Pac-10 honors Kelati
PULLMAN – Now that most of the big losing streaks are behind them after beating No. 11 Arizona in Tucson on Saturday, Washington State basketball coach Dick Bennett said his players face a much greater foe – themselves.
“Human nature is always the toughest opponent after success,” Bennett said. “You’re so comfortable after a win that to get past that comfort level is difficult.”
Based on that, it might seem inappropriate to look forward to what could be in this, Bennett’s second season at WSU. But for the Cougars (9-9, 4-5 Pac-10), beating Arizona has a chance to swing their season dramatically.
A loss would have sent WSU home with a four-game losing streak and fighting uphill in the second nine conference games to secure a berth in the Pac-10 tournament. (Only the top eight teams are invited.)
But the win has positioned WSU for better things. Five of the final nine games are in Pullman, and should the Cougars win any combination of five games over the rest of the season, be they at home, on the road, or in the conference tournament, they would clinch a .500 record for the year.
That’s the minimum requirement for a team to make the NIT, and with the Cougars’ overwhelming strength of schedule, currently No. 12 in the nation, they might be a tough team to turn away even if they are only 14-14 at year’s end.
“We really do have a legitimate shot because we played a tough, tough schedule,” said Thomas Kelati, the Pac-10 player of the week after pouring in 27 points in the 70-63 upset win.
The senior guard from Walla Walla is the first Cougar since December 2001 to claim the honor.
“We’ve come out with some good victories and now we’re going into the second half of the season with some momentum,” Kelati added.
“All we ever heard from people is how great it is to make postseason play. We did last year a little bit with the Pac-10 tournament, and it was fun. But we want to take it a step further.”
Bennett, while complimeting Kelati on the award and still reveling in the positive attention from the win, said he has no intentions of realigning his thinking on the rest of the season just because of one good afternoon.
“It was a moment in time that the basketball world was looking at us, and there haven’t been many of those, except for the streaks and the bad games,” he said. “I don’t reset goals or anything like that. I just feel that we demonstrated a high level of play and I would like to be able to sustain some of that.”
Gill opts for surgery
Not all the news was good at Monday’s practice for WSU. Bennett revealed that senior forward Shami Gill’s career is over, as he has decided with his family that surgery is the best option to relieve chronic back problems.
Gill visited an uncle who is a neurosurgeon in the Phoenix area while traveling with the team last week. The decision was then made to call it quits on his basketball career and focus on getting healthy.
The senior played his last game on Dec. 31 against Stanford, then left practice early the next day because of the injury. He hasn’t played since, and what was originally thought to be a day-to-day problem turned into a career-ender.
“I really wanted him to be able to return for a lot of reasons,” Bennett said. “But his overall health and his future is far more important.”
Gill averaged 2.9 points and 3.8 rebounds a game this season.
Notes
Junior guard Randy Green‘s status is in question this week because of a leg injury. Green has experienced pain for about a month, and WSU decided to hold him out of practice Monday and take X-rays. … Warm up the VCRs: Fox Sports Northwest is replaying the Cougars’ streak-breaker against Arizona at 8 p.m. Wednesday. The unranked Cougars, playing on the road, are a seven-point favorite over the No. 11 Wildcats.