Seattle Sportsnet

12:11 PM: 49 minutes til tipoff. Be prepared for a heavy dose of Nikola Dragovic lounging in the hot tub. Copies have been made and blown up of the picture and the Pack is ready to unleash the full venom. Back shortly…

12:25 PM: Kansas is on ESPN taking on Iowa State right now. Not a big game, but it’s always nice to see the RPI boost when a team you played gets a win. There’s really nothing else on right now.

1:00 PM: Dave Libbey part of the officiating team today. That’s a bad sign.

1:01 PM: Barry Tompkins and Dan Belluomini on the call for FSN. Same guys who did USC the other night. They’re old as sh*t. They’re also the guys who seem to screw up the most.

1:04 PM: We’re halfway through the commercial break and I have yet to see the Hampton Inn commercial where the kid throws the ball over the house and into the hoop.

1:07 PM: Anybody catch the bright blue button-up on the UCLA announcer? He was sitting to the left and behind Howland. Nice shirt dude.

1:09 PM: I’ve heard that Gant can stroke it at the IMA. Of course, that doesn’t translate to games…I have yet to see Gant knock down a 15-footer.

1:10 PM: Libbey already acting out on the home crowd. Two ticky-tack fouls early.

1:15 PM: Good foul by Gant on Gordon’s attempted dunk. Reminds me of Bobby Jones, defending the home court.

1:16 PM: Dragovic has an accent mark over the ‘i’ on his jersey. Unnecessary.

1:17 PM: Sloppy start at the first media timeout. 9-1 UCLA. Huskies are going to need to play tougher perimeter D and eliminate the mental errors on the offensive end. Look pretty lazy right now.

1:20 PM: Wow, Brockman is owning Drew Gordon right now. 9-5 UCLA….9-7 now on an Overton layup. UCLA timeout.

1:21 PM: Xijio: “2 bad foul calls and a goaltending. f u libbey.” I hate Dave Libbey, too. Notice how the players eye Libbey before every inbounds to make sure he’s not seeing them do something wrong.

1:22 PM: Travis: “Tompkins just described Coach Howland as, “someone who uses timeouts when he feels they are necessary.” Thanks for the insider info Barry.” Barry Tompkins needs his Metamucil.

1:23 PM: 14-9 UCLA. Shipp knocks down another trey. Where’s our perimeter D right now? 17-9 now…Shipp again on the three. Wow.

1:24 PM: Isaiah Thomas, y uno. Muy bien.

1:25 PM: Even the old-ass broadcasters noticed Shipp travel just now. “And that’s gonna be a travel…” No, no call, Dave Libbey doesn’t know his elbow from his asshole from his ego.

1:26 PM: Belluomini atones for Tompkins’ traveling gaffe by issuing this statement: “You know what I really like? The officials are just letting em play today!” Hey smart guy, questionable fouls and blatant travels are two different things.

1:28 PM: The sloppiness continues. Put Wolf in.

1:31 PM: I think Tompkins just referred to Lorenzo Romar as “Lil’ Romar.”

1:32 PM: Shipp now has 12 points after a three-point play. 22-16 UCLA. 8:23 left in the half. Brockman just knocked down an and-one, headed to the line with a chance for a three-point play……nothing but net on the FT, 22-19 UCLA.

1:34 PM: Libbey just missed another travel. J’Mison Morgan took about six steps around Brockman.

1:35 PM: Another media timeout. The sloppiness has really taken the crowd out of the game. The Dawg Pack is fairly quiet (at least on TV), and the rest of the fans barely have a pulse. Good news for those of you watching on FSN, however: Coming up when we get back from the break is “Dan’s Old School” featuring Dan Belluomini.

1:37 PM: Wow, Bob Houbregs in attendance. I hope he gets to hook it up with that chick interviewing him.

1:39 PM: Holy crap. These officials are really killing us right now. Quincy just got hammered by three guys and had a jump ball called.

1:40 PM: I’m waiting for Belluomini to let his guard down and react honestly to a stat that Tompkins gives him. “Holy sh*t, Barry! That’s f’ing amazing!”

1:42 PM: Quincy just landed on the announcer with the ugly blue shirt. Take that, ugly shirt.

