SB Nation - Caleb Forrest

THE MORNING PAPER: Three Cougs drafted by MLB clubs

Nuss — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:56:26 -0000

Quite the newsy Thursday in Cougar land today.

Of course, the big news of yesterday was three Cougar baseball players taking the first step to begin their professional careers after being selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft, highlighted by senior LHP Matt Way heading to Philadelphia's system after the Phillies took him in the fifth round. It was the highest selection for a WSU player since third baseman Stefan Bailie went in the fourth round to Boston in 2000.

Way's told his hometown paper he feels the extra year at WSU made him ready for this next step:

"It was a good call to come back," he said in a teleconference Wednesday afternoon. "I'm not sure how money-wise it'll work out, but I'm definitely glad I came back for one last season. I felt a lot more comfortable going into the minor-league system now, trying to climb the ladder this year instead of last year." ...

(H)e added another pitch to his arsenal, developing a slider to go along with his fastball and change-up.

"It kinda helps to go into the minor leagues when you have three pitches," Way said. "It sets up my change-up and fastball and it's another weapon to use against left-handed hitters. Just developing that pitch should help me in the long run."

Also selected were junior RHP Jeremy Johnson (13th round, Cleveland) and C/1B Alex Burg (24th round, San Francisco). I don't know that Johnson has said definitively what he's going to do, but I think we all can assume he's not coming back. Said Marbut: "I am really happy for these three guys. They all will represent the Cougs in a first-class manner on and off the field." Sounds like a done deal to me.

Don't underestimate the value of what happened yesterday. Not only does it show that Marbut can prepare a kid for a professional career, but Way's improvement -- from a 36th round pick last year -- shows that he and his staff can really develop a player.

The draft concludes today with rounds 31 through 50. Expect guys like Jared Prince, Greg Lagreid and Chad Arnold to get the call, but expect Arnold to come back for his junior year.

The NCAA Track Championships kicked off yesterday amid some dicey weather in Fayetteville, Ark., but that didn't stop Jeshua Anderson from cruising through the prelims in his quest to defend his 400-meter hurdles crown. He posted the third-fastest time of the day (50.12 seconds).

Also advancing yesterday were senior Barry Leavitt (400-meter hurdles), sophomore Melissa Tschida (javelin) and junior Trent Arrivey (high jump). Eliminated yesterday were senior Justin Woods (100-meter dash), senior Lorraine King (400-meter hurdles) and senior Sam Ahlbeck (3000-meter steeplechase).

As the Pac-10 champ in her event, King's elimination has to be considered a surprise -- she ran a 58.99 yesterday, which was nearly a second-and-a-half off her Pac-10 championship time. Granted, that time was her lifetime best, but she surely was hoping for a better showing. Woods finished 19th by 2/100ths of a second in an event that took 18 runners to the semifinal heats. But he gets a chance to redeem himself today in the 200-meter dash prelims. (By the way, did you know that Woods is 5-foot-5? That's incredibly short for an elite sprinter. Kinda neat.)

The competition continues today with Matt Lamb (discuss, 11 a.m.), Robert Williams (110-meter hurdles, 3:50 p.m.) and Lisa Egami (1500-meter run, 5:55 p.m.) starting their events, while Anderson will run in his semis at 6:05 p.m. You can actually watch it live here.

There's also some basketball news out there, with Cougfan.com's report that Steven Bjornstad has been released from his letter of intent with Nevada. However, this has not been officially announced -- it appears CF.C is working from information from Bjornstad's high school coach. Nevada seemed to be really digging its heels in, so it will be interesting to see if it's accurate. I would be surprised if it wasn't true, but I'm guessing it leaked out a little before everyone wanted it to. Of course, Bjornstad would be a natural fit for the Cougs with their need for big bodies, so don't be surprised if he ends up in Pullman shortly after his release becomes official.

In other basketball-related news, Taylor Rochestie was named WSU's male Tom Hansen Conference Medal winner, "based on the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership." Steeplechase and cross country runner Sara Trane' was the winner for the women.

Wondering what Rochestie and his other senior basketball mates have been up to since graduating? Howie Stalwick catches up with each of them for Cougfan.com. In short, both Aron Baynes and Rochestie are hoping to continue their basketball careers, Caleb Forrest has given up on that altogether thanks to a chronic ankle injury (did anyone else know about this? How much pain has that guy played through? My respect level for Caleb just went up another notch), and Daven Harmeling is finishing up his teaching credentials with his eye on becoming a coach.

Other miscellaneous stuff:

At least one guy thinks it won't be a surprise if Ken Bone can lead the Cougs back to the NCAA Tournament.
Cougfan.com advises not to count on catching the football team too many times on TV this fall. (Thanks, Tom Hansen! You're the best!)
Wondering what Mike Price is up to at UTEP? The Quad Countdown -- which ranked the Cougs 114th among FBS teams -- has the Miners ranked No. 83 in this preview. (Curse you, Alabama and your allure of "big time" football!)

Top 10 Cougar Plays: #8

Grady. — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:00:14 -0000

January 22nd: Down 53-50, Caleb Forrest makes a three-pointer to tie UCLA.

[NUSS: I was able to find some video to embed, but it's been a little janky, so if you have issues, you can still watch the video at ESPN here.]

