I don't get to see many Griz games in person, but as it happens, I saw several involving Qvale: The game at Pauley (with a Tarheel fan); at Oregon (with my nephew, an Oregon student); and at San Jose against New Mexico (with an old girlfriend from Albuquerque.) That last game was most upsetting. We put on a spirited run at the end, and could have won it on a last shot. I was hoping we'd call time and set up Qvale, who'd just been killing New Mexico inside, but instead a young (freshman) Will Cherry made a madcap drive to the bucket and threw up an improbable shot that lost us the game. In all three of those games, Qvale was far and away the best center on the court. I watched the Washington game on TV, and they absolutely homered us. Qvale was the best center there as well.
Of course, Qvale's freshman year was a foul-plagued, injury-ridden waste of a year. Again, I saw him in person as a freshman at Pacific. As a young player, he tried to block every shot, quickly running up the foul count and getting an early seat on the bench. Then he got hurt. Another reason I'm so happy with DeCuire: A sane redshirt policy. Qvale--as with most big men--needed extra time to develop. A fifth year for him would have been special.