1:43 PM: Our crowd sucks right now. The Dawg Pack is doing great, but why are our fans in the good seats so entitled? Get off your asses!

1:45 PM: 28-27 UCLA, 3:51 left in the half. Timeout on the floor.

1:46 PM: Hah! The guy in the Sam Adams commercial: “That’s why I’m here…I love beer.”

1:47 PM: The guy in the Best Buy commercial is named “Power Jensen.” No joke.

1:48 PM: Great D by the Dawgs. UCLA shotclock violation. Brockman kinda has stone hands underneath. This is why he could never play tight end.

1:49 PM: Huskies take a 29-28 lead. Crowd back in it. Also this gem from Travis: “After Quincy landed on ugly shirt, ugly shirt did the “dirt off your shoulder” move. Hey ugly shirt, 2005 called, and…yeah, they’re gonna need that back.” Also, Gordon just traveled and they missed it…again. Both feet left the ground.

1:51 PM: VENOY! 31-29 Huskies. 32-29 after the and-one FT.

1:52 PM: IT, Y UNO AGAIN! 34-32 Dawgs, chance for 35 at the line.

1:53 PM: Dragovic just knocked down that three with the same ferocity he uses to knock down women. 35-35.

1:55 PM: 37-35 UCLA. 40.5 seconds in the half, Huskies ball. J’Mison Morgan looks like “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper’s” Mark Curry.

1:57 PM: Romar’s biggest weakness is calling inbounds plays out of timeouts. Besides the B-Roy lob play from back in the day, I’ve seen few inbounds plays work for the Huskies.

1:58 PM: Justin Holiday’s three at the buzzer makes it 39-38, UCLA, at the half.

1:59 PM: Finally! A Hampton Inn commercial where photoshopped children are making insane buckets!

2:00 PM: Immediately followed by another Hampton Inn commercial with different photoshopped children making different insane buckets. The CEO of Hampton must be sleeping with the CEO of FSN.

2:01 PM: Todd MacCulloch on the in-studio analysis today. Nice.

2:06 PM: Vital halftime stats:

• Josh Shipp leads all scorers with 12 points on 4-6 FG shooting, 3-4 from 3-point range.
• Brockman leads the Huskies with 9, followed by 7 from Venoy, and 6 apiece from IT and Quincy.
• UCLA is outrebounding the Dawgs 14-12 (4-3 on the offensive boards).
• UCLA is shooting 50% from the field, 44% from beyond the arc, and only 50% from the line.
• UW is shooting 45% from the field, only 17% from three (1-6), and an impressive 92% from the line (11-12).
  
• The foul differential favors the Dawgs, with UCLA committing 11 first-half fouls, and UW 8.

2:10 PM: Angie Mentink is saying “crap” quite a bit.

2:12 PM: I’m thinking I need some KFC sauceless hot wings….and another Hampton Inn commercial. When it rains, it pours.

2:13 PM: Another Hampton commercial. That’s five now.

2:15 PM: Brockman ties it up with a FT…misses the second, 39-39.

2:15 PM: Pac-10 games would be better if they were officiated pickup style, with each individual making their own calls. You’d be surprised how effective this is. Much more honest and ethical than the Pac-10 officials.

2:17 PM: Jrue knocks down a trey…42-41 UCLA. Quincy responds with an O-board and a bucket, 43-42 Dawgs.

2:19 PM: Brockman draws the foul underneath. Holy crapola, Alfred Aboya is bleeding profusely from the skull. Took a Brockman elbow to the face. Keep in mind, Aboya is the same guy who got the ball-to-face treatment from Tim Morris’ inbounds pass last season.

2:21 PM: Wow, Brockman knocks down two FT’s. 45-44, UW.

2:22 PM: Brockman fouled again underneath. Drew Gordon has four (4) fouls now with 16:24 remaining. UCLA’s bigs are in trouble.

2:24 PM: Brockman fouled again! J’Mison Morgan the guilty party this time, AND Brockman converts the bucket for the and-one. Keep working it inside. Brockman exploding right now.

2:25 PM: Travis with the observant pickup: “More confused ramblings from Belluomini…’What a big win by Virginia Tech this week…over Georgetown…oh, I mean that was West Virginia.’