I love Beasley Coliseum.

Yes, I know, it's a 70s relic, and for years was painted in a color more suitable for the Oregon State Beavers than the Washington State Cougars. Beasley is an architectural nuisance as well; a cookie-cutter arena that could've been designed by anyone who knows what a slightly-stretched out octagon looks like. Inside, it's concrete and plastic. There's no quirks, no nuances, just a business-like arena. It's essentially your 70-year old grandpa wearing the same suit he's had for thirty years and still thinking that it looks good.

Still, I love it. Because when Beasley gets rocking, there's no other place quite like it. I feel personally insulted that one of the key reasons (we assume) for Tony's departure is the shiny Golden Palace that is John Paul Jones arena. Oooooh. Shiny. Look at the brick. The white, spiky things. The state of the art bathrooms. I may just board a private jet for it right now.

I have a feeling that while Tony may not regret his decision next year to coach at Virginia, he'll have a moment where he questions if it was the right choice. And that moment will come when he steps on to the floor, hears the announcement of his name following the starting lineup, and realizes the ovation isn't nearly as loud.

Beasley, if nothing else, seats many. And it is loud. Really loud. Who knows if it's the acoustics, or the 5,000 students, or one of the more rabid alumni sections in the nation. But it's loud. And when Caleb Forrest hit a jumper to complete a torrid WSU comeback and tie UCLA at 53 points each, the roof was nearly blown off the place. Seriously - watch the video on the ESPN link. It was 10 times as loud in person, and just as incredible a moment.

Of course those paper cut-out trees certainly didn't hurt the atmosphere either.

There's nothing worse than being the favorite to win a game, getting out to a huge lead, and then have the underdog storm back and nearly crush your spirit before escaping with a win. As a part-time Gonzaga follower I know this feeling well. But when you're on the other side, erasing an insurmountable lead built by the mighty Bruins of UCLA, it feels pretty darn good. So what if we ended up losing. When Nikola Dragovic was hitting everything he attempted in the first half, it's not like anyone thought we were coming back anyway.

And a hat tip to cfred for pointing out, via ESPN's play-by-play, the greatest 1:36 of Caleb Forrest's basketball career:

6:49 53-47 Caleb Forrest Defensive Rebound.
6:32 53-47 Foul on Klay Thompson
6:12 Darren Collison missed Two Point Jumper. 53-47
6:12 53-47 Caleb Forrest Defensive Rebound.
5:42 53-49 Caleb Forrest made Two Point Jumper.
5:40 Foul on Nikola Dragovic 53-49
5:40 UCLA 30 Second Timeout.
5:40 53-50 Caleb Forrest made Free Throw.
5:29 Alfred Aboya missed Two Point Jumper. 53-50
5:29 53-50 Marcus Capers Defensive Rebound.
5:13 53-53 Caleb Forrest made Three Point Jumper. Assisted by Taylor Rochestie.

So, for the second straight play, we raise a glass to Caleb Forrest.

Only in Beasley.

CougCenter's First Annual Postseason Awards

Grady. — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:53:00 -0000

In the upcoming weeks, we'll have plenty of time (and posts) dedicated to researching and prognosticating next year's Cougar basketball team.

For now, let's look back on a season defined just as much by the what-ifs as the actual accomplishments. Let's not focus on the question marks or the letdowns at the moment (although we will mention one particular meltdown in this post). Nope, let's look back at some of the wonderful people that made the 2008-09 Cougar team what it was.

In some ways, this group of players overachieved, one season removed from the Low-Weaver-Cowgill Sweet Sixteen squad. On the other hand, they were a stone's throw away from the NCAA tournament bubble, and certainly capable of flashes of greatness. I prefer to look at the glass half full. And the glass was full of exceptional senior performances and breakout seasons from the freshmen.

One thing we can all agree on: this team will not be the same without its seniors. It will be hard to watch the tip-off without the steady hand of Aron Baynes going for the ball. We're not going to see Caleb Forrest dive on the floor at a loose ball. We're not going to see Daven Harmeling come off the bench to rain a three or two. And we're going to have to play 40 minutes without the calm leadership of Taylor Rochestie. It's all gone now, so all we can do is look back and enjoy it.

So, without further ado, the 2009 CougCenter Postseason Awards:

Player of the Year - Taylor Rochestie

Taylor Rochestie was this basketball team. You could rename this award "most valuable player", because this team rose and fell with Taylor Rochestie. It wasn't all sunshines and daisies for Taylor in '09. He started the year out with his same old stat-sheet goodness, dominating teams by passing and scoring. And then, the slump. Taylor was turning over the ball. Taking too many shots. Forcing his offense. Come January, we knew Taylor had to respond to being the main man, or fade away into obscurity. Along with our team.

And boy did he ever respond. Taylor lifted the Cougars to a one point lead over Stanford to keep the Cougs from starting 0-3 in conference. He went on to have the game of his career (33 in the upset win at UCLA) and the shot of his career (ASU) within one week's time. Rochestie proved he could, in fact, take over the game with his scoring and not just his passing. Perhaps no player was as indispensible to his team. Taylor was on the floor for an astonishing 91.1% of the Cougars' minutes on the floor. That's the 22nd most of any player in the nation, and this includes the numerous blowouts the Cougars enjoyed to start the season. In conference play, no player was consistently on the floor as much as Taylor.

