Bruins’ Red-Hot Baron Has Cougars Reaching For White Flag

Washington State is not going to stop UCLA’s Baron Davis. The Cougars couldn’t do it last year when he was a sometimes out-of-control, wet-behind-the-ears freshman.

So, there is no way they can do it tonight because Davis is now the mature, in-control floor leader that everyone always expected him to be.

Kab Kazadi will try. Blake Pengelly too. Even Mike Bush, the WSU’s best defender, will give the Bruins point guard a shot.

But in the end, Washington State, which in two games last season gave up 14 points , seven rebounds and four boards per game to Davis, may be satisfied if it can keep him under control.

That’s not something many other teams have been able to do this season.

Davis dropped a season-high 25 on No. 24 Louisville at Freedom Hall on Saturday. He’s averaging a team-high 13.6 points - 16.4 in seven conference games.

And, after missing the first four games of the season with the lingering effects of an anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered in last year’s postseason, Davis has led the Bruins to an 11-2 record in his 13 starts. They were 3-2 without him in the starting lineup.

This week, Davis was named Pacific-10 Conference player of the week for the second time this month.

“He is so good, it’s unbelievable,” said USC coach Henry Bibby, who watched Davis go for 16 points in the Bruins’ 98-90 win over the Trojans last Thursday. “You take Baron Davis and you put him on any team in the Pac-10 and they are automatically a contender.”

It’s not just the offense Davis creates for himself that makes him so difficult to stop; it’s the offense he creates for those around him.

“He is their focal point,” said WSU coach Kevin Eastman, whose Cougars are the only team in the Pac-10 with an overall losing record (8-10 overall, 2-5 conference). “Their take-charge guy.”

Davis is one of those point guards with peripheral vision that’s so good he can see his ears. And whiplash-quick moves.

So, he can get into the lane, disturb the defense and distribute the basketball.

But beyond all that, the thing that makes Davis a better, more unstoppable player this year is his poise and intelligence.

“He is like a guy who has gained 10 years in age, like from 19 to 29 in one year,” said Bibby. “His demeanor and his play on the floor has just calmed down, and now he is making the right decisions.”

Now, it is up to the Cougars, who are riding an 11-game losing streak to the Bruins, to pick the right decisions on defense to try and stop him.

Down in front

Mitch Barnhart and the powers at Oregon State are patting themselves on the back for their decision to move the students at Gill Coliseum closer to the floor. And why shouldn’t they be?

The Beavers are riding a nine-game home win streak this season. They won one Pac-10 home game last year.

They have swept both Arizona schools and both L.A. schools at home this season. And hoop tickets around Corvallis are more sought after than umbrellas in winter.

But the backlash has begun.

“It’s a time bomb,’ said Arizona’s Lute Olson of the new seating arrangement at Gill.

What Barnhart, the OSU athletic director, did was not only move the students behind the basket, but also right behind the opposing team’s bench.

This means right behind the customary two to three rows of opposing players’ family and friends there are the rabid students who are not afraid to, ahem, express their feelings about the game and the players.

“The language was gross,” said Olson.

In fact, the language was some of the worst Arizona State’s Rob Evans has heard in his coaching career. “That was as verbally abusive a crowd as I’ve seen in a long time,” Evans told the Arizona Republic.

“My wife (Carolyn) sits back there and she can hear everything that’s being said. She’s been in some rabid places before, and she said that was a little more difficult to deal with because of the comments.”

For Arizona, it was more than just comments.

Following the Beavers’ upset of the ranked Wildcats, the OSU students stormed the floor and Scott Garrette never had a chance. The Arizona manager was overwhelmed and had two players’ warmups ripped from his hands.

Arizona senior guard Jason Terry said somebody was punching and grabbing at him as he tried to get off the court.

The Pac-10 has no rules regarding student seating, and Barnhart said no formal complaints have been lodged.

“If something needs to be changed, then we will adjust,” Barnhart told the Seattle Times. “But we want to have a homecourt advantage. The past few years, we haven’t had much. Now that we’re enjoying a little bit of success, the students are coming back. But we certainly do not want an unsafe environment.”

Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood plans to bring up the issue at next week’s Pac-10 meetings in San Diego.

Similar instances have occurred at other universities this year.

At Maryland and North Carolina State, misbehaving students have either had to be moved or ejected.

N.C. State athletic director Les Robinson moved 75 student tickets from behind the North Carolina bench before the game because of fears that something bad may occur.

Maryland coach Gary Williams had to admonish the students after debris (peanuts and ice) was thrown on the court and a fight broke out between Duke and Maryland fans at Cole Field House

Oregon State’s Eddie Payne, on the other hand, took the microphone after the Arizona win and thanked the students for their support.

Cougars Improved?

It’s customary for opposing coaches to make their opponents sound like world-beaters.

So, it came as no surprise when USC coach Henry Bibby said the following: “Washington State, they are 10 times better than they were last year. It took Kevin a while, but he is finally getting the people he wants and getting them to do what he wants to do.”

But upon closer inspection it becomes apparent the Cougars are statistically worse than last season.

Using last year’s final statistics, the Cougars are down in rebounding (37.9 last season, 33.8 this season), rebounding margin (2.8 last season, -5.2 this season), field goal percentage defense (42 percent last season, 45.8 percent this season), scoring margin (-0.2 last season, -2.7 this season) and defense (72 ppg allowed last season, 78.5 this season).

The Cougars are improved in three-point percentage (39 percent this season, 37.4 last season) and points per game (75.8 this season, 71.8 last season).

They are shooting 44 percent from the field, the same as last season. As far as within the Pac-10, the Cougars are last in the Pac-10 in rebounding margin (-5.2 per game), assists (11.72 per game), scoring defense (78.5 per game), scoring margin (-2.7), field goal percentage defense (45.8 percent) and assist to turnover ratio (.67 ratio).

Last season, the only category the Cougars finished last in was turnover margin.

Through 18 games last season, the Cougars also had eight wins, one in the conference. They finished with 10 overall, three in the Pac-10.

The Cougars have two conference wins this season. Four of their last 11 opponents are ranked. All have winning records.

If the Cougars do win two more games, it will be the first time since 1990-91 all conference teams will have at least 10 wins.

Not in big a Rush

UCLA freshman forward JaRon Rush may be a high-riser on the floor, but taking to the friendly skies is another matter entirely.

Rush reportedly was so unnerved by a bumpy flight from Los Angeles to Memphis last week, that when the team finally safely made it back to Earth, rather than boarding the next flight to Louisville, Rush rented a car and drove the remaining 375 miles to the Bruins game.