c/o the lovely Erin Hawksworth!

Jason Puckett

First of all, he is not going to win Pac-12 Player of the Year, but Brock Motum deserves and demands to be in the conversation and certainly receive votes this year. 

I think it's awfully difficult to have a player of the year on a team that will finish with sub five-hundred record in the league and not make the tournament. 

But, what has gone unnoticed this season of bad play in the conference and with the Cougars is the play of  Motum. 

The junior, in conference only games, is the leading scorer (20.0), 6th in rebounds (6.8), 5th in FG percentage (60%), 6th in FT percentage (85%), and 6th in three-point shooting (44%). 

But if you go beyond the numbers, you will see a player that has grown so much as a player.  Brock used to be a player that lived on the perimeter but he has changed his game to include a variety of low post moves that at times can make him such a matchup problem for opponents. 

One of the aspects of his game that is not recognized as much is his ability to pass the basketball, a skill that many players his size just don't possess.  If Motum had better scorers around him, I think we could be talking about a forward that would average 4-5 assists a game. 

Again, he's not going to win, and to be realistic he doesn't deserve to win it, but his name deserves to be mentioned. 

THIS is not a dunk:

Now, THESE are some dunks:

Vontaze Burfict can wash away the bad taste from 2009
By Steve Grabinski

“With the FOURTH pick in the 2009 NFL draft, the Seattle Seahawks select Aaron Curry, linebacker Wake Forest.” - Commissioner Roger Goodell

Ouch, that still stings doesn’t it? Now that he’s gone we can all exhale and start to move on from the walking brain fart that was our fourth pick in 2009. The Todd on the four letters professed the whole offseason that “the linebacker from Wake Forest was the next LT”. We should have known then not to draft a Wake Forest football player at number four, regardless of the hype, and not to put too much stock into the former Richmond Rifle’s scouting reports. You can get away with a Wake player at four in the NBA, but not in the NFL. With that said, the player that stood out to me (not Puck, he wants Ingram from South Carolina) was Vontaze Burfict. 

He is just as advertised, and probably one of the nastiest dudes to play college football in a long time. With a chip on his shoulder the size of the Grand Canyon he can only rely on his skills to get him through to the next level. I’m confident he can play any linebacker spot and when this kid plays football he makes one hell of an impact.  Unfortunately Burfict has had a lot of bad press in his young career.  You generally don’t hear a player’s name drug through the mud like this kid’s was.  Although he deserves some criticism it’s my opinion that he’s a young guy and sometimes his immaturity got the best of him and showed up on Saturdays. It seems his only major issues are a bad attitude and the mindless personal fouls that he costs the team. These are all coachable issues and let’s face it, ASU may not have been the best atmosphere for an immature kid with a big ego. Burfict will be in for a rude awakening when he enters the NFL; he will have to prove his worth in every game while playing with and against supreme talent.

Sure, I could run Burfict’s stats and I could tell you how many impact plays he’s made but instead let’s think about the impact players the Hawks have passed up on over the last five drafts; Clay Matthews, Mathias Kiwanuka, Brian Cushing, Brian Orakpo, Jason Pierre-Paul, Sean Witherspoon, Curtis Lofton and the list goes on. I’ve already heard the skeptic’s and the nay-bob’s tell me why we can’t afford to take him and I really do understand the mental aspect of the game, but trust me, you do not want to see this kid come to the Link and kick our butt’s for the next 10 years. I can’t watch the Hawks pass up another great backer and then watch him dominate the NFL. 

Believe the hype, jump aboard the Vontaze Burfict bandwagon Seattle, there is plenty of room.

Listen to Ian for your chance to win a Big Game Coke Zero Prize Pack. He’ll be giving away a $50 VISA gift Card and $50 in Coke Zero and Ritz product every weekday through February 3^rd!

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By Jason Puckett

There will be lots of NFL talk on the show today as we are joined by Heath Evans of the NFL Network and Rob Rang of NFLDraftScout.com, both we'll talk about Senior Bowl practice. 

In addition, Ryan Divish of the Tacoma News-Tribune will join us from Arizona and talk about last night's win for the Huskies over Arizona State.  Ryan will also fill us in how his "pool time" went before the game. 

Two things I wanted to write about today deal with the comparison of Tony Wroten with my favorite player of all time, Gary Payton.  The second thing I wanted to address is this notion of moving in the fences at Safeco Field. 

