Cole Morgan Goes West; Jeshua Falls Short

Cole Morgan is transferring to Western Washington University, as reported by the Seattle Times on Saturday.

What does it all mean for Cougar football? Well, not much. Quarterback is one of the few positions on either side of the ball this year where there will be depth. This certainly solidifies Gary Rogers as the favorite to take the ball in 2008, with Kevin Lopina and Marshall Lobbestael in line for the future.

The good news for Cole is that he can play right away at Western, because it is a lower division school and therefore has no transfer penalty. The Times suggests he will challenge WWU Senior Adam Perry for the starting job there. My prediction is that Morgan will win the job – he still has a gifted arm and good enough poise in the pocket to do well at any level of college football.

Jeshua Anderson fell just shy of Beijing in the 400m hurdles at the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene. He placed fifth in the a semi-final heat where only the top four were set to advance. The silver lining is that Anderson will still be blazing past defensive backs this fall for the Cougar offense (which takes the field in just 60 days).

Low Gets a Shot With the Mavs

Derrick Low has been invited to play on the Dallas Mavericks’ summer team, as reported by the Honolulu Advertiser.

The article notes that he could be the first native Hawaiian to make a NBA roster since the 1950s(!).

Also, the winner of the Kyle Weaver draft projection contest is DraftExpress, who picked Kyle at 39th overall, just one spot after he was actually selected.

Kyle Weaver, Charlotte Bobcat

I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to watch your favorite NBA team gloss over your favorite college player not once, not twice, but three times in the exact area he was projected to be drafted. The Blazers had picks #27, #33 and #36. Weaver ends up at #38 – a perfect fit for Larry Brown, which will be about as smooth a transition from Bennett Ball as you can find in the NBA.

Weaver is now a teammate of former Gonzaga star Adam Morrison (although you have to wonder if Morrison is on the trading block, seeing as he’s the exact opposite of Larry Brown’s style). He joins a Bobcats team that is relatively young and not very deep at the guard position. I’m also excited at the prospect of watching Kyle D up on 5′5″ Earl Boykins in practice. [By the way, I'm one of the few Cougar/Husky fans on Earth that is actually a fan of Adam Morrison, and I still get upset when people call him a bust]

It should be a good fit for Kyle, and Cougar Nation wishes him all the best.

Update: was just reminded on the Cougfan forums that Tony Bennett played in Charlotte (although not for the same franchise). Awesome.

Go Bobcats.

Pre-Draft Predictions for Weaver

Chad Ford, ESPN.com – Rd 2, 32nd overall, Seattle. I can’t tell you how much I hope this is wrong. Seeing as how he lists Kyle as a point guard, it’s obvious Ford isn’t the most informed person on the situation. Also remember that Ford had dropped Weaver off of the draft board as little as two months ago. And Clay Bennett: I will hunt you down and destroy you if you draft Kyle, and that is a written threat.

Vince Grippi, Spokesman-Review – Rd 1, 27th overall (or Rd 2, 33rd overall), Portland. Full disclosure: I’m a Blazer fan, so this would be a dream come true. It also makes a ton of sense for the Blazers’ organization, and apparently Nate McMillan loves him.

NBADraft.net – Rd 2, 34th overall, LA Clippers. The only way I would ever buy a Clippers jersey.

DraftExpress – Rd 2, 39th overall, Chicago

CollegeHoops.net – Rd 2, 47th overall, Washington – clearly not a reliable source

There have been numerous other mocks, but few with the cajones to pick the second round, where most souces put Kyle right now. My pick:

Stadium Way: Rd 1, 27th overall, Portland – here’s hoping that Kyle is the reason the Blazers made the trade with New Orleans for #27.

And for Derrick Low: Undrafted free agent, New Jersey Nets

Offseason Video of the Week

Special Draft Day Edition as I get my riot gear together just in case the Sonics draft Kyle Weaver.

This one is courtesy of Grdgez23 on Youtube.

Xavier Thames is a Cougar

Xavier Thames is the latest WSU basketball commit for 2009. Ranked as the #19 point guard in the nation, Thames will no doubt ease the loss of Taylor Rochestie following this upcoming season.

However… there are some interesting comments that Thames makes in the article I linked to:

“We talked about how they’re going to look to get up and down a lot more with guys like Klay (Thompson), (DeAngelo Casto and James Watson) coming in — even with playing the defense that they do,” said Thames.