You could make a strong case for Aron Baynes and Klay Thompson, but this was Taylor's team. His 30.0 assist rate was in the Top 100 nationally and he played great defense consistently without fouling (1.9 fouls created per 40 minutes). Rochestie took on some of the best guards in the Pac-10: Tajuan Porter, Derek Glasser, Darren Collison, among others, and held his own.

But we won't remember Taylor for his defense. We'll remember him for being the clutch-shooting kid out of Tulane that transferred to Washington State and became the face of Bennett Ball in his four years at Wazzu. Remember those five pillars Tony talks about? Passion, unity, humility, servanthood, and thankfulness. Perhaps no one exemplifies them the way Taylor Rochestie did. He was willing to give up his time, his effort and his scholarship for Washington State. Thanks to two of those three (he got his scholarship back in the end), he will leave WSU a legend.

Also considered: Aron Baynes

Offensive Player of the Year - Taylor Rochestie

Not much need for an explanation here, but if you're into per game statistics, he led the way with 13.2 points per game. And the 4.5 assists a game weren't bad, either.

Defensive Player of the Year - Aron Baynes

Again, how does this man miss out on the Pac-10's postseason awards? Baynes was dominating under the basket on both ends, but we'll miss his defense every bit as much as the hook shot. Since the Pac-10 coaches loved Jon Brockman so much, let's consider the following: Baynes had a 5.5 block% this year. J-Brock? Try 0.3%. Brockman, for all his rebounding "dominance" had a 24.6 defensive rebounding percentage, good for 25th nationally. Baynes, and remember this accounts for the slower WSU tempo, notched 23.6. Hmm - not so far apart after all, eh?

(Side note: DeAngelo Casto notched a 9.1 block%. The national leader was Jarvis Varnado at 15.4)

Fortunately, we have an heir to the defensive throne underneath the basket in DeAngelo Casto. Nevertheless, we'll no longer get to see the glorious Baynes/Casto combination on the court, and we're going to be without a big defensive presence in the low post for some time to come. Baynes' athleticism and his ability have improved dramatically in the past four years, more than any other Cougar. He deserves to be honored for that.

He should also be recognized for his offense - with a team best 114.1 offensive rating and 100% 3-point shooting percentage. But we can't give Aron all the awards.

Newcomer of the Year - Klay Thompson

The most obvious award in the history of meaningless sports blog-awarded awards.

But just in case you lived in a nuclear shelter for the past year, Klay played for 81.8% of the Cougs' available minutes, had a 51.8 eFG% (not bad for someone who rarely shoots from the paint) and a 41.9% 3pt shooting percentage. He also led the team in free throw shooting at 89.7%. If he can put on a little more weight, and start to get to the free throw line, watch out. This kid is special.

Tremendous Upside Potential Award - Marcus Capers

This award goes to a player that may not have been a star this year, but has the potential to become one in the future. That man is Marcus Capers, a defensive dynamo who started to find his jump shot against St. Mary's. Fans of this site will know I've done this before, but let's compare two unidentified players:

Player A: 1.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.3apg, 1.5:1 assist to turnover ratio, 29.0 FG%
Player B: 4.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.1:1 assist to turnover ratio, 38.7 FG%

Player A is a better assist to turnover man, while Player B is slightly better at getting the ball int he bucket. Player A, of course, is Marcus Capers, and Player B is a freshman named Kyle Weaver. Both showed early signs of greatness on D. To think that we may have the second coming of Kyle on the way is too exciting to fathom. Of course Capers has to learn to the be the offensive player Weaver was. If he can, we may have found a serious diamond in the rough. Of course, can you really doubt Tony's scouting abilities at this point?

Also considered: DeAngelo Casto

Unsung hero - Caleb Forrest

I gave this award out in all my post-game summaries, and for the season as a whole I really believe this belongs to Forrest.

Consider this: Aron Baynes led the team with a 114.1 offensive rating, good for 219th in the nation. Who was number two? Caleb Forrest, with 112.1, good for 312th nationally. That's even more impressive when you look at Taylor (105.5) and Klay's (98.0) ratings. And you know those pesky turnovers that caught up to us so often? Caleb was the 68th best in the entire nation at avoiding them - posting a TO Rate of 11.4. Throw in a 2.6 block% and an endless number of hustle plays, and you have a solid player without a lot of the spotlight.

Sure, he was a fun favorite, but how often did you hear the media applaud Caleb Forrest for things other than his grit and hustle?

Also, as your co-blogger Dancing Football reminded me, it was Caleb who denied Jeff Pendergraph to set up "The Shot".

Also considered: Klay Thompson (in the shadow of Taylor and Aron despite his critical importance to the team)

Most improved - Caleb Forrest

If this was over the past four years, I'd give it to Aron Baynes, who could hardly catch a ball in his freshman season. But since this award mainly looks at this year (from last year), Caleb's the man again. You have to consider that Caleb, who averaged 3.4 points last season, had nine games in double figures this year. He set a career high in rebounds, and after never posting a positive assist-to-turnover ratio in his first three seasons, notched a 1.41 this season. Yep - that's improvement.

