WSU 32 UCLA 17 at the half. Total defensive shut down so far and the offense is playing well without Moore and Thompson.

Damn. Cougs loose by 4 in OT. Not enough firepower without Thompson. Cougs played their asses off but just didn't have enough size down low to combat UCLA's Josh Smith and the other tattooed thug. Gonna have to beat UW Thursday in LA and probably win the Pac 10 tourney to get in now.

I thought Malcolm Lee traveled (3 steps) or charged on his way to the hoop before they called a foul against WSU and Lee sank both free throws to tie the game in regulation. If Aiden made his foul shots the game would have been over in regulation. Faisel concerned me on Thursday night and we were lucky to beat USC despite missing FTs down the stretch.

Aden definitely struggled today against the taller defender Lee.

Spoke too soon there DB. They were getting it done...until OT.


First part shouldn't be a problem from what I saw in their two previous matchups. Second part? They probably have a better chance than UW at winning the P-10 tourney.

I've been rooting for the UW the whole year but tonight I put away my homer bias and am seeing them for what they really are. The only way UW can win a game is if they can con the opponent into a run and gun, up and down game. Otherwise they pretty much don't have a chance. WSU has a MUCH better half court offense AND half court defense.

Dan S. was right...this UW team sucks. Their bigs are small and their smalls are even smaller. Summerrun was right too, there will not be a Pac-10 team in the Sweet Sixteen this year.

Ike

Cougs were killing UCLA throughout most of the 1st half with back cuts and timely 3's. Unfortunately, UCLA started pounding the ball down low with Josh Smith and the other guy, which WSU didn't have a real answer for. WSU played their butts off to the end but it was very obvious that Aden couldn't supply the outside firepower and he missed way too many free throws as well. As much as they missed Thompson, the really missed Moore late in the game as they had no real ball handler to break the UCLA press.

I didn't write the Huskies off after a tough loss.

I wrote them off after SEVERAL games of showing no heart and will to win. When things get tough, they roll over. They stop playing aggressively, and you can just see they aren't going to get anything going.

It took a kid coming in off the bench to get them over the hump against fUCLA, and they laid a complete turd last night against an SC team that just isn't that good.

I love the Dawgs, but THESE Dawgs need to get their sh!t together and start playing hard, like a team.

My Cougs were awesome last night. One of the best games they've ever played. Win or lose , they showed what it takes to have heart.

As for Klay Thompson....I believed him when he apologised to the COUGAR NATION, and promised it would never happen again. He's just a kid, and like every other kid that makes stupid decisions. He'll either learn from it, or he won't.

Tough loss for UW as well.

It's tourney time and may the best team win. Good luck every one.

Mf

Interesting matchups in the tourney...think UW is one n done as WSU knows the only shot they have is to win it all. Mighty 10 seed ASU shall spank Nikey U but thats about it. Dawgs problem in the real tourney is what looks like a 8/9 seed, 1st round game will be tough but getting past a #1 seed in round 2 is not gonna happen.

Wouldnt surprise me to see 2-3 Big East teams in the Final 4 this year, alot of power when you send 11 teams from one conference to the Dance...

I'm afraid you're right, Keith...no matter what happens, UW will get the 8/9 game and have to play a #1 in round 2, and that will be that.

Fish on...

Todd

I hope for Chuck's sake UW advances...but it would probably be better for them to lose in the first round in hopes of dropping to a 10 or 11 seed and maybe face off against the likes of BYU or SDSU in the second round, instead of Kansas, Duke, OSU, etc.

I thought the same thing about the Big East last year Keith....they sent 8 or 9 teams and only 2 made the Sweet 16. I think 11 teams is a joke. Why not just invite the whole effn conference? Uconn, Nova, and Marquette, all at 9-9 in conference play, shouldn't go. I'd rather see regular season champs from mid majors that don't win their conference tourney get the invite instead. Teams like Butler (final last year), No. Iowa (beat #1 Kansas last year), George Mason (Final Four couple years back), etc. add WAY more to the tourney than the 10th place team from the Big East.

Ike

Joe Lenardy already has the Dawgs as a 10 seed playing Cinci, the #7 seed. Winner of that game will most likely get NC. Good luck to you.

They can't beat North Carolina but that isn't an issue right now anyway, and just because Lenardy has them in the same bracket doesn't mean it ends up that way either.

As for the Thursday game, if I were betting with my head, I would bet on UW to win. I expect a very hotly contested game from both teams. But if Reggie Moore isn't at least 80-85% with the ankle, the Dawgs prevail. It was very obvious in Sat. game with UCLA that the Cougs don't have any serious replacement for him and late when UCLA applied pressure in the back court the Cougs had no answer.

Now, since I'm not too smart and would bet with my heart, the Cougs win this thing as the Dawgs still aren't smart enough to solve the Coug's defense of switching between man to man and zone defense. Thompson plays and hangs 30 on the Dawgs and they win 72-66.

Lenardi is good in terms of "who's in/who's out"; he's correct most of the time. And he's fairly accurate at seeding teams too. But he's not on the Selection Committee, and has no influence or input on what teams are placed in what regions...he's just guessing. Cinci may be a 7 seed, and UW might be a 10, but I doubt they will play eachother.

One of the huge injustices of the NCAA Tourney is that Duke and UNC always get to play in Charlotte. It would be the equivalent of having a subregional in Seattle every year and make East Coast teams fly all the way here and play UW in the Key Arena...not fair at all. I hope the Committee will keep UW closer to home and they will be playing in either Denver or Tucson.

Ike

You don't need to move the tourney to all the schools, just move it to Vegas. Attendance will go up and the home court advantage disappears.

I dunno...sounds pretty distracting to me...might see Venoy have to sit a game, too...unless they pull the "we'll have to wait until the facts come out" comment out of their pocket, in which case he'll already have graduated and the season will be long over, like April or something.

Fish on...

Todd

Perfect timing! I was wondering if they were going to wait until the brink of post season play to file charges.

Removes a distraction? It removed him for the entire Pac-10 Tourney...which will probably be only one game now for sure. Silver lining, at least for Venoy: no charges will be filed for the "alleged" sexual assault...it was deemed consensual.

Ike

Todd, Romar does not fck around with kind of B.S. He will nip it in the bud and dole out the appropriate punishment. Book it !

The appropriate punishment is no Pac Ten Tourney but he's allowed to play in the dance?
Slap on the wrist at best.

I didn't hear that, did Romar say that?