CougCenter: FanPosts

The Madness Rolls On: Day 4 Preview

2010-03-21T06:49:56Z

OK so who expected the Kansas loss last night? (crickets). Yesterday was full of surprises, with SMC making the Sweet 16, and Nuss moving one step closer to winning his trip (although this isn't exactly surprising). Well now that everyone's bracket is pretty much shattered, lets look ahead to the big games on Sunday. But first, let me explain the Dicky V. picture. I was looking at the featured brackets on ESPN earlier, and I came across his, I was curious, so I clicked on it, only to find that his bracket was in the 9th percentile. Yes, you read that right. Personally, I had 1.5x more points than him. Anyways on to the games today. After the jump, you'll find sites, times, announcers, and the almighty KenPom's prediction. CLICK IT.

Session 1: 9:00 AM

GAME	ANNOUNCERS	SITE
#1 Syracuse vs. #8 Gonzaga	Gus Johnson/Len Elmore	Buffalo

Before Saturday, many saw Syracuse as the most vulnerable of the #1 seeds. Gonzaga pulled off a win, tearing apart one of the top defenses in the country against FSU.

KenPom says: Cuse 79-71

Session 2: 11:20 AM

GAME	ANNOUNCERS	SITE
#2 West Virginia vs. #10 Missouri	Gus Johnson/Len Elmore	Buffalo
#10 Georgia Tech vs. #2 Ohio State	Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel	Milwaukee
#12 Cornell vs. #4 Wisconsin	Jim Nantz/Clark Kellogg	Jacksonville
#5 Michigan State vs. #4 Maryland	Tim Brando/Mike Gminski	Spokane

West Virginia survived an early scare from Morgan St. in the first round, before rolling to a 27 point victory. Mizzou was able to upset #7 Clemson in the first round.

KenPom says: Mountaineers 68-66

In the other 10 vs. 2 game, Ohio State is coming off a 17 point win over UCSB in the first round, and Georgia Tech has some momentum after their 5 point upset of Oklahoma State. Can they take down a second OSU?

KenPom says: OSU 71-66

Cornell filled the tradition of a 12 beating a 5 seed with their victory over Temple. The team that is quite possibly the most underseeded in the tourney will take on the Wisconsin Badgers, who survived a late scare of their own against Wofford (had anyone ever even heard of them?).

KenPom says: Badgers 67-59

West Coast. The final game of the timeslot pits Michigan against Maryland. Sorry, don't know enough to have any analysis on either team.

KenPom says: Terps 74-71

Session 3: 1:50 PM

Sunday Afternoon: Window 3
GAME	ANNOUNCERS	SITE
#3 Pittsburgh vs. #6 Xavier	Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel	Milwaukee
#1 Duke vs. #8 Cal	Jim Nantz/Clark Kellogg	Jacksonville
#4 Purdue vs. #5 Texas A&M	Tim Brando/Mike Gminski	Spokane

Both teams were able to pull off double digit wins in the first round. Here's to hoping for a closer game between these two teams.

KenPom says: Xavier 68-67

West Coast. Duke might be a little worried after the vulnerability of the #1's was exposed yesterday. Imagine going to the Sweet 16 with only 2 1 seeds. Cal went crazy on Louisville in the first round, and is going to try to put both of the Pac 10 representatives in the Sweet Sixteen.

KenPom says: Blue Devils 77-70

Purdue was able to pull out a win against popular upset pick Siena in the first round. A&M rolled to a double digit victory.

KenPom says: Purdue 64-63

Only 3 sessions today. If KenPom's projections are correct, this should be a very exciting day of basketball. After this we get a couple days off, only to pick up the basketball again mid week. Bucherbp still leads the CougCenter bracket challenge. Just about everyone's ahead of Vitale. Happy watching!

Poll

How far did you have Kansas going?

NCAA Day Three Recap

2010-03-21T05:42:39Z

Business first: go here and take the SBN poll.

Day three of the tournament just happened and it was full of not-so-fun times. It was nice outside and I missed the early games, but I'm confident enough to run down the action for those of you that missed it.

This post is brought to you by the Northern Iowa Sex Panthers:

via cdn0.sbnation.com

60% of the time, they kill your bracket.

