Dayana Mendes (France), Marta Alsina (Spain) and Keandra Koorits (Estonia). There was another verbal commitment from a PG from China. Her highlights looked pretty good.

Login to view embedded media

This hasn't been reported, that I am aware of....
"After that, the future is uncertain. The Pac-12 and Mountain West signed an agreement in the fall to work in good faith to merge by the 2025-26 or 2026-27 seasons, with no cost if the Pac-12 absorbs every MWC school, or a cost of upwards of $137.5 million if it takes some but not all MWC schools. But Oregon State and Washington State are focused first on joining an autonomous conference, and the uncertainty surrounding the future of college sports could spark another upheaval."

Getting illegally paid, now that its legal, is getting swept under the rug.....

before title game and even recommended a top defense attorney.
NOT a good look.

Stretch, Your recent effort and proclamation was greatly appreciated.

You won't make the dumbasses listen or change, but they can't really retort either.

A+++ on your Cougar Report Card my good man!

Interesting he didn’t follow his future coach

Login to view embedded media

Bella M. Signed a "rookie scale" contract with the Phoenix Mercury yesterday, per the WNBA (link below). This is opposed to a "training camp" contract which was what WSU WBB announced on X (see Brand Y for the story. Get it right, Cougs. I assume they are basically undrafted free agent contracts like the NFL, although a rookie scale contract sounds better than a training camp contract. The Mercury signed 4 players to these rookie scale contracts BTW.


So - what does this mean for Walker-Leger, who was supposed to be going pro? Lots of teams signing players, but don't see her name. Could she return to WSU now? Stay tuned for a few days I guess.....

Times article on the subject.

Bottom line: Basically, UW is going to get around $20M annual in "institutional" support....we need to be more aggressive with this.

Highlights:

The athletic department paid $12.3 million in debt service in the 2022 fiscal year, per the financial report submitted to the NCAA.

But that figure dropped by approximately $3 million in 2023 after Washington’s board of regents approved a temporary restructuring plan

Washington’s campus support, which took the form of student fees allocated to athletics and direct transfers from the university, totaled $10.3 million last year — the fourth-lowest amount in the conference.

Oregon received no direct help from campus while UCLA received $2.1 million in support and Washington State received $6.8 million.

Interesting I guess

I'm a bit underwhelmed by the information I see from the Cougar Collective. After saying that I would never give to this, I ponied up a modest donation to the BB matching campaign. Got an acknowledgement, fine there.

Other than that, I find their site to be basically information-free other than exhorting the reader to give, give give. To what? I get that they don't want to overspew information, but how about something? Is the Collective spending or offering money to players (portal and non-portal)? Some idea of levels? Offers to every one, probably in varying amounts? Just the 2 or 3 guys that we really want to keep?

And FB - are they going to sit around and wait for portal jumpers, then offer? Obviously they can't offer/give big bucks to every player, but c'mon, give us something other than "here's a pig in a poke, buy it". How about partner companies/groups? Any specific stories to share about XYZ company directly working with athletes? The only story I have ever read was the one about Mateer partnering with that local deli/bake shop or whatever the hell it was.

Curious to hear from Collective "members" and/or big donors about the information that they may be getting - if any.

Sad reads. Had to get 3 articles to piece it all together. Complete and utter failure of the local police agencies, a T-C judge, and multiple school districts over several years. At least he had the decency to kill himself.

On Brand X. Interesting quotes from him -
"all in" on NBA (a combine invite or not will clear that up IMHO), doesn't want to come back to college, but if so WSU would be in the mix. Loved/loves his time here.

If the NBA doesn't pan out, he would really rip it up in the HS gym league in Riley's offense. Hey Cougar NIL - at least make an offer that would give him a very comfortable last year at WSU. Can't even begin to compete with other schools on this, but a stellar last year and his multimillion-dollar NBA future would be set. If he's not keen on college anyway, at least we would be a comfy place to hang out. Do kinda wonder about his grades, could that be a quiet factor?

Does anyone have a good handle on what the roster looks like currently?

I posted about his when it was pending and got little interest - posters are too busy feeding mutt trolls I guess.

Anyway the rule is now official per (reputable sports) link below. Still don't get it. On the first part, is this a change? Weren't they already eligible (to practice, etc.) immediately? And what does "play immediately" mean when followed by "can't play for a second school in the same year"?

A new NCAA transfer rule will allow all undergraduate athletes to transfer and play immediately if they meet specific academic requirements, as the Division I Council on Wednesday approved emergency legislation announced by the NCAA.

The rule will provide immediately eligibility to any athletes who have transferred during the 2023-24 academic year, including the football players who entered the transfer portal Tuesday and during this window

The legislation will not limit the number of times an athlete can transfer -- and there are still two transfer windows -- but they can't transfer midyear and play for a second school in the same season.

I don't follow the NFL draft that close other following the Cougs and occasionally tuning in. Here are the combine results and what nfl.com thinks of Hicks and Smith-Wade.