Dawgman Radio: A Washington Huskies athletics podcast

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Riley Sorn continues to grow as a hoops fixture on Montlake Dec 16, 2020

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Washington Men's Basketball Coach Mike Hopkins and redshirt sophomore center Riley Sorntalk to the media Tuesday ahead of UW's game versus Montana at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Jimmy Lake and Rob Scheidegger address the media after UW forced to withdraw from Pac-12 Championship Game Dec 14, 2020

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Washington Head Coach Jimmy Lakeand UW Associate Athletic Director for Health & Wellness Rob Scheidegger speak to the media after the Pac-12 announced Washington would not be able to field a team versus USC in this Friday's Pac-12 Championship Game.

DawgmanRadio: A Look Back At Recruiting In The Dawgman Era Dec 14, 2020

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Dawgman has been around for nearly a quarter of a century and during that time, we've seen a lot of whacky and wild stuff on the recruiting trail. Because of that, we have some good stories to share and we felt it was a great time of the year to do just that with the mid-year signing period starting on Wednesday.

Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters and Scott Eklund start off by talking about the start of Dawgman.com and what led to them launching a site that was, at least initially, just a message/bulletin board where people could talk recruiting as well as about their favorite team.

Grinolds goes through some of the craziness surrounding the hiring of Rick Neuheisel and when the site brought Fetters aboard and Eklund talks about what led him to join the site and how he eventually started covering recruiting.

Then they get down to the nitty gritty, remembering the recruitment of former St. Bonaventure (Ventura, Ca.) tailback Lorenzo Booker and his announcement on national television and the ensuing meltdown on the message boards as well as what it was like when Reggie Williams was being pursued by everyone in the country.

The trio also relive some other recruiting weirdness associated with Donte Nicholson, Jaydon Mickens and a handful of other anecdotes from the past couple of decades as well.

To listen to the 65-minute podcast, click on the audio link below.

Postgame: RaeQuan Battle and Mike Hopkins Dec 13, 2020

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Washington GuardRaeQuan Battleand Head CoachMike Hopkinsspeak to the media Saturday night after UW's 74-71 loss to Oregon at Alaska Airlines Arena.

DawgmanRadio: Weekend Update On Pac 12 Football Season Dec 12, 2020

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There is not a Husky football game to talk about this weekend, so Dawgman's Chris Fetters and Scott Eklund decided to sit down and chat about the conference and how things could play out of the next few weeks. Both opined on each game taking place today, from a snow-covered field in Boulder, to the rivalry game between UCLA and USC this afternoon, and a cold game set to kickoff at 1 pm between Cal and Washington State and then capping the night off with a conest between Stanford and Oregon State, and gave their thoughts on some rumors of the Apple Cup being played on New Year's Eve.

They also discussed the recent commitment of Emeka Egbuka, a five-star wide receiver from Steilacoom (Wa.), to Ohio State and how that impacts Washington's class. How big of a miss is it? Fetters and Eklund give their thoughts.

A conversation with the Head of Hoops Dec 11, 2020

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Through four games, the Washington Huskies (1-3) started out extremely slow, but on Wednesday broke through in a big way with a 32-point win over crosstown rivals Seattle University.

With UW set to host Oregon Saturday at 5 pm on the Pac-12 Networks, it seemed a perfect time to Dawgman.com’s Chris Fetters to catch up with the Head of Hoops, Aaron Beach, to get an honest assessment of where he thinks the program is right now, and how much to take from UW’s lopsided win over the Redhawks.

It all starts with Quade Green and what he brings to the team, as well as the surprising play of junior college transfer Nate Pryor this week. He has started to emerge as a genuine playmaking threat, perhaps sooner than expected.

But there’s others that haven’t taken their chances. Fetters and Beach talk about those players, what’s holding them back, and what they need to do to push past their difficulties.

They also talk about Mike Hopkins’ desire to play a 7-8 man rotation, and whether or not they can do that right now. And does Beach see a situation where Hop may switch up his lineup to take advantage of players showing up right now, including center Riley Sorn?

After a quick break, they come back to some quick recruiting news. Olympia’s Jackson Grant has already signed his letter of intent with Washington for the 2021 class. We talk about his skill set and how he fits into what UW is trying to do on both sides of the court.

And they finish up the conversation with Beach looking ahead and talking about what UW needs to do in order to push forward in the Pac-12. Here’s a hint: it doesn’t sound like a quick fix is available. He also talks about what he wants to see out of the Huskies early on against the Ducks on Saturday, and whether or not he’s taking the over or under when asked if UW will finish 9th in the conference, the place they were picked preseason by the media.

EMERGENCY POD: With UW-Oregon cancelled, now what? Dec 11, 2020

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Well, Jimmy Lake can claim a Pac-12 North Division Championship in his first year as Washington’s head coach (assuming the rest of the Pac-12 games are played this weekend), and that can’t be taken away from him. But I suspect he’d put it on the line to play the Oregon Ducks Saturday in Eugene to settle it once and for all.

The Huskies (3-1) will be crowned as North Champions even though their game with Oregon (3-2) was declared a "no contest" Thursday afternoon by the Pac-12. That’s due to Washington “not having the minimum number of scholarship student-athletes available for the game due to a number of positive football student-athlete COVID-19 cases and resulting isolation of additional football student-athletes under contact tracing protocols,” per the issued Pac-12 statement.

