Lots and lots of movement today. I am predicting 2-3 key departures for WSU and If we lose Smith, which I think we will, upwards of 5-6.
You just can’t sell these current players on Big Time basketball, when we will be playing in the WCC next year

our recruit out of Cheney poured in 37 points in the 3a vs 4a state all state game

WIBCA all-star basketball weekend: Cheney's Evan Stinson scores 37 points in 3A squad's win​

WSU signee scores 24 points in span of 11:14 as 3A all-stars drill the 4A team at Bellevue College

• TODD MILLES, SBLIVE SPORTS
• MAR 16, 2024 10:25 PM EDT

BELLEVUE, Wash. - The spotlight could have been taken by a number of college-bound standouts at the WIBCA all-star boys basketball game Saturday at Bellevue College.
But Cheney's Evan Stinson felt he had something to prove - and did in a big way.
With a few flicks of the shooting wrist in a short amount of time, the WSU signee took all suspense out of the featured 4A-3A game.
Stinson scored 24 of his game-high 37 points in the first 11:14, including an uncanny display of long-distance shooting range, and the 3A all-stars waltzed out of the college gymnasium with a 141-106 victory over the 4A team.


ADVERTISING

He sank six 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes - from distances where mere mortals could only dream of firing away from.
"Some of those shots were from not your normal high school basketball player," said Glacier Peak boys coach Brian Hill, who oddly enough coached the 3A all-stars while Eastside Catholic coach Brent Merritt coached the 4A team.

Anybody know if Colorado wins their play-in game if it is worth the 2M to the conference that people reference for Tournament games?

14 points at half. Ugly Tony.

Hilton Bets on College Towns With $210 Million Deal​

Lodging giant is acquiring Graduate Hotels, a brand with properties near dozens of college campuses​

It is acquiring Graduate Hotels, a 10-year old company that owns and operates dozens of hotels in some of the country’s biggest college towns, from Ann Arbor, Mich., and Oxford, Miss., to Chapel Hill, N.C. It also owns hotels in the U.K., including one by Cambridge University.

Hilton Chief Executive Chris Nassetta said college towns have been historically underserved by their current hotels, which he said tend to be older, high-end properties central to campus or more boilerplate, limited-service hotels removed from the action.

Graduate properties tend to be closer to the campuses and strive to offer guests a stay that reflects the community. The chain’s Chapel Hill hotel, for example, boasts a replica of Michael Jordan’s University of North Carolina dorm room as well as a plush, carpeted indoor basketball court.

Graduate Hotels owns and operates dozens of properties in some of the country’s biggest college towns, including Ann Arbor, Mich. Photo: Graduate Hotels
The Madison, Wis., hotel’s bar, called Camp Trippalindee, is a nod to the 1986 movie “Back to School,” starring Rodney Dangerfield, that was filmed on the University of Wisconsin campus. Keycards at many of the properties are styled as student ID cards for the nearby school.

College sports events, reunions, parents’ weekends and typical university business will help drive demand at the hotels, Nassetta said. He added that the brand is an opportunity to establish an early relationship with college students and build loyalty with parents. Wrapping the brand in Hilton’s rewards system and infrastructure, Nassetta said, will help supercharge its growth.

“While it is definitely a niche within the industry, it’s a very big niche that we think has a huge addressable market that we’re not really covering,” he said.

Nassetta said he thinks Graduate can become a “megabrand” with an opportunity to expand into at least 400 to 500 hotels.

AJ Capital Partners, the Nashville, Tenn.-based property firm selling the Graduate brand, will hold on to the real estate of the 37 hotels it owns or is developing in the portfolio. AJ Capital CEO Ben Weprin said Graduate Hotels benefit from the nostalgia people associate with their college experiences, as well as from demographic factors that have driven growth in their markets.

“These are not just college towns,” he said. “They’re state capitols. They’re hospital systems. They’re life-science markets. Those have grown exponentially around the world.”

College campuses and the surrounding area have in recent years become a hot market for hotel operators, which are seeking new sources of growth in a mature market, according to C. Patrick Scholes, an analyst at investment bank

Truist
. He said booming interest in college sports and other big alumni events such as reunions and homecomings make campus hotels attractive.


Hilton believes Graduate Hotels can become a ‘megabrand’ with an opportunity to expand into at least 400 to 500 hotels. Photo: Graduate Hotels
“You go to homecoming or something in Alabama, forget it,” Scholes said. “Those are insane room rates.”

