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If you have been worried about how WSU men's hoops will improve their roster after coming off a nice run in the NIT (they are playing in the semi-finals Tuesday night), you probably were concerned about scholarship space. Well, that just got a little easier for Coach Kyle Smith to manage. Jefferson Koulibaly has entered the transfer portal.
Koulibaly was a guy who was constantly talked up by Coach Smith last season while he was recovering from shoulder surgery. As this season got underway, Koulibaly was getting some decent playing time to both knock off some rust and put his skill set on display. While he showed flashes of brilliance, one part of his game wasn't seeing enough improvement to earn more PT. On offense, Smith emphasizes working for good shots. That is facilitated by sharp passing to open teammates. Koulibaly had an abysmal ratio of turning the ball over. Specifically, his stat on TOs was 27.3% of possessions. If you're playing the guard position for Coach Smith, that's an unacceptable ratio.
With the imminent departure of Koulibaly, a scholarship opens up. That slot will likely be filled by Dylan Darling, who recently committed to Wazzu.
It should be noted that Koulibaly isn't officially gone. Last season Andre Jakimovsky entered the transfer portal and eventually returned to Pullman after discovering that the grass wasn't greener elsewhere. Good choice by Andre. He has seen valuable playing time this season on a team that has advanced to the NIT semi-finals.
https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/Article/WSU-basketball-Jefferson-Koulibaly-enters-the-transfer-portal-185332064/ -
In the midst of spring football, head Coach Jake Dickert has landed a defensive prospect with a huge upside. Rashad McKenzie, Jr. projects as an edge rusher and is rated as a three-star prospect, the No. 798 player overall in the nation. He played his high school ball at Bishop Alemany in Mission Hills, CA.
McKenzie chose WSU over offers from cross-state rival Washington, Pac-12 foes Arizona State, Oregon, and USC, as well as Boise State, Nebraska, Texas, and San Jose State. He's rated a 3-star player by 247Sports.
McKenzie stands at 6'4" and weighs in at 250 pounds. He is not the biggest guy on the field by any means. However, his style of play works with his size. He played a bit of tight end in high school and showed a definite ability to block. His greatest potential appears to be on the defensive side of the ball, but who knows? Perhaps he'll be a two-way player. Time will tell.
- 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 ...
