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March 16, 2022
Wazzu News and Notes - Marck 16, 2022
- Coach Kyle Smith has Wazzu men's hoops (20-14,11-9 Pac-12) heading in the right direction as witnessed by their NIT opening-round victory over Santa Clara (21-12,10-5 WCC) by a final of 63-50. The Cougs reached the 20-win milestone for the first time since the 2010-11 season. The last time WSU won a post-season game, Barack Obama was president and Joe Biden was capable of stringing together more than one sentence when speaking. Thought it might be festive to open this story in the tone of ESPN, too much political reference.
"Really excited to be a part of the NIT and really excited about the way we came out and defended," WSU coach Kyle Smith said after the game. "We played well against one of the best offensive teams in the country. We knew they'd be a handful. They were, but we were a little grittier than we'd been the last few games."
Grad transfer Tyrell Roberts did his best impression of Klay Thompson, who was part of the last Wazzu team to win a post-season game, by knocking down an amazing seven three-point shots. Whenever WSU needed a little offense, they worked the ball inside out to Roberts who seemingly effortlessly made shot after shot from behind the arc. "Once the game started, I hit my first 3 and was like, 'Oh yeah, time to turn it on,' " Roberts said postgame. "The shots are just falling. ... I feel comfortable out there and it's March, so you want to be playing your best once you get to this point." By the way, his seven made three-pointers is a WSU NIT record for a single game.
Though it's fun to watch and talk about offense, it was the stifling defense of the Cougs that won the day. Their sizeable front-line players, Efe Obogidi, Mouhamed Gueye, and Dishon Jackson blocked ten Bronco shots. Much of the pre-game hype for this contest focused on the high-scoring Broncos who averaged 75-points a game. Coach Smith had his guys well prepared to execute a game plan to perfection. When Santa Clara tried to work the ball into the paint, their shots were swatted away. When they tried to knock down three-point shots, the athleticism of Wazzu's guard harassed Bronco shooters. They finished the game an embarrassing 3-23 from downtown. If you're interested, that's a pathetic 13%.
If you were watching this one, Cougar fans were pretty nervous at halftime because the game was still in the balance with a score of 27-23 in favor of the hometeam Cougs. The biggest change coming out of the locker room at halftime was more efficiency on offense. Wazzu was a terrible 10-34 from the field which will rarely be enough to beat any ballclub. They improved to 12-30 in the final twenty minutes of regulation. The difference was the transition to missing a handful of shots in the paint in the first half to knocking down more long-range bombs to open up the play in the paint.
The Cougs now await the winner of SMU/Nicholls State Wednesday night to determine their opponent as well as the location and date of their second-round matchup.
https://www.cougcenter.com/wsu-cougars-basketball/2022/3/15/22980531/wsu-cougars-vs-santa-clara-broncos-nit-final-score-bracket
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WWW.COUGCENTER.COMRECAP: WSU beats Santa Clara to advance in NITThe Cougs’ defense was lights out.
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Wazzu News and Notes - December 14, 2022
- 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 ...
Wazzu News and Notes - December 13, 2022
- 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 ...
Wazzu News and Notes - December 11, 2022
- 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 ...
