Cougs can’t make it too fine a point
Hmm. Looks like Camelot could use a new coat of paint.
That’s one prescription, anyway.
Surely there are already votes out there for major remodeling, or even to blow it up completely and rebuild. Basketball at Washington State has been such a reliable mood enhancer these past 15 months that even one defeat seems to trigger panic spasms among Cougizens, so you can imagine the tenor now that coach Tony Bennett’s guys have dropped three of their last four.
The Cougs meet big, bad UCLA on Thursday night, and don’t be surprised to find a sign posted on the Beasley Coliseum door: Abandon all faith, ye who enter here.
Desperation is probably irrational, but also understandable. At least, Robbie Cowgill understands.
“Losing two in a row at home? Not since the tough old days,” said the Cougars’ senior forward. “And it’s almost what this feels like, after a loss like this.”
Like the Cougars’ 67-65 overtime setback at the hands of 14th-ranked Stanford, he meant – the end of a lost weekend for the No. 9 Cougars that did indeed have some elements of the teeth-gnashing character builders of the pre-Tony takeover. That is to say, it was as ugly as a bucket of boils, incredibly hard-fought and teetered on a handful of plays the Cougars didn’t make when they needed to be made.
“And that shouldn’t be us,” Cowgill said.
It hasn’t been them. Maybe that’s why the public panic.
Bennett isn’t partaking, though he took note of the Cougars’ 5-4 record at the midway point of the Pac-10 season and suggested that it’s probably time for his players to find another gear.
“In this league, either you improve or you get left behind,” he said. “If you stay the same, it’s not good enough.”
Those who aren’t perspective impaired could point out that at the midpoint a year ago, the Cougars were only a game to the better – 6-3 – with one more home game in hand. And Bennett might wrinkle his nose at the relevance.
“Someone asked me (Friday), ‘What’s the difference between this year’s team and last year’s team?’ ” he said. “I said, ‘The competition we’re playing in the league.’ It’s a different deal.”
This is generally the prologue to Bennett’s chorus about the narrow right-of-way the Cougs must traverse to success, with little to no room for even average play. The fine line, he calls it. What gets left unsaid is that in the Pac-10 meat grinder, the same goes for the rest of the teams – OK, not UCLA, but certainly Stanford, which managed to overcome the absence of guard Anthony Goods to a sprained ankle.
Meanwhile, the Cougars couldn’t overcome the absence of center Aron Baynes, who was actually in the game for 15 minutes, though it seemed maybe half that. Nor could they overcome some uncharacteristic misfires at the foul line – 6 of 10 in the last 150 seconds of regulation when one more make would have made this a different conversation.
“I think our butts got tight,” said guard Kyle Weaver, who’s now a lock for the all-candor team.
Bennett took heart in an uptick in Wazzu’s passion and defense – at least until the final five minutes, when the stops stopped. That must and will remain a Bennett priority, but there are other issues:
“Baynes’ recent inability to stay in games, either because of fouls or matchup problems.
“The rotation isn’t going to get any deeper than eight players, but WSU’s bench accounted for 61 points in the first four Pac-10 games, and just 25 the last five. Daven Harmeling was 1 of 8 with four rebounds for the weekend.
“The losses to Arizona and Cal underscored how wedded success is to the production of guard Derrick Low, who bounced back nicely with 19 points Saturday, though nothing in the last 10 minutes.
“Sometimes a do-everything player winds up doing too much. That may be the case with Weaver, who had a double-double and whose aggressiveness got him to the foul line 19 times. It also produced some too-early jumpers and too-tough fadeaways, and the Cougars’ premier defender chased Stanford’s Lawrence Hill with little success.
“There’s times he forced – there’s times all of our guys force,” Bennett said. “In a game with great defense, you can’t stand there and be so hesitant – you have to attack. We talk about the fine line of being patient, sound but aggressive. It sounds crazy, but that’s really what it is.”
It’s also this:
“We need Derrick to play well,” Bennett admitted. “He’s a key guy to score. I think we need Aron to play well, and Kyle. We rely on those guys. When those guys are playing well, it really makes a difference.”
And if just one isn’t, well, then the line gets even finer.
“We’ve lost three of the last four – and it could have been four of four,” said Cowgill. “It’s just frustrating, especially when you’re right there and you know you’re good enough to win it at the end – because we’ve done it. But what’s been our strength seems to be going the other way now. We need to get that back.”
He didn’t say desperately. But he might have been thinking it.