MBK Final: Cougs 77, UW 62 (Story + Stats + Highlights + Postgame)

[ScottHood]

Cougs snap 6-game losing streak. Improve to 10-7 overall, 3-7 in P12. Key to the win was dominating the boards, 48-28.

Story: https://washingtonstate.rivals.com/news/mbk-cougs-snap-losing-skid-with-convincing-apple-cup-win

Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=323946

Highlights:

Postgame:

 

[cr8zyncalif]

18 turnovers and free throw rehab. Otherwise a very nice game. Let's carry this (especially the inside play) into the next game!

 

[SaveFerris]

Pretty easy win. Could use a T or 2 less.

 

[mikalalas]

18 turnovers and free throw rehab. Otherwise a very nice game. Let's carry this (especially the inside play) into the next game!

5 to 7 of those turnovers happened during the last 4 to 6 minutes with a 20 point lead.

So for most of game it was about a 10 turnover game.

Almost most of those 10 turnovers in the game, didnt go for UW points.

So the game was a lot more cleaner, efficient, then the final box score of stats would lead people to believe.

Also if it wasnt for the about, 3,4,5 of 20 shooting from 3 point range, and struggles at the freethrow line, WSU could have easily won the game by about 37, instead of 15.

 

[mikalalas]

Pretty easy win. Could use a T or 2 less.

As the announcer reported Kyle Smith saying, that he could live with Noah Williams, other players getting a technical foul, as long as:

1. They can be reined back in by players, coaches.

2. That it doesnt risk costing a win, game.

3. That its due to competitiveness, aggressive play.

Kyle Smith was reported as saying that with Noah Williams, the PRICE of how good Noah Williams is, is sometimes getting a technical.

And that he could live with that

Its kind of comparable to Charles Barkley.

Barkley got lots of technical fouls. I'm pretty sure that the coach was ok with that.

And if Smith is ok with it, then I'm ok with it provided Noah Williams continues to be the player that he is.

 

[jourdand]

Noah plays with a chip on his shoulder / attitude and I think that’s what WSU has needed for a while. Good game boys!!!

 

[SaveFerris]

Noah's only hurting other teams feelings. I've probably said it but it's just because I think it's pretty special. I can't remember such a big year-over-year gain from a player freshman to sophomore year. Erdmann might be somewhere in the ballpark but I don't think it's nearly at Noah's level.

 

[kougkurt]

It’s not too often in this series that the Cougs are the more physical and athletic team. Last night, and for the foreseeable future, they are both.

 

[COUGinNCW]

Noah plays with a chip on his shoulder / attitude and I think that’s what WSU has needed for a while. Good game boys!!!

Smith said he’s emulating Gary Payton. Easier to match his trash talking then his level of play but he’s a great one to shoot for.

 

[7ICoug]

Love any win over UW, anywhere, anytime. We need to recruit our Seattle area strongly. Love Noah's attitude! As Raveling posted today on twitter, "Be Free! Be Who You Are!" Noah is and Noah does.

 

[Observer11]

Where's El and his Ernie Kent love/Kyle Smith will fail hate?

 

[7ICoug]

OMG, let Elsie just go, he has Kent's Son

 

[roses04]

Overall nice win, need to work on the full court pressure and trapping, they did not handle the pressure well, passing is the way out, holding the ball and dribbling is not an effective way to beat the press and traps. Free throws got off to an OK start, down the stretch not so much.

 

[mikalalas]

Love any win over UW, anywhere, anytime. We need to recruit our Seattle area strongly. Love Noah's attitude! As Raveling posted today on twitter, "Be Free! Be Who You Are!" Noah is and Noah does.

Yes, no, maybe, in regard to recruiting Seattle strongly.

It all depends.

Raveling, Sampson, and now Smith has, can, etc, recruit Seattle Well.

Bone did so too with Reggie Moore, Lacy, Isabell, etc, but in a way that doesnt count because of how he Bone did good for 2 years, and did bad 2,3 years, and got fired because of it.

Even tho Kent recruited CJ from the greater seattle area/West Coast/Western WA, that shouldnt count because of his bad recruiting, 7 bad losing season years which got him fired.

Aside from Raveling, Sampson, and now Smith, WSU coaches havent really recruited Seattle Well, since Raveling, Sampson.

When, If a WSU coach is a awesome recruiter, is successful, has connections to seattle, has recruited well from Seattle, then they should continue to recruit Seattle Strongly.