Also, I'm going to miss all the paper cut-out trees in the student section.

Also considered: Aron Baynes

Sixth man - DeAngelo Casto

Another fairly easy decision. Made the Pac-10 all-freshman team along with Klay Thompson, and brought positive contributions on both ends of the floor. His only downside is the turnover issues, but it was clear that Casto improved in both that department, and free throw shooting, as the season wore on. Next year he is going to be key. For now, we can enjoy the fact that he came off the bench for that ridiculous 9.1 block%, a 99.0 offensive rating, and a team-best 61.3 FT rate. And I love me some free throw rate. And for all the talk about turnovers, Marcus Capers was actually more prone to giving the ball away (of course Marcus also made up for it with a much larger number of assists).

Did I mention he's a heck of a lot of fun to watch?

Get excited, folks. Casto is the real deal.

Most disappointing loss - vs. Oregon State. The second half of this game was some of the most painful, disappointing basketball you will ever see. Let's just move on.

Biggest win - at UCLA, but just barely. Remember this was only the second time WSU has beaten the Bruins at Pauley, and they did it in a completely unconventional way for a Cougar team. Outscoring someone. The crazy thing, and I mentioned this after the game, is that the game only had 65 possessions. We average just under 59 a game. The game was deceptive, looking like a run-and-gun shootout on TV. But in reality it wasn't. This is just how freaking good Bennett Ball can be on offense. When it's done right. And nobody did it better than Taylor Rochestie, with his career-high 33 points and a dagger to seal it in the final minutes.

Also considered: Arizona State (in Pullman). If we were going for biggest moment, this is the clear winner. But the UCLA game infused some hope back into what was thought to be a lost season. And Arizona State and UCLA will probably finish the season ranked fairly close together. Slight edge to UCLA on the road.

Digging deeper: How the Cougs can be successful against St. Mary's D

Nuss — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:28:31 -0000

Just one more quick post on the game before my game thread preview pops up in a couple of hours.

One of the things we always have a tendency to do as Coug fans is first think about what we're going to do defensively to limit the other team. I know part of that is our general emphasis on defense, but I think part of that also is our general Cougar angst, in which we're pretty sure that someone is always on the verge of stealing what belongs to us with some sort of superlative performance.

So, I want to take a few minutes to look at how our offense is going to be able to beat the St. Mary's defense, which is no slouch. I was looking a little closer at St. Mary's kenpom scouting report, and a couple of numbers stick out that give us a ton of insight into what the Gaels try to do on defense.

St. Mary's has one of the lowest percentages of 3-point field goal attempts allowed (26.1, No. 7 nationally), as well as one of the lowest percentages of assists on opponents' field goals made (42.5, No. 3). Additionally, the Gaels give up 58.1 percent of their total points allowed on 2-point field goals -- 12th highest nationally.

In lay terms, here's what it means: The Gaels do everything in their power to defend the three point line and force you to penetrate, where two good shot blockers -- Omar Samhan (6.6 block percentage) and Diamon Simpson (5.0) -- await. They trust those two shot blockers a tremendous amount, because if they did any helping off the ball at all, that assist rate allowed would be a heck of a lot higher.

Normally, this is a recipe for a march to the free throw line. But it's been a very successful strategy for St. Mary's, given that they have the 45th best free throw rate allowed in the country. Almost certainly, this has a lot to do with the fact that St. Mary's has a physical advantage over most of its overmatched midmajor opponents. That obviously won't be the case tonight.

The most obvious solution to this is to take the ball to the rim and get to the line -- of their six highest games in FTR allowed, the Gaels lost four, including twice to Gonzaga. Of course, this isn't the Cougs' strong suit (even if we have shown an increased ability to get to the line in the past month), so I'm not expecting WSU to suddenly get up in that 40-50 percent range that has been death to St. Mary's.

Instead, it's going to come down to something much more mundane: The midrange jump shot. And this means heavy doses of Taylor, Klay and Caleb from 15-18 feet.

We know we can more or less count on Taylor. Plus, if he's not hitting his jumper, he can get into the lane -- I think St. Mary's overplays him at the 3-point line at their own peril. But Klay and Caleb are the wild cards at this point.

For a long time, we thought Klay was immune to the freshman wall. It looked like he finally hit it against UCLA. If he turns in a 3-for-12 performance tonight, we will lose. No bones about it: We absolutely need Klay to step up in this game.

As for Caleb, he'll get some opportunities tonight, as Simpson prefers to stay close to the basket and defend the lane. If he concentrates, sets his feet and nails a few of those 18-footers, he will draw Simpson away from the basket in the process and make life easier for everyone. But if he misses a bunch of them? It's basically a gift defensive rebound to St. Mary's.

It's probably this simple: If we have another one of those bad shooting nights, especially from inside the arc, it's bye-bye NIT, and bye-bye seniors.

The End?

Grady. — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 06:07:52 -0000

NCAA Basketball Stats

Well, that could've been it. It sure doesn't feel right, but then again it didn't feel right when the clock wound down last March against North Carolina. At the end of the day, a loss is a loss, courtesy of all our usual deficiencies. Long scoring drought? Check. Giving up a huge run to an opponent that we can't come back from? Check. Shooting woes? Check.

