The guys have put together a nice bounceback run after dropping 9 straight(ugh), during that absolutely brutal scheduling stretch. Yeah yeah excuses...That really long 7 game road trip during Spring Break, and then immediately turning around and having to take on UCLA when they get back. Just a recipe for disaster.

They've won 4 of the last 5, due to some really good pitching and D that has been keeping them in games.

The schedule gets incredibly more manageable on the backend with series still left against Oregon, Utah and Stanford, none of whom are formidable. And Arizona also comes to Pullman, so hopefully we can have a weekend of semi-crappy weather and their bats cool off.

It's good to see them battling though. I think a lot of people are willing to write off Don after the last few years, but just like hoops, we are in a facilities black hole, and all of the money is getting pumped into football right now. Hopefully they can keep battling and scratch out a season on the right side of .500

What's with this site all of a sudden? Is it dead? I guess it IS that time of year.... but a new photo on the front page wouldn't hurt every now and then to keep interest up. Just sayin.

Compliments of the Bleacher Report today. go to the Spurs NBA.com team site for clips of Baynes' numerous recent plays.



The Physical Force That Is Aron Baynes


San Antonio would be hard-pressed to physically hide Aron Baynes, who slams his 6'10", 260-pound frame around in the post, but some NBA-watchers still don't know about him yet.







D. Clarke Evans/Getty Images



Baynes spent his first two seasons as an end-of-the-bench reserve, pounding away in garbage time or if Tiago Splitter sustained an injury-which isn't a rare occurrence. After re-signing last summer, however, Baynes has taken on more responsibilities.

The Washington State product has amassed career-high numbers, scoring 6.5 points and grabbing 4.6 rebounds over 15.9 minutes. What's more, Baynes has managed a 9.6-point, 6.7-rebound average during 15 starts.

His biggest contribution is, well, being big and physical. Baynes hasn't backed down from any opponent, trying to throw each one like a rag-doll-sometimes successfully, too.





San Antonio is never better at defensive rebounding than when Baynes is clearing space down low. The Spurs' 79.1 percent clip and Baynes' plus-2.4 difference are the highest collective and individual marks by any everyday player.

Though the efficiency of San Antonio's starters dips when he's in the lineup, Baynes has proven himself as a capable replacement for Splitter. However, as long as the Brazilian is healthy, Baynes can return to the second unit, where he's been a force.

Per NBA.com, the five-man unit of Baynes, Marco Belinelli, Diaw, Ginobili and Mills has compiled a 100.2 offensive rating compared to a stellar 75.9 defensive mark. When substituting Joseph for Mills, the numbers change to 106.1 and 87.6, respectively.

At this rate, it won't take much longer for casual fans to know Baynes' name. He's a fixture in the Spurs' rotation-and impossible to miss.

Britton is around anymore. He has not posted anything in a week. The twitter on the front page now lists tweets from Wazzuwatch.com instead of Britton K. Ransford. I do know he is still tweeting Mariners things on his twitter page, so he is around.

In addition, he would have been all over Kent signing a new JC point guard in Charles Callison. Instead, crickets.


This post was edited on 4/9 1:55 PM by Coug1990

Here is Coach Wilson's answer, per his twitter:


38m38 minutes ago
99% of Football Teams run 3-4 and 4-3 defenses! So the answer to the question R U a 3-4 or 4-3 Scheme; is Yes! Just Clearing up Confusion!

So this was before the Medical School was approved but you can see where it's in the plan. It's pretty extensive, it's pretty lengthy. But WOW, do they have plans for Spokane!

WSU Spokane Master Plan

A true Coug...

http://www.cougcenter.com/2015/3/28/8305373/bobo-brayton-legendary-wsu-baseball-coach-dies-at-89

We've been beaten down and become jaded as a fan base. Losing can do that. We are all humans and get emotional regarding our beloved alma mater.

However, I have a feeling things are going to dramatically shift. You can't keep a good man down and we're due for a positive surprise. Improvement is not linear and Leach has made several positive intangible changes within the program. Is 2015 the year we break through? I'm not sure, but it wouldn't be the first time a Cougar team was expected to bottom feed and made some noise in the Pac.

Just a feeling...flame away.

This guy can flat fly.Fastforward to 1:52. He'd be playing this season had he transferred to USC or Oregon.

This post was edited on 4/8 5:50 PM by YakiCoug

Priester is a speedster

One a Juco SG/SF Brandon Rosser the other a Euro Andy Van Vliet. Rosser is getting looks from WSU and Van Vliet will visit WSU along with some others.

I got kind of intrigued toward the end of a rather long thread by a comment from Bleed, who was responding to another poster. It is a slow news day, and I thought this might make an interesting topic to kick off a new thread.

The reference is to Walden's comment that Jimmies and Joes beat X's and O's; in other words, a sufficient difference in talented athletes can beat any coach's strategizing.

