Too much for one day from WSU
COUGARS
Twenty minutes into my morning routine of reading stories from up and down the West Coast I began to realize today I was overwhelmed. Snowed under on a clear day by the blizzard of stories on recruiting. There are so many more inches devoted to players who have yet to play a minute of college football than to current college basketball players, it hit me I should be doing two posts this morning. One on tonight's games, one on the signing game. But instead of being intelligent and switching gears, I soldiered on, and here is the result. Read on.
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• Washington State: I wonder if I'll ever hear a coach say these words: "Our recruiting class sucks. Sorry, but we didn't get the players we wanted, the holes we needed filled are still there and if any of these kids make it here, I'll be shocked. Of course, I'll be on a stream somewhere with my fly fishing pole, living off my severance check, so who really cares?" Nope, don't think so. And that's OK. Wednesday reminds me a bit of the first day of spring training, when even the Cubs think they can win the World Series. Optimism is a good thing. It breeds hope and hope gets you through trying times. But it also is a kin to expectation, and expectation has killed more coaching careers than muffed punts. ... OK, on to the stories, after one more thought. I basically wrote this past week that Oregon State recruits as well as anyone in the country and someone thought I was kidding. I was not. Under Mike Riley, the Beavers have done as good a job as anyone identifying kids who will fit their program, selling them on Corvallis and getting them to sign with OSU. And that's what recruiting, at its essence, really is. It's not plucking five-star guys off the lists. It's figuring out which 17-year-old kid will be the 20-year-old player you need at your school. Not what the University of Hollywood needs, not what Nike U. needs, what you need. And Riley's staff does that. Now we all know Paul Wulff isn't a fan of Mike Riley's coaching at the end of blowout games, but it is obvious he sees Riley's vision of building a Pac-10 contender as the way to go. Bring in kids who fit, let them grow into players who can compete with the five stars, and then reap the benefits. Whether or not that formula will work at WSU is not a question. It has in the past. Whether or not it will work with this staff is still up in the air. Next season will probably tell. ... The Cougars and Beavers went head-to-head for a couple players, most notably Tacoma's Rahmel Dockery. That the young man decided to attend WSU might have been the most interesting aspect of a pretty routine signing day in Pullman. The defections from this class occurred last week (the biggest of which was the subject of John Blanchette's column today), so everyone who signed Wednesday was expected to sign. And the response was expected as well. ... Wulff's press conference was quite extensive, as these things are wont to be, and if you want to watch it, you can here. ... If you want a fan's perspective on Signing Day, you can find that as well. ... And, of course, Cougfan has a bunch of stuff, some of which is free. ... Logan Mayes has been headed to WSU since, oh since he was born. It's now official. ... On to basketball. ... The Cougars open the second half of Pac-10 play tonight in Eugene against a different Ducks team than they played in Pullman. Oregon is playing hard and with confidence. ... One last thought about the UW game, courtesy of Art Thiel.
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• Around the Pac-10: This post will explode if I try to add everything out there, so we're going to pick and choose. ... The Huskies had some late defections – remember Stephan Nembot? He dissed them as well – but coach Steve Sarkisian is still excited. UW did pull in most of Washington's top-rated seniors on a fax machine that became a star. ... UW is finding out how important Matthew Bryan-Amaning is. ... Oregon won the day, at least according to the scouting services, with a top-ranked class which included a late defection from USC. ... The Beavers' class wasn't all that well received but, in two or three years, will include a few All-Pac-10 players. Wait and see. ... The OSU basketball team hosts Washington tonight and Devon Collier needs to have a big game. ... Though Stanford has a new coach (and coaches), its football team attracted a highly rated class of recruits, including one from Spokane. ... The Cardinal face a big challenge in Arizona tonight. ... After a bowl-less season, Cal coach Jeff Tedford was active in recruiting - players and new coaches. ... The Bears' basketball team have been getting a boost from its freshmen. ... The second half of the Pac-10 basketball season got underway last night in Los Angeles, with UCLA overcoming USC 64-50, the first win in the rivalry for the Bruins in a while. ... Despite NCAA sanctions, USC signs a huge class, while UCLA's group is panned. ... The Sun Devils, expected to be favorites in the Pac-12 South this fall, added just a few bodies, but may have filled some holes. ... The ASU basketball team hopes to turn around its season. ... Arizona inks a local running back. ... And, finally, the Wildcats are having success from beyond the arc.
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• That's all for now. We're on our way to Eugene and will post before tonight's game. Remember it starts at 6 (yeah). Until then ...
