TERRY MOSHER
MARKELLE FULTZ
Is it possible to feel sorry and be happy for an individual at the same time? If so, that’s where I’m at for Washington’s sensational freshman basketball player Markelle Fultz.
Fultz is fun to watch, especially when he decides to put the Huskies on his back in an attempt to carry them to victory as he did Saturday night at Stanford. Fultz scored 25 second-half points to fuel a Husky comeback that tied the game at 63 after the Huskies had been down by 21 nearly two minutes into the second half.
The Huskies (1-4 in the Pac-12 and 8-9 overall) lost the game 76-69, but it wasn’t because of the six-foot-four Fultz. He plays without an outwardly show of emotion and appears in complete control at all times, and he makes passes and plays that are beautiful to watch.
But I often wonder while watching him if he has any regrets coming all the way across the country from Maryland to play for a team that, to put it politely, is not very good. So I feel a little sorry for him because he is a well-rounded team player who from the point runs the offense, making the passes he should in a sincere effort to set up his teammates for good shots and, yet, I can’t help thinking as I watch how I would react knowing that I’m doing exactly what I should even though I know it’s not going to work.
I played as a young kid and I’m not bragging here but I was pretty good. And I can remember being in tight games and thinking as I brought the ball down the court (I was a guard) that I can’t pass it to so-and-so because he will screw it up. So sometimes I was playing with limited options (I also was a good passer as well as a scorer) and either had to force a shot on my own or pass it to somebody and hope and pray for the best.
And that’s the w ay I feel about Fultz. He’s clearly heads and shoulders above his teammates in talent and He’s got to be thinking “Oh, do I really have to pass the ball to him?” as he’s setting up the offense. Yet he does it and does it rather well.
Then in the second half against Stanford last night he must have decided “screw this” and began to assert himself and carried the Huskies all the way back while scoring a career-high 34. I was hoping he would be rewarded with a Husky victory, but the Huskies are just not very good and could not keep the Cardinal off the boards and fell to another conference loss.
The Huskies really don’t have an inside game and teams have learned already that the best way to beat them is to pound the ball inside against them. And the Huskies last night were without the injured Malik Dime, the 6-9 senior shot-blocker from Senegal. Actually, I think the Huskies are better off without Dime, who has no offensive game. He’s almost strictly a shot blocker, and he sometimes gets in foul trouble because of it.
As I’m writing this I’m starting to feel sorry for coach Lorenzo Romar. He’s a great person who has lost his coaching touch and is clearly on the hot-seat. I do think they have gotten a little better lately. They have lost four of their first five conference games, but they played better defensively in the last two games against California and Stanford.
Still, it’s tough watching them because you know they are going to have a tough time winning a game in the conference, unless, of course, Fultz decides to do it all by himself.
And if he does, that will be fun to see.
As for the Seahawks, what did you expect? They have been inconsistent all season, the offensive line was been terrible and the famed Legion of Boom defense is not any more. It’s imperative that something is done to better the OL or things won’t get any better next season.
That’s enough for today. It’s our daughter’s 20th birthday and I need to make an appearance or be sent to the doghouse.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.