Not a huge shock – I just hope that Xavier understands the Cougs aren’t likely to become the Phoenix Suns anytime soon. Still, we know that Tony’s approach on offense is different than his father’s in (at least) two ways. First, he is more willing to give players the green light to shoot early in the shot clock. Second, Tony is more likely to let his teams look for opportunities in transition. This statement from Thames is huge in that we now know that Tony is looking to push the tempo even more than he has the past two seasons. It’s a very interesting comment for the future of the program.

“Coach Bennett and coach Sanchez, those guys, I have a lot of faith in them. They’re good people. And it’s a good program. They said they’re looking for me to come in and play right away, if not starting then to get a lot of minutes and help the team out and he said he was excited about that, and I’m really excited too.”

Normally I’m concerned when coaches promise playing time, but the fact of the matter is we’ll need Thames in 2009. Rochestie is staring down 35 minutes a night this season, and beyond that there is no clear replacement. If Xavier keeps on working, he could find himself earning a lot of minutes and possibly even a starter’s job.

This kid is an exceptional player and a wonderful fit for the WSU program. He even has his own webpage! Thames is a guard in the same mold as a Mac Hopson and possibly even a Josh Akognon in terms of shooting the ball. Most sources also say he is versatile enough to play the 1 or the 2. Either way he is the kind of player that WSU had no chance of getting five years ago. A huge commit for the Cougs.

This is Why We Love Tony Bennett

I cannot tell you how refreshing it is, soon after going on a mini-tirade about why character is important, to see Tony Bennett give this response on his chat this afternoon:

Pullman: Character seems incredibly important to you, if not, the most important aspect of an athlete: would you sacrifice raw talent w/out character for an athlete who has less athletic ability (still a good athlete), but impeccable character? Why? Why not? Please explain.

Tony Bennett: No I wouldn’t. When you are building a program you cannot take a short cut on character. When you do, more times than not, it will end up hurting your program in the long run.

Read the whole chat; there’s lots of goodies in there, although TB skirts the questions regarding playing time and the starting lineup (c’mon Tony, we already know Taylor and Baynes are locks).

I would’ve liked to see Tony address the who-gets-the-last-scholarship question, but it’s from a selfish standpoint, so that I can update the scholly chart (see links above). I still think Enquist gets the scholarship, and Rochestie and Allen are the “walk-ons” for 08-09.

The great thing about Tony is that even in his chats he has a grounded, humble attitude. There are no pleas for financial support (mainly thanks for what has already been given), and he is repetitively thankful for the support WSU gives him. And he’ll need it as the Cougars enter the upcoming season with one of the youngest squads in the nation.

Side note: only 66 days until football season.

Bad Times for Cougar Football

Well… we now know what the Seattle Times knows regarding the Cougar football program. There wasn’t a lot of information that we didn’t know, although it shed some light on Cougar linebacker Andy Mattingly who highlighted the story by wielding a frying pan:

Andy Mattingly, a linebacker coming off an outstanding sophomore season, was in Spokane in late January when a friend called for help. His front teeth had just been punched out in an argument with some soccer players from North Idaho College, he said.

The friend joined up with Mattingly and Trevor Mooney, a WSU tight end. The three went to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where two of the soccer players, a goalie and a midfielder, shared an apartment.

First, they knocked. Then, Mattingly kicked in the door. The midfielder grabbed a steak knife, the goalie a butter knife. Mattingly picked up a frying pan off the stove.

The midfielder jumped out a window. This left the goalie — Cesar Lira, 5 feet 10, armed with a butter knife — to contend with Mattingly, a 6-4 linebacker swinging heavy kitchenware.

Mattingly hit Lira’s head so hard the pan’s handle broke, court records say. Lira got back up, jumped out a window and called police. He had a 2-inch gash and was “bleeding profusely,” a police report says.

Much like the Times’ seering indictment of Husky coach (and current UCLA coach) Rick Neuheisal, this sheds a lot of light on the Doba era and a culture of indifference to wrongdoing at WSU. It goes to show you that a team can win with character problems (like the Husky Rose Bowl team) and lose with character problems. The point is you never truly win when your players fail to represent the University in a decent manner.

SterkChat!

As you know, the kids today love the interweb, and AD Jim Sterk took full advantage of it by conducting an online chat at WSUCougars.com yesterday. In it, he talks candidly about the future of Martin Stadium, the challenges the program faces (hint: it’s $$$) and why the mighty Portland State Vikings find themselves on the schedule for the Cougs this fall.

