THE COUGARS HAVE A NEW COACH AND A NEW ATTITUDE - AND THEY'RE OUT TO GET'YA!!

WSU Women's Basketball Website

The Cougs are sick and tired of being the doormat of the PAC12 women's basketball conference! Come to Maples at 7PM on Friday the 3rd and watch this new stronger better edition of the Washington State Cougars take on the Stanford Cardinal.

It's tough to recruit five star players to the Palouse, WSU has had two barely winning seasons in the last twenty-two years and in 2018, they were 10 and 20. So if you're the Athletic Director, how do you turn the program around? First, you hire a great coach who knows how to win. Kamie Ethridge was the point guard at Texas when her team went 34-0 and won the national championship. She won a gold medal in the '88 Olympics, was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, and is generally thought to be one of the greatest players in history. Her last Head Coaching gig was at Northern Colorado where the Bears were 83-44 in her four year stint and 26 - 7 in her last year, including a Big Sky Championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. 

Kamie was hired by WSU at the end of the 2018 season. You could feel the difference she brought almost immediately. She's one of the great teachers of the game and she's building a program on a foundation of solid fundamentals. She plays up-tempo and says they'll shoot a lot from distance. When Kamie's hire was announced, she got a letter from Bobbie Buckets (Borislava Hristova, First Team All PAC12 last season) signed by the seven players who decided to stay after the 2018 season, in which she said, ". . . we believe in you, and we are committed to making this thing work."

She's the latest in a series of great coaching hires by PAC12 women's basketball programs - including Scott Rueck, Kelly Graves, Jody Wynn, Adia Barnes and Mark Trakh. You can sense our conference getting stronger every year. Kamie will bring the Cougs to a new level. Soon, they will no longer be an assumed "W" on any schedule - including ours. 

The Cougars feature players from every corner of the earth - Australia, New Zealand, France, Hawaii, Israel, Serbia, Bulgaria, Rwanda and Nebraska. Borislava is one of the best NCAA players in America - by way of Varna, Bulgaria. If she's on on Friday night, she'll put on a show in Maples. She can light it up. 

Obviously, I'm excited for the long-suffering WSU fans and expect a dramatic turnaround in Pullman in the near future.  

    

THE AGGIES ARE COMING!! SHOW UP ON SATURDAY AT 2 PM AND LET THE CARDINAL HEAR YOU!!

Stanford will take on the U.C. Davis Aggies on Saturday December 28th at 2 PM. I assume the team flew home Sunday night and will spend Monday through Thursday with their families and fly back Thursday night - have a practice on Friday and a shoot around Saturday morning. Something like that should be enough to prepare for the Aggies at 2 PM.

You probably know that on Sunday, Stanford lost its first game of the season in Austin where their shooting went south. So, I figure the Aggies will bear the brunt of Stanford's return to the friendly confines of Maples Pavilion, where they will proceed to shoot the lights out. (At least that's my hope.)

I'm predicting six threes . . . in the first half! And four more in the second, as well as a return of the joy and smiles of the Cardinal shooters. I predict that Kiana will skip back to the team huddle for the first timeout.

Katie Toole is a 5'-10" senior guard who averages 16 points. I predict she'll have a long afternoon on Saturday. Cierra Hall is a forward who usually ends up in double figures - I think this weekend she won't. Their post player, Sage Stobbart, got about a dozen rebounds in their last game. On Saturday I'm predicting she'll be in single digits. Their two forwards, Nina Bessolo and Kayla Konrad, will do their darndest, but all in all, I think Saturday will be a happy return to the Farm for the Cardinal players after disappointment in Texas and a rejuvenating few days at home.

Stanford is in the process of getting themselves ready for the start of the PAC12 season and Saturday will provide a helpful tuneup in their preparation. This game, the two Washingtons and the two Cal games will serve to re-establish the Cardinal's momentum, preparing them for their January 16th trip to Eugene and Corvallis.

I'm remembering a famous quote from a Hall of Fame football coach for the Longhorns, Darrell Royal, who said, "You learn more from losing than from winning - but, I don't recommend it." That especially applies to our four freshmen. You may have noticed that they were basically missing in action last Sunday. Your first away game in college is really tough. You've got thousands of rabid fans cheering against you for the first time in your life. The other team is totally psyched and you feel out of sorts in their building, with their cheerleaders, their band, and crowd. It all felt alien - especially in the first half - timing was off, nothing was flowing, the shots weren't falling.

As I watched, I could see the learning curve taking place. The Knight Arena in Eugene will be packed on the 16th and Gill on the 19th. That game in Texas was a baptism of fire. In the next three weeks our young players will grow from that experience. I'm hoping they grow enough to be able to play well in Oregon - the biggest away games of the PAC12 season. And I'm hoping for Maya and DiJonai by then. Whatever happens - the possibilities make all of this so much fun! And it'll just keep getting better! I'm loving this team and this season!

Merry Christmas Cardinal Fans!

GO STANFORD!!WE CAN DO THIS!!     

   

THE LONGHORNS FEEL LIKE GORIN SOMEBODY. WE'RE THEIR NEXT OPPORTUNITY DOWN IN AUSTIN ON SUNDAY THE 22ND AT 10 AM

Texas won a recent hard-fought game against Tennessee by 6 points. They've had some high points this season, that was one of them. Losing to Arizona by 25 wasn't. McDonald went off for 44 against them that night. 

