work on getting a rundown from our friends at The UW Dawg Pound, chew on this scouting report from a Husky fan.]

Hello, I'm a University of Washington fan and I wrote up a scouting report to go send around to all the Marquette fans so they can learn about us. Here's a general description of what UW likes to do: We have plenty of interchangeable parts. We run plenty of 4 guard lineups, but will just as easily go with a more conventional lineup. What is consistent is that Quincy Pondexter and Isaiah Thomas will carry most of the offensive load. We play 10 guys, like to press, and push the tempo. We struggle against teams that play zone and force us to shoot outside.As for rebounding, as an undersized team we rebound incredibly well, especially on the offensive side. This helps since we're not a good outside shooting team. We also play a very harassing defense, high pressure all the time. We switch all screens since most of our players can guard multiple positions. 

We were ranked in the top 10 to start the season, but the roles on the team weren't defined and our players didn't know what to do. We've figured it out lately winning 12 of our last 14, including playing our best basketball throughout the Pac-10 tournament.  I'll give individual breakdown of the team after the jump!

Starting Lineup:

PG: Abdul Gaddy #10 - 6'4 FR - Abdul is a year young for his grade so he just turned 18 in January. He was the high school teammate of Texas's Avery Bradley, and Abdul was the #2 rated PG in the nation behind John Wall coming into this year. However, he's a tall guard that is known for his game managing skills. He doesn't score a lot, but he's okay at defense, he knows how to use his length. Where he really contributes is passing, he has the best court vision I've ever seen out of a guard this young, too bad this leads to a lot of turnovers. I cannot tell you how many times Abdul would lay a ridiculous pass to one of our bigs only to have them not expect it and the ball go out of bounds. He's usually our first sub out, and will probably only play about 15 minutes throughout the game.

SG: Isaiah Thomas #2 - 5'8 SO - Isaiah IS in fact named after the Detroit Piston PG. I'll do a quick rundown of the story (although I'm sure you'll hear it twice during the broadcast). Isaiah's father is a diehard Lakers fan, his best friend is a diehard Pistons fan. During the 1989 NBA finals, they make a friendly wager. If the Pistons beat the Lakers Isaiah's father has to name his son to be Isaiah. The Father agrees to it, but first runs it by his pregnant wife, who only agrees if the name is spelled biblically since she wanted a biblical name anyways. The Isaiah for UW talks to the Piston great fairly regularly.

Now onto his game, he is a lefty who is in 100% attack mode all the time. He is quicker than fast, and gets to the hoop at will. Teams have tried putting athletic 6'4 guys on him, it hasn't worked, teams have tried putting 5'9 speedsters on him, it hasn't worked. The only thing that has worked is when the other team runs a 2-3 zone and packs it in. Isaiah is not afraid to shoot the outside shot, however it is definitely not his strength, in fact he's just good enough for you to have to run out on him. That is a huge improvement over last year though.

He's also a freak athlete, people say I.T. (this is what we usually call him) remind them of Nate Robinson. This is a fair comparison as they are both diminutive guards and freak athletes (I.T. dunked over 6'8 Matthew Bryan-Amaning during our Midnight Madness dunk contest, legitimately didn't use his arm to leverage himself or anything). However I.T. has a very polished offensive game. He won Pac-10 Freshman of the year and was on the NCAA Freshman First team last year. He's also been all Pac-10 both years he's been at UW. Also he was Pac-10 tournament's most valuable player.

SF: Justin Holiday #22 - 6'6 with 7'2 wingspan JR - He is the older brother of Philadelphia 76er Jrue Holiday. Justin is known for his defensive ability and being the consummate glue guy that every team needs. He has a good looking jumper but will only take it if he's wide open. He rebounds well, makes good decisions with the ball, and plays amazing defense. He has shut down the best player of every team we've played against this year.

Now, he's very very lanky (get a chance to look at his legs, they look like toothpicks), so he can't do much in the post. However, he will harass and cleanly cover the opposing teams best wing player. Although, if someone gets hot look to Holiday to switch onto them. He was on the All Defensive Pac-10 team.

