Jon Wilner: WSU Basketball Headed For 11th Place Pac-12 Finish

One of the worst parts about this is that if I recall correctly there was a poll of either coaches or media members or something or other where WSU garnered a first place vote and averaged around 3rd or 4th. I can’t remember where this poll was from (perhaps a post regular season poll) if someone else recalls this too, back me up. At this point however, anything above 8th would be a huge victory in my book.

I’ve talked with Ladd a few times due to some mutual friends and he seemed pretty stoked to be looking at getting a good amount of playing time. And this was over a month ago. Additionally, I think Ladd is a great fit for Bone’s system, possesses a solid stroke and has the length and athleticism to play harassing defense in the zone. Between him, Capers and a focused Moore I’m not fearful of the backcourt leading the collapse. But upfront, yikes.

I’’m personally of the opinion that Simon doesn’t have the physical tools to make it in the Pac-10 (err..12). I haven’t been paying a ton of attention to the rosters of other schools at this point, the loss in the NIT Semis killed a good deal of my college basketball enthusiasm, but my brain has a very difficult time imagining Simon not get murdered on the defensive end against blue chippers. The dearth of frontcourt talent and experience will undoubtedly put Motum in extremely unfavorable situations on defense and may prevent him from continuing to grow on the offensive end.

My other concern (and I know unfounded speculation in this subject is a CougCenter faux pas) is how Bone’s career is going to play out at WSU. Does he bear any responsibility for the loss of Klay and DeAngelo? Or does Moos view those developments outside his control? In this respect, does Bone sort of get a free pass for this season? I’m more asking these questions because I admittedly don’t have much knowledge in how these sort of situations go down and would appreciate some insight if anyone can provide it. And forgive me for potentially opening up the can of speculative worms.

Considering the optimism I held 10 months ago for this team, prognosticating on this next season feels like trying smile while taking a shot in the gut. Le sigh.

Assume the worst, and then be pleasantly surprised at anything better. It’s kind of sad because that seems to be the approach that I have to take to a lot of WSU sports at the moment. I voted bottom 3rd. Seeing Utah in Diamondhead, I’d say its a safe bet that we finish above them. I think that we can put up a decent fight to OSU and ASU for the 9th spot as well. Anything above that will be a bonus in my book.

Defensively with athletic ability I think he can be close Klay (similar size), he also is a good 3pt shooter (.391), so we won’t lose that much (Klay was .398), but the other intangibles that Klay gave us will be missing. Klay 2pt game statistics are much better. Klay 2pt percentage .466, Ladd’s 2pt percentage .414. Ladd has had a season to get stronger and work on his game (basically a redshirt year) so he may come out much better than expected. I hope to see about 12ppg out of him and solid D. I have watch a few videos of him and he has that competitive fiery spirit that you like in a player.
http://youtu.be/yUgqt1CP3MU
I think Reggie plays a little better, Aden will enjoy starting a play a little better, Motum will get more minutes and be better, but still a defensive liability, Capers will be Capers, Lodwick will continue to improve his in-game 3pt shooting, Ladd will be solid (10-12ppg), Winston’s game doesn’t change much (if he is still here), not much PT from DKD, Simon (if he is still around) doesn’t change much, Bjornstad (if he doesn’t quit from medical reasons) won’t play much, Lacy will get some back up minutes and increase his minutes by the end of the season, I really hope Sequele and Shelton can share minutes and give us some athletic bigs (rebounding and blocking) to replace Casto and I hope Dilorio can add some offense to his game and pick up more minutes. I am curious if there will be any attrition with Winston, Bjornstad (medical), Simon and maybe DKD.
Best case scenario in the Pac12 – 5th place, worst case – 11th, most likely – 8th place.
On Wilners projections I don’t see us player better then the top 7 teams he has listed. Teams will have to fall apart for us to place higher. It won’t be because of our talent if we place higher, it will be because something that happened (injuries, chemistry, off-court issues, academics, etc.) to the teams that are projected to be better than us. To get higher than 8th place Bone may have to pull one of these.