Buffalo Wild Wings was back in action again today. They didn't feel like going to overtime, but they sure did like upsets. I can now confidently say that I hate Buffalo Wild Wings and so does my bracket.
The verdict on the Wonton Tacos from Applebees is in: they're good. Try the pulled pork Wonton Taco.
Now that all of that is out of the way, let's hit the big news of the day. NUSS IS IN THE SWEET 16! KSU took out BYU, whom I thought would be their biggest test, handily. Jacob Pullen is now my new favorite player in the tournament after putting up 34 points, on 7-12 three point shooting, to lead the Wildcats to victory over BYU. Since my brackets done, I'm on the KSU bandwagon and I suggest you all hop aboard.
The second biggest news of the day was Kansas losing to Northern Iowa. That noise you heard around 4:30 today was 2/3 of America ripping up their brackets. Northern Iowa is a good team but had no business beating Kansas, the odds on favorite to win the tournament. How did they do it? I honestly couldn't tell you since CBS decided a certain other game should be on my TV. Just quickly running down the stats, KU turned the ball over more and NIU made a few more threes. Which leads me to....
Ali Farokhmanesh is now the Cinderella hero of the tournament after hitting what was the game winning three on a shot that was one of those "no no no (swish) yes!" kind of shots. He's from Pullman and has you-know-whats of steel. If Tony Bennett recruited him, we'd be in the Sweet Sixteen right now.
Pac-10 update: we're 3-0. Still the best conference in the America.
UW won and Seattle has been overtaken by "Husky Fever". If you have a cure, please let me know because it's getting to be a problem over here.
Steve Alford wore this:
via nbcsportsmedia4.msnbc.com
Bad idea, Steve. It didn't work.
This man, however, did win:
via weblogs.baltimoresun.com
St. Marys beat Villanova in a game that shouldn't shock anyone that has seen Villanova's play in the tournament. Omar Samhan (Enter the Samhan) put up 32 for a two game total of 61. I, for one, welcome the Samhan to my dreams (Thanks announcers!).

That's all I've got for today. Tomorrow ends the round of 32 and also ends the suffering for wives and girlfriends everywhere. Feel free to add anything I missed or scream about your brackets in the comments below. If anyone would like to trade, feel free to let me know. Brackets are like fantasy sports, right?

NCAA Tourney Day Three Preview

2010-03-20T05:31:21Z

EDIT NUSS: Seriously, I think Grady, Craig and I are wondering if we're ever going to have to write anything again, you guys are doing such a good job. Sheesh. Way to go.

via limeshot.com

Welcome to the second round! I don't have much to say, other than there will be 8 games on Saturday. After the jump comes the matchups, sites, times, and to appease cougfan, the announcer pairings. Also, what games we will see on the west coast. We all know who Nuss will be watching. In the CougCenter bracket challenge, BucherBP comes into the day with the outright lead, 10 points ahead of second.

Session 1: 10:00 AM

Providence, RI-Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery

#2 Villanova vs. #10 St. Mary's

Villanova survived their scare against Robert Morris in the first round. We'll see if they can recover and take care of St. Mary's, who pulled off the upset against Richmond in the first round.

KenPom says: Nova 82-79 40%

Session 2: 12:30 PM

Providence-Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery-We'll see this game on the WC

#14 Ohio vs. #6 Tennessee

Ohio pulled off the upset of Georgetown, severely damaging brackets everywhere. Tennessee was able to pull out a win against SDSU that came down to the final seconds.

KenPom says: 74-67 Tennessee 75%

San Jose-Dedes/Wenzel

#13 Murray State vs. #5 Butler

Murray State had the memorable buzzer beater against Vandy. Need I say more? Butler took care of UTEP fairly handily.

KenPom says: Butler 66-61 32%

Session 3: 2:30 PM

Providence- Verne Lundquist/Bill Raferty

#9 Northern Iowa vs. #1 Kansas

Kansas cruised to victory over Lehigh in the first round, while N. Iowa upset UNLV (if you call a 9 beating an 8 and upset).

KenPom says: Kansas 65-57 16%

New Orleans- Dick Enberg/Jay Bilas

#3 Baylor vs. #11 Old Dominion

ODU had the 1 point upset of Notre Dame in the first round. Didn't get to see the Baylor game.

KenPom says: Baylor 65-61 66%

San Jose- Dedes/Wenzel- West coast will see this

#11 Washington vs. #3 New Mexico

Quincy Pondexter had the layin in the final seconds to lift the Huskies over Marquette. UNM had a tough game against Montana, but were able to pull away in the end.

