...thanks to a longer-than-expected night at work. By the time I got home, the streaming feed of KXLY was playing some weird kind of music and not the Tony Bennett show.

Anyway, I'm as disappointed as you are. I wanted to hear Tony's take on Forrestgate, the Husky "showtime" dunk, and why our offense has died a terrible, untimely death.

Please accept this clip of Clint Eastwood saying "Get off my lawn", in lieu of the radio show recap. This is how you're supposed to scare off kids:

We now turn our attention to the Rick Neuheisal Region, which may very well be the most competitive in the battle for 2008 Coug of the Year.

There's some tremendous upset potential in this group. The 5-12 matchup, always dangerous, features women's coach June Daughery against Aussie Center Aron Baynes. But first, we have the 4-13 battle between football coach Paul Wulff and one of his own players, Jeshua Anderson. Wulff has been a prominent figure in Cougar sports this year, but a lot of it may have been for the wrong reasons (e.g. losing). Jeshua Anderson may be able to outrun, and probably even hurdle over, CPW in this one. Can Wulff use his recruiting skills to survive to round two? Your votes decide.

#4 Paul Wulff

Hired.

Embarrased.

Redeemed.

Recruited. And really well, so far.

#13 Jeshua Anderson

NCAA Champion.

USA Junior Champion.

World Junior Champion.

MIsses the olympics - but can you really blame a guy who failed to qualify behind the three guys that won the Gold, Silver and Bronze in China?

Also, a pretty decent wide receiver.

Might as well address this.

It was stupid. It was wrong, and the correct call was made on the floor. Caleb should, and probably will, be disciplined by Tony for it. Sometimes emotions take over in a game, but there was no excuse for this. Even if Gant provoked it - and considering Gant was assessed for a technical of his own, he must have done or said something that we can't see or hear on the video. Doesn't matter. We should've shown more class than the Huskies, something that would have been very easy to do.

What makes me mad, as a Coug fan, is the double standard some Husky fans have. This is something to write the Pac-10 office about, while Tim Morris' ball-off-the-face cheap shot (see below) is perfectly defensible. You can't have it both ways. Either you are OK with both of those plays or you are angry about both of them. I don't think either one can be defended.

Or, as FSN calls it, a "smart play with no timeouts". Sure, let's go with that.

The 2009 non-conference football schedule has been officially announced.

There's two opponents we knew about, and one we didn't know about for sure until yesterday.

SMU comes to Pullman, Hawai'i comes to Qwest Field, and the Cougs travel to San Antonio to play Notre Dame on NBC.

Remember what happened the last time we played Notre Dame on NBC? I don't, thanks to a special neurosurgical procedure performed to erase my memory of that game.

And hey, June Jones' current team, as well as June Jones' former team. I hope they still pass a lot, because our run defense is not the best.

The semi-madness continues, with our 8/9 matchup between two people you may not have even heard of.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't know who they are (Yes, that's a double negative - deal with it). I also lined up this matchup somewhat on purpose, because I really feel one of these two Cougar coaches deserve to make it to the second round.

#8 Jane LaRiviere

Led the Cougar varsity rowing team to eighth in the nation this year. This coming two years after leading WSU to a fourth place finish at nationals, the highest final national standing for any women's team in Cougar history.

Also led the Cougars to a victory over Washington in Seattle this year, which is hilarious for the following reason:

Distance from row-able water:
Washington State University - 30 miles
University of Washington - 0 miles

#9 Matt Potter

Led the WSU women's soccer team to the NCAA tournament for the first time in six seasons. The team finished 10-6-5, drew with #21 Washington, beat #13 California and drew with #5 USC. The Cougs lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Texas.

EDIT (4:45 p.m.): Added qualification: has British accent.

Rochestie, last night:

“A lot of Washington State basketball is about is getting motivated and getting pumped up on the defensive end,” said Rochestie, who had two of WSU’s four assists and four of its 14 turnovers. “When you’re not getting stops, and you’re a defensive team, that plays a role offensively.

 

“When we’re getting gritty and getting stops defensively, it fires up our offense and we start breaking teams down.”

