OPEN GAME THREAD: LSU vs. WSU
by Craig Powers on Dec 22, 2009 6:30 PM PST
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PrintLSU Tigers at Washington St. Cougars, Dec 22, 2009 7:00 PM PST
The Time: 7pm PST
The Place: KeyArena in Seattle, WA
The Coverage: Television available on CBS College Sports. Find your local radio station here. Audio is also available for a fee online at wsucougars.com.
Kenpom says: No. 84 WSU 74, No. 143 LSU 66 (64 possessions, 79 percent confidence)
via wsucougars.com
Players to Watch:
DeAngelo Casto, WSU: Dee has performed well this year despite having very little help down low on the defensive end. This game will test his rebounding prowess, as he will face one of the best offensive rebounders in the country. If Casto can limit second chances for the Tigers, he would eliminate on the most important parts of LSU's offense.
Bo Spencer, LSU: The Tigers' best player missed some key games to start the year. He takes the most shots and is the team's leading distributor. Bo hasn't shot as well from beyond the arc as he did last season, but he has the ability to knock the deep ones down. He could get hot and carry LSU to a win.
X-Factors:
James Watson, WSU: Looks like Watson has finally risen above Charlie Enquist in the depth chart. This is a good thing heading into LSU, since James has the athletic ability to match LSU's forwards. Charlie would have a tough time keeping up with these guys. In limited action, James has put up some impressive numbers. We should expect some regression as playing time increases, but he already looks to have the ability to help the Cougs in this game and the rest of the year.
Storm Warren, LSU: Nuss and I raved about this guy on last week's podcast. At that time, his offensive rebounding percentage sat at a ridiculous 24.1%. That means he was gathering one out of every four of his team's misses. After a poor performance in his last game (incidentally, a game LSU barely won over Rice) he has dropped to a still ridiculous 18.4%. If Storm is able to hit the offensive glass, something that the Cougs have been poor at preventing, he could be a game changer.
The Keys:
The Cougars win if...they control the glass, take care of the ball, and hit their threes. LSU has been poor at forcing turnovers and are not very good at defending the three point shot. The Cougs need to exploit these weaknesses.
The Tigers win if...they dominate offensive rebounding and Bo Spencer returns to last year's form. As I already mentioned, LSU excels at getting second shots and Bo Spencer has the ability to light us up from the outside.
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since we have 20 minutes till game time I will go off topic...
why has OSU not figured out how to play in the wind? They are passing as much as they are running, they have not figured out how to play in 4 down territory going into the wind (passing on downs 2-4), and they are having their punter punt normally, up high in the air. Take a page out of Forrest’s playbook and punt rugby style. The last 2 punts into the wind have averaged about 3 yards. This is embarrassing for OSU that they have not adjusted so far.
Anyone found one yet?
Would love to watch this game, but dont have the sports package, crappy ass Comcast is such a freakin rip off, cable companies suck.
by spokanecougar on Dec 22, 2009 7:14 PM PST up reply actions
Yet another reason to hate FSN
Of course cannot miss on single UW game to put on TV, but screw any other fan of WSU, Oregon and Oregon State.
by spokanecougar on Dec 22, 2009 7:17 PM PST up reply actions
Have a feeling it will be like this from now on
Bigger, stronger players will be able to push him around unlike the smaller players from the smaller schools earlier in the season
by spokanecougar on Dec 22, 2009 7:31 PM PST up reply actions
nik for 3! and a couple great rebounds and steal and perfect from the line again...
Nik having another great game
at the game.
the bald ref is awful. Gotta get that off my chest. Klay needs to get hot and hit an outside shot we are penetrating well, our gaurds are quicker with the ball. They have 2 guys carrying the load, we have to find a way to cover both at the same time.
If you've got directTV and a big enough tv
try channel 104 sports mix, CBS college sports runs as one of the picks.
Casto is gonna try to foul out their entire frontline
I’d be more excited if he could make some FTs, too
Thompson is having an AWFUL game...
5 TO, 2-8 shooting..
game is tied up...
we better take advantage of lsu’s foul trouble and take care of business at the line!
Meaning
Offensive and player control fouls don’t get you FTs in the bonus. Regular and loose ball fouls do
That was a rough half on offense.
26 points after 36 in the first. Usually it seems like teams score more in the second not less.
I was more concerned about Thames confidence
and he made a really bad pass trying to force it to KT. It was like a hot potato for him
by ptowncoug3012 on Dec 22, 2009 9:12 PM PST up reply actions
Nuss disagrees
I’m not advocating that Capers should be in the game when the other team is in an obvious foul situation, but I think it’s fair to say that the negative effect of his poor free throw percentage is greatly exaggerated. Stop holding your breath when he gets fouled. It’s a good thing.
Yea I agree with him but a 60% ft shooter out there when...
trying to cling to a 2 point lead is still risky in my opinion.
I understand that, but
I’d still rather have him out there. If we don’t want him shooting free throws, we can keep it out of his hands when they get into a fouling situation. Until then, though, he had been productive on offense and on the glass which outweighs his FT shooting in my opinion.
Yea, I guess your right.
As evident by X’s horrible TO that let them tie it at 60. We could have used Capers offensive rebounding when missing shots too
It's kind of pick you poison I think
Either worry about his free throws, or just go with it thinking the positives he brings outweigh the negatives.
Not sure why X was in but there must have been some reason
And no, we didn't really
They were never in a intentional fouling situation. Capers gives our offense more fluidity and plays better D
Have to agree
I’ve been down on Capers playing but he does a lot of good things. He needs to play with more confidence especially on offense. He seems to be trying not to miss than expecting to make it.
Seems like a ton of loose balls today
At least they’re fighting for the loose balls off the rebounds
All I can follow is the ESPN GameCast.
But in OT, it seems like every single update includes the names “Thompson” or “Spencer.”
Good call
Actually agree with Ehlo and Heister.
Toughness
A good game to growup. They almost let it slip away but found a way to win.
They can look back on that later this season
I’ll call non-conference a success. We lived, we learned, and we didn’t come out looking like crap
Wow!
I thought we got rid of the nail biters w/ TB? A win is a win, and that was a well earned one. Merry Christmas Cougs!
Derrick Roland of A&M just broke his leg in UW game
No foul, landed awkwardly after a shot, the leg was real twisted. It’s a close game (34-33 UW) so we’ll see how it effects A&Ms play
foul
IT raked the guys arm. In the replay his arm is just pulled down. But it’s the purple court… that call never goes against the star.
If you can't Go Cougs... don't go.
by hollyweirdcoug on Dec 22, 2009 10:06 PM PST up reply actions
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