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This is going to be an early edition of WNN. Not because of the excitement generated by the Wazzu men's hoops performance last night, but we're getting a little bit of rain here in the LA Basin which washes out those of us who play golf on Thursday morning.
For some, watching Cougar basketball has been a bit on the frustrating side this season. We're not going to revisit the struggles, rather, we're going to extoll the positives from a WSU (7-2, 1-1) victory over previously undefeated Weber State (8-1) by a final tally of 94-60. Make no mistake, this game was both entertaining and close for the first 17-minutes of play. At that point, the score was nearly knotted at 26-23, and Weber State riding a 7-0 run. The Cougs closed the half with a run of their own, 9-1, to lead at the half 35-24. Too often on this young season, WSU has come out of the locker room flat to begin the second half of play. Not last night. After Weber State scored the first bucket in the final 20-minutes of play to cut the lead to single digits, Wazzu answered with three baskets of their own to push the lead back to double digits. That was as close as things would get on the scoreboard. The question transitioned from "Would WSU win?" to "How much will the Cougs win by?" It's hard to recall a Wazzu possession where they didn't run offensive plays. By patiently running plays to get open/easy shots, the Cougs finished the game shooting a sizzling 57.6% from the field and red hot 59.1% from behind the arc. Wazzu defense limited the other WSU to shooting just 35.7%. And they dominated the boards, outrebounding their opponent by a margin of 43-24. Not only was this a terrific team effort, but they also played well without the services of Dishon Jackson who sat this one out because of a minor hand injury. Here's a good recap of the game posted by Colton Clark:
https://www.nbcrightnow.com/sports/washington_state_university/washington-state-clicks-in-every-facet-hands-weber-state-its-first-loss/article_b81a8288-edc8-524e-b1d1-b7391af647d5.html -
Wazzu women's hoops (7-1, 0-0) were on the road Wednesday, traveling up to Spokane where they took on Gonzaga. Playing up to their potential, the Cougs came from behind to earn a 51-49 victory. This was a very tough game. WSU trailed at the half by a score of 23-16 and could have packed it in. Things didn't get a lot better in the second half. The Cougs came out of the locker room at halftime flat and trailed 34-22 early in the third quarter. Wazzu proceeded to go on an 11-0 run at that point and kept the game close the rest of the way. Bella Murekatete made one of two free throws with just 23-seconds left to put her team ahead 50-49. On the ensuing Gonzaga possession, WSU defense thwarted a 3-point shot attempt leaving the Zags only option but to foul Charlisse Leger-Walker. She made one of two from the charity stripe with just 1.7 seconds left in regulation. The Zags hoisted up a 3-point try that clanked off the rim as time expired. Unfortunately, Wazzu World was only able to find a couple of stories online about the game, and both were locked behind paywalls.
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It's now official. Coach Jake Dickert introduced his new offense and defensive coordinators to Cougar Nation. To learn more about Eric Morris and Brian Ward, here's a nice background on both posted by Cougfan.com:
https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/Article/Coug-football-OC-Eric-Morris-will-coach-QBs-new-WSU-DC-Brian-Ward-will-coach-linebackers-177789924/ -
Staying with Cougar football, Barry Bolton put together a terrific piece on All-Pac-12 WSU kicker Dean Janikowski:
https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/Article/Obscure-to-historic-Dean-Janikowski-joins-elite-group-in-WSU-footnall-kicking-lore-177710115/ -
Jamey Vinnick of CFC.com put together an outstanding interview with a player who epitomizes what it is to be a Coug, Lincoln Victor:
https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/Article/WSU-football-Lincoln-Victor-still-has-a-chip-on-his-shoulder-177773447/
Go Cougs!!!
- It seems fitting to put together a list of coaches who branch off of the Mike Leach coaching tree. Perspective on his football genius can easily be determined by a cursory glance:
Dave Aranda/Baylor head coach – Graduate assistant coach under Leach from 2000-02 at Texas Tech
Neal Brown/West Virginia head coach – Played under Leach in 1998 when Leach was offensive coordinator at Kentucky
Sonny Cumbie/Louisiana Tech head coach – Played under Leach at Texas Tech from 2000-03 and later served as a graduate assistant coach under Leach
Sonny Dykes/TCU head coach – Coached wide receivers and later was the co-offensive coordinator at Texas Tech under Leach from 2000-06
Josh Heupel/Tennessee head coach – Played under Leach at Oklahoma in 1999 when Leach was the offensive coordinator for the Sooners
Dana Holgorsen/Houston head coach – Coached alongside Leach as assistants at Valdosta State from 1993-95, then served as a wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator under Leach from ...
- The news of former WSU Coach Mike Leach passing at the young age of 61 is very, very sad. I had the pleasure of writing about the Cougs when Leach was at the helm. To say that he was a unique person doesn't begin to describe the multi-faceted dimension of the man.
In terms of coaching football, Leach led his teams in a way that had most other coaches scratching their heads. His offensive creativity gave a multitude of defensive coordinators ulcers. To say that his techniques for molding student-athletes into football players were unusual would be accurate. Making guys run sprints in a sand pit named "Leach Beach" is a prime example. Crazy as that sounds, his players had fewer ankle injuries over the course of the season than any team in football. Only Mike Leach could get players to hit the beach. And if you look at the coaching tree that branches out from Leach, you'd find a myriad of men who owe him for their start in the profession.
When you examine the way Leach represented the schools ...
- Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, so Wazzu's loss yesterday to UNLV by a score of 74-70 was just that, a loss. However, there were plenty of reasons to applaud both the performance and the progress the Cougs are making over the past few games. Let's get the bad observation out of the way. WSU turned the ball over a ridiculous 22 times. No one is going to beat many teams with such wreckless play, especially against a team that posted a 9-0 record going into the contest. Some of those errors might be attributed to Coach Kyle Smith going with a different lineup almost every game because of player injuries. Facts are facts and when there isn't a steady lineup, players struggle to play team ball. On the bright side, Wazzu shot a respectable 54.2% from the field, coupled with a very nice 56.5% from behind the arc. On defense, WSU held UNLV to just 30.4% from behind the arc and 50.9% overall. The Cougs outrebounded the Rebels by a margin of 33-20. Despite being down by ...