For a while, several times this season actually, we allowed ourselves to believe that our team was better than this. The fact is that the Pac-10 tournament put us right where we were. Clearly better than the worst team in the conference (Oregon), and clearly not consistent enough to run with an elite team (UCLA) every time we played them.

The NIT allows 32 teams. We know the Cougars aren't one of the 65 NCAA tournament teams. Clearly, though, they are one of the top 97 teams in the nation and that means they should be allowed into the tournament.

However, with Arizona losing tonight, and potentially losing a tournament spot in the process, the outlook starts to become grim for WSU. USC, also with a win tonight, should be a sure thing for at least the NIT. Last year two Pac-10 teams were selected: California and Arizona State. This year I would expect the same. So you better hope USC wins the whole tourney (not likely) or Arizona squeaks into the Big Dance (more likely, even if they don't deserve it). A small market team.like WSU is likely to receive a snub if those two teams are in first.

One potential outcome: A birth in the CBI, which takes sixteen teams and includes a four team West Regional. This could be a double whammy in that the Cougs could earn both a postseason slot and another home game. But still, and I may be selfish for saying this, I kind of enjoy the idea that our last image of Taylor Rochestie in Pullman was "The Shot". A first-round game against a fellow NIT snub just wouldn't feel the same. But let's face facts: we sure as heck aren't hosting an NIT game; so if it's a home game you want, the CBI may come through.

(Another potentially huge problem with the CBI: it happens over Spring Break. Bye bye student section)

On to the awards, because I really don't want to say anything else about this game:

Player of the Game: Aron Baynes, as the only Coug in double figures with 22 points on 8 of 15 shooting. We'll miss you, big guy.

Unsung Hero: Was there one? Taylor went 1 for 11. Klay went 2 for 11. Capers 2 of 7. Forrest 2 of 6. Casto 2 of 5. Suddenly I'm wondering how we only lost this game by nine. I'm going with a shocker here - Mike Harthun, who at least shot 50% (1 of 2), made a three and had one assist with no turnovers. Mike was also on the floor for the majority of the final valiant (yet way too late) run the Cougars made.

Play of the Game: Another downer. Let's go with the Baynes lay-up that gave us our only lead at 5-4.

It was over when... Let's not kid ourselves. The Jrue Holiday three-pointer that made it 23-5 with 10:48 to play in the first half. Bud Nameck's call: "And of course it goes in."

Stat of the Game: Every Cougar not named Aron Baynes shot 10 of 45 (22%) from the field.

Right now, I need one of those Men In Black things that erases your memory from a certain period of time. This team has seen much better days. Remember those, because this sure wasn't one of them. But hey - the regular season has to end somehow.

Thank You Ernie! But your Pac-10 Title is in Another Arena: Wazzu 62, Oregon 40

dvieira — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:18:22 -0000

General Observations

Boxscore

As much as I love the game of basketball, and as much as I love the Oregon Ducks, I am so happy the season is over. In a lot of ways, the game against Washington State summed up all of the feelings I've had about the team this year. Inexperience, turnovers and mental mistakes plagued us through the entire game. We did some things right but we did a lot of things like we have all year. Washington State was the worst possible team for us to play in the first round matchup-wise and not only did they kill us on the court, they just happened to be ending the season playing some of their best basketball. A recipe for a first-round exit. Great. Oregon never led in the game, and even though they made some good runs, they couldn't put together a consistent effort to stay in the game. Here are some thoughts from Ernie....

Offensively we were completely out of sync. We turned the ball over way too much. We couldn't score inside. We weren't scoring outside. TP was about the only guy on the floor getting anything done. So many missed layups and scoring opportunities. More so, so many basketball plays on the floor that are there to be made that we're not making right now. With a team that plays defensive like they play, you've got to make basketball plays. We left a lot of plays out on the floor.

A lot of the "basketball plays" Ernie is referring to are hustle and muscle plays from the guys. Going for rebounds was a big factor in the game as the guys were losing battles for the loose balls. Washington State was winning almost all the battles, not just physically but understanding what to do in the exact situation and reacting. Oregon still, even at this late part of the season, isn't reacting to the ball. Too much thinking out there, not enough playing basketball. The Cougars just play solid defense and don't make too many mistakes. When they do make mistakes, you have to capitalize on them and we just didn't do that.

Ernie on the off-season

We've got a grueling, grueling, grueling Spring and off-season coming this way with this group because we got a LOT of work to do...LOT of work to do.

You get the distinct impression that the off-season road is going to be pretty long for Oregon. Not just for players, but coaches as well. Ernie didn't sugarcoat the issue at all. The team will get a week or two off for finals and rest from the long season. After that, back to work fixing the issues from this season. Ernie implied that they knew a lot of the issues coming into the season. That fact doesn't surprise me as much as why it wasn't publicized more. By whatever force, most fans were led to believe that we would be "ok" and at least be middle of the Pac-10. I'm not sure if this was a bad job of setting expectations by Ernie and crew or whether the media got out of hand in their predictions. Ernie hangs his hat on "winning in the off-season" so hopefully the summer will prove to be a winner for Oregon.

