March 13, 2013; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Washington State Cougars cheerleaders and dancers perform against the Washington Huskies during the second half in the first round of the Pac 12 tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Washington defeated Washington State 64-62. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
According to CF.C, center Jordan Railey has been reinstated to the basketball program after a violation of team rules got him suspended over the summer.
This is a welcome addition back to the lineup for the Cougs and even more so for coach Ken Bone. Despite having issues with players throughout his tenure and despite needing those players to likely keep his job for the foreseeable future, he has done the right thing on more than one occasion. That’s to be commended at least.
"“Jordan has been back a few days,” Bone said on Wednesday. “He’s rusty but working hard… He’s big — a bigger kid than the rest of the guys we have. We need that presence in the middle.”"
Bone also said that Railey should be all the way in shape and ready to go for the conference slate at the very latest, although he’ll get time in the non-conference slate most likely.
With the Cougs new up-tempo style I can see why that would be a minor problem, but here’s a question, or rather an issue I have going back into the type of kids that are being brought in; Why is Jordan not in better shape?
It shouldn’t take anybody two full months to get in shape, not in basketball, not in any sport. If he had been working out hard (no idea whether he was or not so this is all assumption on my part) he’d be ready to go much sooner than January. That would speak volumes to the character and will-power of the kid for me. Maybe Bone’s comments were to buy Railey time to not have over-expectations thrust on him though, who knows.
At any rate glad to see that we’ll have a viable big body in the paint again this year come Pac-12 play, something Bone hasn’t recruited and something that has obviously hurt WSU in the recent past. There are some big-bodied brutalizers in the conference and quite frankly you need one to compete on a nightly basis. Interested to see what skill sets Railey brings to the hardwood.
Go Cougs!