This comment, however, was in the context of the kick/punt units, and which is more important…the team sticking to the plan as coached, or the athletic ability of those carrying it out?

Here is my thought. Please feel free to shoot at this.



There are definitely aspects of ST where X's and O's beat Jimmies and Joes, but not across the board.

Your punt and kick returners had better be Jimmies and Joes. The same is true for your gunners on the punt team. The kickers, holders and long snapper are so specialized, I'm not sure how to characterize them.

But for the bulk of the coverage units, lane discipline is more important than athleticism. You can survive with a good athlete who has excellent lane discipline and is smart enough to read the field ahead of him. You cannot survive with an NFL caliber athlete who abandons lane discipline and does not do a good job of reading the field. Of course, when you have guys who are not NFL caliber athletes who also abandon lane discipline, you have the worst of both worlds, and that was the WSU kickoff team last year. It isn't so clear cut with a punt unit, but the principles are the same.

As for the return units, you can teach an average D1 athlete how to identify his target (whether you are zone or man blocking) and execute an open field block. If you have 6 or 7 lead blockers doing that job correctly on a kick return, or the same number executing a well drilled wall or other punt return formation, you will occasionally break a long one. And you will seldom have a complete fail. Sure, as is always the case, if one guy is a better athlete and is just as good between the ears as the lesser athlete, then the better athlete will win most of those battles. But when a return requires team discipline to execute, and one or two flubs blows the whole thing, you have to take the guys who have it between the ears first, regardless of whether they are your best Jimmy or Joe.

One more thought. Learning to block in the open field is a totally different process than blocking along the LOS. It requires instruction and practice, or it is too easy for a defender to juke or evade the blocker. Back in the '60's, '70's and early '80's we could just throw a cross body block and if that was properly executed, it would at the very least delay the defender. Injury issues caused that to be removed from the list of legal blocks, and what is now legal is harder to do effectively and takes practice. And more practice. It is pretty clear to me that the required amount of open field blocking practice did not happen previously at WSU (with the exception of WR's, who have consistently been exposed to it). Who knows if it will happen now? Particularly on kick returns, IMO you would be better off making up a unit of reasonably mobile and coordinated scrubs and doing nothing but coaching kick returns for half of every practice, as opposed to spending 10 minutes 3 days per week with the better athletes.


Comments?

This post was edited on 4/8 7:58 AM by cr8zyncalif

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/apr/04/wsu-could-be-going-under-center-more-next-season/

From the article:

"I think these quarterbacks are more inclined in that direction," Leach said. "Just one of the idiosyncrasies with Connor (Halliday), he's more of a (shot)gun guy, and we'll always be a gun team, anyway, so that'll always be a bigger part of it.

I had discussions with several folk about this exact point. I realize much of Air Raid is that the "pass is a run," but it seemed to me that Halliday was better oriented toward a shotgun offense. It seems tough to run play action from shotgun. I think those extra few steps with the fake make selling the run easier. And somebody more mobile (Is Falk more mobile?) can make those few snaps under center more interesting.

And there was another good tidbit:

Now that Mastro has some downhill running backs to work with - sophomore Gerard Wicks, who is now 220 pounds, has had a particularly good spring - he suggested to Leach that the Cougars incorporate an under-center look to take advantage of their talents.

And perhaps that was the reason our O was reluctant to be under center. The run just wasn't enough of a threat.

This post was edited on 4/6 3:09 PM by Suudy

It may just be me, but it seems that connection between the fans or alumni and the football program seems to be dwindling over the past few years. Maybe its just me, but it seems more difficult to understand what is truly going on in Pullman. Who is on the roster, who is injured,coaches thoughts on players? All seem like easy things to learn about your football program.Except in Pullman, seems like everything is held close to vest and only the bare minimum is available for the fans and alumni. Seems like a disconnect there. Thank goodness Mr Moos hired Jason Gesser. He atleast can verbalize to the fans his opinion on the goings on. Does not seem like the coaching staff is interested. Coach Kent is a breath of fresh air when it comes to coaching the players and working with the alumni and fans. Ok....just a rant. Feel free to tear it up. Go Cougs!

Duke just creamed Michigan State and it looks like Wiscy (where I am right now oddly enough) is about to snap UK's historic season.

Who are you rooting for?

None of us has a dog in this fight, but it annoys the s--- out of me that there is always some cockamamie team with [limited] potential who always plays the foil to the destiny team. I would like to witness history and see UK go 40-0 just to see it in my lifetime. The Hoosiers doing it when Gerald Ford was President means nothing IMO, just like the early days of the "NFL." This is the era of cradle-to-grave athletes and one-and-dones. This UK team--and really a lot of teams in this era--would obliterate the undefeated Hoosiers team by at least 40, and to see 40-0 in my lifetime would be a treat.

