USC-Washington

This is the critical game of the two this week. If the Trojans can get a split this week, it hopefully will be this one that they win because it would prove a lot to beat a good Huskies team that is tied for first in the Pac-10 (4-1). Plus, a loss to Wazzu on the road wouldn't be that bad and the Trojans have a lot of trouble in Pullman. So, they need this game.

I haven't seen this phenom guard Isaiah Thomas (no relation to the other one, I'm assuming). Based on stats and from what I've heard, he's pretty good. He is tied with John Brockman as the leading scorer for UW (15.8 ppg). However, when you look at his stats you can see some flaws. He only shoots the three ball at 33% overall, and is at 30% in Pac-10 play. Against Stanford and Cal (the best two teams UW has played), Thomas has gone a combined 2-10 from distance. Plus, he's only 5-8 and will be defended by 6-5 Daniel Hackett, who did a phenomenal job on James Harden last week. Don't get me wrong, Thomas could have a good game (like Nic Wise did for U of A), but I don't think he'll kill the Trojans.

John Brockman vs. Taj Gibson will be the match up to watch. Gibson has held his own against the likes of Jordon Hill and Jeff Pendergraph, and I don't think Brockman is as good as either of them. He is very strong, however, and a great rebounder, so Taj will need to box out and not let him get any second chance points. Gibson should be able to score over him too because of a two foot height advantage.

If Dwight Lewis plays, he will be the determining factor in the outcome of the game. When he plays well and shoots at a high percentage, the Trojans usually win. The evidence is this: In the Trojans two Pac-10 losses, Lewis has shot 4-24 FG and has a combined 10 pts. In the three league wins, he has shot 46% and has 65 pts. Need more? In the losses, zero free throw attempts. In the wins, he has shot 17 free throws. Clearly, he is the X-factor again this year (he was last year too, in my opinion, along with Davon Jefferson). The thing about Lewis that I like this year is that he is more aggressive in taking the ball to the rim. Last year, if his shot wasn't falling, he played terribly. This year, he can have a bad night shooting from outside, but still have a productive game (like the Arizona game on Saturday, when he shot only 5-13 from the floor, but went 10-12 from the line). Lewis shouldn't play if his ankle is too dinged up to be effective because an ineffective Dwight Lewis hurts the Trojans far more than if he just doesn't play at all. If Lewis can't go, look for DeMar DeRozan to be one of the guys, along with Marcus Johnson, to pick up the slack.

Should be a great, hard fought game tonight and it would be absolutely huge if the Trojans steal it.

Fight On.