Grippi, today:

So why am I harping so much on the offense? This is WSU isn’t it? Well, it’s because the defense is sound, despite UW’s 60 points and 48 percent shooting. Sure, there are matchup problems at certain spots and will be throughout the Pac-10 slate, but Klay Thompson has grasped the Cougars’ concepts, Aron Baynes and DeAngelo Casto have defended the rim to a degree it never was last season and the rest of the Cougars are, for the most part, playing solid. It’s only when the offense becomes timid and inefficient the defense seems to break down. (As he articulated last night, Taylor Rochestie sees it the other way, but it’s kind of the chicken-egg argument here. From our vantage point, the offensive end seems to be the key element this season.)

 

The one thing we haven’t seen this year is someone coming off the bench and nailing a couple 3s in key situations (think Chris Matthews two years ago) to get the offense going. Such a lift would have been helpful a bunch of times this season. Last year, with Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver able to go off in bunches, it wasn’t so critical. Now it is. I thought before the season started that guy would be Abe Lodwick. Maybe it still will be. Or maybe it’s Mike Harthun (though that’s a lot to ask of a true freshman). Or maybe all that’s needed is taking the ball out of Rochestie’s hands for a few minutes each game, let him run off screens and get open looks, like last season. We’ll see.

So - is it the offense that's the problem, or is the real issue that our defense isn't setting up the offense the way it used to?

I'm with Grippi 100% here. Sorry, Taylor, but the defense is still pretty solid. It didn't help us whatsoever that UW drained their threes (6 for 11) while the Cougars had their fair share of shots rim out yet again.

This is vintage Grippi, too. I love two things about the last paragraph. One, the idea that Rochestie should spend a few moments away from running the point. That's something I've heard people mention before, but it has new meaning after the UW loss. Taylor is shooting the worst 3-point % of his career right now, and it's not because he's getting worse. It's because he's not getting open, and we have to find ways for either him or someone else to get in rhythm. I hate to see him force shots, like he has all season long.

Second, I'm extremely excited to see I'm not the only one that was on the Abe Lodwick bandwagon at the start of the year. The kid can shoot - but due to his 1 for 16 long-distance start I feel that Tony is hesitating when it comes to putting him in games. He shouldn't. That may not be Grippi's opinion, but it's mine. We need another 3-point shooter off the bench to give us a lift. It's not going to be Capers - so it has to be Harthun or Lodwick. Or heck, maybe even Witherill. We need someone.

I'll add two things of my own to the offense/defense debate. Number one: turnovers. The Cougs have been uncharacterstically bad at coughing up the ball this year, and they did it again against the Huskies. A 24.6 TO% is not going to help us win games in conference. When you're offense turns the ball over, you give away easy transition opportunities to the other guys - something the defense can't always bail you out of.

My second issue with yesterday's game was the free throw rate - the Huskies didn't kill us here, but once again we let an opponent make more free throws than we took. What's odd is that we did draw a lot of fouls in the first half. However, they just weren't shooting fouls - which gave the advantage to the Huskies as long as they could keep their guys out of foul trouble. Which they did (for the most part). Again, our offense not getting to the line is not the defense's problem.

Role Reversal

It's nice to see the Huskies play their very best against us. And not, someone like, oh I don't know... Portland?

From Condotta's Blog:

-- This was UW's best overall shooting game of the year if you throw in the 12-14 performance at the free throw line. UW was 25-52 from the field, the fourth-best percentage of the year, and a critical 6-11 from the three-point line. Romar again praised his team's improving shot selection saying that the Huskies did an especially good job of regrouping after getting offensive rebounds instead of immediately hurrying up another shot.

--- But there wasn't much UW didn't do well today. The 11 turnovers were a season-low, and the plus-16 margin on the boards the third-best of the year. UW also had 11 assists to just four for the Cougars.

--- This was also as much of a team effort as UW has had all season with four players scoring 10 or more points --- impressive balance in a game when it scored only 68 total.