Tompkins, trying to help: ‘Well, Virginia Tech beat Wake.’ Belluomini responds with silence. Nice work, guys.”

2:27 PM: Question: What is Justin and Jrue Holiday’s dad listening to on his iPod?

2:29 PM: Shipp knocks down another trey. He’s rekindling the first-half flame. 52-49, Bruins.

2:30 PM: Dawgs playing sloppy again…Alfred Aboya just called for a technical foul, likely for a verbal outburst. Dentmon knocks down both FT’s on the tech, and racks up his third personal foul in the process. Apparently he taunted Overton when Overton got knocked down. 52-51 UCLA.

2:31 PM: Yet another foul. This one apparently on Michael Roll, IT heads to the line. IT hits 1 of 2, 52-52.

2:34 PM: Dentmon just picked up his fourth foul. 12:39 remaining in the game, and we won’t see much JD down the stretch. It’s getting real ticky-tack on both ends. Libbey holds an iron grip over his officiating crew.

2:35 PM: UCLA calls a timeout. IT just knocked down a trey to give the Dawgs a 55-53 lead with 12:00 minutes remaining.

2:37 PM: Kenton with this inquiry: “Whats with the UCLA freshman and the weird spelling of their names? Jrue, J’mison, Jerime… I feel like Im watching a crappy Spike Lee movie.”

2:38 PM: Sam Adams commercials don’t work on me. Your beer still sucks.

2:40 PM: UCLA loves the hi-lo with Dragovic. They run that play 60% of the time it seems. 60% of the time, it works every time.

2:41 PM: Belluomini just said, “He is NOT gonna pull it out,” in reference to UCLA’s Mike Roll. Watch out, ladies.

2:42 PM: Dragovic is feeling it. Five points in under 30 seconds. Where’s the picture?

Q knocks down a bucket, 60-58 UW.

2:43 PM: IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dude is on fire, showing J.J. Redick range with the long trey! 63-58, UW.

2:44 PM: Travis with this: “Nikola make basket!” And on a personal note, I just watched the movie “Eddie” earlier this week, no joke.

2:45 PM: Loose ball, recovered by Venoy, no finish on the layup but draws the foul. Two shots coming….there’s one, 64-58….there’s two, 65-58, UW.

2:47 PM: Dave Libbey is taking over with foul call after foul call. He might have a certain number of fouls per game written into his contract, I’m not sure.

Also, Quincy needs to be more aggressive, you can’t pass up a wide open three like that and then turn the ball over.

2:51 PM: Michael Roll is your prototypical college basketball player. White, gels his hair, will never play in the NBA. USC’s Keith Wilkinson is another guy like this. When you think of college basketball, you should be thinking of these guys.

2:52 PM: Belluomini just called Tompkins “Gary.” 67-64, Dawgs. IT called for the block on the defensive end, his third. Darren Collison at the line.

2:53 PM: Timeout Washington. Seems an awkward moment for a TO, but UCLA is on a bit of a run, might as well slow them down.

2:57 PM: Overton dribbles out of control, regains possession, then gets fouled by Shipp. Nice. Venoy knocks down the first at the line…misses the second, 70-66, UW. 5:00 minutes remaining.

2:58 PM: Another ticky-tack Dave Libbey call, Quincy picks up his fourth. Dentmon back in with four fouls.

2:59 PM: Another Washington timeout. Under five minutes to play. Huskies need to finish underneath and stop resorting to one-of-two FT’s at the line. Those extra points will prove pivotal down the stretch.

3:01 PM: Dawgs on 5-0 run, UCLA calls timeout after a Justin Dentmon floater in the lane. 72-66 UW, 4:02 remaining.

3:02 PM: A shot of Sark standing courtside. I have a boner.

Also, just spotted a Dawg Pack member not jumping and not cheering while everyone else was going nuts. Lazy.

3:05 PM: FSN just cut away to standard definition. Apparently FSNHD goes off air at 3:00 PM no matter the circumstance.

3:06 PM: JD can’t foul out because he’s taking over right now. Ten point lead, 76-66, UW.

3:08 PM: Huskies pulling away now. UCLA resorting to fouls, JD at the line shooting two, 79-66 right now. Tompkins also mentioned that he remembers when Hec Ed was a tomb. That was 1924.

