Before the season began, there was a distinct sense, inside and outside the program, that the Vandals were better than last year — bigger, stronger deeper. It was a logical assumption, based on the individual talents of both the returners and the newcomers. And maybe, in the long run, it will be true, if Idaho’s recent string of home losses hasn’t already made it impossible to snag a decent seed for the WAC tournament. At the moment, though, the Vandals aren’t trying to outdo their 2008-09 model. They’re trying to equal it. And for one night at least, they succeeded.
“What we did is we passed the ball better tonight, from all five spots,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said after the Vandals’ 74-59 win over Fresno State.
This team still looks sharpest when it’s keeping a brisk pace — not only in transition, when the opportunity presents itself, but more importantly within its halfcourt offense: brisk movement, brisk passing. For one thing, it makes the best use of point guard Mac Hopson’s subtle talents. He wasn’t the only Vandal making sharp, telepathic feeds the other night. But when he’s doing it, the others follow.
“From here on out, I think that’s how we should play,” Hopson said. “If we play like we played tonight, we can win our next 10 games. We’re capable of that. I mean, you could see that. The games we lost, we didn’t lose by that much. We’re coming along. There’s a lot of season left and we’re growing, chemistry-wise. We’re becoming a good team.”
Last 5 posts by Dale Grummert
- Watson staying home - March 9th, 2010
- Watson suspended - March 5th, 2010
- Gut-shot - January 26th, 2010
- Shirts and skins - January 25th, 2010
- Player views - December 1st, 2009
