Tough task looms for WSU

COUGARS

We’ll say it right up front. This one could get ugly. Which means, according to my up-is-down Pac-10-2010 logic is WSU might just win. But honestly, of all the games I’ve been at this year, that outcome seems the least plausible to me. Read on for why.
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• OK, three things could happen. Cal could be cold, very cold, ice cold, bomb-pop cold. The Bears could be indifferent following their Pac-10 deciding win Thursday – it really wasn’t, but if they think it was, complacency would follow. And WSU could put together an exceptional game. If those three things do occur, then maybe, just maybe, we’re looking at a monumental upset here. But I’m not sure they will. Let’s look at them one by one. … The Bears are the Pac-10’s best shooting team, hitting 47.4 percent of their shots. They are the conference’s second-best 3-point shooting team at 36.8 percent. And, most importantly for WSU’s cause, is they have three outstanding outside scorers. And that’s one too many for WSU to guard in either man or zone. One of the three – Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher or Theo Robertson – will get good looks if only because Reggie Moore and Klay Thompson just aren’t shut down defenders. And when the Bears go small and play Jorge Gutierrez with that trio, the matchups become even tougher for the Cougars. The point is when you give good shooters good looks, sooner or later they are going to make shots. Stopping all the Bears is a fool’s errand. Look for at least one of the big three to go off for a bunch. … Could the Bears play a little lackadaisical? Yes. To me, that’s the best bet today. There is a good chance they are feeling a little cocky, and maybe rightfully so. But just a little lack of concentration might allow the Cougars to hang around. And then the game could get interesting. … Talking with coach Ken Bone yesterday about this team’s progress, he talked about the stretches of good play and the stretches of poor play. In a nutshell, lengthening the former and shortening the latter is the goal and the way of measuring progress. There have actually been flashes of great play – and, conversely of course, some god-awful minutes. If today can be the day the crappy sessions disappear, well then it couldn’t come at a better time.

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• That’s all for now. We’ll be back at halftime. Until then …