KenPom says: Washington 80-77 59%

Session 4: 5:00 PM

OKC- Kevin Harlan/Dan Bonner- West coast

#2 Kansas State vs. #7 Brigham Young

BYU had the double overtime thriller against Florida in the first round. K-State cruised to victory over North Texas. Will Nuss get closer to that trip to Vegas? Or will BYU crush his dreams?

KenPom says: Kansas State 80-79 50%

New Orleans- Dick Enberg/Jay Bilas-

#1 Kentucky vs. #9 Wake Forest

Kentucky was victorious over E Tenn St. Wake had the win over a previously #1 ranked team in Tejas, pulling out a 1 point win.

KenPom says: Kentucky 75-68 22%

Poll

How's your bracket?

NCAA Day Two Recap

2010-03-20T07:35:56Z

First things first: go here and read about the SBN survey. Then take the 10 minutes or less to do the survey. It's for a good cause.

If you missed out on today's "action", you should be proud of yourself. The weather was nice and the tournament was the complete opposite of yesterday.

After the jump, you'll get a bullet point rundown of the day. Don't expect much analysis this time, because it really wasn't needed today. Instead, you'll find some fun observations from the day that kept me entertained.

Buffalo Wild Wings was working hard yesterday sending games into overtime. Games were coming down to the wire left and right and the action was non-stop. The only thing I can blame for today is the fact that everyone who was at the ole' BWW yesterday was too hung over to get out of bed and business was slow.
The Pac-10 is now 2-0. Down year? Yeah, right.
The morning action was so exciting that the game thread turned in to a scavenger hunt for the Cornell male cheerleader. Instead of three close games, we had three blowouts. The fruits of our labor, by the way, can be found here, here, here, and here. BigWood and I should be private investigators.
Wofford gave Wisconsin a game before finally falling by 4 in what was the closest game of the day. The real story here is that Wofford's mascot is the Boston Terrier. When WSU was still WSC, our mascot was, at one time, "Squirt the Terrier". I cannot express how happy I am that they made the change to Cougars.
Mizzou runs a brand of basketball aptly named "40 minutes of hell". You need to be in shape just to watch their games, let alone to play in them. I actually had to take a breather and switch to the Wisconsin game just to relax for a bit. There's nothing like a 53-49 game with a tempo hovering around 54 possession per team to fall asleep to. Big Ten basketball, catch the fever!
Siena, who was playing at the same time as the fighting Boston Terriers, sports a mascot known as Bernie "Saint" Bernard. Taking a closer look, their logo looks like Siena is eating Bernie.
via hoopedia.nba.com
After today, I'm convinced the selection committee has been messing with us all along. I saw a matchup between the Missouri and Clemson Tigers followed by a matchup between the Utah State and Texas A&M Aggies. If the tiebreaker in the selection room isn't what a school's mascot is, I don't know what it is
Gonzaga won. At one point, it looked like they were going to run the nation's best defense out of the gym, which was impressive. This was followed by Grady jinxing Gonzaga and calling that they were going to cough up the lead.
Evan Turner had an off day for Ohio State, but Dallas Lauderdale and Jon Diebler (or KIEBLER as he was dubbed) did not. Diebler was 8-14 from the field, including 7-12 from deep. Lauderdale, on the other hand, had 4 points (both on dunks), 12 rebounds, and 8 blocks. I don't know why, but UCSB kept trying to float shots over him, only to see him swat them like King Kong swats airplanes. It might be time to try a new approach against OSU.
Jerome Randle hit a 35 foot runner at the halftime buzzer. Not to be outdone, Adam Brown hit a 40 foot shot at halftime just minutes later in a different game. I missed the second one because I was hypnotized by Lauderdale's dunks.

That's it for today. Gus Johnson barely got to scream and the action was enough to make me wonder why I was still watching. If Thursday was any indication, the Saturday games should be awesome. Feel free to add anything I missed. Also, make sure you walk it out this morning.

SB Nation Survey + Chance to donate $500 to a charity of this community's choice

2010-03-20T00:47:54Z

EDIT NUSS: Take or don't take. Up to you. But it'd be cool to give $500 to the rebuild effort in Haiti or something ...

>> Take SB Nation Survey

Hello sports fans! We're always striving to provide you with the best experience possible and it's been quite some time since we checked in with you.

So we're rolling out this survey to learn more about you and your sports world. It should only take about 10 minutes to complete.

We really appreciate your time and this is also going to help make a donation to a good cause.

