OK, it's only halftime, but I'm really tired of focusing on this awful football team. For the first time in my life, I'm embarrassed to be associated with Washington State University. Every time I think it can't get any worse, we hit a new low.
Right now, we have 18 rushing attempts and five passing attempts. From the moment we stepped on the field, we weren't even trying to win this game. I'm speechless.
So let's focus on the team that isn't a total waste of time to write about.
Tony Bennett has closed practices to the public, but not to the media. So in lieu of being a first-hand witness, there's this nice little second-hand breakdown from Vince Grippi at the Spokesman.
There's a ton of interesting info in there, but the most encouraging to me is this:
Speaking of (DeAngelo) Casto, the freshman's defensive abilities are already Pac-10 caliber, other than he has a tendency to try to do too much sometimes and is still learning how hard has to compete at this level. But his feet are exceptional and he gets off the floor as quickly as anyone I saw in the conference last season.
This could be the single most important key to the team this season. We'll be OK with all the freshman talent in the backcourt, but without Robbie Cowgill, this team appeared to be frighteningly thin up front -- especially with the way Aron Baynes likes to collect fouls from time to time. If Casto can give the Cougs some actual playmaking ability up front, it completely changes the dynamic of this team.
If you're looking for even more inside info, the athletic department has started a basketball blog of its own. It's pretty vanilla so far with just a couple of posts, but it should be a nice access point for information, designed to be a "behind-the-scenes look at Cougar Basketball with photo galleries, practice notes and updates you can't get anywhere else. In addition we will bring you a look at the off-the-court life of all your favorite Cougars."
That's all for today. You should see a lot more basketball content in the coming days, including the first in our series of player profiles leading up to the season