The beauty of these chats (for Sterk in this instance) is that the moderator can skip over any questions that the person chatting doesn’t want to answer. Some topics may very well have been off-limits for the chat, although there’s no way to know which issues were censored.

But give Sterk credit. He does a very good job of answering some intriguing questions, especially regarding the Pac-10 and the conference’s often-criticized TV deals:

Bruce Johnson (Virginia Beach, WSU ‘74): Jim – My sincere thanks for your stewardship of our Athletic Department. Your enthusiasm, vision and dedication to our University is unequaled in my time. My questions are first…what is the liklihood of PAC-10 expansion? (Or is 10 teams optimal?) Second…I question the TV contracts for PAC-10 football and mens/womens basketball. At a glance, they don’t seem to be as favorable as the contracts for other conferences (u$C being the notable exception). Are the conference TV contracts receiving any attention, with thought being to enhance coverage/viewership? Thanks, and GO COUGS!

Jim Sterk: Bruce, I do not see any expansion of the Pac-10 in the foreseeable future. The expansion that took place in other conferences was driven by the opportunity to capture more revenue from TV contracts and/or conference championship games. Four years ago, I was on the TV committee for the Pac-10 and asked an ABC vice-president whether the Pac-10 should be looking to expand or whether it would be a financial boost to current members. He did not think it would. In responding to your second question, the contracts for the Pac-10 in football and basketball were negotiated three years ago. We are in our second year of a five-year agreement. At that time, we explored all options and ESPN came in with ABC for football to hold our primary rights. We retained FOX as our secondary rights holder in football. In basketball, FOX was the primary cable network that was interested in broadcasting a complete season, as well as maximizing conference revenue.

News and Notes 6/19

Jeshua Anderson did it – he’s now the NCAA champion in the men’s 400m hurdles. This is huge news for the Cougar faithful and yet another confidence builder for Jeshua going into the Olympic Trials which take place in Eugene starting June 27th.

Pre-emptive Damage Control - Remember the Seattle Times’ massive expose on the Huskies’ last Rose Bowl team? Well, in an effort to be more fair and balanced, they may be out to do the same for the Cougars. The evidence is this e-mail from AD Jim Sterk that is making the rounds:

Dear Cougar Family,

First, let me apologize if any of you receive this email in duplicate. We have tried to hit as many Cougar supporters as possible with this and some of you may appear on duplicate lists.

The purpose of this email is to alert you to a Seattle Times story that is scheduled to appear either later this week or early next week. From our understanding the story is an in-depth look at the WSU football program, perhaps focusing on negative issues that have occurred over the past few years. My belief is they may combine the off-field incidents of some of our players with the recent APR news as the focus of the story.

I, along with the entire coaching staff and athletic administration, evaluate each and every incident involving our football program in a very serious manner. Although the attitude and behavior of our football student-athletes is not in a crisis situation, there is room for improvement. I believe Paul Wulff has put in place a process to positively impact the culture surrounding Cougar football and that change is already noticeable. While there are no quick fixes, the program is heading in the right direction.

I appreciate your continued support of Cougar Athletics and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding this issue.

Sincerely,

Jim Sterk

Director of Athletics

The fact that this e-mail came out says two things:

1. The Times told WSU about the article before it was even published, perhaps to allow such a response from Sterk

2. The article likely contains some damaging information about WSU athletic programs – most likely football.

The big question is, can the Seattle Times reveal anything we don’t already know? The APR mess has opened up all sorts of discussion already regarding academic issues and most disciplinary issues have already been covered in detail by a variety of sources.

Is it an appeal to the Washington fans that threatened to cancel their subscriptions after the Times tore apart their program under Neuheisal? Possibly. A newspaper is still a business, and an article or series of articles surrounding the Cougars might appeal to some of Seattle’s unhappy customers. Still, from a PR standpoint, this seems to come at an advantageous time for WSU, with the Sonics’ trial dominating local sports news in Seattle and the NBA draft coming up to give Cougar fans a chance to swell with pride over Weaver and Low.

There’s a new Cougar football commitment from linebaker Darren Markle – a position where depth is always welcome. It is the second verbal for Wulff’s class of 2009, with the first being DE Geoff Meinken from Lynnwood. Markle is highly touted as well. Scout.com has him as the 32nd ranked MLB in the nation and lists him as a 3-star player. A huge get for the Cougs and another early victory for Paul Wulff, who already seems to be outworking his predecessor on the recruiting trail.