--- Several players turned in what might have been their best games of the year, notably Pondexter (16 points, seven rebounds, three assists, no turnovers in 34 minutes) and Justin Dentmon (17 points on 6-8 shooting and 4-4 three-pointers). His threes were especially big as the Huskies knew they would have to hit some to win this one --- and that hasn't been UW's strong suit to date. All six came from Dentmon and Isaiah Thomas, but it proved enough.

The Huskies do deserve a lot of credit, especially for having success in transition. Isiah Thomas did a great job emulating what the Oregon guards used to do well against WSU. That is, push the tempo just enough coming down the court to create a mismatch or an open shot, even if you don't drive all the way to the basket. Thomas, as far as I'm concerned, really was the difference this time for UW. When it was just Appleby and Dentmon, the Huskies didn't have a guard who could change the game like that.

There is a silver lining:

--- Don't let anyone kid you that this wasn't a big one for the Huskies. As they ran off the court and up the tunnel to the locker room --- and out of public view --- some of the UW players leapt into the air as if they were going for a game-winning dunk. Justin Holiday ran up the tunnel and gave a hearty chest-bump to Quincy Pondexter who screamed a hearty "yeah.''

A little funny, isn't it? The lowly Cougs, who didn't have much of a program whatsoever until 2003, now have a bullseye on their back. Instead of UW vaulting to elite status and expecting to beat us every time out, they're the ones going crazy after a lone win in eight attempts. There's something refreshing about seeing that. They didn't expect to win this game, and that says a lot about the status of both programs. As I watched the Husky players celebrate at the end I couldn't help but think to myself, "should they really be that excited?".

It's the first round of the 2008 Coug of the Year competition here on CougCenter! Here's the final bracket (click to enlarge):

Now it's up to you, Coug Nation. I expect the first round to be smooth sailing for our top seed, Mr. Anthony G. Bennett. His opponent is Pullman Lentil Festival mascot, and perennial mascot race loser, Tase T. Lentil.

Polls are open for 72 hours from the time of the post. One vote per person and no messing around. This is serious stuff, man. Vote early, and vote often, through multiple computers if you think it's necessary.

#1 Tony Bennett

-Coached WSU to the Sweet Sixteen
-Is awesome
-Turned down Indiana
-Turned down Cal
-Turned down Marquette
-Turned down LSU
-Turned down Oklahoma State and/or any other schools with a coaching vacancy, depeding on who you ask

#16 Tase T. Lentil

-Introduced literally tens of kids to the magic of lentils.

Thanks for the memories, seven-game win streak.

You will be missed.

Edit (7:00): Yep, we may want to work on that whole offensive rebounding thing.

--

Back from the game.... I'm not sure how the officiating looked on TV, but the crowd sure wasn't happy for the majority of the first half. That wasn't the big story, however.

Yet again - just like the Gonzaga game - the Cougs let a close game get away. And then they lost there composure and let it really get away. This game was closer than the final score indicates. But we'll keep seeing final scores like this one, or the Gonzaga one, or the LSU one, etc. because the Cougars need more discipliine.

They need Dick Bennett.

Don't get me wrong, Tony Bennett is a hero to the Cougar Nation, but Dick Bennett had a way of developing players. And he never let up. I'm just seeing a lot of uncharacteristically bad things - silly turnovers, defensive lapses, problems in transition and a complete lack of flow on offense. These were things Dick just didn't stand for - particularly the transition problems.

The real tragedy is that most of these problems fall in the hands of a group of seniors (and 1 junior if you count Nik) who should know better. Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver aren't walking through that door - it's the seniors who have to give us a chance to win.

You're guess is as good as mine as to how to fix this. Credit the Huskies, who are a much better defensive team than I ever would've expected. On the offensive end they beat us the exact same way Oregon used to. High screens, quicker guards and a knack for getting the ball in the basket.

We're all mad about that classless little dunk play at the end. And we're all frustrated this team isn't playing better. The good news is college basketball is more about how you finish than how you start. But we're starting to dig ourselves a hole that seems deeper every game. The postseason looks like it's a long way away.

Most of you didn't get to see the Cougs in their first few games. It's a shame, because they looked incredible. We blew out MVSU by an even wider margin than we did last year. The offense was firing on all cylinders, especially from the perimeter. The defense looked like it hadn't skipped a beat. Surely this type of team can return at some point, right?

