Tuesday, April 5, 2011 @ 3:33pm
Steve Nash's baby daddy drama

Monday, April 4, 2011 @ 4:35pm
Previewing the Rangers-Mariners series

MyNorthwest.com staff

Mariners broadcaster Rick Rizzs and ESPNDallas.com's Richard Durrett joined Bob & Groz on Monday to preview the Mariners-Rangers series.

The Rangers scored 26 runs and hit 11 home runs in a three-game sweep of Boston. Durrett discussed the team's early success at the plate: "That's going to be the Rangers' formula this year if they're to win the division; they've got to get just enough pitching to keep them in games, and let that very deep and versatile lineup collect all the runs and beat teams' opposing pitchers over the head. That's what they did with Boston."

Durrett compared this year's team to the 2010 Rangers, which won the AL pennant: "I think this team coming into this season was better than the team that came into 2010. If you look at 2010 as a whole, they got one of the best pitchers in the majors in Cliff Lee at the trade deadline, and that of course gave them a boost come playoff time. He had a huge impact, but they don't have him anymore. They didn't fill him with anything on the mound. But what they did do was sign Adrian Beltre to bolster their defense at third base and the cleanup spot in the lineup. They made some moves and are a similar team to last year; they're stronger in certain areas, weaker in others, including the bullpen, and so that's what they're trying to sort through here in the first month to six weeks of the season to find out how it's all going to piece together."

Durrett discussed what the Rangers' approach will be against Erik Bedard, who starts for the Mariners on Monday: "Their philosophy has been the same on everybody; if they get their pitches to hit, they're going to swing at them. If that's the first pitch of the count, so be it; if it's the ninth pitch of the at-bat, great. That's aggressiveness and you think it's not patience, but really it can be both. It's making sure you shrink your zone, your area that's in your wheelhouse. If you get that pitch, fine; if you don't, you don't. They had a good mixture of that in the three games with Boston." Listen to Richard Durrett

Rizzs discussed the matchup from Bedard's perspective: "He's got a tough assignment against the Texas Rangers. He's gonna have to have that slow curveball to get these guys out on their front foot. He's gonna have to run that fastball at 91 to 93, 94 in on their hands. ... I talked to him about three weeks ago, we sat down and did an interview for about 10 minutes. He says, 'Rick, you know what, I haven't been this healthy in the last three years.' And so I'm looking for a new Erik Bedard starting tonight against a real good hitting ballclub. It's going to be an interesting matchup." Listen to Rick Rizzs

Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times joined Brock & Salk earlier in the day and explained what he thinks was the biggest positive of the opening series against Oakland: "The biggest positive that I took out of it was that the Mariners won two out of three on the road in Oakland. We didn't see that very often last year, definitely not against the Oakland A's. We didn't see them win too many series on the road period against anybody. So the fact that they were able to get it done is a huge positive. After that, I was very impressed with the work that Justin Smoak did. He went 3-for-9 and got all three hits against a left hander in all three games. That's three left handers he was able to hit. As we know, last year one of his big problems was hitting from the right side." Listen to Geoff Baker

You might also be interested in...

• Brock & Salk: Justin Smoak looks good in Mariners' opening series
• Shannon Drayer: Mariners' lineup for Monday's game against Rangers

Friday, April 1, 2011 @ 2:35pm
Lorenzo Romar: Isaiah Thomas' heart will help him at the next level

MyNorthwest.com staff

Washington coach Lorenzo Romar joined Bob & Groz on Friday to discuss Isaiah Thomas' decision to forgo his senior season and declare for the NBA draft.

Here is a partial transcript of the interview:

(On how certain Thomas was of his decision) "I think he needed to get some feedback from certain people. I think going into it he was hoping to get the type of feedback that would help him make his decision to go and I think in his mind, that's what he received and that's the decision that he made. But it's always been his dream, like so many kids, to get to the NBA, but the reality of it is a lot closer than when he was 11 or 12 years old or even as a high school senior. So I think it was just hard for him to turn down the opportunity."

