It's Monday, so it must be time for a trivia question, but before we get to that I have another question. Can anyone stop Craig Powers? During the first 18 trivia posts, Craig picked up 30 total points. During the last three, he's racked up 25 points. He sat there all season long, chucking up wild answers and posting a miserable trivia rating and now he's switched his game up and none of you can stop him from getting to the rim. He totally Faisal Aden'd all of you.

Now, onto today's question where we see if anyone can slow this Powers freight train down. Reggie Moore currently leads the Pac-12 in assists per game. Since they began tracking assists in 1974, no WSU player has led the conference. Today's question is to name the last WSU player to lead the Pac-12 in the following categories.

Points per game?

Rebounds per game?

Blocks per game?

Steals per game?

Each correct answer will be worth five points.

Current MMTQ Standings

Blackie1829 - 87

Wazzu-Hondo - 70

SoCalCoug - 58

Craig - 55

BigWood - 55

Coug999 - 43

Nusser - 40

B-lot tailgater - 24

Neil Vincent Roberts - 24

WazzuCrew11 - 20

Bearcat44 - 20

Cougdude50 - 15

LeaveItToWeaver - 15

Johnnycougar - 13

Tinit -10

Rancourt - 10

BleedCrimson - 10

02Coug - 10

cfred - 10

wsubigdeal - 10

Shellin - 10

sdcoug09 - 10

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I meant to do more with this earlier in the week, but if you're looking for a bright light in the blight that has again been this football season, the WSU soccer team has made its way to the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years, and the Cougars begin their quest for a title at Kentucky today at 4 p.m. PDT.

The game apparently is available via streaming at Kentucky's athletic site, so please use this as a game thread as you watch the game before the probable football result later in the evening.

It all starts on defense for the Cougars, who are led by their outstanding freshman goalkeeper, Gurveen Clair. She was second in the Pac-12 in goals against average, saves and save percentage. She ranked 20th nationally in goals against and 17th in save percentage. Her seven shutouts are one shy of the school record, and the 0.63 goals against by the team is the lowest in school history.

WSU's attack is led by freshman Jocelyn Jeffers (seven goals, five assists) and junior Brandi Vega (six goals, five assists). Vega is tied for ninth in school history with 13 goals. Kentucky, however, will have the best offensive weapon on the pitch in senior Kelsey Hunyadi. Hunyadi has 13 goals and 10 assists.

But if the Cougars get behind early, don't worry -- they've come from behind to win five different times this season.

Also, if WSU wins, the Cougars will face the No. 2 seed in their regional, Virginia -- the same Virginia team that WSU played to a 0-0 2OT tie in Charlottesville back in early September.

I took my first trip to Pullman when I was a junior in high school. I signed up for a walking tour where a current student led a giant group of us around campus. I had very little interest in the tour, so when we passed the baseball field and I saw a game was going on, I broke off from the group to watch the last few innings. I was standing along the fence behind the dugout next to an older man. We chatted briefly, he asked me what I was majoring in. I told him I was in high school and came to check out the campus. He said, "I guarantee if you come to Washington State, you won't regret it."

Fast forward two years and I was attending my first baseball game as a freshman. I was sitting in the bleachers and I saw the same older man walking down the concourse. People were shaking his hand and waving to him. I asked the guy sitting behind me who the older man was and he said, "That's Bobo Brayton the greatest baseball coach to ever live."

I couldn't help but remember this story when I heard Brayton was in the hospital after an ATV accident. If there were a WSU Mount Rushmore, Brayton would be a unanimous selection. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery.

As for football, Vince Grippi detailed a couple of important notes from Wednesday's practice. The Cougars made it through another practice without suffering a major injury and CJ Mizell, previously maligned for his practice habits, is now being praised for his effort and attitude. Grippi has more on Mizell in the links below. It's early in camp, but Mizell's improved practice habits can only be a positive development.

Other Links

Wet and wild day for WSU - SportsLink - Spokesman.com - Aug. 10, 2011
After four warm days on Rogers Field, this afternoon's practice – the last before the Cougars go to full pads – ended on an upbeat note. On what could have been a downbeat day for Washington State fans. Read on for more.

Football Practice: Day 4 - WSUCougars.com
Wednesday afternoon, the Cougars held a two-hour practice in helmets, shoulder pads and shorts on Rogers Field.