I think it's time to dig a little deeper on the bench. Mike Harthun could have been out there for more than the small stretch he played in the first half. DeAngelo Casto should've seen some more minutes in the second half.

Maybe Tony left the upperclassmen out there late in the second half to teach them a lesson: this is your mess, now clean it up.

3 PM PST -- Friel Court at Beasley Coliseum

Kenpom.com prediction: Cougs win 59-57 (66 possesions, 56 percent confidence)

PROBABLE STARTERS 

Here we are - the start of the Pac-10 season and the first leg of the two-part rivalry series between Washington and Washington State. This should be exciting. There should be a huge line of students, and people trying to camp out the night before the game. It should be one of the bigger days on the Cougar basketball calendar.

And yet it doesn't feel like it. Why? Because this game should never, ever, be played on January 3rd in Pullman.

The Pac-10 scheduling wizards, in their infinite wisdom, climbed Mount Vesuvius to speak with an oracle, who then instructed them to schedule this game on this day. if we lose, I will obviously be blaming the conference, rather than giving the Purple-clad Huskies the respect they deserve. I think that's the best way to go about it.

First, you have the weather. As I type this it's sunny and a whole degree above zero here in town. Still, that's a welcome change from the 327 feet of snow (exaggeration) that have made piles of snow on Spokane sidewalks that are just above my height at about six feet tall (not an exaggeration).The two biggest sources of Cougar fans are on the west side, which requires crossing Snoqualmie pass, and from Spokane, which requires driving down snowdrift prone Highway 195. What should have been a sold-out game will now be cut down considerably, with plenty of no shows in the season ticket section.

Then, you have a campus on break. That would be fine if the pass was clear, but as it is traction tires are required. Meaning that you're probably driving on packed snow, instead of bare road, if you take that route. So very few students will make it back today. Add that to WSU's ridiculous close-down-the-dorms-every-chance-we-get policy, and you have very few students on campus. Basically me, and the few people who stayed behind for the break out in apartmentville, are the two sources of students in town today.

But never fear! For only $25 you can buy a seat in the student section, meaning that instead of a raucous student section you will have an awkward mishmash of students that still showed up early and older fans who want the former to sit down. I've attended games over break when they've done this 'general admission' policy. Simply put, it's a mix of students who care, families who want to attend a Cougar game without having to hear swearing coming out of the ZZU CRU, and locals who think they know soooo much about Cougar basketball even though they obviously couldn't shell out the cash for season tickets ("Get Harmeling out of there! He's terrible! Boy that Thompson kid looks great! Why didn't anyone see that coming?").

Finally, you have the game. This is a somewhat worse Cougar squad going against a somewhat better Husky team, as compared to last year. This wouldn't be a problem, except that the Huskies have been so close to us the last several times, and haven't yet pulled it off. Could today be the day they finally break through? The Dawgs are a terrible team on the road (see: game, Portland) and yet somehow have been able to put together spirited efforts at Friel Court since the awesome 75-47 thrashing of Spencer Hawes. Maybe having less of a student presence could actually help, by not firing them up as much for the game.

The Cougs can win this game. We're two point favorites, which only really accounts for home court advantage, with all other things being equal. We have the talent, though, and we just need to execute. I want the eight-peat. I want to know that Brockman has never won here. Please make it happen.

Key player for the Huskies: Isiah Thomas. I know, Jon Brockman is a great player, but he's very predictable. All he has to do is step on the court and he'll get his 15 and 10. Thomas, on the other hand, is the Huskies' new big scorer and could be the difference if he's not kept in check. He's coming off a career-high 27 against Morgan State.

Key player for the Cougars: Taylor Rochestie. Baynes and Brockman cancel each other out for the most part, and Thompson should get 12 points, a couple of assists and some boards. Rochestie is the key and needs to be the "third scorer" tonight, or defer to someone who will be. As Taylor goes, so do the Cougs, and if he protects the ball and gets Baynes more touches, we could be in for a good afternoon.

Go Cougs. Please win.