(On whether he thinks Thomas is ready for the NBA or could use another season at UW) "I'd love to see him come back and get his degree, become the all-time leading scoring and assists leader in the school's history, have a chance to win another championship. I'd love to see all that. But when Nate Robinson came out people said that he was crazy, he was foolish, there was no way in the world he'd even get drafted, he was the 21st pick in the draft. If people do what they're going to do just to please others, they can miss out on some opportunities. He did what he felt was best and we support him."

(On what aspect of Thomas' game will help him in the NBA) "The one thing that stands out to me is the thing you can't see -- his heart. He's got a huge heart and he is such a warrior and he battles so much, has such a passion to be the best. I think that's going to take him through any type of difficulties that he might have and challenges that he's going to face ... as an NBA player."

(On what Thomas needs to improve upon most) "I think he needs to shoot the ball with more accuracy and I think at times he needs to be able to make better decisions with the ball. I think other than that I think he does a pretty good job everywhere else."

You can listen to the entire interview with Lorenzo Romar here.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 @ 1:59pm
3/29: Can the Mariners count on Erik Bedard?

You can download Tuesday's podcast here.

Note: Harold Reynolds of MLB Network will join Bob & Groz Wednesday at 12:30.

You might also be interested in...

• Jack Cust homers as Mariners beat Rockies 7-2
• Franklin Gutierrez to start season on DL
• The Go 2 Guy is a fan of M's pitcher Tom Wilhelmsen

Monday, March 21, 2011 @ 2:11pm
Lorenzo Romar: 'We're definitely disappointed'

MyNorthwest.com staff

Washington coach Lorenzo Romar joined Bob & Groz on Monday and reflected on the Huskies' season, their loss to North Carolina and more. Here are a few quotes:

On how tough this year was: "It's had it's ups and downs, that's for sure. Some things that you just couldn't control, that's what makes it really tough. But I give our guys a lot of credit. By the end of the year I thought we were playing out best basketball. We won a conference tournament championship and won our first NCAA Tournament game and played well enough to beat a seventh-ranked North Carolina team in kind of a road game, but we didn't quite get it done. But by the end of the year I though that we had righted the ship and we had done a pretty good job."

On whether he thinks the Huskies underachieved based on their level of talent: Well, we're definitely disappointed. We dropped some games that we thought maybe we should have won. We didn't expect Tyreese Breshers not to be with us, we didn't expect Abdul Gaddy not to be with us. We brought Abdul Gaddy on, into this program, knowing that he would be a great calming effect guy for this program. And he was doing that this year and we went down. Those things happen. There's nothing we could do about that. But still, there were opportunities that we had that we didn't take advantage of. So yeah, there was some disappointing times. But I thought there was also some great victories, primarily at the end of the year, doing what we did in the Pac-10 tournament."

On why Isaiah Thomas didn't have the ball on either of Washington's last two possessions against North Carolina: "Well, when the ball was rebounded off the missed foul shot, Venoy Overton was the first guy that we passed to. And the first thought in my mind as the defense was spread out and North Carolina was getting back was Venoy going from end to end last year at UCLA, going all the way to the basket, putting us up one with about three seconds to go. We ended up losing that game, but I knew that while the defense wasn't organized he had the capabilities to do that. And sure enough, he got to the basket. He didn't finish, but that's what happened.

"And then we were trying to get the ball to Isaiah on the in-bounds play, but it didn't work out that way. But we were trying to go that way."

Thomas scored 12 points -- nearly five below his season average and his lowest total in the last three games -- on 5 of 15 shooting.

On how North Carolina contained Thomas: "Well, I think Dexter Strickland is a good defender, No. 1. For two, they've got a 6-11 defensive player of the year under the rim in John Henson , and then another 7-footer in Tyler Zeller down there. So you just can't into the lane against that team. There's a reason why the guy was defensive player of the year. With that still being said, Isaiah had a number of open looks that just didn't go down for him. He still had eight assists. If he makes a couple more shots, I think we would have seen that he would have had an even bigger game. Sometimes, if every shot you take someone's down your throat contesting it (and) it doesn't go down, well then you have to give total credit to the defense. I'm going to give some credit to their defense, but at the same time, Isaiah had some looks in the lane that were pretty good looks that just didn't go down for him. But the length of North Carolina I think affected a lot of us. Thank goodness we were able to knock down some shots from the perimeter, unlike in some past games where we weren't."