Smith is a awesome recruiter. He has been successful, he has beat UW 3 in a row, and so far has owned the NW teams of UW, Oregon, OSU, and so far has recruited Seattle well.

So because of that, he Smith should continue to recruit seattle strongly, well.

And if Smith/WSU beats UW, 1 more time this season, and sweeps them again next season for 6 wins in a row vs the UW, then since Smith will have likely been successful, and is a awesome recruiter, it would probably hard for Smith to NOT recruit Seattle Strongly, well, successfully.

In the future can probably expect WSU/Smith to cut into UW's, Oregon's, Seattle area, Portland Recruiting, and get some 3.5 stars, 4 stars, 4.5 stars, etc, from the Seattle, Portland areas, at some future point in the future.

So that is why Smith should recruit Seattle extremely Strongly, and will probably do so.

But unsuccessful coaches, recruiters, like Grahm, Kent, Stevenson, etc, should probably not waste time trying to recruit seattle area, as they probably would only get 2 stars from Seattle, and thus not be successful recruiting seattle.


Bad recruiters, coaches, if they are at WSU, are better served trying to get good recruits from anywhere in the country, internationally, CA, LA, etc, rhat they can, instead of wasting time trying to recruit Seattle.


So Smith will probably recruit Seattle extremely strongly, well, at some point in the future, and cut into UW's, Oregon's recruiting, in the Seattle, Portland areas.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Kids like to play for winning programs. I hope UW keeps their coach for a long time.

 

[bogusto]

Abogidi, Jackson and Vovo represent the best collection of bigs since Raveling's era, and I believe Rapp, Bamba and hopefully Koubalily will represent quite well in the backcourt. Despite the scoring sag, I still like Jackimovski game as well and think the future is bright. No way should Abogidi leave after this season, as some pundits have suggested. He needs to work on his movement with the ball, ala Jackson, and also develop his defensive instincts a little better.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Abogidi, Jackson and Vovo represent the best collection of bigs since Raveling's era, and I believe Rapp, Bamba and hopefully Koubalily will represent quite well in the backcourt. Despite the scoring sag, I still like Jackimovski game as well and think the future is bright. No way should Abogidi leave after this season, as some pundits have suggested. He needs to work on his movement with the ball, ala Jackson, and also develop his defensive instincts a little better.

We are in good shape. Having Noah available to play 3 when we get the 1 & 2 spots set will be huge. Great teams have a 3 that can play anywhere, as well as both shoot and penetrate. We have not had that guy for a while, but I think Noah could probably do it.

 

[Coug-Vandal]

Williams has been great although a little less smack talk might be nice. I think the refs are overreacting to some fairly normal court banter. I've been really impressed with Jackson on offense. His footwork under the basket has been great and he has nice touch around the hoop. He can really get lost on D though particularly when they are in a zone. If Jackson and Efi play like they did last night every night this becomes a very tough team to beat. Unfortunately Efi along with Jackimovski have been really inconsistent.

 

[Observer11]

The second T was over-officiating bullsh*t.

But going to back to Richie Ballesteros and before, the refs in the conference always made it about them instead of calling the game.

At that point, just let the clock run and get the hell out of there.

 

[Glad Cougar]

Interesting that nobody else in the Pac-12 was apparently interested in giving Noah a scholarship until Smith came aboard. Kent didn't think he was worth pursuing, which is why he signed with Buffalo initially. But Kyle Smith saw something others didn't, apparently. Think UW is sorry they showed no interest? If one or more of our current freshmen can show even just some of the improvement their sophomore year that Williams has shown, WSU will be in dandy shape.

Glad Cougar

 

[cougcowboy]

Interesting that nobody else in the Pac-12 was apparently interested in giving Noah a scholarship until Smith came aboard. Kent didn't think he was worth pursuing, which is why he signed with Buffalo initially. But Kyle Smith saw something others didn't, apparently. Think UW is sorry they showed no interest? If one or more of our current freshmen can show even just some of the improvement their sophomore year that Williams has shown, WSU will be in dandy shape.

Glad Cougar

I was thinking the same thing about player development. Hopefully all these freshmen put as much work in during the off-season as Noah did last off season. I remember reading how hard the best NBA players worked on developing their games during the offseason (MJ, Kobe, Curry,...)

 

[SaveFerris]

Smith's comment on Williams was pretty much spot on. "We have some moments I’m not proud of and he’s not proud of, but he’s a fighter and I’ll take those guys every day of the week." We need fighters. The UW has some talent but not a lot of fighters. They were best when they had local guys like Nate Robinson and Will Conroy. Their paper tigers now or paper pups.