First, having watched Payton at the collegiate level and now watching Wroten, I always come away thinking that these two are very comparable in their freshmen year. 

Payton:

46% FG 
37% 3pt (13 of 35)
67% FT (55 of 82)
12.5pts/4 reb./7.6 ast./1.9 stl

Wroten:

49% FG 
19% 3pt (7 of 36)
54% FT (83 of 152)
17.1pts/4.6 reb/ 3.3 ast/ 1.3 stl

As you can see there are some differences, especially when it comes to three-point shooting, but Payton took 35 total three's and Wroten has already surpassed that. The two numbers that stand out to me are the free throw attempts and assist numbers.  Wroten has attempted 152 free throws, Payton went to the line just 82 times the entire season.

Where Payton really has the edge is with the assist numbers.  Payton averaged nearly 8 assists a game, where as Wroten averages just a little over three.  I guess the one thing I would say about those numbers is that I've seen a number of passes this season where Wroten's teammates have not been expecting the pass.   I've been watching hoops for 20-plus years and I've seen very few people that have the vision that Wroten has.

One thing I wish people will remember about Wroten as this season progresses is that he's just 18 years old.  We all made mistakes at that age, we never had cameras and microphones in our face when we made those mistakes.  

I've interviewed Tony twice in his young career, both of those times coming in high school.  I found him shy, excitable, and an overall good kid.  I know other people have a different opinion, but I'm just going with what I've witnessed.

__________

Now, on to this talk about moving the fences in at Safeco Field.  It's been an issue that people have discussed since this park was built.  There is a general feeling that the park is too big, thus the park is not a friend of offense and home runs.  It's a general feeling that is just incorrect and has no facts to back it up.

The 2001 Mariners team had no issues scoring runs. Opposing teams never have an issue with their offense when they come to town.  Edgar Martinez, John Olerud, Brett Boone, and yes, even Richie Sexson, never had a problem hitting at Safeco Field.

The ballpark is not as big as everyone makes it out to be.  Check out the dimensions:

LF 331
LC 375
CF 405
RC 365
RF 326

Here are the facts when you compare Safeco to other parks in baseball.

14-  Number of parks that are longer down LF line
13-  Number of parks that are longer in LC
9 -  Number of parks that are longer in CF
24 - Number of parks that are longer in RC
19 - Number of parks that are longer in RF

So, is it really a ballpark issue, or a user issue? In the last 10 years, what type of offense have the Mariners put on that field?  The product on the field, not the park, is the issue why this organization is so offensively starved.  

Can anybody say… SLEEPER????
By Steve Grabinski
 
It seems like every season there is a break out star that surprises all the experts and has huge year. This year Seattle had Doug Baldwin an undrafted rookie out of Stanford. There is also a guy like Victor Cruz, the NY Giants undrafted rookie out of UMass (who has at times carried the weight for the offense that is representing the NFC in Super Bowl XLVI). I think I might have found next seasons surprise late round pick that balls out and makes an impact in a big way. I would like to introduce you to Jordan White, senior wide receiver for the mighty Western Michigan Broncos. Jordan is projected to go around the 5th round, but possibly as high as late 3rd round. I think that is a bunch of hooch! Go ahead, scoff if you must, but let me just give you some numbers from last season alone.

TOTAL RECEPTIONS: 140
RECEIVING YARDS: 1,911
RECEIVING TD: 17
SINGLE GAME HIGH IN YARDS: 238

I know what you’re thinking; you want to hear more about Mr. White don’t you? I have saved you the trouble of looking for highlights of Jordan White, and included them below. Remember; think Victor Cruz, Greg Jennings, and Doug Baldwin. I also want Seahawks fans to keep in mind the Seattle starting receivers Sidney Rice, and Mike Williams. I believe that Rice has some gas in the tank and definitely had good moments last season. Big Mike Williams on the other hand, has not really shown this Seahawks fan much over the past two seasons. Sure, he and Hasselbeck had chemistry in 2010 but that seems to be a distant memory, and his sub-par no show of a season in 2011 was nothing short of sad to watch. Now sit back, and watch a great sleeper pick and possibly the Seattle Seahawks diamond in the rough in this year’s draft get nasty on some admittedly average college defenses. Get your popcorn ready!!!!