Grind another one out. That's 3 straight on the road & 2nd place minimum!
Terrific win. Only wish it was on Fox or ESPN today so I could watch it back here in the Midwest. Smith has really put together a "team" in which each player can pick up the others if needed. I know we keep regretting the Cal loss, but it could be the experience of losing that lead and then in OT that prompted the necessary growth to win these close games since then. If you learn from a loss like that, it can actually be beneficial. Anyway, don't let up now...finish the season strong! Go Cougs!!Nice win by the Cougs and this basically erases that Cal choke job. Insane to think that ESPN has us favored in six of our last seven games.
I just don’t see a scenario where they don’t finish. These guys are so poised and just take care of business. Rice is such a great floor leader and unselfish player. He’s just as happy dishing to the bigs or open perimeter shooters as he is being the main scorer. With wells catching fire it’s a really hard team to match up against. I don’t want to put the cart in front of the horse but this is not only a tourney team but a team that can make a tourney run. So fricken cool.Terrific win. Only wish it was on Fox or ESPN today so I could watch it back here in the Midwest. Smith has really put together a "team" in which each player can pick up the others if needed. I know we keep regretting the Cal loss, but it could be the experience of losing that lead and then in OT that prompted the necessary growth to win these close games since then. If you learn from a loss like that, it can actually be beneficial. Anyway, don't let up now...finish the season strong! Go Cougs!!
Glad Cougar
There’s no such thing as an ugly road win and the Cougs just got 3 in a row. Would be nice if they could put a beat down on for the home series against cal and furd my heart needs a break.Great and gritty game. Once again I thought we were going to give it away at the end. Me of little faith.
Refs tried to rip us off again. And I don't know about calls on Oregon, but the ticky tack calls killed me. Forget which one near the basket but our guy barely touched the Oregon guy, if at all. It's like every shot near the basket drew a call. But sure seemed like were we were getting roughed up under the basket. C'mon, let them play.
Cluff had a great game. He has soft hands. Man, that Dante was a load but Cluff hung in there. He's not exactly Baynes but I will take him.
Funny that our stars from Thursday didn't do much today. Jaki was 0-4? Wells 0-4 in the second half, all 2 pointers? I do think that we should have tried harder to get Wells more shots. Coupla times when we were driving looks like we could have fed it out to him.
And man we had a lot of pretty close in shots fall short. But we pulled it out. That last luck FT rebound was killer. Look what I found!
When you have 6 kids who can play in crunch time, and you have no one who thinks they "are" the team, wins happen, and then happen again. Not the most talented Smith team, but they are the best at playing as a "team," where the "W" means more than "I." (It happens when you recruit well and those kids mistakenly think they are god's gift). Its been a tough year, but watching these kids develop as this season has progressed reminds me why I love Cougar athletics, even though as a Coug the highlights are few, they feed my soul.
Nice win by the Cougs and this basically erases that Cal choke job. Insane to think that ESPN has us favored in six of our last seven games.
I just don’t see a scenario where they don’t finish. These guys are so poised and just take care of business. Rice is such a great floor leader and unselfish player. He’s just as happy dishing to the bigs or open perimeter shooters as he is being the main scorer. With wells catching fire it’s a really hard team to match up against. I don’t want to put the cart in front of the horse but this is not only a tourney team but a team that can make a tourney run. So fricken cool.
Such a deep team. 1-6 anyways. All the guys have a different skill set allowing for a potential different leading scorer on any given night. Solid team defense as well. Even the zone is growing on me. For the first time in a long time they have stayed relatively healthy as well.
Remember what I said, "Smith team." In terms of recruiting, he is at a level only approached by George Raveling and Sampson (when he was became "shady"). This is a very talented team if you compare it to the average Cougar BB teams over the last 40 years, a team the Bennetts would have given their left and right nuts, respectively, to have been able to recruit. But you would have been put in a padded cell, preseason, if you had suggested that Rice, Jones, Wells, Chinyelu and Cluff would play better than Efi, Mo, Dishon, TJ, Roberts and Flowers. Let's not forget that the experts picked us to finish 10th and 11th, respectively. That isn't a ringing endorsement that Coach Smith had reloaded, or upgraded, the talent. Based on what "others" had to say, this was supposed to one of the weaker teams Coach Smith fielded at WSU. That is all I was trying to say.
Remember what I said, "Smith team." In terms of recruiting, he is at a level only approached by George Raveling and Sampson (when he was became "shady"). This is a very talented team if you compare it to the average Cougar BB teams over the last 40 years, a team the Bennetts would have given their left and right nuts, respectively, to have been able to recruit. But you would have been put in a padded cell, preseason, if you had suggested that Rice, Jones, Wells, Chinyelu and Cluff would play better than Efi, Mo, Dishon, TJ, Roberts and Flowers. Let's not forget that the experts picked us to finish 10th and 11th, respectively. That isn't a ringing endorsement that Coach Smith had reloaded, or upgraded, the talent. Based on what "others" had to say, this was supposed to one of the weaker teams Coach Smith fielded at WSU. That is all I was trying to say.
