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Looking at the Pac-10 standings this morning, you can see why WSU coach Tony Bennett challenged his team before yesterday’s USC game and why he emphasized its importance. Besides Washington and its six wins being on top, which is strange enough, there are three teams with five wins, UCLA, Cal and ASU. Following them is USC, which has four wins after coming from behind to defeat the Cougars. Tied with three victories are WSU, Stanford and, yes, Oregon State. If five Pac-10 teams really have a chance at NCAA play, then the Cougars really shot themselves in the paw the last 6 minutes Saturday. Instead of being in the top half of the conference, they are in a pack of also-rans with just five of their last 12 conference games at home. Of course, with a 1-4 home record, maybe that’s a good thing. Read on for more game coverage.
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• Lot’s of links from Saturday’s Pac-10 games, though, as usual, we’ll start in Pullman. … We have our game story that ran in today’s S-R, plus the album version which ran here. Tacoma and other West Side papers rans freelancer Howie Stalwick’s story. And the LA Times’ Chris Foster, someone I’ve known since we both were young, had his game story as well. Freelancer Dan Thompson had this gamer for the Orange County Register. … From elsewhere in the conference, UW took over sole possession of first place with a convincing 86-75 win over UCLA, probably clinching an NCAA berth for the first time in a while. You can read about the win in the Seattle Times, the News Tribune and the P-I. … Oregon State swept the Bay Area weekend, shutting down Stanford’s offense and winning 77-62. … Cal saved a split by keeping Oregon winless. … And Arizona rallied to edge Houston in overtime. Speaking of the Wildcats, Arizona Daily Star columnist Greg Hansen thinks Rick Pitino is a good fit. Interesting, but speculative.
• Getting back to the WSU game, we have some more thoughts from Bennett, USC coach Tim Floyd and Taylor Rochestie on the Trojan win.
Bennett on Caleb Forrest’s game: “Everything he was throwing in Thursday, weren’t going in today, if you look at the stats.”
On his team’s effort: “They certainly fought, but just didn’t have enough to finish it out.”
On USC’s effort: “They did a good job and they did it without their leading scorer, one of their best players. They really took it at us and drew fouls, which was frustrating.”
On the last few minutes:> “When you get in a game like that, one possession here or there is all the difference in the world.”
On Taj Gibson’s play: “He’s quick, he’s a heck of a player. A couple of questionable ones where we thought were in position up and down. But he took it at us.”
On Rochestie’s final few minutes: “I said we’re going to put the ball in his hands late in the game to finish it and he’s certainly done a heck of a job. He had a couple tough turnovers. It’s hard for us to overcome those things.”
On Klay Thompson’s two big shots late: “It was good to see him make some, especially that big shot. He hit the 3 to put us up three. Just rose up and stroked it.”
And summing it up: “A couple turnovers, a couple offensive rebounds, end of story.”
Floyd on winning in Pullman: “We’ve had a tough run over here. We haven’t been able to win at this place, and nobody in our league does a better job than Tony (Bennett). We were very fortunate to get out with a win. They guard ya. Nobody likes to play people that can defend at home. And that’s what this league has become.”
On how well his team played on offense: “We didn’t get frustrated and shoot it on one pass. We were willing to play to the end of the possession if we needed to, and go drive and try to break them down and get fouled.”
Rochestie on USC’s changing defenses and if that affected WSU’s offense: “Statistically a lot. I think we got open looks, we just didn’t make shots.”
On the season right now: “Every time we show some progress, show some potential, like the second half against UCLA, we think we have it all together. Then we come out, struggle to score, struggle to shoot, struggle to keep them off the boards, struggle to get a rebound on a free throw at a big time in the game. Just little letdowns that can’t happen.”
• As a special added bonus this morning, we have some football news. Nick Daschel at Buster Sports has some thoughts on next year in the Pac-10. And the News Tribune did its annual Northwest Nuggets recruiting survey. WSU did quite well. Though the Cougars only attracted one (Gino Simone) of the paper’s six Nuggets, they have commitments from seven of the honorable mention players, by far the most of any school. The paper also ran some stories, one on the Huskies’ woes and another on the earlier start to recruiting, reaching to younger and younger players.
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• That’s it for this morning and today. We’ll be back if more news breaks. As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome. Till then …
Jim Allen covers Eastern Washingon University football and men's basketball, Whitworth University men's basketball and college and high school soccer.
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Jess Brown covers Spokane Chiefs hockey, college women's basketball, Spokane Shock football and high school sports.
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Christian Caple covers Washington State University athletics.
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Greg Lee covers high school sports in Eastern Washington and North Idaho among other various janitorial duties.
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Jim Meehan covers Gonzaga University men's basketball, Whitworth Univeristy football, Spokane Shock football, golf and volleyball.
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Josh Wright covers the University of Idaho football team and men's basketball team.
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Vince Grippi is the online producer for SportsLink, a product of The Spokesman-Review.
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bobsacoug on January 25 at 10:52 a.m.
