With the start of official practices now just a few hours away (they'll have their first real practice at 5 p.m.), we figured this was as good a time as any to start ramping up the basketball coverage.
There's not a whole lot for us to write this time of year, other than our usual preview type stuff -- be looking for that over the next few weeks -- but what we can do is pass along anything we find to hopefully help quench your thirst for "better days ahead." We'll do that with your Daily Hoops Fix.
First of all, don't forget that the start of practices means -- for the first time in a long time -- Midnight Mayhem for the Cougs, tonight around 9:30 p.m. If you're in Pullman, there's no excuse not to be there, since you get the bonus of watching a volleyball match first. If you're not in Pullman, you're still in luck, assuming your life is as uninteresting as mine and you'll be home: You can watch both the volleyball match (which starts at 7 p.m.) and the Midnight Mayhem festivities (starting at 9:30 p.m. or 30 minutes after the volleyball match, whichever is later) for free via webcast at wsucougars.com.
Since we know you'll want to talk about what you see -- including a 3-point contest, a dunk contest and (especially) a scrimmage -- we'll have a volleyball/Midnight Mayhem thread up for you all tonight.
Next, how about hearing directly from the coach himself? Ken Bone was on with 950-AM KJR's Ian Furness in Seattle yesterday, and gave a quick scouting report on how things are going heading into tonight. He sounds cautiously optimistic, but continues to hit on the youth refrain. You can tell he really likes his core of sophomores, just in the way he talks about Klay Thompson (NBA potential as a shooter), DeAngelo Casto (hardest worker on the team), Marcus Capers (special length and quickness) and Mike Harthun (ready to make a serious contribution).
Take the 10 minutes to listen -- it's well worth your time.
Lastly, we've got a couple of links to pass along:
- This was up in the FanShots yesterday, but in case you missed it, Daven Harmeling is continuing his excellent work for Cougfan.com, this time giving scouting reports on the newcomers. He also gives scouting reports on the vets today, but that's premium content. (I can only assume that most or all of the Harmeling content will be of the paid variety going forward, now that they've got us hooked.)
- The WSU sports information department released its preseason prospectus today, and it's pretty good. It's full of quotes from Bone, and they're actually a little better than the run-of-the-mill variety you generally are used to with these things -- you know, the "we're really counting on _______ to step up this year" kind of quote.