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Wright State trip all about hoops

Raiders arrive Thursday but don’t take in the sights of city; focus solely on Washington.

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By Marc Katz, Staff Writer Updated 9:33 AM Friday, November 13, 2009

SEATTLE — At one point, Wright State basketball coach Brad Brownell thought he might take his team three time zones west two days early to get acclimated to the severe time change.

That idea was scrapped when too many of his players had academic projects due this week.

Instead, the team flew in Thursday, Nov. 12, a direct flight from Cincinnati, and it wasn’t to sightsee the day before playing No. 14 Washington in the first of a three-games-in-three-days Athletes in Action Classic that begins tonight.

Saturday, the Raiders play Portland State followed by Sunday’s game against Belmont.

The Raiders could have spent at least some of Thursday boating around beautiful Puget Sound, taking in the view from the Space Needle or even trying to find Microsoft mogul Bill Gates’ home. Maybe he would have invited them in for dinner.

But if you’re with Brownell, you’re playing basketball and not sightseeing. When the Raiders’ luggage was a little sluggish being retrieved, the coach slashed the hotel check-in, directing the bus driver from the airport directly to Marv Harshman Court inside the Bank of America Arena, hard by the massive Washington Huskies’ football stadium standing on the banks of Lake Washington.

Not that anybody noticed.

Washington’s basketball team is what concerns the Raiders, and point guard N’Gai Evans was respectful but not overly concerned his counterpart would be last season’s Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Isaiah Thomas (no relation to that Isiah Thomas) and his backup, McDonald’s All-America freshman Abdul Gaddy.

“I’ve played against NBA guards before,” said Evans, whose new haircut features “WSU” cut into the right side. “I played against Jeff Teague of Wake Forest. This is just like any other game.”

Teague now plays for the Atlanta Hawks, and while his team beat WSU 66-53 last season, Teague’s numbers weren’t that much better than Evans’. Each scored 10. Each had two assists. Teague turned the ball over six times, Evans five. Teague had four steals, Evans two.

Today’s game

Who: Wright State at No. 14 Washington

When: 10 p.m.

Radio: WONE-AM (980)

Online: Get the latest on WSU: DaytonDailyNews.com/wsu

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Sorry, but I think IT is more of a scorer than Teague and will put up much more than 10. Probably 20. Also, Gaddy is a pure pg and will log more than 2 assists. Probably 6. And then youve got the backup backup Venoy Overton, one of the best defenders in the country. No, im not joking and this isn't fan zealotry. Probably 3 steals, and good luck getting around the kid.

All that said, I think WSU (unfortunate acronym, WSU over here are our rivals) is a better team than we expect. 68-60 UW.

Dawg
2:45 PM, 11/13/2009

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For those of you that have Dish, you can upgrade to their Fox Sports package for $6 bucks a month and get all the Fox Sports stations....this includes Fox NW, which is airing the Washington WSU game at 10pm local time....channel 426 on dish. Earlier in the week I also saw it listed on channel 7-02 locally, but that has since be removed according to my TV Guide. Good Luck Raiders.

Game on FOx NW
8:39 AM, 11/13/2009

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