The Cardinal will begin life without their leading scorer, junior guard Dan Grunfeld, against Southern California tonight. He will be replaced in the starting lineup by sophomore Fred Washington, who will get to play against his hometown schools, USC and UCLA, after watching much of the Stanford?s first meetings with those teams from the bench.
Washington sat down for a talk with head coach Trent Johnson after the Cardinal?s trip to Los Angeles a month ago, during which Washington played only 12 combined minutes against the Trojans and Bruins. He had expected to play significant minutes this year, but Grunfeld beat him out for the starting shooting guard spot.
?He told me he felt like he couldn?t do anything right,? said Johnson at the time, additionally joking that he told Washington he (Johnson) would ?shut up? and let Washington play his game.
?After we talked, we got things straightened out,? Washington said. ?I feel like everything?s very comfortable for me now.?
This time around, Washington will get plenty of playing time against the Los Angeles-area schools when the Cardinal (13-9, 7-5 Pacific-10 Conference) play USC (11-14, 3-10) on Thursday and UCLA (13-8, 7-6) on Sunday at Maples Pavilion.
?I?m not nervous because I played against most of these guys in high school,? Washington said.
The sophomore will play the small forward position, with senior jack-of-all-trades Nick Robinson sliding over to shooting guard to play alongside junior Chris Hernandez in the backcourt. Because of his superior ball-handling abilities and because Johnson likes the matchup, Robinson, regarded as the team?s best defender, will go head-to-head with Nick Young, USC?s athletic freshman shooting guard.
Junior point guard Jason Haas, who has played more minutes than any Cardinal reserve of late, will remain on the bench to spell Hernandez.
At 6-foot-5, Washington has the best leaping ability of anyone on the team and might be its most athletic player, but is known to play out of control at times. Washington will have to work through his miscues, if only because Johnson?s options are limited. The only other shooting guard on the team, walk-on freshman Kenny Brown, has not seen game action, though he might this weekend.
?Fred is going to have to work on being more comfortable, more relaxed,? Johnson said. ?He?s going to have to work on slowing down and making good decisions.?
Johnson said he does not want Washington to try to emulate Grunfeld?s one-of-a-kind game, or to worry about making up for some of Grunfeld?s 17.9 points per game. Instead, Johnson said that he wanted Washington to focus on the things he can control - his defense, rebounding and ballhandling - and let the rest of the game come to him.
?We have to look at it in terms of the things that we can control and do better,? Johnson said about the team as a whole. ?We?re not going to have a guy who?s going to step in and have Danny?s knack or step in and shoot the ball from the perimeter [as well as Grunfeld did]. But we?ve got a nucleus of guys on this team that can step in and be better defensively, and that?s where we?ve got to step it up.?
Washington will have his hands full on defense, matching up against Lodrick Stewart, the Trojans? leading scorer with 13.6 points per game and a 43 percent shooting percentage from behind the arc.
The Cardinal will also have to find a way to contain freshman point guard Gabriel Pruitt, who torched Stanford for 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting the last time the teams met.
?They just worry me to no end,? Johnson said. ?It?s pretty evident that we couldn?t guard [Pruitt] over there. They have always caused problems for us in terms of coming with full-court pressure, half-court pressure, traps. They do a really good job of getting you out of rhythm and forcing you to play a little faster, - at least they have with us - a little faster than we want to play.?
Grunfeld scored 20 points against USC in the teams? first meeting and will be missed not only for his scoring touch but also for his fearless style of play. The team will have to find a way to keep up its intensity in Grunfeld?s absence. And it all starts with Washington.
Washington sat down for a talk with head coach Trent Johnson after the Cardinal?s trip to Los Angeles a month ago, during which Washington played only 12 combined minutes against the Trojans and Bruins. He had expected to play significant minutes this year, but Grunfeld beat him out for the starting shooting guard spot.
?He told me he felt like he couldn?t do anything right,? said Johnson at the time, additionally joking that he told Washington he (Johnson) would ?shut up? and let Washington play his game.
?After we talked, we got things straightened out,? Washington said. ?I feel like everything?s very comfortable for me now.?
This time around, Washington will get plenty of playing time against the Los Angeles-area schools when the Cardinal (13-9, 7-5 Pacific-10 Conference) play USC (11-14, 3-10) on Thursday and UCLA (13-8, 7-6) on Sunday at Maples Pavilion.
?I?m not nervous because I played against most of these guys in high school,? Washington said.
The sophomore will play the small forward position, with senior jack-of-all-trades Nick Robinson sliding over to shooting guard to play alongside junior Chris Hernandez in the backcourt. Because of his superior ball-handling abilities and because Johnson likes the matchup, Robinson, regarded as the team?s best defender, will go head-to-head with Nick Young, USC?s athletic freshman shooting guard.
Junior point guard Jason Haas, who has played more minutes than any Cardinal reserve of late, will remain on the bench to spell Hernandez.
At 6-foot-5, Washington has the best leaping ability of anyone on the team and might be its most athletic player, but is known to play out of control at times. Washington will have to work through his miscues, if only because Johnson?s options are limited. The only other shooting guard on the team, walk-on freshman Kenny Brown, has not seen game action, though he might this weekend.
?Fred is going to have to work on being more comfortable, more relaxed,? Johnson said. ?He?s going to have to work on slowing down and making good decisions.?
Johnson said he does not want Washington to try to emulate Grunfeld?s one-of-a-kind game, or to worry about making up for some of Grunfeld?s 17.9 points per game. Instead, Johnson said that he wanted Washington to focus on the things he can control - his defense, rebounding and ballhandling - and let the rest of the game come to him.
?We have to look at it in terms of the things that we can control and do better,? Johnson said about the team as a whole. ?We?re not going to have a guy who?s going to step in and have Danny?s knack or step in and shoot the ball from the perimeter [as well as Grunfeld did]. But we?ve got a nucleus of guys on this team that can step in and be better defensively, and that?s where we?ve got to step it up.?
Washington will have his hands full on defense, matching up against Lodrick Stewart, the Trojans? leading scorer with 13.6 points per game and a 43 percent shooting percentage from behind the arc.
The Cardinal will also have to find a way to contain freshman point guard Gabriel Pruitt, who torched Stanford for 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting the last time the teams met.
?They just worry me to no end,? Johnson said. ?It?s pretty evident that we couldn?t guard [Pruitt] over there. They have always caused problems for us in terms of coming with full-court pressure, half-court pressure, traps. They do a really good job of getting you out of rhythm and forcing you to play a little faster, - at least they have with us - a little faster than we want to play.?
Grunfeld scored 20 points against USC in the teams? first meeting and will be missed not only for his scoring touch but also for his fearless style of play. The team will have to find a way to keep up its intensity in Grunfeld?s absence. And it all starts with Washington.
