33°Quick links: Valentine photo contest • Washington Legislature • Idaho Legislature • Gonzaga hoops • WSU hoops
In the clear, somewhat sunny light of day, some thoughts about Washington State’s victory last night over Stanford. And some links. Read on.
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• Sorry to be the guy who snows on everyone’s parade, but a one-point home win over a Stanford team that should finish in the bottom third of the Pac-10 doesn’t hide the fact WSU is still a team struggling to score. The first half highlighted that. Just as the second half showed there is hope for the remainder of the conference season. But despite the 33 second-half points – a conference high for the Cougs – this is a team that’s still needs offensive improvement.
How to get it? That’s the question Tony Bennett has been tossing back and forth with his coaching staff for weeks. They’ve tweaked the offense, putting in more ball screens. They’ve changed Taylor Rochestie’s role, running him off screens more and putting the ball in his hands late in the shot clock so he can bounce it and create. They’ve tinkered with the rotation. All have helped, if only incrementally. The biggest help would be a return to form of the their shooters.
As Stanford’s Lawrence Hill said after the Cougars shot 20 percent in the first half, “WSU wasn’t shooting well; it wasn’t because of our defense.” Though that’s a too fatalistic assessment of the Cardinal defense for my taste, it does have a ring of truth. Aron Baynes did not shoot well all weekend. Daven Harmeling hasn’t in a month. Klay Thompson was 4 of 12 Saturday and 13 of 39 in conference play. Only Rochestie has shot well in conference (20 of 40) and that won’t be enough the rest of the way. Someone or some two has to step up for WSU to reach its potential this season. The question is, who?
• Let’s move on to the links. We have our story and freelancer Howie Stalwick’s piece, which appeared in the Tacoma News Tribune and other West Side papers – along with the San Jose Mercury News. Plus, there’s the Associated Press story that ran in the Seattle Times. Jake Curtis of the Chronicle, the only Bay Area beat writer to travel with the Cardinal, had this gamer. Around the conference, Cal survived Washington in triple overtime to take over the conference lead, Arizona State hammered Oregon and, with Oregon State coach Craig Robinson being ejected, Arizona breezed past OSU. One quote we might see sometime down the road from Robinson: “Ivy League officials are way better than those in this conference.” Just kidding. Wonder if the three guys who worked the game - Mark Reischling, Bobby McRoy, Don McAllister - are in federal custody and headed for Cuba right now. Again, just kidding. That will have to wait until after Jan. 20.
• Let’s switch gears, and sports, for a minute. The Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta reported on his blog last night UW’s football was talking with Oregon about playing that rivalry game on Thanksgiving in the fall. An interesting proposal that would give the Huskies a bye, a nationally televised game and mean the Apple Cup would have to move from Nov. 21 to Dec. 5. So last night’s I sought out a WSU administrator who has knowledge of the schedule and asked him about it. Though the Cougars want a bye – the first draft of the conference schedule had WSU playing 12 consecutive weeks – he was adamant the Apple Cup would not be played on Dec. 5. That’s too late. As far as he understood the most recent schedule from the league office, a schedule that has yet to be finalized, there is a good chance the Apple Cup will be moved to Nov. 28, Thanksgiving weekend. That would allow the conference to move the Oregon State game from Oct. 17 to Nov. 21. Not ideal, but it would give the Cougars a bye on Oct. 17. Still, this is preliminary, because this week’s 14-week window – there were 15 weeks to work in last season – is making it tougher to iron out the conference slate. Another complicating factor: the Pac-10 is trying to get more and better games on ESPN. So the football schedule won’t be finished until later this month.
• That’s it for this morning. We’ll be back tomorrow. Enjoy your Sunday.
Steve Bergum covers EWU football and men's basketball, college baseball, and writes weekly golf column during the summer.
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Vince Grippi covers WSU sports and invites readers to share their thoughts on the sports news of the day.
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Greg Lee covers high school sports throughout Inland Northwest.
