Will Cougars’ Layoff Turn Out To Be A Break? 2-0 WSU Will Use Time To Hit Books, Heal Wounds
Washington State men’s basketball coach Kevin Eastman and his players are having a tough time trying to get a read on the possible effects of the long layoff they face.
On one hand, the Cougars can use the down time between now and Dec. 8, when they open against Canisius in the first round of the Carrier Classic in Syracuse, N.Y., to heal a few lingering wounds.
But on the other, they are eager to continue an early season roll that has them 2-0 and on the verge of breaking into the Associated Press Top 25 rankings.
“I think it’s good from the standpoint of getting everybody healthy,” senior forward Mark Hendrickson said of the 11-day layoff following Sunday’s 90-58 rout of Eastern Washington. “But once you start playing, you want to keep playing.
“This next week will be kind of hard as far as motivation for something to look forward to, because (the next game) is two weeks away. But we need to get healthy. We’re kind of thin right now and it’s important we get everybody going full strength for Syracuse.”
Granted, the Cougars are a bit beaten up. Backup point guard Kareem Jackson (ankle sprain) and freshman forward Bill Coby (illness) haven’t played since the exhibition season, and sophomore forward Carlos Daniel continues to be slowed by a sore hip.
But Eastman didn’t anticipate the early season health problems his team has encountered and, therefore, did his best to avoid the extended break between EWU and Canisius.
“Two weeks is a little too long,” admitted the second-year Cougars coach. “We tried doggedly to get a regular-season game into this time frame, but nobody could fit us into their schedule.”
In addition, Eastman tried - and failed - to reschedule one of his team’s two exhibition games during this stretch.
“So we’re kind of caught,” he said. “But all you can.”you can do is just try to make it work as best you can.”
The top priority this week, Eastman added, will be academics. WSU is coming off a long Thanksgiving break and several heavy study sessions have been scheduled to help players get back into the classroom swing.
The rest of the break, according to Eastman, will be used to put in some of the offensive and defensive schemes he has not been able to implement because of his team’s health problems.
Eastman said he plans to have everyone healthy for the rematch against Canisius, the team that knocked the Cougars out of the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament last winter.
But he is not about to speculate on how much Jackson and Coby might contribute.
Jackson, a junior college transfer, still hasn’t practiced since turning his ankle in a Nov. 10 exhibition win over High Five America. Coby has worked out briefly, but has little endurance after losing close to 15 pounds during a three-week bout with an unidentified virus.
“I hope everybody’s back by Syracuse,” Eastman said. “Their bodies will be in uniforms, but I don’t know if they’ll be totally ready to go.”
Leading by example
Arizona coach Lute Olson lost nearly 25 pounds during the off-season, thereby setting an excellent example for senior forward Ben Davis.
Davis, who played as a junior at 255 pounds, checked into preseason camp at 240 pounds and claims to have much greater stamina and agility than last year.
Highs and lows
A quick scan of Pacific-10 Conference rosters shows that Stanford’s Tim Young, a sophomore center, is the tallest player in the league at 7-foot-1.
Young is one of four 7-footers in the league. The others, who all stand an even 7-foot, are Oregon sophomore Michael Carson and Washington freshmen Patrick Femerling and Todd MacCulloch.
Four 5-10 players rank as the shortest in the league and two of those - senior Shamon Antrum and junior Donminic Ellison - play for WSU.
The others are Stanford’s Brevin Knight and Oregon’s Kenya Wilkins.
3-pointers
UCLA assistant Henry Bibby is the only person to have played on an NCAA, NBA and CBA championship team. … When Eastman went 10-8 against Pac-10 opposition at WSU last winter, he became only the 16th coach in the history of the 10-team league to have a winning conference record in his rookie year. … Heading into the 1995-96 season, Arizona’s Reggie Geary (94 games), Arizona State’s Ron Riley (89) and USC’s Burt Harris (86) had played in every game their teams had played since they were freshmen. … Oregon State’s Eddie Payne, the only new coach in the Pac-10, is only the fifth head coach the Beavers have had in the last 66 years. … USF’s upset of Stanford Tuesday night marked the first time the Dons have beaten a nationally ranked team since 1982, a year before the school took a three-year hiatus from basketball because of NCAA rules violations.
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