Hilton isn’t the only company in the lodging sector to set its eyes on college towns for the next frontier of growth. In 2023, timeshare operator Travel + Leisure struck a deal to help open Sports Illustrated-branded resorts in college towns, starting at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

“There’s probably not a more passionate lifestyle in America than college sports,” Travel + Leisure CEO Michael Brown told investors in October, a month after inking the Sports Illustrated deal.

Another brand, called Study Hotels, recently opened its fourth property at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The company’s portfolio also includes locations at Yale, the University of Chicago and near the University of Pennsylvania.

The deal is a rare acquisition for Hilton, which, counting the Graduate, will own 23 brands. Hilton created most of those brands from scratch, rather than buying competitors. Nassetta said the company has always been open to deals, but few have met the company’s thresholds.

He was introduced to the Graduate brand years ago while visiting his daughter at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Nassetta said he has floated an acquisition of the brand ever since.

Hilton will gain rights to the Graduate brand worldwide, enter into franchise agreements for all existing and signed Graduate hotels and take on the brand’s future development. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter.

Shares of Hilton are up more than 47% from a year ago at a record high, riding the postpandemic boom in leisure travel and the continuing recovery in business travel and conferences.

Write to Will Feuer at Will.Feuer@wsj.com and Craig Karmin at Craig.Karmin@wsj.com

Can anyone explain to me how a top 15 coach, maybe top 50 all time, who has all the resources and clout and money and history and and and...

Is up for NCOY? How hard is it to coach McDonalds all-americans (is that a thing any more)? What am I missing? Did his blue chip PG stub his toe early in the season? Hang nail?

But seriously, educate me because I'm desperate to know.

playing Drake.

The 2026 class ranking has been expanded from 100 players to a full Rivals250: https://n.rivals.com/prospect_rankings/rivals250/2026

Ten highest debuts: https://n.rivals.com/news/rivals-rankings-week-ten-highest-ranked-debuts-in-the-rivals250

Adam Gorney goes position-by-position: https://n.rivals.com/news/tuesdays-with-gorney-new-2026-rivals250-released

They’ve spent free agency bringing in solid receivers and a good RB to give the offense some talent and take pressure off the QB…and then they dump Fields for a 6th rounder so that they can start over with a rookie who didn’t win the Pac-12?

And it’s not like this is about the cap either. Fields is still on his rookie deal, so he’s cheap for another year.

Especially with the FA moves they’ve made, if nobody was willing to give a pick in the first 2 rounds for Fields, there was no downside to keeping him for a year. There was big upside to trading the #1. Swap down this year and add a 1st next year. Pick up help on the OL, plus either DL or CB. Those moves combined with their FA pickups probably has them as a playoff team next year, and long as they’re not hamstrung by a typical rookie QB.

Looks like a decent crowd in Beasley.

Fix your fn shit if you want to exit the first round. Very easily could be a lower seed now that we're slumping, and as I said in another thread, get shipped back east.

Feels bad, man.

Considering WSU / OSU is getting no love from traditional media and will continue to get screwed (ala CFP), would we be better off using PAC-12 network infrastructure to 100% in house pay steaming? I use the PAC 12 network app for everything. It’s great. I love pulling up all kinds of Cougar sports games on my phone from anywhere. I’d gladly pay a monthly subscription for this. Sad that it goes away after this year.

Who gives a shit that casual watchers around the country dont see us on Fox or ESPN.

Ok here we are.

I only follow Bracketology - seems the most rational predictor.
AZ 2, Cougs 6 but in Pittsburgh now, Colorado 10 but in a play-in game, Oregon 11. Virginia first 4 out? Hope that comes true!

Our future conference mates in the Mtn West got 6 teams in.

I suppose this is equivalent to a push considering a neutral court, but us being dogs is interesting.

I feel like on paper we are the better team, but Colorado is streaking right now. The Cougs will have their hands full tonight, hopefully Smith has a good gameplan.

About to tip off.

Here we are, seemingly at the end of all things, and WSU has a potentially once in a lifetime coach on their payroll in a major men's sport. Kyle Smith is our version of Mark Few. We can't keep up with the power schools in football, but with a commitment to men's (and women's) basketball, we can be fixtures in elite West coast basketball. We have a campus vibe and an alumni base who will readily jump on the bandwagon if we become consistently good.