I am thrilled to have Tony Bennett as the Coug’s coach; however, the Cougars have seemed to loose our Pullman home court advantage ever since the Bennett’s came to town. In the old days George Raveling’s teams (and Sampson’s) may have gone 10-8 in the conference but they were usually 7-2 or 8-1 at home. It seems we can not win big conference games in Pullman anymore. We appear to be very competitive on the road (the last three years) but are into “Cougin It” at home. The home game yesterday was typical. I was also disappointed in the crowds for the UCLA and USC games - should have been over 10,000 per game. Maybe, if we played better at home, more fans would come out! The UCLA game loss was much easier for me to take than the USC loss because we almost finished that game, compared to giving it away yesterday.
unclemike on January 25 at 11:13 a.m.
Nothing worse than a Saturday watching the Huskies BEAT a team and the Cougs LOOSE to a team..not get beat, but loose.
I thought they had it won, and I liked Tony keep inserting good shooters…Harmling, Lodwick..to just drop one in and bring the crowd in…but no luck. Coiugs had chances/open shots AT HOME and couldn’t drain them. Watching TR in crunch time
with the ball is like watching Pargo - I still haven’t figured out
if they are good or bad. Well, their backs are up against the wall now….they gotta win somw games or go on the road in the NIT. I bleed Crimson, and am getting close to a much needed
transfusion!!!! Maybe a trip to Arizona will help.
OlyCoug on January 25 at 11:19 a.m.
Unfortunately, as long term Cougs know too well, this is the pattern our teams follow. Years of struggling…finally a good season or two—maybe even a *really* good year—then the free fall back to the cellar as our seniors graduate, leaving a black hole in their place.
The only team in my memory to break the mold was the Coug football team’s three 10-win seasons in a row. Truly spectacular, it was…and we believed it could turn the ship toward a fundamentally different direction (a la Arizona b-ball, whose down years are still winning seasons). But then came the plummet to depths not even the most pessimistic fan could envision. Record setting futility…not just the usual depressing just-short-of-mediocre 4-7 season.
Our worst fear at this point must be that this team will collapse completely and, with the departure of Baynes/Rochestie/Forrest next year, Cougar b-ball will fall into a lengthy downward spiral. At that point, Bennett will surely start to think about missed opportunity (“Should I have ‘sold high’? and got out while the gettin’ was good?”). From that point…well, who knows, but it can hardly be good.
Like most of you, I choose to believe the Cougs will claw out a couple road wins, defend 75% of the remaining home stands out of pride alone, and finish with a better-than-.500 record. A rebuilding year with a winning record (if only slight) could be the key to continuing an upward trend versus falling off the cliff.
Let’s keep it respectable with ASU, beat UA while they’re down, and go from there.
PS: I can’t help but wonder when the last time a team held an opponent to 46 points and lost. Any stats guys out there with that answer? On second thought, do we really want to know?
bobsacoug on January 25 at 11:21 a.m.
I forgot one comment…I think there is something fishy about the east basket in Friel Court. Me and several fans around me noticed how many Cougar shots in the first half and UCLA shots in the second half just bounced out of the basket on Thursday. It happened again to the Cougs on Saturday in the first half against USC. It would be interesting to see the field goal percentage for the east and west baskets for the last two games. I would swear that there is something wrong with the east basket.
coug79 on January 25 at 1:18 p.m.
Hey Bob—I’ll tell you what’s “wrong” with the East basket….the Cougs are shooting at it. You could double the hoop size and shots clanged off the front rim (Harms), doinked off back of the rim (Forrest) or missed completely (Abe) and guess what? The shots still won’t go in. Here’s the bad news, Bob. At the West end of Beasley—same result.
I’m ready to start the two year rebuilding right now, because that’s what it’s going to be. With our four seniors gone to start in the fall 09 season we already know that we will be in major transition mode….so no point in postponing the inevitable. Let’s get all the freshman on the court and start the Pac-10 basketball school for the youngsters. By fall 2010 we will have a starting five that is ready to get us back to the tourney.
TommyCoug on January 25 at 2:11 p.m.
That USC game yesterday was “extremely” frustrating and “bitterly” ugly! I hate to say this…but must…there are other teams, in the nation and the Pac-10, with freshman that are contributing as much or more than our Coug players are. I am beginning to wonder just how good these players or fellows will really be? Lodwick isn’t shooting any better than Harmeling (and he air balled a beauty clear over the basket in the 2nd half), K. Thompson scores and then has a lot of missed shots, defensive lapses and throws the ball away, Capers…looks like he can leap like Weaver, plays fair defense…but, no offense…Harthun (sp) I haven’t heard from or seen play and he “demanded” to play and burn his redshirt…this could be getting to the bad point? To hope for wins, against whats left in the season, on the road is asking a lot for this bunch, I am afraid.
Good stuff, Vince, from the Tacoma News-Tribune. I guess it’s time to start looking forward to spring football and the 2009 kickoff. I wish I could say it wasn’t true!
GO COUGS!!
gslbball on January 25 at 3:52 p.m.