Down three points with about three seconds left, Venoy Overton's half-court heave fell short and went out of bounds off a defender's hands with what replays showed was just over a second left on the clock. Washington was given the ball with only a half second remaining, and Thomas' hurried shot from the corner didn't draw iron.

Here is what Romar said about the time discrepancy:

"Well, the first thing I mentioned to the officials was that there seems to be more time on the clock, is the first thing I said to him. He says, 'No, that's accurate.' I said, 'Well you have to at least check the monitor. At least do that -- check it, review it.' He said, 'They've already assured us it's already been checked' as he was walking toward the endline, trying to get the ball in bounds...

"You rant and rave and get a technical. I don't think that would have helped at that point. So you didn't want to go there. We talked to him twice about it during that time and were still trying to get the ball inbounded too, now, and he doesn't appear that he's hesitant at all. It's, 'No, we've already checked it. It's already been done. Let's go. Let's play.'

"It just made for a tough situation. I still say, at that point, we're down three. It wasn't like we were up and we lost the game. We were already down. And we were up 26-15 in the first half. We were up five with about six minutes to go. We put ourselves in a tough position when it came down to it. We pleaded with them, we talked, but they weren't budging."

You can listen to the entire conversation with Lorenzo Romar here.

You might also be interested in...

• Brock & Salk grade the Huskies' season
• Isaiah Thomas unsure if he'll return to Washington
• Huskies come up short against North Carolina

Sunday, March 20, 2011 @ 11:20pm
Huskies' Isaiah Thomas unsure if he'll return

By Brady Henderson

Washington guard Isaiah Thomas backed off comments he made stating his intention to return to Washington, saying Monday that he'll consider forgoing his senior season to enter the NBA draft.

"I'm going to take this next coming week -- we're on spring break -- to really talk to my parents and my family and the people around me and see what the best situation and the best decision is for me as an individual," he told Jim Moore on the Calabro show on Monday. "I'm going to talk to coach Romar and see what it is that I'm going to do. Like I said, I want to come back. But if the option is open to leave and there is some guarantee right there, I mean, you can't really turn that down.

"So I'm leaving my options open and I'll let everybody know within the next week or two ... what I'm going to do."

He later said: "As of right now, I will be coming back to the University of Washington."

Listen to Isaiah Thomas

Thomas had announced via twitter following the Huskies' season-ending loss to North Carolina on Sunday that he would be back.

"Love my teammates. Sucks we lost but God has a plan! Thanks 2 all the people who believed in us. I will be back NXT yr so don't worry," he tweeted.

Thomas, however, also gave some noncommittal answers when asked repeatedly after the game about his future, telling reporters, "Now is not the time for that question" and "we'll see."

Lorenzo Romar said the decision will weigh heavily on how Thomas is evaluated by NBA personnel.

"I think we have to talk to the NBA people. What do they think of Isaiah's chances of going in the draft this year?" Lorenzo Romar said Monday on Bob & Groz. "I think it's all going to be based on the feedback, what type of feedback he's going to get.

"I've seen that situation many times where you have every intention of coming back and then the feedback says that, 'No, you're going to be drafted' and it changes the player's mind."

Thomas said on the Kevin Calabro show in January that he would consider leaving Washington a year early for the NBA if he thought he would be taken high enough.

Romar said that's the only way he could imagine Thomas leaving.

"There's some guys that just go in the draft -- they don't have a clue if they're going to be drafted or not but they think they'll make a team and they just go," Romar said. "I don't think Isaiah will make that mistake."

Thomas led Washington this season in scoring (16.9 ppg) and assists (6 apg). His 1,721 career points are sixth-most in school history.