SF/PF: Quincy Pondexter #20 - 6'6 SR - Quincy was considered the favorite for Pac-10 player of the year as he won Player Of The Week 5 times (first time in Pac-10 history anyone has won it that many times), however that award went to California's Jerome Randle. Quincy averages 19.8 points per game, and has a 125.0 offensive rating (one of Kenpom's advanced metrics) was 29th in the nation. However, he was #1 in the nation if set the parameters to at least 24% of possessions used. As a barometer Lazar Hayward had a 107.0 rating on 29.7% possessions used. Quincy played with Hayward over the summer on a national team, so they're familiar with what they both bring to the table.

Quincy was our best 3 point shooter statistically, but he does most of his damage from 17 feet and in. The reason NBA teams like him is because he's gotten substantially better every year, is a known gym rat, and has skills that directly translate to the NBA game (mostly his mid range game, his rebounding and his post play). The only time Quincy has been shut down this year is when he's done it to himself. I know that is a horrible cliche, but Quincy was known as an enigma for his first 3 years for showing glimpses of what he could be only to have 4 straight games of under 6 points. Oh yes, we also call Quincy Q-Pon.

ESPN wrote an article about how he got where he is and his relationship with his dad. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4886339

C: Matthew Bryan-Amaning #11 - 6'8 JR - Is very similar to Quincy when he was younger, in the way that he's a total enigma. He has NBA athleticism and enough length to play in the NBA (7'4 wingspan), but he'll probably never put it together to the point where that could be a realistic goal. His last 11 games have shown us that he can play at this level and succeed as his last 11 games he's averaging 12.2 points and 7.7 boards in 25 minutes. He's got a few good post moves and makes a Sports Center caliber (dunk or block) a game. Honestly, given the way your team is built, I don't think we'll see a lot of him unless he's got it going on the offensive end.

The Bench:

PG: Venoy Overton #1 - 5'11 JR - Everyone that has ever played against UW hates Venoy Overton. Bobby Knight called him the best on the ball defender in the NCAA, as did Steve Lavin. When Gameday was here Jay Bilas talked about how much energy and how he can single handily shut down a ball handler and frustrate them to no end. Every other Pac-10 school refers to Venoy as a thug, or a dirty player when in reality we're very deep at guard and we let him be as physical as he wants. He will single handily press while clapping in the guys face and talking smack to him. He loves trying to get under the other teams skin which he's successful at 9 times out of 10. His offense is very similar to Isaiah's but he shoots far less often. He finishes around the rim with his right really well (he's also a lefty), and is shooting over 50% on 3's the last 4 games. If the refs let him play, he'll terrorize the entire Marquette team, if the refs call it tight, he'll only get to play about 10 minutes. As a 6th man he finishes games for us and usually plays more minutes than Abdul Gaddy.

SG/SF: Elston Turner #31 - 6'4 SO- Pure Shooter. Doesn't do much else. Shoots 3's better than FT's (not really, but it might as well be true, he's our worst FT shooter yet he's our best 3 point shooter). He's good at ball pressure and will sometimes shoot a shot that's not a 3. He's shot 154 shots and 97 of them are 3's. He will play about 10-15 minutes.

SG/SF: Scott Suggs #14 - 6'6 SO - Read above, but better FT shooter and worse defender. Has taken 130 shots and 98 of them were 3's. He'll play about 8-12 minutes. We like to play both Turner and Suggs and Pondexter out there together with Isaiah Thomas to stretch the D.

PF/C: Tyrese Breshers #33 - 6'7 FR - Has a body that imitates Charles Barkley but not nearly the game. He's a better athlete than his frame would make you believe, however he's strictly a low post player. Against a team that doesn't play through the post, he won't play as often. He fouls all the time (as Freshman seem to do) so he hardly logs too many minutes.

PF/C: Darnell Gant #44 - 6'8 SO - Here's another athletic bigman who will probably play more against Marquette than the others. Typically when teams play small or there biggest player is a perimeter player, Gant plays. When the team has a bruiser down low, he sits. He was a starter last year as a freshman, but has been relegated to being the 2nd or 3rd big (depending on the match up). He can guard all 5 positions, and he's somewhat competent on the offensive end. He loves the 14-17 foot jumper on the baseline. Also, he'll shoot it at the top of the key.

Clearance Trent #12 - 6'6 FR - Probably won't play. Plays bigger than 6'6.

Brendan Sherrer #42 - 6'9 Walk-on - UW held a public tryout for students and Sherrer won. He only comes in when the game is at hand and the crowd goes nuts. He was a member of the dawg pack (UW student section) before becoming part of the team. He has scored 4 points. My guess is, neither team will be up by enough for him to play.