against SC on the road. Down 17-3 after 1st quarter (yes you read that right) they tightened the screws on defense and started hitting their shots to win 73-61. Teder was the leading scorer and Bella came on in the second half. USC had just beaten Arizona. Cougs lst win in LA since 2014.
Helluva win for the Cougs . . . .
- Thread starter bogusto
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Ula also hit some key shots early to get us going and had a good overall game. That's about as good of 3 straight quarters as I have seen us put together. Big road win and now a shot to get an LA road sweep.
Can Kamie coach the men?
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I literally came to thread to post just this
She really gets the most out of her players. Smith, not so much
I called BS on Smith when he was getting all of this praise. Never bought the hype with him. Thought he was a Fugazi.
His style of play gives me indigestion.
Watching the women play ball gives me more relief than Rolaids
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You people are ridiculous. Etheridge is a good coach. Smith is a good coach. Which of these two coaches has coached WSU to a winning season? Smith or Etheridge? That would be Smith despite taking over a program in infinitely worse shape. This is Smith's third year, and he has yet to have a losing record at WSU. The men are going through growing pains, but there is so much to like about what they are doing.
Heck, it took Leach until his fourth year to turn around the program. It was the Bennett's fourth year. Some of you are already writing off Smith. You people are dumb.
By the way, WSU women are 10-5, 2-2. The men are 10-7, 3-3. There really is not much difference.
Heck, it took Leach until his fourth year to turn around the program. It was the Bennett's fourth year. Some of you are already writing off Smith. You people are dumb.
By the way, WSU women are 10-5, 2-2. The men are 10-7, 3-3. There really is not much difference.
Thank you! Finally someone who gets it… Some would have you to believe we are supposed to win every game, no one can ever struggle for a period of time, and getting kids to play to their potential is like playing a video game.. Noah should be my player.. We are certainly not playing to our potential every game, but I remember a few short years ago we were losing these very games by 20+.. Now that we have hope and a nice roster we should be in the sweet 16.. I would like to remind you that it is this coaching staff that provided you with that roster and these players who made you So hopeful… Understand the dynamics of the difficulty in this process…
If that is the only thing you are looking at, then you are missing the forest for the trees.
The very definition of coaching is getting the most out of player potential. For the first half of the season, Smith and Co. have under-performed. Sorry if that is so offensive (lack of offense is more appropriate).
The women play in, by far, the best conference in the country. The men play in play in, arguably, the fifth best of the power 5 though it is getting better. So throw that comparison out the window.
The women play in, by far, the best conference in the country. The men play in play in, arguably, the fifth best of the power 5 though it is getting better. So throw that comparison out the window.
Not offensive. Just a limited way of thinking. A house is not just delivering lumber to a plot of land and then moving in that day. We have seen this story so many times over the years that I would think you would have learned. Whether it was the Raveling years, the Harshman years, the Price years, the Bennett years, the Leach years, etc., teams gel at their own pace.
This team reminds me of the 1996 football season that lost a lot of close games, then won big the next season. This basketball team plays great defense. Offensively, there are sites that track where teams get their shots, get open shots, etc., and the Cougars do well in those metrics. But, they just don't hit their shots. It's not coaching. The players are still learning how to win.
I would say it tells me a lot about this team..coupled with their standing around in offense and giving up big leads.
Nothing to me points to a well coached team.
It could just as easily point to a "young" (i.e., not just age) team that hasn't played a lot of time together.
I acknowledge at this point I am very much a Smith believer and I think he's done a really good job. Coaches can only do so much though. They provide the framework, set the lineup, prepare, etc. but it's on the players to make good decisions. Coaches coach, players play.
Comparing the men's & women's game (and thereby their coaches) is a really slippery slope. The games are quite different. The women's game today is more akin to the men's game in the 50's. I actually prefer that, but that is a subjective view of the two games. Part of the comparison is not just the game on the court, it is also the recruiting situation. Smith has done a great recruiting job, and as a result has a bunch of relatively new people and (at the start of his time here) a higher turnover rate than he is likely to have in a couple of years. I think it is fair to say that the men's team is more inconsistent. It is also fair to say that it is younger and more inexperienced. What seems fair to judge in the short term is the improvement from the start of the season to the end. At this point, I'd like to see a bit faster improvement, but what I've seen is acceptable. The wild card has been the injury/quarantine factor. My admittedly non-expert view is that has slowed progress this year. Talk to me in 4-5 weeks and I'll have more of an opinion regarding progress. We are now at the point that coaching should be bearing fruit. We'll see. I am never satisfied (after all, I am a FAN!), but I am hopeful that we will like where we are post-Valentine's day.
Kyle Smith has won more conference games in 2 years plus six games than Ernie Kent won conference games in his last four years. It's not there yet, but this team really has a lot of good moments. That this team has been able to jump to leads is good. Once they stop tightening up, and going through scoring droughts, they will start winning these games they lost.
Excellent points. Fans sometimes forget that blowing a big lead means you got the big lead to begin with. Certainly it's not a good feeling to lose a game that you once led by a wide margin, but it suggests the talent is there to play stretches of good basketball. Now it's time to find consistency and confidence (as well as getting healthy!). I prefer to make an assessment at the end of the year when we see if and by how much the team has grown.
Glad Cougar
Dick Bennett who I consider one of the best coaches ever had a dinner at Saltys at Alki is west Seattle before his third season . He said every where he has been his third season was always his hardest . It would always look like a step back. He said for his team at wsu they wouldn’t struggle because Kelati wasn’t there, the senior leadership and someone who could make free throws and the moment wasn’t too big.
Every team needs the player who wants the ball at the end and can hit free throws. This year team is like a Bennett third year . The players like Noah are trying to do too much, not playing within himself . And others are the same .
Their best player shoots 50% from the line, and he is a freshman .
Bonton would be a welcome addition Dow the stretch . Ball hog .. yes. But will take the ball to the rack and get fouled .
Next year they will be ready .