Mizell brings game-time attitude to summer practices - Spokesman.com - Aug. 10, 2011
C.J. Mizell stood at a fork in the road. The choice was his to make, but the road map had been drawn pretty clearly by Washington State coach Paul Wulff and new linebackers coach Chris Tormey. 

Scout.com: New Coug, a war vet, 'blessed' to be playing
PULLMAN – Chas "Sam" Sampson, like all of his Washington State teammates, was an exhausted, sweat-covered mess at the conclusion of another tough practice under the relentless Palouse sun Tuesday afternoon. 

WSU Athletics posted a video of a few players and Coach Wulff enjoying a Slip-N-Slide after practice.

Cougar Football: Slip-N-Slide (via WSUCougarAthletics)

Day three of fall camp is in the books, players donned shoulder pads for the first time and we had the arrival of our first fall camp buzz word. Speed was a popular topic on Rogers Field Tuesday and for the first time in recent history, the coversation wasn't about the lack of it.

"It looks like we have more players with more speed," Paul Wulff said after practice.

Vince Grippi talked speed and a few other keen observations in his practice recap blog post.

Other Links

Washington State Cougars Official Athletic Site
Tuesday's practice was the first of the season with helmets, shoulder pads and shorts for the Cougars...as predicted, the intensity picked up with the addition of pads as the sound of pads popping filled Rogers Field on another warm afternoon on the Palouse.

Offseason a numbers game for some WSU football players - Spokesman.com - Aug. 9, 2011
What’s in a number? A lot apparently, though just about everyone denies it. Take Deone Bucannon for example. The Washington State safety exceeded expectations last season as a freshman, starting eight games and leading the Cougars in tackles. His number 10 jersey seemed to be involved in nearly every play.

Cougar Football Practice Day 3 (via WSUCougarAthletics)

Summertime is slow for us around here, and it's slow for the players, too. While that's not always a good thing (hey there, Oregon!), it can also give them the opportunity to do some things they wouldn't normally have time to do during the school year.

Take, for example, last Saturday: Nearly 30 student athletes from the Washington State University football, basketball and volleyball teams got together to help with Palouse Habitat for Humanity just outside Uniontown. They spent eight hours working alongside a community member to help build her future residence.

"It's good for us to get out in the community," basketball player Marcus Capers told WSU Sports Information. "People really appreciate stuff like this, us taking from the little free time we have, to go out and help. Anytime we're given the opportunity to do something like this, I'm willing to help out and so are my teammates. It was a good experience."

The highlight, apparently, was when a bunch of the football players got together to do some heavy lifting of an 18-foot beam.

"Normally that would be done by a powerlift, which we don't have here," said Brent Bradberry, president of the board for the Palouse Habitat for Humanity. "So instead we had a Cougar football power lift. It worked great."

Participating were volleyball players Chelsey Bettinson, Meagan Ganzer, Marcelina Glab, Zoe Gogan, Stephanie Hagins, Jaicee Harris, Jordan Levenseller, Stephanie Logan, Anuhea Keanini, Megan McManus, Morgan Murrey, Krystal Robinson, Maile Scarpino and Rachel Todorovich; football players Zach Brevick, Ererico Forbes, Steve Hoffart, C.J. Laufasa, Mike Ledgerwood and Marshall Lobbestael; and men's basketball players Capers, Faisal Aden, Chuks Iroegbu, DaVonté Lacy, Mike Ladd, D.J. Shelton and Royce Woolridge.

In addition to the video above that Capers put together, you can check out a photo gallery here.

It's always great to see anyone out in the community serving with nothing to gain for themselves; that it's the athletes that represent all of us on the field doing it makes me proud. Next time an player does something dumb off the field, remember that the vast majority of them are like these guys and gals.

Go Cougs.

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Undefeated Fans -- the campaign by the WSU Athletic Department to promote and recognize the passion of Cougar fanatics through the creative display of WSU flags -- announced today that it is holding a contest to determine the design of its official t-shirt.

Lest you think the glory of being picked as the winner lies simply in seeing your design potentially worn by thousands of people, the winner also will receive two season tickets for this upcoming football season.

There's only one catch. Your design has to incorporate the following logo:

If you think you can make that happen, submit your design (in a ZIP file) to athletics.marketing@wsu.edu by June 20 -- that's Monday. Someone in the athletics department will pick the top five, and then fans will vote on those from June 22-29 to determine the winner.