On bringing in a strength and conditioning coach

Now we have an opportunity to change Josh Crittle's body even more so. Michael Dunigan, when he takes off his shirt you probably laugh because he doesn't have any muscle there, any bulk there. We got a chance now to put some muscle, put some bulk on him. Garret needs bulk, Drew Wiley needs bulk. Major bulk on Matt Humphrey(s). Those guys have to get size now, they have to get bigger, they have to get stronger.

When I heard Ernie talking about changing Crittle's body, all I could think of was this. So many plays this year break down to not having the size and muscle to execute. Having the size to go up underneath and get a foul or a bucket without getting the ball stripped will save us 10-15 points a game if not more. I'm not sure why Ernie insists on calling Matt Humphrey, Matt Humphreys but he does it every interview. To be honest, I wouldn't mind having more than one if it meant we had his energy, defense and hot shooting ability.

This is a terrible way to end the season for those guys but as TP did a great job of in the locker room says "You know, my senior year is NOT going to be like this and it starts with the off-season" and it really does. It starts with Joevan, LeKendric and TP. They've got to do a nice job of leading this team, but at the same time we have 3 great players coming in the door that are chomping at the bit just to get in the door. Even those three guys, I told them right now. There is nobody that is protected in terms of a scholarship, in terms of "I've got my scholarship so I'm going to be a starter this year". No no no no no. You have your scholarship and you're going to have to earn your opportunity to get out there on that floor again. TP being the exception to that.

A little competition doesn't hurt. With the recruits coming in next season, it serves us well by pushing the existing guys on the team. Ernie also alluded to the new recruits being able to contribute more right away, not out of necessity, but of luxury. I'm encouraged by what Ernie is saying. He's telling us the right things and seems to understand the gravity of the situation.

Stat of the game: 20 points for Tajuan Porter, 20 points for the rest of the team

Some more interesting facts about the game, Taylor Rochestie was 1 of 5 from the field with 4 points in the game. TP did an awesome job defending him the entire game. His 6 assists was double what the entire Oregon team had for the game. The Ducks had no answer for Aron Baynes. 7 of 8 from the field, 6 for 6 from the line for 20 points. Josh Crittle did not have a good game at all. 3 points, 5 turnovers. Catron seems to have hit some sort of wall. Another tough game for him going 2 of 6 from the field with 3 turnovers.

And just to prove who won the poll from before, if Wazzu only dresses Casto, Forrest, Baynes and Rochestie in the game, the Cougars still win 48-40.

Cougs Fly Past Ducks in Pac-10 Tourney

Grady. — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 06:14:37 -0000

NCAA Basketball Stats

Some Bullet Points:

Oregon isn't really that bad. Like Nuss alluded to earlier, WSU is an awful matchup for the Ducks. My, how times change. The U of O's once proud 13 game win streak over Wazzu has been shredded into a six game losing skid.
Just playing this game hurts us. Tomorrow we face a rested UCLA team with revenge on their mind. A team that was probably planning on facing the Crimson and Gray anyway, instead of the ten-seed Green and Gold.
Great news to see Stanford took care of OSU. Why? I don't really have a favorite among those teams, but Oregon State makes for a horrific matchup with Washington tomorrow. The Huskies absolutely mopped the floor with the Beavers on the offensive boards in their first two lopsided contests. A third OSU/UW game would've made me throw up in my mouth a little. Now, we have a team actually capable of beating the Huskies meeting up with them in the quarterfinals.
Make no mistake - this is a big win for us. Why? Lose this game and there's a very good chance you can kiss the NIT goodbye in addition to the NCAA tournament. I know it's only a consolation prize, but I would still enjoy seeing another season added to Friel Court's NIT appearance banner. Much better than nothing.
With Marcus Capers showing signs of life on offense, is there any reason left to keep sitting him behind Nikola Koprivica for that final starters' spot?
Why on Earth was Ernie Kent concerned with the Cougs' perimeter game? Oregon got shredded tonight, and all the damage came from inside the half-circle. Baynes: 20. Forrest: 14. Casto: 10. Our frontcourt alone outscored the Ducks 44-40. Not only that, they made an absurd 17 of 20 shots from the floor (and ten of ten free throws!).
Meanwhile, the Cougs won for the first time this year with Klay Thompson being held to less than ten. Not to mention Taylor Rochestie matching Koprivica's point total with four. The backcourt, normally essential to the Cougar offense, were role players tonight.
However, Taylor Rochestie is still the motor that runs this team. Six assists, one turnover. Even two steals and four boards.
This was the kind of game where a win doesn't seem that satisfying, but a loss would have hurt us like crazy. So enjoy the win. It's most likely the last time you'll see this year's Cougar team dismantle their opponent. Savor it.

Player of the Game: My personal pick for second-team All-Pac-10, Mr. Aron Baynes. 20 points on 7 of 8 shooting, 6 of 6 free throws, 8 boards and a block.

Play of the Game: Has to be the Forrest-to-Casto alley-oop. Who knew Caleb had the ability to make that pass cleanly? A close second has to be the Casto drive-and-dunk that really cemented the Cougs' dominance in the first period.

