As Ricky Nelson Said....(almost) from Joe Streator

..The Warriors went to a garden party.

Thanks to the Villanova/Missouri game running a bit long last night, I saw the between games filler which was Jim Valvano's ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly) speech during the first ESPY event on March 3, 1993. If you have never heard his speech watch this video. It is very, very good. Fifty-six days later he was dead.






Now for the game. Was there a letdown? I don't know but if the answer is yes at least they managed to eke one out. I don't think Washington is known for it's defense, like we are supposed to be and like we showed against Wisconsin, so I have to admit to being a bit disappointed in our performance last night. How sweet it is though, after all these year when victory is able to accompany disappointment.

We certainly looked like the top ten team we will be next week with our opening bucket....Cadougan dribbling down court and spotting Blue ahead of him for an opening slam dunk. A three pointer is not a bad way to start a game but a fast break slam dunk adds a bit of intimidation I think. How good are we? When we were down 13-4 after four minutes I was barely worried. Anything Washington threw up went in and I knew that would not continue. My feeling would have been different if the game pace was slower. As we are rapidly becoming accustomed to, Todd Mayo made a quick impact with a 3 shortly after he came in. He's got the makings of a stud. Twenty assists out of twenty-seven buckets is also pretty impressive...and some of those assists were very impressive too.

Just as we did against the Badgers, it was nice to see a quick bucket to start the second half. And what did you think about five substitutes at a time? Hard not to remember Al's old scrambled eggs although the intent is not the same now. Have to admit I was a bit surprised when we fell behind after leading by two with about one and a half minutes left. On the other hand it was sure nice to win it with our last shot instead of missing it which seems to happen all too often. Although their last shot was not good, I would have hoped we had forced them to shoot even farther from the bucket. The good thing about their last shot was it was from the side and not straight on.

Let's hope Otule is not hurt badly. If he does miss a few games it will be interesting to see who starts. Is this an opportunity to challenge Gardner with the hope he gets himself in better shape? It was only a year ago we heard he lost about ten percent of his weight (thirty pounds) yet now we hear he is about 290. Unless he really was 330 and got down to 300, I am disappointed. I hope Gardner gets the call but if Jamil Wilson gets the call it should only speed up his development too.

All in all the game was a bit sloppy but we won.

A win over Brian Wardle's UWGB team on Saturday will propel us into the top ten. Going out just a bit farther, Vanderbilt will be tough but there is no reason to lose to them or to Villanova. And with that we are a top five team and in a position that a loss will not drop us from the top ten.

Here's to dreaming.

Joe