Their two bigs are considerable. (35) Charli Collier is a 6'-5" sophomore center who has skills and averages 14 points. Joyner Holmes is a 6'-3" senior forward who is stout and strong. She leads the team in scoring at 16 points per contest. She and Collier combine for 21 rebounds a game. 

They have three guards who can get hot and hurt you - Sutton, Taylor, and Higgs. That threesome averages 29 points per game. The following link will give you some insight into how they play on a good night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YOjSMkdu5E

If the Cardinal can go on the road and put off going home for Christmas for another day - they can win down in Austin. But nothing will be handed to them. The Longhorns will be primed to play their best and Stanford will have to match and surpass their intensity. GO STANFORD!!  

THE TALLEST TENNESSEE LADY VOLS TEAM EVER ROLLS INTO MAPLES WEDNESDAY NIGHT, LOOKING FOR CARDINAL BLOOD!!!

(0) Rennia Davis is a basketball star in the making. This  6'-2" Junior Guard/Forward is averaging 17 points and 9 rebounds per game. She moves great, has abundant hops, and is a deadly shooter. She'll give the Stanford defense as much as they can handle Wednesday night. (20) Tamari Key is a 6'-5" Freshman post player who is just beginning to come into her own. The same could be said about (25) Jordan Horston, another dangerous Freshman who seems about ready to explode. (13) Jazmine Massengill is a 6' Sophomore who looks to me like an SEC All Star in the making. I've included a link below of the Vol's game against Notre Dame:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-fFUEZho9A

Kelly Harper, the Lady Vols new coach, has a whole lineup of splendid talents that could be compared to a Ford GT40, that is running mediocre laps at Le Mans, because the gaggle of coaches working feverishly on Rocky Top haven't been able to get the tuning right . . . yet. (Don't tell me you haven't seen the movie.) Actually, they're much like this year's bunch in Cardinal. You see glimpses of brilliance and moments of wowsville, but overall you smile, shake your head, and wonder when the moments will turn into quarters, and the rare glimpses to forty minutes of the zinging swishing sweet music of a championship contender.

Wednesday I think you'll see what I'm talking about. If DiJonai, Lacie, Maya, and Mikeala were in uniform at 100% it wouldn't be much of a contest, but I don't think they will be. I expect a total battle. Rankings be damned. Both teams are young untuned GT40s - loaded with talent, but they play faster than they should at times and make mistakes they won't when March rolls around.

I don't know what the problem was last season, but Kelly (Jolly) Harper, the point guard on three national championship teams for Pat, was obviously the answer. She'll get this team tuned up by the end of February and then - WATCH OUT! People in Knoxville will be nodding to each other and agreeing THE LADY VOLS ARE BACK!

Sunday evening those watching got their best look yet at Haley Jones. And it was her defense. Wow was I impressed. The Buckeye's next great star suitably named Bell, was totally eclipsed by a young comet named Haley. I think Bell had no points and almost no assists after she led Ohio State to victory over #2 Louisville. It was amazing.  I wonder who will guard Rennia Davis on Wednesday.
        

LED BY A FRESHMAN PHENOM, UNRANKED OHIO STATE JUST KNOCKED OFF THE #2 TEAM IN THE NATION

On Sunday December 15, Stanford plays the Ohio State Buckeyes at 5:30 PM. Last night the Buckeyes beat #2 Louisville and will be gunning to take down #1 Stanford. You need to be there in full voice!!

Kierstan Bell and LeBron James are the only two athletes in Ohio high school history that have been named Mr. or Miss Basketball for three years in a row. In high school she was usually double-teamed, yet averaged 30 points and 10 rebounds a game. Last night this incredible freshman led unranked Ohio State to a 67 to 60 victory over #2 ranked Louisville. She wasn't the scoring leader, but she was the driving force. Louisville couldn't stop her. Check out this clip of her snatching a pass out of the air and making an incredible spin move while driving the basket:
https://twitter.com/OhioStateWBB/status/1202778465809944578.

Like the Cardinal, OSU is loaded with talented freshmen and sophomores. Kevin McGuff brought in five freshmen this season and his recruiting class was ranked number three in the nation. Against #4 UConn recently OSU's top six players were two freshmen, three sophomores, and a junior. They lost by eleven after giving a good account of themselves. I've included a link showing the highlights and also a link to the official OSU team website:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73GflWUCCd0

Here's a link to the official OSU team website.

The difference between the UConn and Louisville games was the free throws. Against UConn, OSU shot a miserable 5 of 13, but last night they hit 19 of 23 and didn't fade down the stretch like they did against the Huskies. In other words, the Buckeyes are improving by leaps and bounds and plan to ambush the #1 Cardinal.

(24) Kierstan Bell, a 6'-1" freshman guard scored 14 points and had 6 rebounds. Dorka Juhasy is a 6'-4" sophomore from Hungary who had 15 points and 7 rebounds. (3) Janai Crooms is a sophomore guard who scored 11 points and had 5 rebounds. (23) Rebeka Mikalusikova is a 6'-4" freshman from Slovakia who had 11 points and 4 rebounds. (10) Braxtin Miller is a 5'-11" junior guard who had 9 points. This link is the box score from last night.

https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Ohio-State-vs.-Louisville-12-5-19-1.pdf

On December 15 the Buckeyes arrive at Maples fresh from beating the No. #2 team in the nation. No. #1 Stanford is coming off a two week break in their game schedule and will have to play their best and toughest basketball. We have to be on and we have to be ready. GO STANFORD! WE CAN DO THIS!!

OSU Stats - click on image to enlarge

Click on Stats above to enlarge