3:11 PM: Collison blatantly dribbled the ball off his foot, out of bounds, and the refs gave it right back to UCLA. I realize we’re almost home free, but that’s some Jayvee bullshit right there.

3:12 PM: Uh-oh, Belluomini and Tompkins are going to have to fill the next 1:12 with small talk. Quiet everyone! An old man is speaking!

3:13 PM: Collison just got the left-right love with his fifth foul. Peace, homey!

3:15 PM: Only Dave Libbey would call a meaningless foul with under one minute left. Huskies up 85-70 with 42.7 seconds remaining. I predicted a double-digit UW victory on Dawgman.com last night and it looks like we should get that.

3:16 PM: Done-zo. 86-75 victory. First place belongs to YOUR University of Washington Huskies, sole proprietors of the top spot in the Pac-10. Can we get a ranking now?

3:22 PM: Today’s live blog is complete. Thanks to everyone who participated and followed along with your comments. Be sure to check out Part IV in our “Diary of a Road Trip” segment coming up later this afternoon. Thanks again! We’ll do it again.

Dawg Pack Dirt, Volume 5, Issue 14, University of California Los Angeles, January 24, 2009

By Nate Taggart and Aaron Bean

The Game:

-UCLA Bruins at Washington Huskies

-Bank of America Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion

-Saturday, January 24^th, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. PST

The Team:

- UCLA is at 15-3 (5-1 in the Pac 10) and are ranked #11 in the Coaches poll and #13 in the AP poll.

- Their only losses have come from Michigan, Texas, and Arizona St. All quality teams so we need to bring it if we want a victory!!

- UCLA has had trouble with the Huskies the last few years, with UW winning 4 in a row in Seattle and 5 of the last 7 overall.

The Players:

- Fr. F #0 Drew Gordon states that ‘his mom hates his frohawk, so I’m gonna keep it.’ I’m not sure if he still has it, but we should ask why he doesn’t listen to his mother??? Not sure if any of you remember him, but he came into the Dawg Pack during his visit up here, seemed like he was having a good time, but obviously didn’t come here. Also has a relationship status of: It’s Complicated with Michael Conroy.

UCLA’s Drew Gordon (left) and friends

- Fr. G #1 Malcolm Lee states he has never read a full book in his life. One of his quotes: “Born 2 Be Hated.” His name on Myspace is “Real Reconize Me.”

- Sr. G #2 Darren Collison: couldn’t find much on him, but he seems to have trouble when the Bruins come to Seattle, so get on him anyway that you can think of.

- Sr. F/G #3 Josh Shipp: not much on this guy, but he does have a very clever name on myspace: ShippHappens3…

- Fr. G #4 Tyler Trapani: one look at this guy and I don’t see how he is on UCLA’s basketball team, and then I find out that he is the great-grandson of John Wooden. Looks like he is probably a walk-on since he averaged 3 points a game his senior year in high school.

- So. G #11 Spencer Soo states that “I AM INTERESTED IN EVERYTHING! REALLY, NOT JUST SAYIN IT!” Also, he divides his music into 5 categories: Oldies when he is going to sleep, Songs with a lot of bass when he is in the car, Rock while at the computer, RnB and Love Songs whenever, and Country when he wants to listen to other people’s problems. He also made up his own quote: “LIFE IS LIKE A JIGSAW PUZZLE, IT’S ALREADY MADE, YOU JUST HAVE TO PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER.”

- Sr. F #12 Alfred Aboya: I know that big men usually don’t have the greatest assist-to-turnover ratios, but his 3 assists to 19 turnovers is pretty bad. He was the guy who got in the way of Tim Morris’ ‘inbounds pass’ last year…

- Jr. G #20 Michael Roll: he likes to tell jokes, maybe he will tell us some??? One of his thought provoking quotes: “Get Money, Die Slow, and Bang Quick.” Has a great profile pic of him going up against our very own, Bobby Jones. We all know who won that battle.

- Fr. G #21 Jrue Holiday: not much on him either, but just in case someone out there doesn’t know, he is the little brother of UW’s Justin Holiday. Hopefully they go head to head a few times, no one better to guard him than his brother.