Unsung Hero: Definitely Caleb Forrest. The Fire doesn't have 10+ scoring games often, and he hit just about every mid-range jumper he put up. It's really hard to stop the WSU offense when you allow Caleb to shoot and he knocks 'em down anyway.

It was over when... The Baynes back-to-back dunks put the Cougars up 40-23. 16:44 remained, but this one was all but wrapped up. The Ducks are nothing if not the Fighting Tajuan Porters when they play us. With all due respect, Garrett Sim (a very nice player in his own right) would be sitting behind Mike Harthun on our bench.

Stat of the Game: Let's give it up for that frontcourt dominance. 17 of 20 from the field (85%) between Baynes, Casto and Forrest.

Five Burning Questions with Coug Center

dvieira — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:10 -0000

Even though Oregon is playing better at the end of the year, we just had to draw Washington State in the Pac-10 Tournament. The Cougars beat us by 12 at Mac Court in January. In February, they looked at the Civil War football score and said to themselves..."yeah, we can beat that", destroying Oregon 67-38 in Pullman. Will March be any better? Third time is the charm? Perhaps. Nuss over at Coug Center was kind enough to give us some insight into what we can expect in round 3.

ATQ: I know Cougs Fans are probably upset about losing to Huskies. As a Duck, I can relate. That being said, is finishing 7th and having to play Oregon on the first day a blessing in disguise? Oregon has had an awful year and if you get by the Ducks, you face a UCLA squad that seems to be having some issues at the end (whom you beat just a couple weeks ago).

CougCenter: I don't think so. This team really is playing well right now, and has high confidence that there isn't anyone in this conference that it can't beat, so it really doesn't matter who the second round opponent is. However, we know that our only real shot of getting into the NCAA Tournament at this point is to win the Pac-10 tournament, and winning four games in four days, even when your first one is against the last place team in the conference, is an enormous task. This game doesn't add anything to our season, other than to serve to wear down two guys who usually log big minutes who we need performing at a high level -- Taylor Rochestie and Klay Thompson. Sixth or higher would have been highly preferable, but the Cougs have no one to blame but themselves for choking away those two games against USC and Oregon State.

ATQ: Taylor Rochestie has just killed Oregon this year. What can we do to stop him outside of stealing his GPS or locking him into the "Small World Ride" at Disneyland?

Continue reading this post »

CougCenter: Nothing. I think he's too tall and strong for Porter and too savvy for any of your other young guards. But that puts him in good company -- he dropped 31 on Darren Collison and UCLA and just scored 23 on Venoy Overton, Justin Dentmon and Washington. He's just become such an all-around threat. He's done a much better job of taking makeable shots, and giving up the ball when they aren't there. And trust me -- nobody wants to go to a third consective Tournament than him, so he's going to give you all he's got.

ATQ: Given your article here, do you think the Cougs met expectations for this season? Do they still have some work to do in order to get there? How does this play into your hopes for next season?

CougCenter: This season has been one of ebb and flow. That piece, after the first four games, was during a time of flow, as the Cougs blew out some really terrible opponents, and looked darn good doing it. But once we got into the tougher portion of the nonconference schedule, we ebbed -- our veterans proved they weren't athletic enough to keep up with more talented teams, but the more athletic freshmen just weren't ready to contribute heavily yet. That continued sort of back and forth as the freshmen would work their way into the rotation, then play themselves out, until this late-season run, when they've finally forced Tony's hand with some great play. I think it was a pretty normal outcome with so many new faces, and it's pretty safe to say we all wish the regular season was about two weeks longer.

Because of that, I think they generally met our expectations. Most Coug fans at the beginning of the year thought a third consecutive Tournament appearance would be a stretch and the NIT was our most likely destination. That's exactly where we're at. As for next year ... boy, our freshman have grown up a lot, but it's going to be tough without Rochestie and Aron Baynes. We might be in for another NIT-type season, but two years from now? Watch out, Pac-10.

ATQ: Considering their 7th place finish in the Pac-10, are the Cougars better, worse or about right as far as the Pac-10 rankings?

CougCenter: In terms of how they're playing right now? They're better than that, and the difference is the contributions of freshmen Marcus Capers and DeAngelo Casto, who seemed to finally grow up overnight about three weeks ago. When on the floor, they give the Cougs a great mix of veteran savvy and youthful energy (and athleticism) that make them very dangerous. They still make mistakes -- Capers and Thompson getting themselves into foul trouble on Saturday comes to mind -- but their positive contributions are outweighing their mistakes at this point, something we couldn't say earlier.

ATQ: What are some ways that the Ducks can get Washington State out of their comfort zone offensively and defensively?

CougCenter: Offensively: There's really only two ways to beat the pack defense -- hit a lot of 3s and try to get in transition. The first is why Oregon had so much success against WSU for a few years there, but obviously these Ducks aren't the shooters of previous years. If you can get hot from outside, you've got a chance. The second is really only doable if you can force WSU into a lot of missed shots -- it's hard enough to run on WSU, but it's practically impossible to do it when you're pulling the ball out of the basket.

