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A vital week for WSU?

Posted by Vince

Feb. 9, 2010 7:57 a.m. • 5 comments

COUGARS

How important is this week to WSU’s postseason chances? Is crucial a good enough word? Is make-or-break a big enough phrase? Probably neither truly apply, but they sure caught your interest, didn’t they? Anyhow, we’ll explain why these games are important on the link, with those thoughts being joined by our spin around the conference this morning. Read on.

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• Washington State: The Cougars head into the week 15-8 overall. They play four of their final seven conference games on the road. My guess, and it’s only a guess built on experience, is 18 wins gives WSU a postseason berth, though a third NCAA berth in four years will take winning the Pac-10 Tournament. So why is this week so important? Three reasons. The Cougars played their best basketball game of the season last Saturday in routing Arizona. Building on that effort is crucial to not only finishing the regular season strong but also for building momentum into postseason play. Stanford is first up Thursday, a team WSU has already defeated – albeit in a closer-than-it-should-have-been game in Pullman – and is one of the Pac-10’s three worst teams. A win at Stanford cements a winning overall record and eases pressure down the stretch. Finally, Cal will get tested mightily – OK, change “will” to “should” – by UW as the Huskies are desperate – OK, change “are” to “should be” – to show they can win away from Seattle, and get back into the title hunt. Which means WSU should go into Berkeley on Saturday to face a team either exhausted after a tough loss or complacent after a key win. Either should – and yes, that’s the right word – be helpful to WSU’s cause. Winning both games should lockdown a postseason berth for WSU. Losing both would bleed away much of its chances. … WSU coach Ken Bone will meet the media this morning as he does every Tuesday, then the Cougar players talk after practice. We’ll get back with you later with more on what’s been said. … As for links, all we have is the news WSU’s April Cook was named Pac-10 player of the week on the women’s hoops side of things.

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• Around the Pac-10: Speaking of player of the week, UW’s Quincy Pondexter won the award for the fourth time. Do you think that translates into winning the player of the year honor? … The UW road trip to Cal may just determine who wins the regular season title. … After losing big in Pullman, Arizona couldn’t wait to get back to Tucson, where the Cats haven’t been too often this season. They play five of their final seven at McKale. … One man’s opinion of the conference right now. … Don’t know if your heard, but Arizona State had to schedule a second FCS school (Portland State) to fill a hole in this fall’s schedule. Jeff Metcalfe tells you why and what it means. … Finally, the Pac-10 filled a spot on its staff by hiring a heavyweight in conference adminstration. There seems to be some winds of change blowing through Walnut Creek. You can find out more here. Not sure all the changes would be for the better.

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• That’s all for this morning. We’ll be back with some basketball thoughts later. Until then …

Five comments on this post so far. Add yours!

rufus on February 09 at 8:23 a.m.
the loss to oregon due to the ref’s “game changing call ” will really mean something now–both in $$’s and post-season play.
– but at least 4 wins can be achieved >> wsu - split in the bay area… win in oregon and beat usc… and the cougs can beat the huskies in pullman.
RobE on February 09 at 9:44 a.m.
I like the forward thinking the Pac-10 seems to finally be having. Amazing what happens when you bring in fresh blood, huh? I’m not saying they should do any of these (network, expansion, changing hoops playing days), but the fact that they are looking at all of these items and researching some possibilites to gain exposure and revenue, is a far cry from the Pac-10 we’ve known for the past 30 years.

My concern with moving playing days is the academic toll it can take on players.

Good stuff Vince, as always.
coug79 on February 09 at 10:39 a.m.
I sure hope they don’t move the Pac-10 home games to Mondays. For many of us the weekend games are the only times we can attend. Move Saturday games to Monday games and suddenly my season tickets are a lot less valuable. And I would think a move like this would hurt WSU worse than any school since we don’t have the resident population to draw local fans to Monday games. But my guess is the Pac-10 could care less about how this might impacts WSU home attendance and season ticket sales.
EllensburgCoug on February 09 at 11:02 a.m.
Congrats to April Cook. She was marvelous last weekend.
If you haven’t seen the women yet this year please make the effort to. While they haven’t had a great deal of success they are exciting to watch. All the games I’ve seen in person this year have been close contests.
Go Cougs
gocougsgal on February 09 at 3:09 p.m.
Back in the day in the Pac 10 there was always one game played on a Monday night and televised…. so that weekend for the those teams would be a Sat - Mon schedule rather than a Thur-Sat schedule. It was a great way to gain some extra TV exposure and the games rotated through the conference. I don’t think getting down to a game or two on a Monday vs a Thursday would make that much difference.