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Jim Meehan covers Gonzaga basketball, Whitworth football, Spokane Shock football, college volleyball and prep softball.
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Dave Trimmer covers a variety of high school, college and professional sports and is the primary writer on the weekly Then & Now series.
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JugHead on January 11 at 11:08 a.m.
I really don't like this trend of the Apple Cup no longer being the final game of the season. I know there are many many factors and perhaps it is impossible to do going forward….but I have always felt that the winner of the Apple Cup should either be done for the year or move on to a bowl game. It just seems anti-climatic to have games (especially conference games) after the AC.
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dickkenn on January 11 at 11:12 a.m.
Good win for the cougars. The cougar defense looks better each game played this year. All the young players used last night are showing a steady improvement the more game time they get. These cougars looks like there is a big upside for the rest of the season. I really injoyed the win last night, watching the effort the players put out. T.R. had just a great game. I am enjoying this year's team play very very much, can't hardly wait for next week's games. GO COUGS
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JugHead on January 11 at 11:44 a.m.
Leave Harmeling as a wing player. He was at his best when we had Cowgill playing the other frontcourt spot. We have three good guys down low now in Baynes, Casto and Forest….in any combination, they should be able to share the frontcourt minutes between them. Let Daven, Nik, and Abe sort out who gets the minutes at the 3 spot, either situationally or because one of them takes his game to the next level. They all offer something different and each have their own weaknesses. It just seems to me that Daven is not a frontcourt player and the more they try to make him one the worse he gets…and it has now gotten to where he has forgotten how to be a wing player which he used to excel at. I wish Bennett would take him out of this tweener role and let him settle in at something we all know he is capable of from past experience, playing the wing and knocking down jump shots from the corner. Just my opinion.
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elvis on January 11 at 12:27 p.m.
I really think the Casto-Baynes combo is deadly on defense and I think Casto will eventually be a great post up player—he's got some nice moves.
There is no question that the Cougs have the defense to win games. I believe how they do against the Oregon Schools on the road will determine the season. If they sweep, they'll contend—split or get swept and then have to come home against the LA schools … well, it's hard times on the hardwood!
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RobE on January 11 at 9:34 p.m.
Here are solutions to all things Cougar!
First, permanently move the Apple Cup to the 1st weekend of December. Now that we have 12 game schedules, a bye week or two is a must. Playing the AC in Pullman on Thanksgiving weekend would be horrible for student turnout, and it's ridiculous to have it TG weekend in Seattle and then the weekend before in Pullman. Make it the last game and then we can both have two byes in the schedule.
Second, we need to attack the hoop more and not rely so much on the outside shots. It will get us to the line more often, takes advantage of our size and athletism, and in time will open up the outside for Daven, Klay and Taylor to take timely threes, not boatloads of them.
Third, effective Jan. 20, all NCAA men's basketball teams that win over 20 games in a season, will have a 3rd of those extra wins redistributed to other, more needy programs (such as OSU), in an effort to level the playing field. Just kidding on that one…kind of.
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wazzuwyatt on January 12 at 6:17 a.m.
I read this morning on cougfan that reminded me that WSU beat the two Oregons last year in 5 games—beat one of them in the conference tournament along with the usual home and away games against both. I think the Cougs have a good chance to repeat.
I watched a 1958 video movie last night with Spencer Tracy, “The Last Hurrah.” I was surprised that one of the characters name was Caleb Forrest.
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UWhuskytskeet on January 12 at 10:27 a.m.
I have to agree with keeping the Apple Cup in November. It should always be the last game for both teams, but December is simply too late for a game that isn't a bowl.
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coreyb on January 12 at 12:10 p.m.
I think they should make the AC the first weekend of December every year as well. It is much better to have it be the final game of the season and both teams need to have a bye. Having Oregon State the weekend before Thanksgiving doesn't work, we saw that last year and there weren't any students left there. The AC right after Thanksgiving isn't ideal either, but better than a different game I suppose. I would prefer they have a second bye the weekend right after Thankgiving and have the AC the first weekend of December.
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