In the meantime, you can visit WSUCougars.com to participate in a vote as to whether the shirts should be crimson or gray. This seems like something of a no-brainer, since I can't imagine crimson on crimson being a great option. But since crimson is currently beating gray 2-to-1, it's clear I have no fashion sense whatsoever.

I am, however, going to try my hand at the design, because who knows? I met get some tickets out of the deal.

Also, just for good measure:

When the most recent Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores were released a couple of weeks ago, a few people expressed an interest in the year-by-year scores of each of the sports. While the four-year averages for each year -- which is what the NCAA uses to determine compliance with the program -- are readily available in the NCAA's big database, the actual individual year scores that make up the averages are not.

So, I e-mailed WSU's compliance department and they promptly shipped them over to me -- big thanks to Steve Robertello for his help with that. Being the dork that I am, I took his Word document and fashioned it into a spreadsheet, which I have embedded after the jump for your perusal.

Just so you have an understanding of what the numbers mean, here's a brief explanation of how the annual scores are calculated, from the NCAA:

Each student-athlete receiving athletically related financial aid earns one retention point for staying in school and one eligibility point for being academically eligible. A team’s total points are divided by points possible and then multiplied by one thousand to equal the team’s Academic Progress Rate score.

This is calculated each semester, making each student-athlete "worth" four points every year. According to the NCAA, there are also adjustments that can be made for "student-athletes in good academic standing who leave school early to pursue a professional career, student-athletes who transfer to another school while meeting minimum academic requirements and student-athletes who return to graduate at a later date." This minimizes the impact of circumstances that are out of the school's control.

Scoring less than 925 on the rolling four-year score can lead to penalties like the eight-scholarship reduction football suffered a few years ago.

Here's the hypothetical situation the NCAA uses to show how to arrive at the number:

A Division I Football Bowl Subdivision team awards the full complement of 85 grants-in-aid. If 80 student-athletes remain in school and academically eligible, three remain in school but are academically ineligible and two drop out academically ineligible, the team earns 163 of 170 possible points for that term. Divide 163 by 170 and multiply by 1,000 to determine that the team’s Academic Progress Rate for that term is 959.

You don't have to be a math whiz to realize that on the smaller teams, one athlete leaving school while ineligible can really create quite a hit. For example, WSU men's cross country posted an individual score this year of 938, which, if dupicated for four consecutive years, would put the program close to the penalty threshold of 925. But that 938? That's from earning 30 of 32 possible points, thanks to the fact that they only have eight scholarships. Had they lost a third point -- scoring 29 out of 32 -- the score would be a 906.

Using a four-year rolling score to determine a school's overall performance helps to minimize the impact of this, but you can see how a small team could really get hammered by this system.

If you're interested in the calculations of each year's score for WSU, you can see that here in the document from compliance. One interesting thing I noticed? The four-year rolling score is not simply each year's overall APR score added together and divided by four; it's actually the cumulative points accrued over the four years divided by the points possible over the four years. It's a small difference, but not insignificant -- again, especially when you're talking about the smaller teams, one point here or there can have an impact.

One final note: You'll notice the scores only go back to 2003-04. Because of this, the 2004-05 averages are actually two-year scores, and the 2005-06 averages are actually three-year scores. In actuality, 2006-07 is the first year for four-year scores.

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When news broke this afternoon that WSU's new radio partner in the Seattle area would be 770-AM KTTH, I was a bit underwhelmed. My first thought was, "Really? That's it? That's the best we could do?"

My second thought, though, was that I wasn't really qualified to make that assessment, since the Seattle radio scene isn't exactly my forte. So I dialed up Dave Clark of SounderAtHeart.com for a little podcast action. Dave is a veteran of the radio industry, having worked for years as a producer at KJR 950-AM.

I think you'll find his thoughts insightful. I won't give away the whole thing, but his assessment? Yes, it's a good deal, and yes, it probably was the best WSU could do under the circumstances. You'll have to listen to find out why.

As usual, you can listen to the audio via the player below, or visit our podcast page for myriad ways to subscribe to all of our audio. (Our podcast page now has a mobile option for those of you reading this on your phone.) You can also find us in the iTunes directory under keyword "CougCenter," or simply click this link. The advantage of subscribing? Besides having the audio directly delivered to your player of choice, I often upload the audio to the podcast site before posting it here.

Also, if you own an Android phone (and I know many of you do), you have no reason not to download the Listen app and subscribe using this link. If you click on it from your mobile browser, you can complete the action with Listen. DO IT.