You might also be interested in...

• Brock & Salk grade the Huskies' season
• Lorenzo Romar reflects on the Huskies' season

Thursday, March 17, 2011 @ 10:35am
15 of the greatest buzzer beaters in NCAA tournament history




Thursday, March 17, 2011 @ 9:47am
Great march madness moments lego-ized




Thursday, March 17, 2011 @ 9:18am
Groz's Tourney Picks

2nd ROUND

East:

#1 Ohio St over #16 UTSA
#8 G Mason over #9 Villanova
#5 West Virginia over #12 Clemson
#4 Kentucky over #13 Princeton
#6 Xavier over #11 Marquette
#3 Syracuse over #14 Indiana State
#7 UW over #10 Georgia
#2 UNC over #15 LIU

West:

#1 Duke over #16 Hampton
#9 Tennessee over #8 Michigan
#12 Memphis over #5 Arizona
#4 Texas over #13 Oakland
#6 Cincy over #11 Missouri
#3 UCONN over #14 Bucknell
#10 Penn State over #7 Temple
#2 SDSU over #15 N. Colorado

Southwest:

#1 Kansas over #16 Boston
#9 Illinois over #8 UNLV
#12 Richmond over #5 Vanderbilt
#4 Louisville over #13 Morehead St
#6 Georgetown over #11 VCU
#3 Purdue over #14 St. Peter's
#7 Florida St over #10 Texas A&M
#2 Notre Dame over #15 Akron

Southeast:

#1 Pittsburgh over #16 UNC Ash
#9 ODU over #8 Butler
#12 Utah St over #5 Kansas St
#4 Wisconsin over #13 Belmont
#6 St. John's over #11 Gonzaga
#3 BYU over #14 Wofford
#10 Michigan St over #7 UCLA
#2 Florida over #15 UCSB

3rd ROUND:

East:

#1 Ohio St over #8 George Mason
#4 Kentucky over #5 West Virginia
#3 Syracuse over #6 Xavier
#2 UNC over #7 UW

West:

#1 Duke over #9 Tennessee
#4 Texas over #12 Memphis
#3 UCONN over #6 Cincy
#2 SDSU over #10 Penn St

Southwest:

#1 Kansas over #9 Illinois
#4 Louisville over #12 Richmond
#6 Georgetown over #3 Purdue
#2 Notre Dame over #10 Florida St

Southeast:

#1 Pittsburgh over #9 ODU
#12 Utah St over #4 Wisconsin
#6 St. John's over #3 BYU
#2 Florida over #10 Michigan St

Sweet Sixteen:

#1 Ohio St over #4 Kentucky
#3 Syracuse over #2 UNC
#4 Texas over #1 Duke
#3 UCONN over #2 SDSU
#1 Kansas over #4 Louisville
#2 Notre Dame over #6 Georgetown
#1 Pittsburgh over #12 Utah St
#2 Florida over #6 St John's

Elite Eight:

#1 Ohio St over #3 Syracuse
#3 UCONN over #1 Duke
#1 Kansas over #2 Notre Dame
#1 Pittsburgh over #2 Florida

Final Four:

#1 Ohio St over #3 UCONN
#1 Kansas over #1 Pittsburgh

2011 NCAA Championship:

#1 Kansas over #1 Ohio St

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 @ 3:57pm
3/15: A CBA update and NCAA tournament breakdown

By Dan Anderson

-Current NFLPA representative and former first round pick by the Seahawks Pete Kendall joined the Groz to discuss, in his opinion, what has to be done to get a new Collective Bargaining Agreement established.

Listen to Pete Kendall

-Former Husky basketball player Donald Watts discussed the Husky match-up with the Georgia Bulldogs, and gives his pick for who will win it all in the NCAA tournament.

Listen to Donald Watts

-National baseball writer for Yahoo! Sports, Jeff Passan, told the Groz about Felix Hernandez's future with the Mariners and gave his pick for the NCAA tournament.

Listen to Jeff Passan