- Fr. C #22 J’mison Morgan: nickname is BoBo. Don’t think I’ve ever seen someone put that they don’t like any music on facebook, but that’s what he says. Shoots a cool 36.8% from the free throw line.

UCLA’s J’Mison Morgan (third from left) with teammate Drew Gordon (far left) and two gay guys (sandwiched between Morgan and Gordon).

- Fr. G #24 Matt DeMarcus: part of his activities include going to Oregon, Gonzaga, UCLA, and UCSB athletic events. The last two are certainly easy to understand, but the last two are weird since he is from California. Two horrible schools to go and watch sporting events. Has only read the 7^th book of the Harry Potter series, says it was good but never read any of the previous ones. Answers to the nicknames “DeMarc” and his personal favorite, “Mattycakes.” Claims he knows people in very high places. His mom holds track and field records in New Zealand.

- Jr. F #30 Kevin Schmidt says he is 6’8, left handed, and don’t worry ladies, EVERTHING is in proportion. Spent his first two years at UCLA playing water polo along with basketball. States that his religious views are the Nation of Thizzlam.

- Jr. F #41 Nikola Dragovic was arrested in November on misdemeanor allegations of abuse. He apparently pushed his girlfriend down after they got into an argument. Doesn’t sound like much came from it, but it is worth noting.

UCLA’s Nikola Dragovic lounging in a hot tub (also yesterday’s Pic O’ The Day).

- Sr. F/C #44 James Diefenbach: middle name is Cummins, played on UCLA’s men’s volleyball team the last three years, one of which they won the national title. Under activities he says “I do what I want.” Lists competitive beer pong as an activity. Has an insightful quote: “Losers make excuses Winners Makes it happen!!!” from none other than Bubba Sparxxx. We should all receive our wisdom from that man…

-Jr. Forward #13 James Keefe: h came out for the game a couple of years ago with his shorts on backwards. Having personally noted the “Adidas” logo in the rear, we gave him hell the entire first half. Needless to say, he changed at the half and received a mild ovation from the surrounding students.

GO DAWGS!

Tomorrow, beginning at 1:00 PM, we will be featuring a live updated blogcast of the UW-UCLA Men’s Basketball game. That means, if you’re sitting at home watching the game on FSN like I will be, feel free to tune your web browser right here, SeattleSportsnet.com, and join in the live blogging fun.

Not only will we be providing tremendous insight that you can’t find anywhere else on the actual game action (like what the hell a double foul is), but we’ll also give you observant feedback on other things the average blogger wouldn’t notice, like how many times FSN announcer Barry Tompkins refers to us as “Washington State,” or mentions “Quincy Poindexter.”

We would also like to invite you to contribute by adding your comments as we go. As long as the comments are a) relevant, b) appropriate, and c) witty and insightful, we’ll pull those comments and include them in the blog as we go. I hope to see you all here tomorrow afternoon!

Husky basketball fans and current Dawg Pack student section members Molly Waldron and Alicia Miller chronicle their journey to the depths of Eugene, Oregon in this five-part series following the team on a recent road trip.

Diary of a Road Trip: Part III, Superiority complex
By Molly Waldron

5:30 PM, Thursday Evening

Carl’s Junior. A rare treat. After a four-and-a-half hour drive we pull into this fine dining establishment, hide our poster in the back seat, and satisfy our craving for this regionally exclusive fast food. The fellow at the cash register offers the classic “we don’t serve your kind” line to us. We act extremely nice to avoid someone spitting in our food. This is, after all, Duck country.

After dinner we make it to Mac Court, park where we probably shouldn’t, and trek through a graveyard in the middle of campus to get in to the game. The trash talking is less than prime. We’d prepared our egos for personal attacks and hoped for Oregon fans to dish out snide comments so we could snap back with superior wit. All we heard before the game were a couple of “0-12!”s, referring to UW’s dismal football record last season. “Wrong sport, Oregon fans! It’s 2009 now!”

We settle in to our seats with 20 minutes until tipoff and make loud comments about the inferiority of Mac Court, the inferiority of the Oregon cheerleaders, and most of all inferiority of Oregon’s student section, the widely known but clearly overrated “Pit Crew.”