WSU Basketball swept in the desert, football gains another commit

Good morning, Cougar fans. As Sunday dawns and football fans like myself get ready for another day of the NFL playoffs, the WSU men's basketball team heads back to Pullman having been thoroughly beaten in both games on the Arizona road trip. After falling behind big on Thursday night and losing by 11 points to a not-very-good ASU team, the Cougs faced daunting odds if they were going to escape Arizona with a split. As anyone who looked at the point spread beforehand probably expected, it didn't go well. WSU was thoroughly outclassed and, as has often been the case, made it clear that the talent gap between themselves and a top Pac-12 team is significant.

As we've seen in flashes this season (New Mexico and UCLA for example), there is some talent there, and WSU is capable of beating good teams. Unfortunately, it seems like WSU struggles to put it all together more often that not, especially when they step up in class. They haven't had the greatest luck with injuries, as guys like Valentine Izundu and Viont'e Daniels have missed significant time. Aside: A big man with a foot problem, which is Izundu's issue, is the type of injury that can linger for a long, long time.

Still, Ernie Kent's team should at least compete with the likes of Arizona State, but aside from a little second-half run Thursday, ASU owned the game. On the bright side, WSU gets to head back home to face the mountain schools, both of whom are beatable if WSU brings the type of effort it did when UCLA was in town. If they don't, an early season slide will only get longer. At the very least, we still have Josh Hawkinson to appreciate.

Hawk is the latest Coug to launch his candidacy for a spot on the Ike Fontaine All-Stars. He is likely to join guys like Carlos Daniel, Marcus Moore, Brock Motum and DaVonte Lacy. Who are the Ike Fontaine All-Stars? They're good Cougar players who were the bright spots on otherwise bad teams. It seems like there are far too many years when Cougar fans are relegated to rooting for individual performances because the team is near the cellar. Hopefully this isn't one of those seasons, because we'd all love it if WSU gave us something fun to watch while winter passes by.

Football

Let's start with some good news! WSU got a commitment from highly-sought Logan Tuley-Tillman Saturday night, while he was on his official visit. As Britton Ransford detailed, he will be be able to play immediately, and has two years of eligibility remaining.

Logan Tuley-Tillman will transfer to WSU | The Spokesman-Review
The 6-foot-7, 310-pound offensive lineman was an Under Armour All-American in high school, and appeared in two games for the Wolverines.

Early Pac-12 Football Rankings For 2016 | College Football News
The passing game will go ballistic again with QB Luke Falk returning with three starters back at receiver. Just enough returns on the O line to give Falk time, while the starting backs should provide some semblance of a ground game from time to time.

Basketball

Arizona continues long-standing dominance of WSU | The Spokesman-Review
TUCSON, Ariz. – Ryan Anderson had 15 points, eight rebounds and a blocked shot that sparked a decisive first-half run, and No. 18 Arizona continued its dominance of Washington State with a 90-66 victory Saturday night.

Arizona Wildcats blow out Washington State 90-66
The Wildcats outrebounded WSU 35-23 and shot 54.2 percent from the field. UA has shot better than 49 percent in four of its five Pac-12 games.

Beer

China Embraces Craft Beers, and Brewing Giants Take Notice - The New York Times
Chinese consumers are swapping mass-produced local beers for a bevy of imports and locally brewed brands, and a merged Anheuser-Busch InBev-SABMiller aims to capitalize.

Non-Sports

A Strange Tale of Fruitcakes and the Collin Street Bakery
Sandy Jenkins was a quiet accountant at the Collin Street Bakery who felt overlooked and dreamed of living the good life. He found it (for a while) by embezzling nearly $17 million from the famed fruitcake maker.