Defensively: Take a page out of Washington's book. Get the ball out of Rochestie's hands as much as possible and try to deny the passes to Klay Thompson. Double team Aron Baynes before he has a chance to make a move in the post and get Dunigan into foul trouble. Funnel the ball to lesser offensive options such as Caleb Forrest and Nik Koprivica, entice them to shoot/drive, contest their shots, and hope they both have off nights. Of course, this all is much easier if you have tenacious perimeter defenders such as Venoy Overton and Justin Dentmon, and long interior double-teamers such as Justin Holiday, Darnell Gant and Matthew Bryan-Amaning, but it's a plan that can work.

Poll

Most likely outcome for the Oregon - Washington State matchup in the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament

Taylor Rochestie Drops 50 points on Oregon

14 votes

Josh Crittle has a double double

14 votes

Oregon moves on to the second round

33 votes

Washington St only dresses 4 players and still beats Oregon by 20

30 votes

Jshufelt's BBQ is ruined when Jennifer Aniston calls Angelina Jolie a "fat cow"

20 votes

111 votes | Poll has closed

Washington executed its defense to perfection

Nuss — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 22:17:50 -0000

Somewhere in the bowels of Hec Edmundon Pavilion, in the hours after the end of the celebrations, postgame press conferences and gladhanding, Lorenzo Romar sat down with his assistants to just relax and take it all in.

As the staff surveyed the box score, smiles crept across their faces once again as Romar and Cameron Dollar exchanged knowing glances, their eyes falling on the same two lines:

Name	Min	FG	3Pt	FT	Off	Reb	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	Pts
C. Forrest	34	3-10	0-1	0-0	1	2	0	2	0	2	3	6
N. Koprivica	33	1-8	0-2	0-1	1	5	5	1	0	0	3	2

Their team had succeded in executing its defensive gameplan to perfection -- two unreliable offensive options had taken 18 shots between them, while Aron Baynes and Klay Thompson took just 12. The final result was predictable.

I want to be clear that this is not a Nik Koprovica bashing post. The guy played his heart out on defense, spending the entire second half on Quincy Pondexter and allowing just four of his 16 total points over the final 17 minutes of the game. He was tough and physical, which is exactly what is needed against a guy like Pondexter who can sometimes start to believe his own myth just a little too much.

But the bottom line is that there is no way on earth that Koprivica ought to be taking eight shots in a game, and the Huskies deserve a lot of credit for making it happen. Their gameplan was clear: Force the ball into the hands of lesser scoring options as much as possible and then make those guys take contested shots.

Both Venoy Overton and Justin Dentmon did an excellent job hounding and harassing Taylor Rochestie and Klay Thompson (when he was able to be on the floor) all game long. And once Lorenzo Romar wised up and double-teamed Aron Baynes every time he touched the ball, the offensive production ended up falling elsewhere.

Whether it should have fallen "elsewhere" is certainly debatable, though.

Koprivica and Forrest each took a number of shots that they could have passed up. Nik's drives were with plenty of time left on the shot clock, that midrange jumper was a terrible decision, and the late 3 attempt was inexcusable. And Caleb should know that he can't take a jumper when his feet aren't absolutely set.

Additionally, Tony Bennett once again elected to go with his veterans down the stretch, rather than finish with the youth that had served him so well over the past couple of weeks.I understood the decision to bench Casto -- he had done exactly what I hoped he wouldn't, flying in to attempt too many blocks and leaving his man wide open for offensive rebounds.

But the decision to leave Capers on the bench for the entire second half was curious, at best, as there's no doubt that Capers brings more to the offense than Koprivica. I've tried to put myself inside Tony's head, and the best explanation I can come up with is that Capers ~~could have guarded Pondexter~~ would have had to guard one of the guards, which would have necessitated Klay -- in foul trouble all day -- having to cover Pondexter. (Sorry for the original typo.) That would have been a 5th foul waiting to happen. So Tony decided that it was better to not risk having Klay foul out. When looking at the plus/minus numbers, it's tough to argue with that reasoning, although you have to wonder if Marcus could have made a difference in those final two minutes on Thomas.

Give a lot of credit to Washington. They really did dictate our offensive game to their advantage, proving once again that the reason this team is a legitimate threat to go deep into March is because of their improvement on defense.

Love was in the air

Dancing Football — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:15:06 -0000

To continue the build up to the hardcourt clash between UW and Wazzu this weekend, we present more awesome video of triumphs of good over evil.

Valentine's Day 2007. What better way to spend time with your sweetie than snuggling up in front of the TV (or in the case of about 3,000 Coug fans, Hec Ed) to watch an Ivory Clark dunkfest? This was the fourth consecutive victory for the Cougs over the Huskies and the second in a row in Seattle. It followed the 75-47 slaughter at Friel. It was vastly different that the season before, when UW was the highly ranked team. The roles switched but the result stayed the same. Cougs win.

You knew it had to go well when Antonio Chavers started the scoring with a deep three right? It continued with five first half Ivory Clark dunks, including a nice facial for Jon Brockman. Taylor Rochestie had a huge game and his WSU star was born. Don't you love these people who make highlight videos for us to enjoy?

By the way, apparently YouTube disabled the audio on this one, so you might want to turn on some music and get some popcorn. The video is 8 and a half minutes long and shows EVERY SINGLE Cougar basket in the game.

Go Cougs! Click on the link below and make the jump for the video.

WSU vs. UW (via mitchellvictor11)