Mailbag with Montlake Madness

Griffin Bennett of MontlakeMadness.com graciously invited me into his chat, that he ran yesterday. However, as usual there are more questions than time to answer, so in an effort to answer the remaining questions we setup this special edition of the mailbag.

Q: Baller253- “How do you think the season standing this year will end? Hopefully you have UW on top!”

• Montlake Madness: Starting off, I think I’ll have Arizona on top. I don’t know what my entire season standings will look like but I know my top 3 will include UW, Arizona, and UCLA.
• Husky Haul: UW tends to struggle until it is really crunch time, don’t be surprised if that continues because of their youth. Arizona will probably win the season Pac-12 title but UW will be chasing followed by UCLA and CAL.

Q: Husky2- “Who has impressed you most in the summer league?”

• MM: Martin Breunig has shocked me the most with his level of play, but Terrence Ross is the most impressive. He can do everything and at a high level.
• HH: I haven’t been to a summer league game yet but from what I have heard it has been Andrew Andrews and Martin Breunig. I plan to go this Monday.

Q: Mike- “How many minutes do you think Kemp can play per game towards the end of the Pac-12 season? (by then he should be “in shape”)”

• MM: There are a lot of different factors in that one. I think he “can” play 10-15 but hopefully we won’t need him to play that much. My guess is that he’ll be in the 5-10 range.
• HH: Can play? or will play? He will be able to play a good 20-25 minutes if he gets into the shape he is shooting for, however he may only play 10-15.

Q: UWFan- “From what you’ve heard from UW staff, do they expect SKjr. to be 100% fit by the time the season starts?”

• MM: I think he’ll be ready. It’s not like he’ll be playing 30 minutes a game or anything. It will take him most of the preseason just to get used to the speed of Division 1 basketball.
• HH: That’s the goal. He is never going to be running the court like a guard but for his position and size he should be fine by season start.

Q: JJ- “What do you see Martin Breunig’s role will be on our team this year? Will he get good minutes?”

• MM: I think he’s the 3rd “power forward” on the team and will play 10-15 minutes/game. Are those “good” minutes?
• HH: I need to see him play more but from what I have heard and know about him from the recruiting angle, he will play like Darnell Gant has in the past. Not a ton of minutes but has the range to stretch the defense. Breunig can also play well off of the dribble.

Q: East Wash- “How many times does Romar pull Wroten out of a game for too many turnovers this year? Like he did with IT his Freshman year.”

• MM: I think it will be a lot like IT’s freshman campaign but with Wroten, you get the bad with the good. He’s going to have some bad turnovers but then some amazing assists. I think Romar’s deciding factor will be if Wroten is making poor decisions and not just bad passes. There is a difference.
• HH: If Wroten (or anyone really) is throwing the ball away, Romar will pull him out. If Wroten is trying to force things to happen, he will find himself watching rather than playing. But for Wroten he will hit many of his teammates in the hands and guys will miss it. The quicker the team gets on the same page with Wroten the easier it will be for the entire squad.

Q: Brad- “We will have some size in our guards, no one shorter than 6’2. Big Advantage?”

• MM: Huge advantage. I think Romar is going to thoroughly enjoy playing a 4 guard line up with Aziz down low (i.e. Wroten (6’5), Wilcox (6’5), Suggs (6’6), Ross (6’6), Aziz (7’0)). That is a scary line up that has both elite speed and height.
• HH: This can and will be a matchup nightmare for opponents. However, at the same time those “big” guards need to be willing to get dirty in the paint.