Left-hander’s compliment

PULLMAN – The first time Washington State basketball coach Tony Bennett heard a report on Taylor Rochestie, it came back positive, in a fashion.

Bennett was an assistant for his dad, Dick, at the time, and another assistant, Ben Johnson, was sent to scout out the prospects of the guard from Santa Barbara High in California.

“Ben said he thought we were similar in how we play,” said Bennett, adding Johnson was his best friend in junior high and his college roommate. “Some of the hesitation, using craftiness to get into the lane, that sort of stuff.”

Was Johnson right?

“If you ask me who I am most like on this team as a player, I would probably lean more toward Taylor,” Bennett said.

To watch parts of Rochestie’s game today – the 6-foot-1 junior has followed a winding road in becoming the Cougars’ starting point guard – harkens back to Wisconsin in the late 1980s.

But let’s ask someone who would really know: Dick, who coached his son at Wisconsin-Green Bay and coached and watched Rochestie at WSU.

“I would say the size and the fact they are both predominately left-handed is what attracts people to the comparison,” he said, speaking by phone before heading to Tennessee to play golf. “But they are different in more ways then they are alike, to be perfectly honest.”

The elder Bennett pointed to the different demands each faced on the court – Tony was Green Bay’s leading scorer – and some physical qualities in strength and explosiveness as major differences. But he also sees some key comparisons.

“In terms of temperament, they a very similar,” Dick Bennett said. “I like the way Taylor handles himself on the court. He’s poised. I see that same presence of mind Tony had in Taylor. He’s not afraid to take the big shot.

“In that regard they are very similar. Willing to make the play when it has to be made at a critical time.”

Just don’t point out similarities in their shot, which happened in a recent interview.

“I don’t know if I’m offended by that or not, I have to think about that,” Tony Bennett said, laughing. “I think lefties, you look at them, and it just looks the same.”

“That’s a big compliment, because he has a nice-looking stroke,” Rochestie said.

Not only nice looking, but about as good as it gets in college. In four years at Green Bay, Bennett converted 49.7 percent of his 584 3-pointers, still an NCAA record.

Despite being a 6-foot guard, he also hit 52.8 percent of all his shots, 84 percent of his free throws, averaged 19.4 points a game and was drafted in the second round of the NBA draft by the Charlotte Hornets in 1992.

Rochestie, who began his college career at Tulane but, after a knee injury and Hurricane Katrina, transferred to WSU, is hitting 48.5 percent of his 3-pointers this year, shooting 55.2 percent from the field and converting 75 percent of his free throws. He also averages 5.1 assists per game, which just happens to be his coach’s collegiate average.

His key statistic this season, however, is a better than 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio (61 assists, 26 turnovers), a crucial number for ballhandlers. In the last three games, all easy wins, he’s been nearly perfect, with 17 assists and two turnovers.

That came on the heels of a stretch in which he turned the ball over 14 times in two games, earning some not-so-positive comments from his coach.

“I think I let my guard down for two games and forgot the soundness I have to play with,” said Rochestie. “I had a couple of interviews where they asked me about the turnovers and I just sat down after that and just said, ‘You know what, for this team to have success our point guard has to be sound and can’t make those mental mistakes.’ “

A 17-to-2 ratio may be hard to continue, since the Cougars open Pac-10 play tonight at Washington, and the competition will get stiffer in a hurry.

“Now we will go into a pretty intense environment with a lot of physicalness and quickness, that will be certainly tested,” said Bennett. “The next games, all three games, pretty much all conference … there will be a premium on ballhandling.”

That’s been an emphasis recently at practice, with Rochestie being pushed by Bennett to make the right decisions with the ball. Sometimes, the push can become a vocal shove.

“He’s a point guard, so that right there puts him at an unfair disadvantage at getting chewed out more, of having more things demanded of him,” Bennett said. “But I think he’s a very capable and talented kid, so maybe my fuse will be a little shorter when I’ve seen him do things and then he doesn’t (reach that level).”

No matter the reason, Rochestie appreciates the interaction.

“We do clash sometimes, because Coach always wants us to get better,” he said. “A good thing about him is he sees the potential in all of us and he holds us to high standards. When he see us play our best, that’s the standard he holds us to.”

Rochestie, who made headlines earlier this season when he gave up next year’s scholarship so the Cougars could add another freshman recruit, understands his role, no matter the competition.

“It’s not to force the issue,” he said, referring back to the high-turnover games. “It’s just sticking with the basics. Making the game easy. … Being here at Washington State, I really learned the principle of putting the team first, you second.

“When you put the team first, you’re not going to force the issue, you’re not going to make the flashy pass, you’re going to make the easy pass or try to on a consistent basis.”

Sounds a lot like his coach.