So this is how it ends
by Grady Clapp on Mar 18, 2009 12:42 AM PDT
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Let us revisit my burning questions for this game:
- Is Patty Mills back to form?
A: Yes. Yes. And yes. Although that little flop in the first half made me lose a whole lot of the respect I had for him.
- Can Baynes outperform Simpson under the basket?
A: No. No. And no.
- Can we keep St. Mary's off the free throw line?
A: Absolutely not. That 41.5% FT rate is unacceptable.
Still, it doesn't matter how it ends. It just ends. And for 95% of college basketball teams, it ends with a loss.
This, in so many ways, was a microcosm of our season. A disappointing start, with moments of brilliance down the stretch that made us believe we had a chance. Then, ultimately, a bittersweet ending. This was the life of the 2008-09 Cougs. At least we'll always have The Shot.
It is going to be weird to have to watch WSU basketball without Taylor Rochestie, Aron Baynes, Caleb Forrest and Daven Harmeling. Thanks. You meant so much to this program.
Player of the Game: Aron Baynes. 19 points, 10 boards.
Play of the Game: The Marcus Capers jumper to bring the Cougars within four with 6:39 remaining.
It was over when... Omar Samhan's jumper gave St. Mary's a 63-53 lead with 4:49 to play.
Stat of the game: Patty Mills' 27 points on 8 of 15 shooting, including 5 of 9 from three-point range. Our friends at the Zag blog warned us Patty Mills was streaky. We ended up on the wrong end of the streak tonight.
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Hey, at the end of this thing, we forget that we played 4 frosh significant
minutes during their first ever post season tournament. They looked rattled at time and made some boneheaded decisions, but this is great, TB should have done more in the regular season. Capers, his release is slow and shot doesn’t much arc, but he was confident in taking his shot. Harthun handled the ball really well and knocked down a 3 with a guy in his face. Casto was a mad man like usual. KT was the biggest disappointment, but c’mon he led the Pac-10 in minutes played by a frosh and if anyone thinks he suddenly lost his stroke, they are wrong. He has obviously worn down. Watch the tape and see how many of shots hit the front of the rim.
It’s funny to reflect on this game and the UCLA. Man they were a lot alike. Our team was just different. TR got easily frustrated with his shot and physical play. KT hitting the front of the rim with 80% of his shots. Baynes doing everything he could to carry us. Caleb being completely silent.
Ultimately what we got in the SMC game (as well as the UCLA game) was what he had got pretty much all season, inconsistency. I would be troubled if we had been starting 4 upperclassman every game for the season, but that wasn’t the case. Here’s to next year and hopefully Boehke transferring so we can his fill his spot with someone who will actually play.
Well said
I actually commented in the game thread how similar this game was to the UCLA game. I hoped that the four days off would help the tired legs, but that clearly wasn’t the case.
It’s really actually pretty amazing, with all of the hard defense he played, that Klay lasted as long as he did. If anything, I’m more impressed by that than disappointed by his performances over the past three weeks. He gave us MUCH better ball than any of us had a right to expect.
I think some of our key players wore down mentally
“Here we go again,” is exactly what was going through all our minds last night at the start. It’s a scenario that played out all to often during some of our biggest games.
I have a hard time letting this one go, so I suppose reading about it and sharing a few comments will help me move on. Two key moments for me was when Taylor was called for a charge on an obvious flop by Mills. The other was when we cut the lead to 4 late. We didn’t respond correctly to the adversity on the first one and didn’t take advantage of our good fortune on the latter. A mentally strong team, especially one with good senior leadership, overcomes adversity and seizes golden opportunities. I thought we responded poorly in both of these instances.
Anyway, enough of that. I’ll dwell on the ‘what if’s and coulda been’s’ awhile longer and then move on. For the most part, I thought this squad gave us some special moments. Kudos to the seniors leaving the program.
I gotta wear shades
Agree with most if not all of the comments that have been made so far, and have great hope for the future of this program. Klay and Casto and Capers are only going to get better, and we’ve started to see flashes from folks like Harthun as well, which is encouraging. We already know what Klay is going to become I think, I don’t even fear any regression… he just needs to bulk up and become more consistent, which will surely come soon enough.
And I really think Capers has so much upside to him its ridiculous. The ESPNers rightly compared him to Kyle Weaver, and I think that is spot on. His defense is already off the charts and his offense is slowly coming on… I haven’t seen it on here yet, but would be interested to know what Patty Mills output was when Capers was on him last night? I know the kid went off (he really is that good, isn’t he?), but I felt like when Capers d’ed up on in the 2nd half, he went (relatively) silent. I think that speaks volumes.
And Casto? Monster. Absolute monster. If he stays disciplined, he will be a force the rest of the time he’s with us. He always seems to get to the loose balls, he’s got great hands, and his touch around the basket gets better and better. He knows how to put it in. And his defense? Forget about it. Swat machine.
Kudos to this year’s Seniors, thanks for the great memories. But it’s the young ’uns we should all be absolutely thrilled about. The future is bright Cougs, no doubt.
Bledsoe copied my history notes.
As someone famous once said
“The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores.”
I think we have a decent chance next year to finish above Oregon and the Arizona schools (assuming all the relevant people turn pro) and maybe be in the hunt for some postseason action. Imagine an entire offseason of Capers taking jumpers, DeAngelo working on his post moves and Klay watching game film. Harthun was really impressive the last couple games and stole minutes from Nik, which definitely says something about next year. It could be good…
Tony Bennett for Heisman!
We still have the shot
Hey guys, I just joined up today. You guys have done a great job. Its nice to see some really good basketball analysis from coug fans. Thanks for giving me something great to read everyday. I missed the ASU game, so the play that I saw in person that I will remember from this season was “The Dunk”, I can’t wait to look back at Klay’s career in 3 years and remember the moment when he arrived. Looking forward to next year. Capers is going to be a big time player next year along with Klay and D. The incoming guys sound great too. Long live Tony Bennett.
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