Course, there is always a team that gets hot with the 3s at exactly the right time, or uncharacteristically begins to miss a bunch of layups etc. (like UK).

i think the lesson from UK's now-imminent loss is, it is so much easier to play to win (35-3 Wiscy) than it is to play not to lose.(38-0 UK).

According to brand X , Charles Callison a Cal juco has committed to the cougs. He averaged 11.8 pts and 1.8 assts per game and 2.5 rbs.He shot 42.7 % from 3 pt land,46 FGP and 77 % FTP. He is a 6'0 180 pd s and was his conference's player of the year.Hopefully he is very good on defense.

This post was edited on 4/6 3:56 PM by ElComanche

All sports grade this calendar year.

Men's D-

Women's C+

Combined D

As indicated yesterday, Vionte Daniels is a 2015 WSU commit.

Connor Clifford had a "good visit" over the weekend but did not commit.

JUCO PG Marcus Johnson did not include WSU in his 5 visits which are now setup.

I wasn't. The we won't play you unless it's 2 in Spokane, 1 in Pullman scenario was probably the kicker for me.

An update on the med school thing. Our future looks bright...

How WSU beat odds in fight to create med school

At first, the idea of 3 safeties and two CB's on the field, with a safety subbing for your slowest OLB, seems like a no brainer for defending the typical spread team…or even the typical read option team, as far as that goes.

What do you give up as a D when you do that? If you are subbing for your slowest OLB, it is probably also your biggest OLB, so maybe something like 20+ pounds. The benefits of the speed are easy to see. What about the downside? "From this chair", to quote the latest grossly overused trite-ism from Brand X, my concerns would be:

- A safety may be easier for a WR to block.
- A safety would have a tougher time taking on a TE if a TE were in the game.
- Losing your bigger OLB suggests that an off tackle run should work better if you have the O line to do that…more of a concern against a good read option team than a spread team, but true for both.

I would not call it a concern, but it seems to me that you would probably be in a 4 man front in most nickel situations. That might mean subbing a 4 man front DE type into the game for our normal DE, and probably putting the Buck on the LOS.

I'm not sure that a nickel really gives up anything from a "between the tackles" running standpoint, and on a sweep the speed benefit would seem to be as important as the lesser ability to take on a blocker, so it is only off tackle runs that seem like an issue. For a lot of spread teams, you almost want to cheat in favor of pass coverage and try to force a few more running plays, so maybe that is not a bad thing. I think you might say the same for a read option team if your D line was good, but the nickel probably puts a bit bigger premium on getting good D line play.

Just my $0.02, but I can see at least 3-4 PAC teams where a well run nickel might pay some real benefits. And if the package is oriented toward blitzing with a safety instead of one of the two remaining LB's, it might even have some pass pressure benefits. High risk/potential high reward, but certainly something to worry an offensive coordinator.

Three-star wide receiver Simi Fehoko of Salt Lake City Brighton tells me Washington State is one of the schools recruiting him the hardest... The other is Washington.

There is another active thread on here about how our fan interest seems to be declining, which prompted me to look at some stats. I hand calculated these stats, so they may be off by a game or two, but not much.

Check this out.

Our conference home record (Pullman games only) since 2008 is 4-26


We're 0-6 at Century Link Field since 2008We haven't won consecutive home conference games since 2003 Since 2003, we've only won consecutive home games (including non-conference) twice; 2011 vs. Idaho State and UNLV, and 2013 vs. Southern Utah and Idaho
A lot of people use bowl games as the barometer for success, and it typically is, but I think our performance in Martin Stadium is one of the most important things for OUR FANBASE.

When you sit back and look at these stats and consider the investment that our season ticket holders (donors) make; drive hundreds of miles, pay excessive hotel fees, navigate mountain passes and/or deal with frigid weather 1/2 the season, pay RV permit fees, deal with inconvenient parking, etc., it's a wonder we draw as many fans as we do.

We've won 4 conference home games over the past 7 years. Wow.

drawing the wrath of the Negative Nancies out there, has anyone seen the April 2 practice recap video? If not, check it out, and look for No. 87 Daniel Lilienthal around the 1:40 mark take a short pass to the house. He's a redshirt senior from Hemet, Ca./Mt. San Jacinto CC. Leach has commented quite favorably about Lilienthal's making a name for himself. With the loss of Galvin, Mayle, and Myers, it's great to see someone step up. Let's hope he keeps it up.

No. 87

FYI -
Link on the official site (below) has a short video of today's pro day for Halliday & Mayle. They didn't show a lot of video of his footwork, but Connor didn't look like the leg bothered him much.

Mayle dropped his 40 time to 4.5 (unofficially), so maybe helped himself after his slow time in the combine.

WSU site

Calling mine and my wife's phone and hanging up.

I realize its a dialer, but anyone else experienced this?