Washington State Basketball: What Cougs Need to Accomplish at Oregon Schools
By Caleb Davis
Dec. 9, 2012; Pullman, WA, USA; Washington State Cougars forward Brock Motum is introduced before a game against Fresno State Bulldogs at the Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports
It’s no secret this year has been rough and I can’t say many people are likely surprised by this. After we lost Reggie Moore before the season it was painfully obvious that this team would have to find a point guard and leadership. Losing that key role was very hard on the team and it’s shown on the court.
When we’re losing, it doesn’t feel like we have the fire power to fight back and when we have a lead, no matter how big, it seems like it can fall apart so fast it’s like we never had it. The difficult part about this is; no we wouldn’t be leaps and bounds better WITH Reggie Moore but I truly believe he would have bumped us up a couple wins at this point for sure. Those close ones we couldn’t grind out, those leads we couldn’t maintain, that’s where we miss that role the most.
The cold hard fact is there’s no going back now. There is no getting Reggie back so at this point we have to find positives and something to cheer for and believe in because folks we still have 16 kids on that roster showing up and fighting every day. There have been positives this year no doubt, but the negatives have most definitely over shadowed them, so what must we look for in the rest of the season?
One step at a time my friends, even though it’s been bad, we haven’t completely fallen apart and become a joke of a program (think back to USC last year). We have to maintain this and continue to build for the future and right now we must build on support and positives.
So our road trip to the Oregon schools this week, what must we see? Well first stop is Eugene. The Ducks are much improved and playing outstanding right now, if I’m being honest with myself, we can’t beat them there. What I wan’t to see out of this one is a close game.
We need to shoot a better percentage and have outstanding hustle in this game, Brock needs to show up and we need production out of Ladd and Woolridge. If we can build on these kinds of things, keep it close and prove that we can put up some points against the #16 Ducks, we can make that trip to Corvallis a lot more doable.
As for Oregon State. The Beavers have shown some great things this year and some terrible things this year. Look for the Cougs to be coming in off a close loss here and play inspired, I think the Cougs win this one if that is the case. We boast the same record as these guys as of now so here is what I think it will come down to: 2 or 3 points.
This will be an every possession matters straight from the start kind of game. Whoever turns the ball over more in this one will lose, and the team that possesses the ball longer will win. The only other thing is the Cougs must maintain down the stretch, they can’t fall apart again like we’ve seen so many times at the end of the game and they will win this one.
My predicted outcome of this road trip 1 loss 1 win. That’s what we need to see out of our team to continue our steady improvement. Don’t fall apart, always play with pride. Most of all the kids and fans need to stop looking at the season as a whole and start taking it one game at a time, that’s what we can take from this season.
Go Cougs!