Sean Kramer

23 years old. University of Idaho Journalism student. Seattle sports born and raised. Die hard for UW, Mariners, Seahawks, Sounders FC, US Soccer.

Washington Huskies basketball 2012-13 primer: Redemption of the Forgotten

Published October 30, 2012 | By Sean Kramer | Posted in Huskies

Gaddy, Simmons and N’Diaye after UW’s loss to Oregon State in the Pac-12 tourney. These three are the key to greener pastures.

The Conference of Champions is being slept on a little less in 2012-13 than it was last season.

Led by flashy recruiting classes the name-brand schools of Arizona and UCLA are once again touted as the class of the Pac-12. Ben Howland and Sean Miller can coach a little too. A little further north in the Bay Area is Mike Montgomery’s Golden Bears who expect to build on last year’s at-large bid. Meanwhile in Palo Alto expectations loom large for Johnny Dawkins in year No. 5, and rightfully so. In fact, the Cardinal believe a conference championship is in order. Not many will sleep on reigning conference tournament champions Colorado, either, who were tough to beat in Boulder last season. All in all, the conference is expected to rebound and send three to five teams to the dance, a huge upgrade over having two double-digit seeds last season.

Over in the Northwest corner, where the reigning regular season champions of the Conference of Champions call home, there doesn’t seem to be much of a spotlight. Even though the dean of Pac-12 coaches, Lorenzo Romar, and his Washington Huskies have claimed an outright conference title or a tournament conference championship each of the last four seasons.

Even so, success on the hardwood isn’t expected to come from Montlake this season.

It might be because Washington lacks the ‘elite’ players other teams in the conference have. It might be because Washington lacks experience of substance, with only two players returning who could be considered real ‘starters’ last season. It might be because Washington was chronically under-achieving last season.

Or, it may be the two immensely talented first-round picks Washington lost.

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2012 NBA Draft/Washington Huskies draft analysis LIVE BLOG

Published June 28, 2012 | By Sean Kramer | Posted in Huskies

Happy NBA draft day everybody. For a majority of those in Husky Nation, including Lorenzo Romar himself, this is a very bittersweet day.

Any time a Dawg gets drafted to represent U-Dub at the highest level it’s usually considered an honor for us. This last decade has seen a basketball renaissance in this city and with this program, Tony Wroten and Terrence Ross are no exceptions.

What is bitter is that for all of the raw talent and athleticism that Wroten and Ross brought the court for the Huskies, the results have failed to materialize in the win column for the program. Instead, Wroten will bounce after one underwhelming season with the Huskies. Ross, after two seasons with the Huskies, and one NCAA Tournament appearance that he had little to do with.

Enough complaining though. The kids have made their decisions, Ross is a lock to be a top 20 pick. Tony Wroten will end up on an NBA bench, at the very least. We can all be armchair GMs and coaches, but at that you can’t say they made a bad decision. The program will move on. Hopefully these two kids end up in situations where they can make Husky Nation proud. We’ll have more on trades and selections as they happen, especially as they pertain to former UW and Seattle area players.

[liveblog]

Learning about Bruce Irvin from a West Virginia perspective

Published April 29, 2012 | By Sean Kramer | Posted in Seahawks

#BruceMode

Being as involved in the internet sports world as I am, I know quite a few different fans from quite a few different fan bases. One of which is a kid who is as obsessed with West Virginia football as I am for the University of Washington.

So after the surprise pick of Bruce Irvin by the Seahawks in the middle of the first round I consulted my buddy Sean Manning who interns for WVIllustrated, covering Mountaineer football.

Manning tells us that the stories of Irvin’s off the field mis-conduct are grossly over-stated, and considering that Pete Carroll has a history with Irvin and was willing to go out on a limb for him I would be inclined to agree.

Manning also goes on to tell us Irvin’s role in the West Virginia defense and what his strengths and weaknesses are as a pass rusher.

Here is the transcript of the Q and A:

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Sonicsgate to premiere nationally Friday on CNBC

Published April 23, 2012 | By Sean Kramer | Posted in Sonics

I just got done listening to the interview that Sonicsgate director and producer Jason Reid and Adam Brown did on the Kevin Calabro show on 710 ESPN.

The topic of discussion was the new directors cut of the revolutionary documentary film that will be airing Friday evening at 7pm PST on CNBC. The new cut condenses to the best interviews and focuses on the economics of the situation. It will also feature some unused footage and cuts that will emphasize the context of the situation a little better for a national audience. I would also guesstimate that a lot of the history context of the Sonics franchise prior to the Schultz years will be significantly reduced.

This is an incredible opportunity for us as Sonic fans to get our story out there nationally. Jason Reid brought up a really good point during his interview that a lot of fans around the country really forget that the Oklahoma City Thunder have origins in Seattle, and it’s hard to believe it’s been almost four years since the fateful day the team left.

For the years since the Sonics left our community, the Seattle Supersonics Historical Preservation Society had done everything they could do to get our story out there to the country, including attending Oklahoma City Thunder playoff games and even demonstrating outside of the NBA offices in New York City.

Sonicsgate at an Oklahoma City playoff game

This is perhaps one of the greatest opportunities of all they have created.

It’s also incredible timing in general considering the buzz around this community with the NBA coming back.

“Momentum has never been better than right now,” Adam Brown said during the 710 ESPN interview. He was of course referring to the Chris Hansen Sodo arena proposal that… Continue reading →

Who the hell is Perris Blackwell?

Published April 16, 2012 | By Sean Kramer | Posted in Huskies

If you are the die hard Washington basketball fan that I am, you are excited about any addition to our program.

Spiffy Perris

But unless you are huge basketball junky or a fan of the West Coast Conference, you may not know who Perris Blackwell is. I wasn’t aware of who he was until today, when the UW announced he would be joining the program.

Here is the 411 on Perry:

He is a 6-9, 240 lbs. Center from California. He played significantly for the San Francisco Dons even garnering All-West Coast Conference honors this past season during the Dons’ run through the CBI.

Interestingly, he is one of six players to transfer out of San Francisco this season. I could not dig up a reason why, but there is surely one that we will find out soon enough.

Blackwell will have to sit out a year per NCAA rules before playing for UW in 2013-14. He most likely chose Washington as it is a place where he will be able to play right away. It will be after Aziz N’Diaye graduates.

This is obviously good news for Washington, in the long term. This is very good. We needed a big man. But there will be a sect of fans wondering what Romar has up his sleeve to improve the team for next year.

First, why this is still really good for us. It not only fills a position of need here in the future, but with an experienced player who will allow Romar not to have to throw a young guy in to the fire after Aziz graduates. There will be a huge void after next season when N’Diaye departs the program.

In the short term, I am sure though that Romar would prefer to find… Continue reading →