Evidence Suggests Cougars Need To Get Moving

The over/under on today’s Washington State-Sacramento State men’s basketball game is 123.

We’re not talking about combined points, mind you. The above number is a rough estimate of how many times WSU coach Paul Graham will jump from his seat and scream “Move the ball.”

If you’ve been to a WSU game - and to this point less than 2,100 have been showing up for home games - you’ve heard that refrain. In fact, if you’ve been to a game you’ve probably heard that refrain ringing in your head for hours afterward.

“I don’t know how many times he says it, but it’s a lot,” said guard David Adams.

Graham has said it so many times that press row has considered lobbying for it to be kept as an official stat. At least it would be something to count in between the Cougars’ 18.4 turnovers per game.

But what’s flabbergasting is that even after all that complex coaching choreography, the players continue to stand still.

“Sometimes, guys get caught watching the ball,” said Adams. “Somebody has the ball and you are waiting for them to go 1-on-1, so you get caught standing and watching. Or the guy with the ball is standing there, trying to figure out what he wants to do - take the shot, dribble it or pass, and guys just get frozen.”

Or, and this seems to be the case most often with the Cougars, the ball is passed around the perimeter from guard to guard, nobody sets a solid screen, nobody is moving and nobody will dare enter the ball to the post. So what usually happens is that somebody manufactures a shot by breaking down his man.

Against weaker teams like Portland State and University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, that’s fine because the Cougars are more talented than their opponents.

In losses to the more-talented Utah and Colorado State, that strategy did not work. In both games, Washington State had a stretch of more than 6 minutes without a field goal.

“A lot of it is focusing,” said Graham about his 4-3 team. “And setting screens.”

The Cougars, even in practice, fail to pass and pick. In practice this week, two players stood still while Marcus Moore struggled with the ball at the top of the key. The haphazard offense was whistled to a stop. The two offenders were instructed to set screens. Play started again. And miraculously, an open shot became available and was converted.

“If we screen, some guys are going to get open shots,” said Adams, the main beneficiary of those screens. “It’s just the fact that we have got to come out and do that on a consistent basis.”

To do that on a consistent basis, the Cougars must: A. Want to. B. Figure out what a legal screen is.

The NCAA has new rules in place to limit the contact in games. One of the points of emphasis is illegal screening. While it is true that the officials have not figured out how to consistently make this call, the WSU players have also not figured out how to set a solid screen without leaning or sliding into the opposing player.

So what happens is a player tries to set a screen. Instead, he sets a sloppy screen and picks up a cheap foul. Adams said those whistles, or even the potential for a whistle, does somewhat affect a player’s willingness to set screens.

Illegal screens are also costing the Cougars turnovers.

“A lot of our turnovers on offense are unforced,” said Graham. “Cedric (Clark), he walks with the ball when nobody’s guarding him, or we carry it or we set illegal screens.”

The Cougars’ offense also bogs down because they do not have solid, experienced leadership at the point. Point guard Moore, who was off limits for an interview for the second time this year, is a freshman and does not have hold of the offensive reins just yet.

So when the offense breaks down, he is not mature enough yet to step up and tell his teammates what to do. Instead, Moore, the most talented of the Cougars, is apt to force the ball. That’s why he is averaging four turnovers and only 3.3 assists a game.

“Marcus can create a shot a lot of the time, but we shouldn’t have to rely on that,” said Adams. “We need to rely on our offense to get a shot. When everybody does their job and does what they are supposed to do, the offense works great,” he continued. “If you get the ball and your job is to reverse, then reverse the ball. If your job is to screen, then screen.

If you do it, it works.” It had better, because the Pacific-10 Conference season starts in less than two weeks.