Good defense, not very good offense. Balance is necessary. It doesn’t look like this team has more than one or two players who can score consistently.
Coug85 on January 25 at 6:00 p.m.
Oh, the bitterness…the shoulda, the coulda, the woulda hurts. The Bennett’s lead us to two dreamy seasons, the drop off this year and next year was/is expected. Even in a rebuilding year, we are competitive and this can not be said about our recent history. The losses hurt but Tony has us headed in the right direction. This is WSU. We will not be Tourney bound every season. Enjoy the fact that we can compete with every team in the league, on a weekly basis. I only have to look back to last years football team to fully appreciate this.
couglarr on January 25 at 6:06 p.m.
Believe it or not I think the key to this team winning is Casto. When he learns to concentrate during the game and do what he is suppose to do he will add the missing link to winning. Harmeling and Forrest are just like a couple of good hitters in baseball that are in a slump. All it takes is to do something just a little different and the ball doesn’t go in. Unfortunately a slump is tough to come out of.
The other freshmen aren’t quite there yet, although Capers is looking pretty good, but they will start to show their stuff toward the end of the season. We may not make March madness but you never know.
Next season will be interesting, it depends on how well the frosh develop.
MikeSequim on January 25 at 6:19 p.m.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to turn over the program to the “Colts” right now because you think they need more game time on the floor to get ahead start on the next 3 years! Adding more minutes a little at a time is OK but not benching these Seniors or upper classmen. This Freshman class like any other Freshman class has not bought into Coach “B’s” total scheme yet and turning them loose would do more damage to them then help them. Looking ahead for your placement of the Freshmen next year, can be still installed in their style of play for the rest of the season this year.
Understanding the quality of talent you have and getting the most out of it is the most difficult job for Coach B. IMO, and I think he knows what he has and what he hasn’t.
We just don’t have the athletes the top 5-6 teams in the PAC have and it is what it is! I’m proud of their effort and desire to get better. I’m looking forward to better years coming up but I will still enjoy the TEAM we have today. Being a spoiler can still motivate alot of players to excel and I expect that to happen with us.
Hang tough Coug’s
Mike, Sequim
EllensburgCoug on January 25 at 7:16 p.m.
Daniel Hackett consoling the Cougar fans(LA Times story)! That is pretty classy and USC should be commended.
I’ve never understood it and still don’t. Why a good defensive team necessarily has to be a lousy offensive team. Lodwick and Harmeling, our 3 point shooters, just don’t have it now.
Our next 4 games on the road. This could get ugly.
Go Cougs!
Tom_R on January 25 at 9:28 p.m.
I thought Bennett coached a good game; the players just didn’t deliver. Considering what a sensational outside shooter Bennett was during his playing days, it is amazing to me that he can’t teach those kids to shoot better. Is Harthun being redshirted this year? I know he has been in games early in the season. That situation strikes me as strange when what is needed is someone besides Rochestie who can regularly hit a 3-pointer. I notice that the opponents when defending, play off of Capers and let him shoot from the outside whenever he pleases. They focus on the other four Cougars which hurts the team somewhat. Yet, Capers brings so many other things to the game. Oh well, WSU could easily have won both of those games, and wouldn’t they be sitting pretty right now.
gslbball on January 25 at 9:43 p.m.
I’ve suggested before that the Cougs emphasize defense to a fault. You must have balance to win basketball games. The Cougs had balance the prior couple of seasons because they had scorers to go with the D. It looks to me like this group is so woried about playing D that it has become a detriment to the offensive side of things. You still gotta score to win, even with good defense.
OlyCoug on January 25 at 10:21 p.m.
gslbball, I generally agree with your analysis. It’s good to have *someone* who is not a totally partisan Coug here to balance the rest of us out.
On the topic of defense/offense balance, it makes sense that you can focus on defense at the expense of offense—Bennett has admitted to that potential many times.
It’s clearly going to be his strategy to forego the offensive rebound chances in order to have our butts covered defensively. His system works like a charm. What team would NOT want to lead the nation in defense?
The instant cure for what ails the Cougs is achieving a mediocre shooting percentage. Just average. Think what the record would be if the Cougs shot even 40% in games! Easily two or three wins and we’d be talking NCAAs versus NIT instead of “how many rebuilding years do we have to suffer through.”
So, my point is that there’s almost no possibility of Bennett compromising on his D-first mentality. Like the rest of us, he’s waiting for a couple of players to break out of slumps at the same time (witness Harmeling getting a bunch of minutes versus USC). It hasn’t happened yet…maybe it won’t happen at all. However, surely it makes more sense to keep your shooters shooting until they hit a good streak, rather than to sacrifice defense to get better offensive opportunities. Against USC, the defense was stellar, and the open looks plentiful. The career 45% shooters just couldn’t get shots to fall…again.
wazzuwyatt on January 26 at 6:51 a.m.
Great comments on this forum, Coug fans. Your observations and assessments and criticisms show you know enough about basketball to show what the problems are and what needs fixing.