By next Thursday (3/25) at 11:59pm PST the site that has the highest percentage of their community filling out the attached survey about their sports interests and consumption will win $500 to donate to a charity of their choice. We will leave it up to the discretion of the community manager(s) of the winning blog to decide how to choose the particular charity.

You can take the survey HERE

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WYR2WQT

Thanks for your support!

NCAA Day One Recap

2010-03-19T05:38:24Z

For those of you who missed the first day, you missed what was probably the best day of the tournament in a very long time.

After the jump, I'll give you a little run down of the festivities.

That jump was presented by Buffalo Wild Wings.

With the exception of a few blowouts, the games were all tied, or close to it, at the final TV timeout. The day started with a double OT UF-BYU game, an OT game to fend off a 15-2 upset, and a last second shot by ODU to beat ND. When your NCAA day starts like that, you know it's going to be good.
This is as close as you're going to get to an actual Jimmer Jam. I scoured the internet and there's no evidence Jimmer Fredette can dunk. It's like trying to photograph Bigfoot
Speaking of BYU, Loyd! is now my favorite player in the tournament. Clutch, fo-hawk sporting, and named after what Ari Gold screams at his assistant. You can't ask for a better combination. That said, for Nuss' sake I hope BYU loses by 50.
Robert Morris, or Bob Mo as they were affectionately dubbed, only lost on the scoreboard. Too bad winning hearts doesn't get you to the round of 32.
Vanderbilt lost to Murray State in an upset that actually wasn't that much of an upset. The SEC isn't that good and neither is Vandy.
Butler rolled UTEP in a game that UTEP led by 6 at the half. Butler has, from what I saw, one guy that can dunk. Athleticism was not the key to their victory. When a team hits 10 three pointers in the second half, and one guy hits 6 of those (!!!!), you may want to re-evaluate your perimeter defense.
Ohio ran Georgetown out of the gym in what truly was the upset of the day. Did somebody forget to tell Georgetown that Ohio wasn't OSU and Armon Bassett is not Evan Turner?
The Pac-Ten is undefeated in the tournament. By my estimation, this means we're the best conference in America.
I didn't know who Spero Dedes was and I now know why. He's terrible. He knew virtually nothing about the game going on in front of him. For the next UW game he calls, I hope he practices saying Pon-dexter. There's no 'I' in Pondexter, but there is a "Xerox", so copy that name down and say it to yourself for the next two days. Note: I used the x twice, because it's hard to spell with x's
Kenpom had UW-Marquette as a 72-71 Marquette win. A shootout broke out in San Jose that blew that prediction out of the water. Kenpom also had UW-Marquette as his "Fan Match". I was entertained by it.
Texas "Horned it" by having one of the most epic meltdowns I've seen in a while. They lost a chance to win in regulation, and blew an 8 point lead in OT. They lost because of, you guess it, missed free throws. They really could use a free throw coach.
If you're watching the tournament with your girlfriend and the Bud Light "clunkers" commercial comes on, it's OK to laugh at Carrot Top, but laughing at the "clunker girlfriend" part is liable to get you slapped.

That's it for the first day. If you missed it, I suggest you tune in tomorrow and hope it will be half as exciting as today was. Feel free to add anything I missed in the comments below

NCAA Tournament Day One Preview

2010-03-18T01:27:28Z

EDIT NUSS: ~~This is hereby deemed the official open thread of the day's basketball. Unless the comments get to be too numerous, in which case, we'll open a new one.~~ Grady here: I'm going to do threads session by session, since I'm hoping we're overrun by comments. But read this one first. NUSS HERE: I've been usurped! :-) DANCING FOOTBALL HERE: I felt left out. GRADY HERE: I forgot to use all caps the first time.

Also, SB Nation told us we could make $20 if we put the following widget for CBS's MMOD on our threads, so you're stuck with it. Sorry, cougfan, if this ruins the integrity of your preview, but hey -- 20 bucks is 20 bucks! Besides, never hurts to have the scores at the top of the thread, right? Also, you can launch straight to online streaming of the various games from here.

Launch Player

It's the most wonderful time of the year. March Madness starts Thursday, meaning wall to wall tournament games, and consequently angry girlfriends/wives everywhere, for the next four days. If you haven't called in sick yet, feel free to fake a cold that lasts for at least 48 hours.

When: First tip-off at 9:20. Why they couldn't pick a nice round number like 9:30 is beyond me.