Remember what I said, "Smith team." In terms of recruiting, he is at a level only approached by George Raveling and Sampson (when he was became "shady"). This is a very talented team if you compare it to the average Cougar BB teams over the last 40 years, a team the Bennetts would have given their left and right nuts, respectively, to have been able to recruit. But you would have been put in a padded cell, preseason, if you had suggested that Rice, Jones, Wells, Chinyelu and Cluff would play better than Efi, Mo, Dishon, TJ, Roberts and Flowers. Let's not forget that the experts picked us to finish 10th and 11th, respectively. That isn't a ringing endorsement that Coach Smith had reloaded, or upgraded, the talent. Based on what "others" had to say, this was supposed to one of the weaker teams Coach Smith fielded at WSU. That is all I was trying to say.
It was an impossible task ranking this team preseason. The whole damn roster turned over and nobody knew what rice would bring coming off of his illness. In fact, as dumb as preseason rankings have pretty much always been they are relatively worthless now with how much roster turnover every team has.The experts(ESPN, SI, KEN POM, ATHLON, PHIL STEEL, LINDY's), picked WSU to finish in 6,7,8th place, instead of 10th, 11th.
The idiotic PAC 12 media(Seattle Times, LA Times, etc, are the idiotic ones that idiotically projected 10th, 11th.
Yeah, I cannot criticize any of the pre-season predictions. It is harder than ever because there is so much movement among players. There is also no way to predict how well players will mesh with each other.It was an impossible task ranking this team preseason. The whole damn roster turned over and nobody knew what rice would bring coming off of his illness. In fact, as dumb as preseason rankings have pretty much always been they are relatively worthless now with how much roster turnover every team has.
I think you may be conflating 22-23 with 23-24. The first prognostication I could find, SI, had us at 10, CBS had us at 11, couldn't find the others. Do you have a link to anyone picking us at 6-8, this year? If not, there are three prognostications contradicting your claim. Also, if WSU isn't landing projected "high end" talent, which we didn't, and basically having to replace the vast majority of the playing rotation, its hard to believe anyone would still pick us 6.It was very realistic back in the pre season to think that WSU would finish in about 6,7,8th place. That's about where Athlon, ESPN, SI, Ken Pom, Phil Steele, had WSU.
Only the idiotic, moronic, official PAC 12 MEDIA(note that ESPN, SI, KEN POM, ATHLON, PHIL STEEL, LINDY's, etc, is NOT the traditional PAC 12 media(The PAC 12 media is the LA times, Seattle times, etc), that picked WSU in 10th, as the EXPERTS(ATHLON, ESPN, KEN POM, PHIL STEEL, LINDY, ETC), picked WSU to finish 6,7,8.
But even by 5,6,7,8 place projections by EXPERTS, nobody expected 2nd place.
I think you may be conflating 22-23 with 23-24. The first prognostication I could find, SI, had us at 10, CBS had us at 11, couldn't find the others. Do you have a link to anyone picking us at 6-8, this year? If not, there are three prognostications contradicting your claim. Also, if WSU isn't landing projected "high end" talent, which we didn't, and basically having to replace the vast majority of the playing rotation, its hard to believe anyone would still pick us 6.
I think you may be conflating 22-23 with 23-24. The first prognostication I could find, SI, had us at 10, CBS had us at 11, couldn't find the others. Do you have a link to anyone picking us at 6-8, this year? If not, there are three prognostications contradicting your claim. Also, if WSU isn't landing projected "high end" talent, which we didn't, and basically having to replace the vast majority of the playing rotation, its hard to believe anyone would still pick us 6.
Athlon had us 10th
Giving it a rest today are we? You had 6 rambling shouting posts yesterday saying the exact same thing as this last one. At least in this latest one you didn't call the "Pac-12" media idiotic as opposed to the first five. Just lamestream.Ok so it was not SPECIFICALLY ONLY ATHLON.
I said that it was AS A GROUP, AS IN, MEANING that the GROUP ESPN, ATHLON, KEN POM, PHIL STEELE, LINDY's etc, said ABOUT 6,7,8,9 AS A RANGE.
Your Athlon comment, response, is, was just like the comment, that ONLY mentioned 6, SIX, instead of the RANGE, 6,7,8,9.
YOUR COMMENT MISSES THE POINT that IN GENERAL, ESPN, KEN POM, PHIL STEELE, LINDY's, AKA the EXPERTS, etc, had WSU at ABOUT 6,7,8,9 as a RANGE, ABOUT 1,2 spots higher then the 10,11 that USA Today, LA times, Seattle times, ABC, NBC, CBS, AKA lamestream media, etc.
Saying Athlon had 10 does not change, invalidate the point.
Saying something like Athlon, ESPN, Ken Pom, Phil Steele, LINDY's, etc, as a GROUP, etc, had 10,11, that would invalidate the point that I was making.
I'm pretty dam sure that the GROUP, I referenced AS A GROUP, pretty dam sure I remember most of that group projecting ABOUT 6,7,8,9 for WSU.
Giving it a rest today are we? You had 6 rambling shouting posts yesterday saying the exact same thing as this last one. At least in this latest one you didn't call the "Pac-12" media idiotic as opposed to the first five. Just lamestream.
WSU is always underrated in FB and BB. Wasn't the '97 Rose Bowl team rated about 8th? And when you return 4 players this year what do you expect?