 

[mikalalas]

Interesting that nobody else in the Pac-12 was apparently interested in giving Noah a scholarship until Smith came aboard. Kent didn't think he was worth pursuing, which is why he signed with Buffalo initially. But Kyle Smith saw something others didn't, apparently. Think UW is sorry they showed no interest? If one or more of our current freshmen can show even just some of the improvement their sophomore year that Williams has shown, WSU will be in dandy shape.

Glad Cougar

One of the Crazy things about the Pac 12 not showing interest an or offers to Noah, is that Noah according to recruit rating ranking services like ESPN, Rivals, 247, etc, had Noah as a 4 star and a 3 star.

Some had Noah as a 3 star. Some had Noah as a 4 star.

Its kinda, sorta like 4 star Klay only getting 2 Pac 12 offers, one of which was WSU.

What I dont get is why the Pac 12 doesnt offer some 4 stars like Klay, Noah, others.

If a 4 star either isnt worth a Pac 12 offer, or if the Pac 12 isnt going to offer the 4 star, then why are the recruit ranking services, experts, everybody, etc, rating the 4 star a 4 star.

Either the 4 stars the Pac 12 isnt offering arent really 4 stars, or they are really 4 stars, and the Pac 12 is either bad at evaluating 4 stars to the point where the Pac 12 doesnt think the 4 star is a 4 star, and doesnt offer, or lower end 4 stars are beneath the Pac 12 and now the Pac 12 only offers, signs highest ended, rated 4 stars, 5 stars, Top 12 in nation recruiting classes, each of the Pac 12 in the Top 12, except for WSU, OSU of course.

Whatever it is, the specific reasons, I just dont get not offering 4 stars, and especially not offering 4 stars, like Klay(One of the highest rated WSU recruits in WSU history), and Noah(Also a highly rated recruit in WSU's history)

I just dont get it.

 

[jourdand]

Coaches evaluate recruits individually, I can’t imagine any coach would recruit based on stars given by recruiting services. It’s nice to have a recruiting class with lots of stars and other accolades but ultimately the buck stops with the coach. We have all seen high star recruits crash and burn and lower star recruits shine.

 

[etowncoug]

Interesting that nobody else in the Pac-12 was apparently interested in giving Noah a scholarship until Smith came aboard. Kent didn't think he was worth pursuing, which is why he signed with Buffalo initially. But Kyle Smith saw something others didn't, apparently. Think UW is sorry they showed no interest? If one or more of our current freshmen can show even just some of the improvement their sophomore year that Williams has shown, WSU will be in dandy shape.

Glad Cougar

Noah Williams had a UW offer.

 

[Glad Cougar]

Noah Williams had a UW offer.

Didn't know that. I went back to see his recruitment history....and if what I saw on one of the sites is true, Noah got his UW offer after his freshman season at O'Dea. I wonder if they withdrew it at some point before he committed to Buffalo. Doesn't matter, I'm really glad he's a Cougar!

Glad Cougar

 

[SaveFerris]

Didn't know that. I went back to see his recruitment history....and if what I saw on one of the sites is true, Noah got his UW offer after his freshman season at O'Dea. I wonder if they withdrew it at some point before he committed to Buffalo. Doesn't matter, I'm really glad he's a Cougar!

Glad Cougar

That sounds logical in terms of how things might have played out. If the offer came as a freshman would that have been a Romar offer? I remember doing a search his senior year and seeing Noah Williams name come up and discovering he was Guy Williams son. There just didn't appear to be much interesting in him (USF and I believe another WCC program). There's some scuttlebutt his "attitude" played a part on UW boards. He plays with a chip on his shoulder that's for sure and has really good work-ethic. Definitely glad he's a Coug as well.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Save, it is hard for me to imagine how Romar would have had a problem with Noah's attitude...there were enough worse thugs in the program over time...not sure how Noah's "chip on shoulder" rep (which, as you point out, is real) would have hurt him in UW recruiting. Historically, the Huskies only care about whether you appear to be a good athlete. Character has typically been of little or no importance.

I suspect that UW, like others, simply missed when they did an incomplete talent evaluation.

 

[SaveFerris]

Wondered more if the interest dropped off after Romar left? I did see a post that suggested they took Tsohonis over Williams. Maybe it just came down to numbers. Whatever the reason, I'm glad he's a Coug! Really believe we were the better fit.