Where: CBS for those playing at home, here for those trying to play at work

After the jump, you'll learn more about the first day then you'll ever want or need to know.

For those looking for last minute bracket picks, don't look at me. I'm terrible at the brackets. Instead, I'll offer a few teams and players to watch during day one.

Let's start with the most important part: the schedule. If you haven't seen it yet, there's a handy widget with the tournament schedule on the CougCenter sidebar. In addition, CBS has generously provided the announcer pairings and network coverage map here. I'm a fan of announcers during the NCAA tournament, so listed below are the specifics:

Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner
9:20 am: #7 BYU vs. #10 Florida
11:40 am: #2 Kansas State vs. #15 North Texas
4:10 pm: #8 Northern Iowa vs. #9 UNLV
6:30 pm: #1 Kansas vs. #16 Lehigh

Dan Bonner played at the University of Virginia. Just throwing that out there.

Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas
9:25 am: #6 Notre Dame vs. #11 Old Dominion
11:45 am: #3 Baylor vs. #14 Sam Houston State
4:15 pm: #1 Kentucky vs. #16 ETSU
6:35 pm: #8 Texas vs. #9 Wake Forest

DO. NOT. WANT.

Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery
9:30 am: #2 Villanova vs. #15 Robert Morris
11:50 am: #7 Richmond vs. #10 St. Mary’s
4:25 pm: #3 Georgetown vs. #14 Ohio
6:45 pm: #6 Tennessee vs. #11 San Diego State

Lundquist and Raftery are the pair to watch. Raftery, of "onions" and "da kiiiisss" fame, manages to steal the show come tournament time. He's no Gus Johnson, but it beats watching Enberg and Bilas call a game.

Spero Dedes and Bob Wenzel
11:30 am: #4 Vanderbilt vs. #13 Murray State
1:45 pm: #5 Butler vs. #12 UTEP
4:20 pm: #6 Marquette vs. #11 Washington
6:40 pm: #3 New Mexico vs. #14 Montana

I have no clue who either of these two are, but since they're calling the UW-MU game, we'll be getting acquainted with them real soon.

Games to watch:

4:20 pm: #6 Marquette vs. #11 Washington

This one is obvious. Kenpom shows this game as being a coin flip, despite it being a 6-11 matchup. Marquette's kenpom page has some fun things to look at, as well. First, they slow the game down, WAY down. It's not Tony Bennett slow, but 63.8 possessions a game is not what UW wants to do. Additionally, the offense runs through Lazar Hayward, but the player to watch is Jimmy Butler. Butler is posting a ridiculous 129.5 ORtg, while using just over 20% of the teams possessions.

1:45 pm: #5 Butler vs. #12 UTEP

Your obligatory 5-12 matchup with upset potential. Butler and UTEP are evenly matched teams and it should make for a good game. Unfortunately, this game constitutes mid-major on mid-major crime. Thanks selection committee!

11:40 am: #2 Kansas State vs. #15 North Texas

Since Nuss is now the biggest KSU fan in the world, might as well toss this one in here. If KSU doesn't run North Texas out of the gym, I'll be surprised and disappointed.

Players to watch:

Jimmer Fredette, BYU: Besides having a cool name, Fredette is BYU's offensive force. He's coming off of a 45 point game against TCU and a 30 point game in a loss to UNLV in the conference tournament. If BYU is going to make a run, Fredette will probably be the one powering it.

Avery Bradley, Texas: Spent his high school days in Tacoma at Bellarmine Prep before playing his senior year at basketball factory Findlay Prep in Las Vegas. Bradley runs the show for Texas and, being a local (kind of) product, he could be someone to keep an eye on.

Jacob Pullen, KSU: You may remember him from the WSU-KSU game. He scored 21 points in 25 minutes, including going 11-11 from the charity stripe. It's not like I hold a grudge or anything.

For those wondering why this is up so early, the CBI is on tonight! OSU plays Boston University in an exciting matchup that continues the Pac-10 vs. America East Conference rivalry. Good luck finding it on TV, though. HDNET, official carrier of the CBI, chose Colorado State-Morehead State over the OSU-BU game. Apparently, the awesomeness of the Pac-10 TV deal carries over to the postseason.

So, there you go. A day one preview for one of the most wonderful annual sporting events in America. This will serve as your open thread to scream about upsets, amazing shots, or to simply talk about the action throughout the day.