Lake said it himself during his coaches show Wednesday night that the situation ‘wouldn’t sit right with me’ if they couldn’t play Saturday yet made it to the Pac-12 Championship game, yet here we stand. That’s the situation that has unfolded.

Because of that situation, the guys from Dawgman.com - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Eklund - talk about the cancellation, next steps, and whether or not the Huskies will even be healthy enough to play a game in a week’s time. The Pac-12 Championship game is scheduled for Friday, December 18.

In short, one of us believes there’s still a chance UW plays in that game, while the other two are following Lake’s own words Wednesday night when he said if Washington couldn’t play Oregon, they probably wouldn’t be able to play in the Pac-12 Championship Game.

And if you believe the Seattle Times report that has the Huskies well below the 53-man threshold to be able to play the game, you can draw your own conclusions.

Grinolds then brings up the original Pac-12 idea of playing a spring schedule. Could it work? Would the schools put their players through it after what they’ve just been through this fall?

After the break, the idea is also discussed pushing back the Pac-12 Championship Game, or Washington trying to come to an agreement with another school - could it be Oregon or Washington State? - to finish their season the following Sunday or Monday. Is that even possible? Would the media partners be able to move their schedules around to create compelling matchups if both teams were healthy and available to play by then? And what is the Pac-12 itself thinking about the matchups for December 19? At this point, they haven’t voted on what they’re going to do so it seems like all possibilities could be on the table.

Or what about extending the season by a week into Christmas? With the Pac-12 out of the Playoff conversation, is that something the conference should consider?

And what about bowl season? How many Pac-12 teams will even want to play a bowl game? Would the Huskies want to travel to Texas to play the Armed Forces Bowl during a pandemic?

So many questions; do the Dawgman guys have any reasonable answers?

Nate Pryor, Mike Hopkins talk about blowout win over Seattle U. Dec 10, 2020

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UW guardNate Pryorand Head Coach Mike Hopkinstalk to the media after the Huskies won their first game of the season, a 73-41 blowout of crosstown rival Seattle University.

With Naz Carter dismissed, Huskies try and move on without him Dec 08, 2020

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When Naz Carter informed Mike Hopkins he was leaving Washington last week, there was already an appeal underway challenging a university student code of conduct. When that appeal was denied, the rest came out in short order.

The university investigated two sexual assault charges levied against the senior guard, so whether he was leaving to try and play hoops in Australia (that later fell through), or somewhere else, it was clear Carter would never put on the Purple and Gold ever again.

"The process with our administration to dismiss Naz from the program was underway last Wednesday upon learning that his appeal of a university student code of conduct policy has been denied,” Hopkins read to the media Tuesday from a prepared statement. “I take allegations of this nature extremely seriously. Wednesday night Naz informed me that he would be leaving the program to pursue a professional career. As the leader of this program I hold myself, our student-athletes, and our staff to the highest standards on and off the court, and we hold ourselves accountable to those standards. And for that reason, Naz is no longer part of this program."

And as far as the basketball side of things goes, that was that. And with the dismissal of Carter also goes 12 points and nearly five rebounds a game, as well as a veteran presence on the floor.

Hopkins acknowledged how a loss of a potential all-league performer can affect a team struggling to find its offensive identity, but he harkened back to an old refrain that remains tru no matter the situation: Doesn’t Matter, Get Better.

And he feels like that has happened the last 4-5 practices after the team returned to Seattle after their 76-62 loss at Utah. With the dribble penetration ‘stagnant’ based on trying to space things out more, they’ve worked lately on more offensive flow and also balance. They weren’t sure they were going to be able to get as much inside at the beginning of the year, but the play of Nate Roberts and Riley Sorn has shown Hop they have options now.

The Huskies will have a chance to show their improvement Wednesday when they host Seattle (3-3).

“Every game is going to be different,” he said. “We're just going to have to figure out during the game or when we're doing the scout where our advantage is and where we can have an advantage to win the game. Figuring that out was really important for us."

DawgmanRadio: Getting better up front is priority one for UW Dec 08, 2020

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After two sub-par games, the Huskies know they need to get better on the defensive side of the ball and stopping the run is their first priority. Obviously it's a team game and no single position group is fully responsible for their lackluster performance in stopping their opponents' ground games, but defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe knows his guys need to improve and they have another tough test this weekend when they take on Oregon.

In addition to what he thinks needs to improve, Malloe was also asked about the rivalry with the Ducks and what is the key to helping some of the younger players understand why this game is so important on many levels, not just the opportunity to win the Pac 12 North, and the fifth-year Husky assistant also talked about the Polynesian culture and why the Hawaiian connection has been so good at Montlake for so long.

Senior defensive back Elijah Molden, whose father was a star at Oregon, also took the time to meet with the media and he said that even though his family has deep ties to the Duck football program, he wanted to carve his own path and Washington was the place he felt where he could maximize his talents and make a name for himself.

He was also very succinct in what he knows he'll see from Oregon quarterback Tyler Shough this weekend when the two teams face off in the final game of the "regular" season.

To listen to the 23-minute podcast, click on the audio link below.

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