I liked the player summaries provided by james_WSU on the "ref bitching" recap of the game so I thought I would supplement it with grades for people who didn't get to see the game. If you DID happen to see the game, please feel free to disagree with me and get some dialogue going. I'm really excited for this year but also saw enough this game to temper my expectations a bit.

• Aron Baynes -------------  A-
  • The Aussie played pretty well in the limited minutes he had, putting up 8 points and 8 boards (4 offensive!) in just under 20 minutes, as well as shooting 50% and offsetting 1 TO and 1 foul with an assist and a steal. My only complaint is that his opponent slipped by / under him a couple times for relatively uncontested shots. He's still figuring out the fine line between allowing easy shots and not fouling. Most of the game he was solid.
• Daven Harmeling ------- B
  • The 5th year senior played in the frontcourt for most of the game, setting screens more often than popping out to the wing, as well as guarding the opposition 4.  He didn't shoot well and only ended up with a couple points, but mostly looked like Robbie Cowgill out there with his hustle and facilitation of the motion offense.  His defense has definitely picked up from last year.  He also was the lone starter down the stretch playing with the scrubs, and I'm not sure what that means.
• Klay Thompson --------- A-
  • Klay had another solid game, racking up 9 points, 4 reb, 3 blk, 2 assists and 1 TO. His shot wasn't falling in the first half but this kid has confidence.  He only made 1-6 from 3 but showed some nifty moves in the paint to get a few easy buckets.  Very good defensive game from him, and of all the freshmen he looks like he understands when it's best to switch off on screens and when to double the ball handler.  Other than an off shooting night I can't find much to criticize about his performance.
• Nikola Koprivica --------- A+
  • My player of the game, he pretty much did it all.  Shot 2-4 from 3, made a couple good moves to the hoop that got him some easy buckets, played solid defense (including stopping a 2 on 1) and really helped out Capers when he'd pick up his dribble in the 2nd half.  Clearly Nik feels comfortable in the offense - whether it is slashing to the hoop off-ball, driving past his man, or coming off a screen for a long J.  He has a knack for conserving his energy for when he needs it, often looking a little lazy if his man doesn't have the ball, but I can't complain with the results.  It just looks like he has it figured out now, I can't say it better than that.  I remember a specific point during my senior year of college where suddenly everything about my major just clicked, and it looks like Nik has reached that point with our system.
• Taylor Rochestie -------- B
  • Taylor had a relatively rough night by his standards - missing a couple open shots, 3 turnovers (including getting his dribble stolen twice), and so-so defense.  But he still ran the offense, got 7 assists and 7 points, and threw in a couple rebounds and a steal.  Oh, and he had a couple passes that required double takes, splitting two defenders on a fast break and a behind-the-back pass for an easy dunk.  I'll give him a bit of a pass on the turnover thing because the refs were letting FD play pretty rough (well, in fairness they let us play a little rough occasionally too) and the opposing PG pretty much was their only good player. He had energy out the, well, wazzu.  While it felt a little unfair that so much contact went unpunished, I can't help but feel that Taylor needs to be ready for that sort of opposition from the likes of Collison and Harden. Hopefully he can learn something from this game!
• Caleb Forrest ----------- A
  • This man was the difference between a close 10 point game and a comfortable 20 point win.  His energy and hustle have been lauded many times over, so I won't go into it too much here.  But his shots were solid (4-5) and he threw down a vicious dunk (should have been and-1), overall lifting our team out of a mini-funk and waking up the crowd.  He battled for rebounds and dove for the ball.  I couldn't tell if he was just missing screens on the offense or if that was our strategy (setting up back door cuts and such), but if he wasn't shooting he didn't seem to do much on offense, and we looked a little stagnant in our half court sets when he was in.  But that's only a minor complaint, he was still the X factor in this game and is making a case for the (mythical?) 6th man award in the Pac 10.
• Marcus Capers ------------- C+
  • Unlike last game, Capers didn't impress me with running the offense while spelling Rochestie.  He's still making freshmen mistakes, though similarly to Taylor he suffered from the physical defense.  You see brief flashes of talent with this kid that wasn't on the team last year, and he made some good decisions. He needs to work on his shot a bit. His defense is pretty good at this point, but he needs to work on getting around screens.  Still, I'm optimistic that he'll have a big impact on our team this year. His stat line wasn't much for the minutes he was in (15): 5 points, and 1 each of rebounds, assists, blocks and turnovers. The main reason for the low grade was that our offense the last ten minutes of the game was really bad, with very few good shots created. I am not sure how much of that is on the PG, but I didn't see him do anything special to get our team out of the funk.  I hope he develops that leadership after Taylor graduates because we'll need it next year.
• DeAngelo Casto ---------- C+
  • He got a lot of minutes (22) spelling Baynes and Harmeling, and did okay with them. 5 points, 6 boards, 2 steals and blocks, but 4 turnovers and fouls.  He was more up-and-down than I would have liked, making some great plays on D but also missing some easy ones.  He definitely has the passion to play in the Pac 10 and will be a huge asset on the boards. He had too many fouls to be completely effective, and more often than not his man got by him on D.  He really looks like a freshmen (go figure) and hopefully he'll get sorted out over the non-con schedule. Baynes had to tell him to man up a couple times, as he looked tentative on offense (leading to TO's) and sometimes on D (leading to fouls). But you can tell already that if he improves each year like Baynes or Weaver did, he will be All Pac 10 by his senior year.
• Abe Lodwick --------------- F
  • Sorry kid, hate to do it to you, but you had a royal stinker of a game and you know it. In 13 minutes, he missed all five of your shots, had two turnovers and two fouls.  Abe did grab six rebounds but that was about the only positive thing he did.  He didn't look comfortable moving without the ball on O, missed several wide open shots, and in a stretch of a couple minutes he missed two shots, had a turnover and fouled his man for a 3 point play. Once that happened (towards the beginning of his minutes) he looked like he was trying too hard to atone for his mistakes and his total game just dissolved.  Maybe if he'd made a couple shots early on his confidence would have spilled over into his defense, but we'll never know.  Tony left him in there, though, rather than playing Bailey or Witherill, so I guess Abe was doing enough right.  For a kid who has had a year in our system with nothing to do but shoot jumpers in practice, he sure looks shaky out there.
• Charlie Einquist --------- incomplete
  • Garbage minutes only for Charlie, getting a rebound and a free throw but not much else. I think he'll be our Forrest type player next year though; with his energy and size he can be a good help defender and mop-up guy around the basket.

Well, hopefully this post isn't a total load of crap and you guys got something out of it. I was really impressed with our starters after the initial rough stretch, and Forrest really kicked the game up a notch.  We haven't needed to dip too far into our potential though - Rochestie and Baynes haven't played much, allowing for Casto and Capers to get involved, and Harmeling hasn't needed to step up with a big 3 yet.  I don't see much happening differently on Friday, but when we play Mississippi State we should finally get a glimpse of what Pac 10 play will look like from our boys.

Go Cougs!