The Human Side of College Athletics

2010-03-17T20:59:22Z

A thought came to me while watching Ernie Kent's press conference yesterday. For those of you living in a vacuum, Kent was "fired" on February 22nd and elected to finish out the season. The news of his termination broke while he was finishing up the season ~~sweep~~ against our Cougs in a pretty unceremonious fashion (during the middle of the game). Yesterday, he faced the media at a press conference about his own firing. For that, I respect him. This isn't about Ernie Kent, though, it's about what I saw watching him get choked up answering questions.

For as much as we rip collegiate players and coaches, and most of us are guilty (including myself), we sometimes forget that there are people behind what we see on the court. The athletes are college kids, charged with going to class, getting an education, and performing on the court/field to go along with it. Between going to class and doing everything else a normal college kid does, they're practicing, lifting weights, and studying up on the next opponent. The coaches are in a job that has more stress then most of us will experience in the working world. When they aren't at practice teaching their players, they're studying film. During the offseason, they're on the road recruiting. The job doesn't stop for their own lives.

When I was in school, Bill Doba was a prime example of this. As much as Doba is blamed for the current state of the football program, most forget that his wife was battling cancer throughout his entire tenure as coach, passing away ~~in the offseason before he left~~ in April of 2006. The job never stopped for him while all of this was going on. As I watched Ernie Kent end his press conference, his last thought was that he'd given his heart and soul to the basketball program. He recounted a time that he buried his father before rushing to Buffalo to coach his players later that day. The job didn't stop for him, either.

When we write about coaches and players, even in the heat of the moment, it is important to remember that these are people, too. Family members, friends, and even the players and coaches themselves can see what you write and post online. It's all out there for the public to see. Constructive criticism with useful evidence to back it up is good and provokes thoughtful discussion. Ripping a player or coach or player without any insight as to why does the opposite. It's something to keep in mind before throwing out another "Fire Bone" or "Klay sucks".

Another fitting loss for the PAC-10

2010-03-17T05:20:44Z

No. 1 Seed Arizona State vs. No. 8 Seed Jacksonville

18-6 run in the last 4 minutes for Jacksonville to pull out a one point victory on the road....WOW. And to top it off the winning shot was a bank shot three! I'm rooting for the Pac-10 in post season play because we were an embarrassment all year long, but this pretty much sums it up.

Sun Devils up by 11 with 3:59 to play, check out this play by play. And just watch Sports Center for the winning shot...

Spring Fever

2010-03-12T18:24:50Z

The Cougar baseball team has started the season playing good baseball (9-1). They are beginning a long and competitive road trip that takes them to Texas A&M and Wichita State. Cougar football has Spring practices right around the corner. The addition of new recruits that have enrolled early and getting a look at the growth of the returning players seems to have created a buzz within the program. What is everyone more excited to watch this Spring, Cougar baseball's run at the NCAA tournament or the development of Cougar football?

Taylor Rochestie Interview from Goettingen, Germany

2010-03-09T20:23:19Z

Here's an exclusive Interview with Taylor Rochestie from a sports news website from his hometwon of Santa Barbara, CA. He talks about life playing in Germany's pro league for MEG Goettingen and winning 3-point contest at German All-Star game. He also touches on how much he's still in touch with the Cougars basketball team, sometimes staying up until 5 a.m. just to get a result from Pullman... CLICK HERE

For levity's sake

2010-03-06T06:42:09Z

Since I heart Grady so much, I figured I'd find what he wrote about this team last year after we lost to the Beavs (at home) towards the end of last season

http://www.cougcenter.com/2009/2/15/760133/smpg-in-a-meltdown-everyon

So OSU did unto us what we did to them. This was more shocking, though. For weeks now Tony has been talking on his radio show about how the team has worked to beat traps and the fullcourt press. They will play 5-on-6 in the halfcourt. 3-on-4 in the fullcourt. And for the first half of yesterday's game, the Cougs executed well against OSU's 1-3-1 zone trap. They even got aggressive and earned some easy buckets, because, after all, if two people are guarding one, someone's open.

But that faded away - along with our offense - in the second half. The Cougs' turnover rate shot up, and the shots from the perimeter never went down.

