I was browsing the kenpom.com WSU scouting report page and taking a look at our wins and losses, and something aroused my curiousity. So I dug a little deeper.
Consider:
- This year, 11 of the Cougs' 12 wins have come against teams ranked 61 or below, while all nine losses have come against teams rated 47 or higher. (The one outlier, of course, is the win over ASU -- a win fueled in large part by the kind of superlative individual performance this team doesn't generally get.)
- In 2007-08, all of their 26 wins came to teams rated No. 26 or below, while eight of the Cougs' nine losses came to teams rated 25 or above. (The one outlier was the home loss to No. 62 Cal, thanks to Ryan Anderson being amazing.)
- In 2006-07, all 26 wins were over teams rated 26 or below, while six of the eight losses came to teams rated No. 35 or above -- the outliers being losses to No. 135 Utah and No. 53 Stanford.
If this doesn't further bolster your excitement about the future, it should. Bennett is establishing a strong track record of getting every last ounce of potential and execution out of his teams. He gets them to play to their true talent level on a night-in and night-out basis, and as the level of talent increases, so should our ability to consistently make the NCAA Tournament and challenge for Pac-10 titles.