-
WSU women's hoops (9-5,1-2 Pac-12) staged a nice comeback against the No. 4 Arizona Wildcats (11-0,1-0 Pac-12) in Tucson last night. The Cougs came up on the short end of a 60-52 final. If you didn't watch the game, you might not realize how competitive the contest was. Wazzu got off to a horrendous start managing to put up just 5-points on the scoreboard. Three of those five were tallied in the waning seconds of the initial quarter. Proving they are worthy of being on the hardcourt against all competition, Wazzu settled in the rest of the way. Heck, they held the lead going into the locker room at halftime 24-23. The second half was a see-saw battle with the 'Cats pulling away at the end. The difference in the game was Arizona constantly putting two defenders on Charlisse Ledger-Walker. They held her well below her season average to just 7-points, basically the difference on the scoreboard.
Coach Kamie Ethridge had this to say after the game, "I'm disappointed that we lost the game. I loved the way we competed. I thought we battled back after getting rattled at the beginning of the game. We just kept battling and obviously had a lead at (the) half. I thought our third-quarter shots were perfect and everything we needed, and just missed a lot of really good shots. To get down again in the third quarter was tough, but I just loved our grit. We put ourselves in the position to give us a chance at the end."
Washington State returns to action next Friday, January 14, as the Cougars head back out on the road to Los Angeles to take on yet another Top 10 team, the University of Southern California. That will be their third consecutive ranked opponent. Tip-off against the Trojans is set for 7 p.m. PST and will air live on Pac-12 Washington.
https://wsucougars.com/news/2022/1/7/womens-basketball-cougs-battle-but-fall-at-no-4-5-arizona.aspx -
For most of Cougar Nation, the big news Friday was sophomore quarterback Jayden de Laura entered his name in the transfer portal. Because de Laura was Pac-12 freshman Offensive Player of the Year and led the conference in passing last season, he will be a player in the portal who draws a lot of interest from other programs. Jayden isn't gone yet, but he has one foot out the front door.
Why would de Laura leave when Coach Jake Dickert was publicly affirmed he plans to build the Wazzu offense around his talent? “The biggest philosophy I have on offense is ‘players over plays,’ ” Dickert said at his introductory news conference Dec. 2. “We’re going to center this around Jayden and his development, and what he can do in the future. He’s just starting and he’s just blossoming into what he can become.”-S/R
One of the attractions of WSU for de Laura was the run-and-shoot offense former Coach Nick Rolovich installed. That's the offense he played in high school and was familiar with both the scheme and the terminology. But if you recall, de Laura didn't initially commit to Rolovich, he was a commit for former Coach Mike Leach...who ran the Air Raid. Dickert brought in Eric Morris as offensive coordinator to install his version of the Air Raid attack. Morris is known for a more balanced run/pass attack than Leach and employs a tight end for more blocking in the run game.
The explanation for de Laura having a sudden change of heart might be influenced by his father. Following a spotty performance in the Sun Bowl and leaving the game with an undisclosed leg injury, WSU's Morris almost immediately put an offer on the table to another player in the portal, coveted Incarnate Word standout QB Cameron Ward. Though you may not have heard of Ward, he's a darn good player. Among the schools vying for his services are Arizona, Virginia Tech, Indiana, Ole Miss, and Houston. Both of those programs are pass-happy offenses, similar to what Cougar fans are used to. Apparently, de Laura's father didn't take kindly to Wazzu courting Ward. According to 247-Sports, de Laura’s father posted "THE DISRESPECT!! OH ITS GONNA BE INTERESTING NOW!!!" on his Instagram account. Don't bother looking the post up. It's been deleted.
So now it's a waiting game for Cougar football. At the moment, there are only two scholarship quarterbacks on the WSU roster (it's thought that Victor Gabalis is now on scholie since his Sun Bowl appearance, but that hasn't been confirmed). If Ward opts for another school and de Laura leaves, that leaves Morris and Dickert with just one scholarship quarterback heading into spring camp. Yikes! That said, the Cougs are in the hunt for two of the top four quarterbacks in the transfer portal. One of those two is de Laura.
As for the impact on his current teammates, many took to social media to wish him success and luck wherever he chooses to play next season. -
There's news for Wazzu volleyball. Kick-starting the new year, Washington State volleyball head coach Jen Greeny has dipped in the transfer portal signing Shea Rubright (Yakima, Wash.). The Washington native comes home after spending the last three years at Minnesota playing for the Gophers. Rubright will still have two years of eligibility for the Cougs beginning in the fall of 2022.
"We are thrilled that Shea is coming home and will be a part of the Cougar Volleyball family," said Greeny. "She will be a great asset to our team and the Pullman community. We can't wait to get to work the spring!"
A 6-4 middle blocker, Rubright helped lead the Gophers to the elite eight of the NCAA Tournament in the fall as Minnesota finished the 2021 season ranked No. 7 in the country with a 22-9 overall record. On the year, Rubright played in 19 matches for the Gophers finishing the season with 39 kills while hitting .312. She would add 45 blocks on the defensive side of the net including coming up with a five-block night against Indiana on Oct. 27 that saw her record a career-best three solo efforts. The year prior the big middle would play in 13 matches with 12 starts in the spring recording 36 kills and career-best 51 starts. -
WSU men's hoops looks to get back on track after dropping its first game of the new year at Colorado Thursday night. The Cougs head to Salt Lake City to take on the Utes who have won the last 13 in the all-time series between the two teams. The Cougs have won just once in 19 games at Utah, in 1946. Tipoff at Huntsman Center is slated for 3pm PST and will be telecast on Pac-12 Network.
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 ...
