Familiar Cougars change with experience
PULLLMAN – When Washington State’s men’s basketball team takes the practice floor tonight at 7 to officially begin the 2007-08 season, there will be plenty of familiar faces.
But in a sense, everything will be different.
Last year was Tony Bennett’s first as a head coach. The Cougars were coming off an 11-17 season, which included a 4-14, last-place Pac-10 record. They were picked to finish in the cellar again.
Instead, the Cougars accomplished the following in 12 months:
“Posted a 26-8 overall record, the most wins since before World War II;
“Finished second in the Pac-10 with a 13-5 mark, with more conference wins than any WSU squad since George Raveling’s 1982-83 team;
“Won an NCAA tournament game for the first time since that same Raveling team;
“Had two players, Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver, named to the Pac-10 first team and the U.S. Pan-American Games squad;
“Toured as a team through Australia and New Zealand;
“And are now headed into the 2007-08 season ranked as high as seventh in the nation by national publications.
Quite a difference, huh, Coach Bennett? In some ways, yes, Bennett admits, but not in the program’s core values.
“Last year, we knew who we were,” Bennett said this week. “We were picked 10th (in the Pac-10) going into the season but … they knew we had been close. We’ve been knocking on the door. The preseason predictions are not going to destroy us.
“The same applies this year – we know who we are. So some of the preseason rankings have ranked us really high, again, if we truly know who we are, don’t think too highly (of ourselves) or too lowly, then we are in the right spot. When we do things right, we’ll be successful. When we don’t, we’re very susceptible. That mentality will really help.”
The Cougars put an end to last season’s surprising success with the trip Down Under, a six-game tour that was preceded by 10 days of practice.
“Being in Australia, with my teammates, it helped build confidence,” Weaver said. “It also gave me a start on my leadership role I’ll have to play into this season.”
“In a sense our preparation for this ‘07-08 year started with those practices,” Bennett said. “I’m glad we took it and I’m glad we took it in June. We got to work on some things. We got to say, ‘Last year was great, we enjoyed it, now that’s done.’
“I don’t want them to take nothing from last year. I want them to take the experience and the confidence they gained, but as far as the thought that success will help them win games this year, they know that’s not true.”
With all that behind them, WSU takes a solid nucleus into preseason practice, with six of the top seven players returning – seniors Low, Weaver and Robbie Cowgill, and juniors Aron Baynes, Taylor Rochestie and Daven Harmeling – along with Nicola Koprivica, who started at UCLA last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury against Oregon. Koprivica has been cleared to practice but will have to take it slowly, according to Bennett.
The Cougars usually use an eight-man rotation, so the first few weeks of practice could see intense competition for playing time between the remainder of the roster.
“There are six guys in our program who have a lot of Pac-10 games under their belt,” Bennett said. “They are all upperclassmen and have played a lot. Then you get into the rest of the guys, and you could make a case for everyone of those guys being able to fight for time.
“Whether you play nine or 10 deep, this year, however deep you decide to go, there is going to be some legitimate competition for those positions.”
Newcomers Fabian Boeke, Abe Lodwick and Stephen Sauls along with returnees Thomas Abercrombie, who redshirted last year, Jeremy Cross and Caleb Forrest are all in the Cougars’ mix this season.