WSU had better be thinking about the future, and for the first time in my Coug fan lifetime, our future doesn't revolve around football. Sure, we'll always prioritize football, but it makes sense on so many levels to shift some money around and completely go all-in with basketball. Take a fat chunk of the settlement money and tell Kyle Smith to write his own number on the check. Build him the best house on the Palouse, get serious about a new basketball arena, and make a seismic shift in athletic focus. A sport where we can actually compete at a high level by participating regionally.

Instead of chasing football fairytales in a reshuffled ACC or Big12 conference, realize what you have in Kyle Smith and what 10 years of this would do for our campus. If he leaves because he wants to, that's his choice, but don't roll over here. Instead of trying to punch above our weight class vs. Oregon and UW in an unwinnable football spending war, settle into the G5 in football and focus hard on developing the top-5 "other programs" on campus. Men's and women's basketball, volleyball, soccer, and baseball. Youth and collegiate football on the West coast is dying. Recognize that and adapt.

...

Apologies for the redundant post, but I can't stress enough how important it will be to our program if we can lock Kyle Smith up for 5 years.

WSU has always been a football first campus, but realignment has thrown our program into a blender. Keeping Kyle Smith in Pullman, at this moment in our time, is one of the most important objectives for our University in the 45+ years that I've been following WSU.

Having an NCAA caliber product with the talent to compete locally with Gonzaga during these uncertain times is precisely what our fan base needs right now. We have to get this done.

After reading a article by Seattle times, and by Cougcenter, I've a gut feeling Smith is about 59% to 69% to stay at WSU.

Here is my case.

1. Washington, Ohio St, West Virginia, DePaul(and now Louisville) are the only jobs that have a HC opening so far.

And none of them are semi blue blood to blue blood bball programs like Duke's, North Carolina, Kentucky's, etc.

And it's probably less likely this season, that a opening that Smith would be interested in would open up.

And Smith is probably not interested in West Virginia, Ohio State, DePaul.

And Washington is not much of a better bball program then WSU, and UW is going to have a HARD time in Big 10 in bball. And LOTS of sources are saying it's Dan Sprinkles job, if he wants it, and that he might probably want it, since his father played at UW.

2. In the Seattle times article, altho contract negotiations has been tabled until after the season, etc, Smith, and others have said that WSU, Schultz, Chun, fans, etc, WANT HIM SMITH HERE AT WSU, and Smith said THAT'S AWESOME(Because he has said how much he loves WSU, Pullman(Which has been confirmed by the rest of his family, and by his friends, and by Chaz the radio announcer, and by his players, etc)

3. He believes in God, is a church going person, etc, so he is probably being honest about what he has said, and is probably not lying, and might probably not leave(For now, at least this season, as long as his pay is not cut down 10% from 1.5 million.

4. According to the Seattle times, WSU has access to $250 million PAC money, from which to give Smith a raise.

5. Smith seems like he is like Randy Bennet, Mark Few that turn down more money to build something special.

6. The Seattle Times said that Smith's Salary + incentives + bonus's of 1.5 million + those things, is right up there with Mark Few(1.7 million and that there is about only about 10 to 13 or so programs that pay about 3,4,5 million, and almost all of them won't have HC vacancies(Only ones would be UW(about 3.3 mil), Ohio St), meaning that as long as WSU, Chun doesn't cut his pay, and gives him a raise to about 1.83 mil to about 2 mil to about 2.25 + incentives, bonuses(That Smith will probably hit), then there probably won't be anyone that offers enough, substantially, a lot more, combined with fit, program situation, etc, that would, could get Smith, etc, considering all the points above, at least this season, coaching carousel cycle.

7. Smith's family loving it in Pullman

8. Smiths home, family, etc, in Pullman.

9. Smith's disabled son.

10. Smith's Wife being from Chelan Area.

11. The combined amalgamation of all the above things combined together, combined with how as long as Schultz, Chun, doesnt FCK everything up by cutting Smith's pay by 10%, then Smith is probably staying.

I'm getting a gut feeling he Smith is staying, at least for another season

There is a chance that Smith might leave, that I could be wrong, and if so, wouldn't shock, surprise me if that happened.

But I think Smith probably will stay for at least 1 more season.

And I don't think we have to be worried that Smith will leave this season, as I don't think he will leave this season, and don't think we need to worry that the sky is supposedly falling, because Smith supposedly, theoretically, technically could leave.

WSU has a semi good, ok chance that either Smith probably stays for now, or gets replaced by either Jim Shaw or hopefully another good coach.

We should enjoy the season, and not be worried about Smith leaving, etc.

Smith is at least semi probably staying for at least another season.

Also contains links to a bunch of other interviews.