THE MORNING PAPER: No. 7 WSU vs. No. 10 Oregon

by Jeff Nusser on Mar 11, 2009 10:33 AM PDT

Here's your morning paper, Pac-10 Tournament style. Not a lot on the Cougar side of things, as most papers have taken the route of writing a general tournament preview rather than rehash WSU-Oregon III.

For WSU ...

The official gameday news and notes from the WSU Athletic Department.
Grippi's game advance for the Spokesman-Review, focusing on the contrast in styles between Oregon and WSU. (I think he's probably feeling like we are, writing about the third matchup between these teams ...)
The Daily Evergreen checks in with this advance.

For Oregon ...

The official gameday news and notes from the Oregon Athletic Department.
The Oregonian has this preview, focusing (shockingly) on Oregon's desire to speed up the tempo. Notable in this story is Ernie Kent admitting that the Ducks just don't match up very well with WSU. When was the last time you heard an opposing coach say that?
The Eugene Register-Guard makes it even more simple than that: The Ducks must stop Taylor Rochestie.

And if you're into general Pac-10 Tournament previews ...

Dan Raley at the soon-to-be defunct Seattle P-I focuses on the parity in the conference.
Bob Condotta at The Seattle Times looks at just what's at stake (answer: plenty).
Freelancer Howie Stalwick hits on the pluses and minuses for each team for the Kitsap Sun.
Buster Sports' Nick Daschel analyzes what's on the line for each team. A nice little read.

Hat tip to Grippi for some of these links this morning.

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Comments

Why, Howie, Why?

He continues to quote PPG for our defense. HIs “plus” and “minus” for us is ridiculous.
My +/-
Plus: We faced four NCAA tourney quality teams in our last four games. The results: Three wins and a narrow loss

Minus: Howie Stalwick writes our articles on our games that show up in major newspapers.

This is where per game statistics go to die.

CougCenter

by Craig Powers on Mar 11, 2009 11:12 AM PDT reply actions

It's hard for me to hate on the guy too much

Because I know the state of newspapers right now, and the guy is fighting for his livelihood. But at the same time, he’s trying to churn out so much stuff for any publication that will have him that his stories are pretty much without value to anyone who knows more than a minimum about the team.

Perhaps that’s what people who read newspapers want. But perhaps that’s why more people are turning to sites like these for their daily reading and not newspapers.

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Mar 11, 2009 11:17 AM PDT up reply actions

Fair enough

I know if he did quote “defensive efficiency” a lot of people would be scratching their heads (my girlfriend calls me an “elitist” when I make fun of people who use traditional stats). So I guess I can’t harp on it too much. But to totally ignore the fact that we have been playing well lately when giving our +/- and just going to the most over-cited stat for the Cougs seems just lazy.

This is where per game statistics go to die.

CougCenter

by Craig Powers on Mar 11, 2009 11:44 AM PDT up reply actions

It is lazy

Like I said, I imagine the guy is working so hard to churn out so many stories just to stay afloat that each individual story suffers.

However, efficiency is just basically (points per possession)x(100). How hard would it be to say points per possession? Yet the only mainstream reporter I’ve ever seen talk about it is Luke Winn at SI. It’s really not that tough of a concept to grasp.

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Mar 11, 2009 12:44 PM PDT up reply actions

Wait, I'm confused.

So you say points-per-possession is a stat that keeps track of how points a team scores, in relation to their number of possessions. Now that just don’t make a darn bit o’sense.

by J.J. FeKl on Mar 11, 2009 2:14 PM PDT up reply actions

What doesn't make sense?

Now I’m confused.

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Mar 11, 2009 2:59 PM PDT up reply actions

sarcasm

but we all know how intelligent the media in general thinks people are, and even those announcers who would prefer to use such statistics probably are told by their producers to keep it simple.

Tony Bennett for Heisman!

by johnnycougar on Mar 11, 2009 3:55 PM PDT up reply actions

You cannot possibly expect me to interpret sarcasm

I’m just an English teacher with a degree from Washington State University. :-P

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Mar 11, 2009 4:03 PM PDT up reply actions

Not hard to grasp

But it’s hard to convince people who have always believed that low score equals bad offense/good defense, and high score means bad defense/good offense. It’s so much easier for them to think that way and not think about the other factors involved.

This is where per game statistics go to die.

CougCenter

by Craig Powers on Mar 11, 2009 2:21 PM PDT up reply actions

In general, people don't like their paradigms challenged

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Mar 11, 2009 2:59 PM PDT up reply actions

In general, people would prefer you not to use such big words

That coupled with “non-traditional” statistics will make thier heads explode. By the way Nuss, how do you incorporate KenPom into your curriculum. If not, you should do it and mask it with the title of “cross-curricular instruction” or something of that nature.

This is where per game statistics go to die.

CougCenter

by Craig Powers on Mar 11, 2009 4:39 PM PDT up reply actions

I'm sorry

I think I’ve been reading CGB too much.

This is where per game statistics go to die.

CougCenter

by Craig Powers on Mar 11, 2009 4:40 PM PDT up reply actions

That might be a tough sell in an English class

But if I was teaching math? Actually, if I was teaching math I probably wouldn’t be able to do it either … I doubt they’ll be asking questions about free throw rate on the WASL.

CougCenter

by Jeff Nusser on Mar 11, 2009 5:02 PM PDT up reply actions

F the WASL

Argh

This is where per game statistics go to die.

CougCenter

by Craig Powers on Mar 11, 2009 5:51 PM PDT up reply actions

Being able to spell that word is nails in my book....

And I always thought it just meant 20 cents.

by SW WA Coug on Mar 12, 2009 5:51 PM PDT up reply actions

Hey let's get bumped for this game! Only need for Ws

for the NCAA tourney. It’s funny how I feel better about this team winning the Pac-10 tourney as opposed to last year’s team. I just felt we had no chance having to go through Stanford and UCLA.

by ptowncoug3012 on Mar 11, 2009 11:56 AM PDT reply actions

Don't feel bad about not writing a preview

I think most of the fans are ready for this game to be over already. We have nothing to gain by winning this game except another shot at UCLA, and if we lose this game we are done.

Please Please PLEASE just win by 15 so that I can feel comfortable watching. Also so we can get Taylor and Klay some rest.

Tony Bennett for Heisman!

by johnnycougar on Mar 11, 2009 12:05 PM PDT reply actions

Amen

I am more nervous for this one than one where they are the underdog. I hope for a repeat of the game in Pullman so we can get the starters some rest. I’m hoping Baynes goes huge to show the coaches why they should have voted for him.

by selahcoug on Mar 11, 2009 12:15 PM PDT up reply actions