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Whatever happened to sticking with Bennett Ball?

I know Bone went off course a bit -- a little bit more "run and gun" -- but I have always been puzzled why we just didn't stick with a system that kind of worked.

Play tight defense (full court press).
Milk the clock on offense.
Take high % offensive shots with about 5 seconds left on the shot clock.

It just always seemed to me you could recruit and find kids to fit in that system. Largely because not a lot of D1 teams play with that scheme.

Are present day receivers just physically weak?

And I'm not just talking about our guys. The ASU guys aren't going up and fighting for the ball either.

I mean, are we that far removed from the Hills, Bumpus's and Darlings that kids just don't know how to do it anymore?

Vince is a huge physical presence, but unless the ball is thrown within arm's length he isn't going to get it. (and sometimes not even then...)

It's just mind-boggling.


edit - and then Mayle makes a liar out of me... smh.

edit x2 - and Meyers makes me a double liar. about to delete this thread. Were they reading it on the sideline?

This post was edited on 11/22 11:31 AM by BleedCrimsonandGray

This post was edited on 11/22 11:47 AM by BleedCrimsonandGray

How will Mariota do in the NFL?

He's looking like a lock for the Heisman, and possibly the first overall pick. It's also looking like it will be a 4-way race for him between Tampa Bay, the Rams, the Jets and possibly even the Skins. The other bad teams have already hitched their wagons to other QBs very recently (Vikings, Jags, Raiders). If he doesn't go in the first few, you could also see Tennessee, Houston or Buffalo.

He's a great dual threat QB with excellent mobility and decent (not great) pocket presence. Also seems like a likable, humble, laid back kid who stayed out of trouble and has good character.

He could end up a Russell Wilson-type guy and have success, but I think it's more likely that he struggles at the next level. I guess the "problem" with the draft is that the top picks are often these great athletes who come from situations where their team is WAY better than all the other teams, and they get picked by the worst teams in the NFL to come in and often play with slightly inferior players, schemes and coaches. After all, it's not an accident that bad teams are bad.

For (most) of his career at Oregon, he's had the best coaches, the best facilities, the best team doctors and extraneous staff, great OL, elite receivers and backs. He will next go to a place like DC where suddenly all those advantages are gone and he's running for his life against the best in the business. Hard to hone your pocket presence as a mediocre pocket QB when you're running for your life and throwing to maybe a single #1 receiver, and your defense can't get you back on the field. His entire career he's had backs and receivers running wild with no defenders in sight; that ends about 9 months from now.

I think if he survives his first couple of years on a bad team he will succeed, but the graveyard of great college QBs whose careers fizzled on a bad team is a vast one.

As I write, a possible sign of things to come: he's on a goal-and-short situation, he's had to move around in the pocket, he fakes a pass and two defenders jump... instead of seeing his opening and barreling forward for the score he collapses on the ground untouched like an omega dog rolling over and asking the alpha to spare its life.

Connor interview on KJR right now

Just taking some notes. Mostly paraphrased. But a good interview, I'm sure it'll be up on podcast tonight or tomorrow.

Already doing rehab, had surgery immediately following the USC game 3 weeks ago. Thinks he'll be good to go for WSU Pro Day. Said he might possibly still get a combine invite but won't be able to physically participate. But teams will want to go through interviews and see how the leg is progressing.

Said seeing Falk play so well really picked him up and thinks he will probably break every record he owns now, and even some of the ones he doesn't. He won't have to really say much to him to help him prepare for the magnitude of a game like the Apple Cup, that Luke is so beyond where other QB's are at that age, and that he's "annoyingly competitive". That Falk is already pretty close to the same level of understanding of the game as a Freshman, as Connor is now as a senior.

Mentioned he became good friends with Cody Kessler at the Manning Camp and appreciated his gesture when the injury happened.

When he signed in 2010 he said he wanted to be the guy to bring us back to a bowl game and bring WSU back into the national spotlight. Feels like he accomplished so much even though the record this year has taken a dip.

Said the program today can't even be compared to what he walked into when he arrived. Mentioned things "not being done the right way" and the desperate need for facilities which has all happened. He said he never seriously thought about walking away throughout all
the turmoil and struggle after Leach took over and the player turnover was heavy. He wanted to be at WSU, and be remembered
amongst guys like Gesser, Ryp and Leaf.

Appreciates everything Leach has done for him, said they have a great relationship now even though they had a really rocky start at the beginning. Leach put a ton of direct pressure on him to go in one of two directions, either step up and lead or to walk away, which he embraced and he's thankful for it.

Said Apple Cup is going to be really tough for him, not sure how he's going to handle it emotionally, not being able to be out there on Senior Day to play his last game against UW.

Louisiana DE planning January visit...

New Orleans (La.) Brother Martin defensive end Brendon Hayes says he'll visit Washington State in January. The two-star does not yet have an exact date picked out but he fully expects to visit.

In addition to the Cougars, who offered a couple weeks ago, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound defensive end holds offers from Mississippi State, Tulane, Central Florida, Wake Forest, Western Kentucky and several others.

WSU women's basketball

For those who have not noticed, Daugherty and her girls are on a hell of a roll. Started out the Idaho State game 40-0. Good Lord! Been watching various sports for half a century and never heard of anyone starting out a bb game by scoring the first forty points. O.K., maybe ISU is not that good but still...

And check out the LOI's on the official website. They signed the #1 and #3 international players available. Also the So. Dakota women's bb player of the year. A 6' g-f from Bulgaria rated #1 internationally, a 6'4" c from Portugal rated #3, and a 5'11' g from So. Dakota. The pick up of the two European girls is particularly impressive. The Bulgarian kid was the European MVP in 2011 during the under 16 championships, the 2014 MVP in the under 18 championships. 28 ppg, 7 rpg and 2 apg. The 6'4" center was the 2013 MVP in the under 16 European championships. 14 ppg and 11 rpg. The guard from South Dakota hit 20 ppg with 4 rpg, 2 apg and 3 spg. One pretty impressive haul. Again, check out the official website.

Watched the ISU highlights on same website. Passing and teamwork was excellent. Yes, highlights show only the best but I have not seen one of our women's teams play like that.

Will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out.

Another offer out to St. Brown trio...

Washington State completed the trifecta by offering Anaheim (Calif.) Servite 2018 athlete Amon-Ra St. Brown on Thursday as Dennis Simmons was at the school on Thursday checking in on Amon-Ra's older brothers, Equanimeous and Osiris. The Cougars have already offered Equanimous, a four-star receiver, a Osiris, a top prospect in the 2017 class.

Utah has also offered the three brothers and Equanimeous recently took a visit out to Utah. Last summer, Equanimeous, who is cousins with Washington State linebacker Greg Hoyd, unofficially visited Washington State with the Cougars' freshman linebacker.

Currently, Equanimeous holds no favorites and is open to all suitors, having already taken visits to Notre Dame and Utah. WSU still has Equanimeous as one of their top prospects and would love to get him on campus for another visit, but there have been no plans as of now to do that. I'll touch base with him later today to see how the visit with Simmons went.
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