The blame for this loss ultimately falls on Tony Bennett. It is a coach's job to stop runs like this and draw up plays that stop the bleeding. And Tony attempted to do those things - but perhaps overestimated his team's ability to execute them. Like the alley-oop lob that ultimately went over Klay Thompson's head, the plays may have been well-designed, but they didn't fit the team running them. And Tony has to settle his team down. When things are falling apart, you cannot let your team get frustrated. They did - including a group of seniors who should know that they have the ability to stop a run. And using the last timeout after the Rochestie lay-in was beyond damaging. Even though we got the missed free-throw from the Beavers, Baynes couldn't find anyone to throw to. No time out, game over.

So maybe we need to take a step back and breathe and realize the team that beat us may actually create some matchup problems against us and may have actually had something to do with us losing on Thursday.

We still have an entertaining team to watch, people. Nick Graham isn't on this team. We're going to take a step next year. A big one. Do you want to be remembered as being off the bandwagon when it happened?

Need a little help...

2010-03-04T18:15:52Z

So I joined a blog here on SBNation and I want to remove it from my blog list now. When I go to my profile though, there is no option to remove it from my blogs, I'm only able to favorite it. Does anyone know how to leave a blog? Don't worry it definitely is not CougCenter, haha.

To get this to 75 words I'll remind you guys about our Daily Evergreen Sports blog. All us sports writers on staff are posting now and it's getting pretty busy. Still no comments though for a while. Head over and check it out.

http://www.dailyevergreen.com/blogs/sports/

Cougars on Lexy.com

2010-02-28T20:32:45Z

hello Cougar nation,

Make sure to check out the Cougar Audio Minute at Lexy.com. It will be updated after every game and preview the up coming game. If you dig it, click on subscribe. It is free and you'll be alerted via email or text when new updates are up. I don't mind the Cougs playing in the 8-9 game at staples. A win will get them use to the staples center court and CAL doesn't need to the game to make tourney. Go Cougs

http://www.lexy.com/feed/episode?id=122198

Gold medal game open thread

2010-02-28T20:18:48Z

heres your open thread.

usa vs canada for all the marbles

to quote robin williams....canada is like a loft apartment over a really great party.

sorry about the formatting, fanpsts from a phone arent easy.

and to get to seventy five words ill say that miller needs to have the game of his life, our forwards need to forecheck aggressively, and we need to continue blocking shots on defense. if the us wins, canada may have a country wide meltdown

Cougs sweep Friday's doubleheader

2010-02-27T06:42:09Z

Cougs handled B-C in the morning beating them 10-4. Jackson was solid in his first Coug start. I have a great feeling about this kid and looking forward to seeing him pitch in person this season.

Cougs rallied in the 2nd game late against Tex Tech to win 6-3. Handed it to their key relief pitcher. Arnold had a good start.

The offense has really been something. We are putting guys in motion a ton and have had some timely hitting.

Anyone Interested in a Little Viewing Party?

2010-02-27T06:04:52Z

Last time we played UW, I went to Sport Bar and Grill in Fisher Plaza to watch the game and had a pretty good time ... minus the second half. I just thought I might take a flier and see if anyone was interested in making it a bit of a Cougar viewing party. Last time there were definitely more Good Guys than bad guys. Just thought I might throw it out there. I will have my CouGear on ... See you there?

The Air is a Crisp 45º Outside Beasley Coliseum

2010-02-27T01:19:21Z

Here on Nikola Koprivica Eve, outside Beasley Coliseum, the wait has begun. Myself and ten other arguably crazy Cougar fans are currently in line for tomorrow night's showdown with the University of Washington. We have chairs, blankets, music, laptops, power, chips, and enough Mountain Dew Code Red and Coca-Cola to sustain us over the next 24 hours. More friends are on the way, and as long as the police don't force us to leave, we are in for an interesting night! If only we could have some beer...

Olympic Hockey Open Thread.

2010-02-26T20:08:19Z

USA vs. Finland

Canada vs. Slovakia later.

Have at it.

Pac-10 games following suit

2010-02-26T05:14:16Z

thus far. Stanford falls to 7-9 with games against AZ and CAL remaining. AZ falls to 7-8 with Stanford, UCLA, and SC remaining on the schedule. Or St at 6-8 is losing by 10 at half to UCLA. We sit at 6-9, trying to move up to at least the crucial 7th spot. Oregon (4-10) is losing at half to SC. Come on SC!!

Will be pulling for AZ over Stanford because that would likely result in a 7-11 for the Furd. Next week is going to be huge for the Cougs. Probably control our destiny for the 7th with our final games against the two teams trying to avoid the 8th and 9th position (oregon and osu).