John Blanchette: Cougs gang up to join bullies

DENVER – On a day when the bracket bullies asserted their collective will on the huddled masses of the NCAA tournament – and in a particularly tedious fashion for something billed as madness – so did the Washington State Cougars.

It just took them longer to decide precisely what that will was.

Was it to give heart to a fellow underdog? Or to get to the next intersection on the Road to the Final Four with their self-esteem intact?

Or to do both – one half at a time?

That mission was eventually accomplished in a 71-40 evisceration of poor Winthrop here at the Pepsi Center, a point spread that was the ugliest blowout of a particularly homely opening Thursday – at least until UCLA got around to disabusing Missisippi Valley State of the notion that Division I basketball is a worthy aspiration.

Let’s see – 16 games, only two decided by fewer than 10 points and only one of those a one-possession game.

Thank heavens somebody dreamed up the College Basketball Invitational this year so the postseason could have some entertainment value.

OK, perhaps we’re selling this one short. How the Cougars got from the tightest game of the day – 29 apiece at the half – to biggest boat race was a thing of peculiar beauty.

If making a desiccated man drink from an eyedropper can be called art.

When the Eagles surrendered and pulled most of their starters with about three minutes to play, they had scored exactly five points in the second half, and four of those within the space of 37 seconds.

“That,” acknowledged senior Kyle Weaver, “was almost too good.”

Or not. The Cougars are nothing if not demanding when it comes to their defensive standards.

“They still got a couple of open looks,” carped the Cougs’ Robbie Cowgill. “There were still breakdowns. I remember one where I helped too much on a ball screen and got split.”

Yes, that was such an affront to the Cougs that they didn’t allow Winthrop another field goal for 10 minutes.

This was a sad and sorry ending for the Eagles, last year’s first-round darlings with an upset in Spokane of Notre Dame – WSU’s second-round opponent Saturday. They had put up a spirited first-half fight, throwing a shutout on Cougars sharpshooter Derrick Low – even with leading scorer Michael Jenkins sitting the final 12 minutes with foul trouble. But they hoisted a pair of too-quick shots right after intermission, were forced into a desperation 3 at the end of the 35-second clock and then saw Chris Gaynor’s 3 go in and out – and just that quickly, this one was history. If it wasn’t enough that the Eagles missed 16 of their first 18 post-half shots, the fact that they were getting just one at a time was.

“If you shut them down in the first little bit,” said forward Caleb Forrest, “they’re going to go into a hole and won’t be able to make shots, which you saw the second half.”

You saw more. You saw a team almost wrestling with its well-crafted identity, perhaps because there is something about this bracket thing that doesn’t square with the Cougars’ way of doing business.

That was first evident last year when the Cougars trailed Oral Roberts by two at halftime before turning it into a 16-point romp. This business of seeding – attaching a number to the relative worth of teams – flies directly in the face of Wazzu’s notion of perpetual underdoghood.

“We’re not the kind of team that overwhelms people,” insisted coach Tony Bennett. “We’re not going to throw a knockout punch.”

Not to question what’s worked for the Cougs, but there are certainly cases when they can – and should.

Is there such a thing as giving an opponent too much respect? Is that what accounts for the Cougars’ first-half, first-round hiccups?

“Well, you always have to respect your opponent,” said assistant coach Matt Woodley, “but it’s hard. You don’t want to overlook them. You don’t want to underestimate them. There’s a fine line there and our guys have always played the underdog role. But all of a sudden, you have to realize, ‘I’m a pretty good player and I have a matchup here,’ and you start playing.”

That realization came Thursday with a halftime nudge from Bennett. And with the predictable return to their defensive roots, never mind their incredible offensive efficiency.

“If our ‘D’ is right, that really gets us going,” said Cowgill. “There’s something about a stop that excites this team. I don’t know if that’s what you’d call asserting your will or not.”

It’ll do. The Cougars didn’t have to bomb the Eagles by 30 points, but surely it must have made them feel like one of the gang.