That was the best performance of the year from the coaching to the players from top to bottom.

Motum showed a lot of what we hoped he would do when he came in. Too early to tell but he looks like 'Cowgill part 2".

At the start of the year I wanted to see Moore and Thames starting together but I agree with you that Capers should continue to start but insert Thames when teams zone us.

At some point it would be nice to win a couple in a row and then come back and get two at home. Next week works for me.

You're right. We need a win streak of the worst kind.

We'll see (actually we won't because its not on TV) what happens on Thursday. We have not won in Maples in what seems like forever--including last year when some guy named Fields just killed us.

The bright side: We are 2-0 in Thursday road games.

We'll need to make it 4-0 (Stanford, OSU) if we have any hopes of the post-season.

Thursday at Stanford and then winning at home is the key. The question is whether we simply got a taste of what this team can do next year or if they are ready this year. It's tough to say but next week will be telling.

Under .500 in Pac 10 play and only 2 games out with 7 to play? What a strange ride this year.

I'm going to have to go back and read your blog on "structure". I think I missed it. Definitely agree with your points here though. I mean, how could you not at this point?

I'm excited to Motum and to a lesser extent, Bjornstad get their shot on Saturday. Charlie is a nice guy to have around, but I have a feeling he is butting up against his ceiling, while Motum and Bjorn are fresh off the boat with lots of upside. With no true center in the recruiting pipeline we really need to get Bjorn going.

A few weeks ago Motum got some minutes and completely air mailed a shot from the baseline when he had an open lane to the rim. Bone pulled him imediately. Last week against UW in the middle of one of the worst lay down and die efforts i have ever seen, Motum caught a pass in the lane and rose up over a couple UW players to serve up a tomohawk jam. He was fouled, but the fact he was even going to attempt that play really struck me as a major attitude shift for a guy who a few weeks earlier passed up an easy baseline jam for an awkward mid-range jumper. This is a guy who was THE man on his U19 team and I think its just a matter of time before he gets comfortable enough to assert himself as the scorer he has always been. There will be some ugliness along the way, but i say f-ck it.. the sooner we get this kid going the better.

Also- Watson, remember he's just a freshman elligibility and didn't get to practice much due to wierd injuries last year. He is still learning where to be and gets outmuscled often, be he never gets outworked and has the kind of athleticism that can more than make up for his lack of size. Remember Taj Gibson? He runs about 6'9" 220 in the NBA, but played most of his college career at about the same size as Watson. How? with mad crazy athleticism, long arms, great feat and all out effort. Not that Watson will ever be that good, but when comparing him to Taj's strengths all i can say is: check, check, check, and check.

I think we definitely caught Zona off guard Saturday. Did they really game plan for Brock Motum? Was Miller drawing up ways to stop James Watson's 18 ft jumper? Unconvential vctory for sure.

Before you pat yourself on the back regarding the lineup shake-up, remember that one of the cornerstones of that post was giving a huge amount of minutes to Charlie Enquist. Enquist and Motum and Bjornstad are very different players. Right now, Motum and Bjorn are a better fit. I definitely don't think we've heard the last of Enquist, but right now I want to see what Motum can do. When you add the threat of his three-point shooting (yes he can do it), Brock is an intriguing player.

Also, Abe is a solid contributor who has earned 5-10 minutes a game. I don't think benching him was as much of a spark as Motum's play was. We'll need Abe next year to take over Nik's current role, and this year's playing time will lay the foundation.

Agree with you 100% on the 2-2-1 press, though. Love it.

If you can't scratch your own back, who will?

Your criticisms re: Charlie are well taken, and my inclusion of Charlie into my lineup "structure" was the primary reason for much of the criticism (e.g. that lineup SUCKS).

Again, not to belabor the past, but my intent in putting Charlie in there (and as you can see there's the Charlie/Watson thing there a lot) was simply to emphasize the need to put two real front line players into the game more often.

So, the real lesson from Saturday is that we can do that keeping Casto at the 5--which was Big Woods' point a few weeks back.

In any case, I know that Abe has garnered the respect of many, but right now, I just don't want to see him in the game. Abe is a necessary component to our team when Nik comes off the bench. But, as of now, we need Nik to start because a lack of shooters on the floor has been one of the key contributors to Klay's slump.

In my view, this team needs to focus on offense, offense, offense. Because, when you look at our blowout losses, the main culprit was our inability to score.

So, at this point, you have to give Motum all of Abe's minutes. That said, if Brock is giving up layups and is adding nothing offensively, then Bone's got to give him the ole heave-ho.

Good comment, Mr. F.