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Good morning. First thing's first: They covered! If you weren't busy watching nobody score in the championship soccer game Saturday night, you may have been watching Cougar Basketball. Heck, since the basketball game was only available online, you could have done both. For a while, the Cougs even made it worth your multi-watching efforts.
For a while. Hopefully you were able to watch that first half (unlike me who was trying to be a good dad by taking the kids to a Cub Scout event after which I needed a blood transfusion due to ravenous mosquitoes - December in Florida everyone!). If you did, you saw the Cougs get out to a 9-0 lead, hitting four of six shots. They held somewhat steady for a few more minutes, leading 21-15 with 11:32 to go.
WSU scored five points over the remaining 11:32 of the half. Five. Points. Trailing by two at the half to a much-better team was indeed a positive development. The Cougs kept it within striking distance for the first few minutes of the second half, trailing by just five after a Malachi Flynn three pointer. They had a chance to really tighten it after getting two stops, but both Charles Callison and Flynn missed shots.
Kansas State would score the next eight points, and that was that. Josh Hawkinson managed to eke out another double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. He shared scoring co-leader honors with Callison. The stat line is pretty ugly. WSU shot just 20-57 from the field and managed to get to the foul line only eight times, but at least they made seven?
The Cougs return home to face the probably-just-as-bad Santa Clara Broncos next Saturday at 4 p.m. The game will air on Pac-12 Networks.
Basketball
TheMercury.com | K-State starts slow, beats Washington State, 70-56
No local coverage for the game, but the Manhattan paper covered it pretty well.
The Cougars were also limited to seven scholarship players and a walk-on. This figured to be a game the Wildcats could run away with, yet they trailed 9-0 before the first media timeout and needed nearly the entire first half to take a lead.
Football
Grading Pac-12 predictions from the College Hotline
Did not expect the loss to Eastern Washington (or Boise State) but got the end-of-season skid correct.
College Football Playoff & Bowl Game First Predictions, Reactions | College Football News
Washington State is going to be Washington State and bomb, bomb, bomb away, but Minnesota will be even more Minnesota and control the ground attack and control the clock to keep Luke Falk and company on the sidelines.
Beer
Best beer I had this week: Lots of stouts this time of year, which is the norm. The winner this week was Dogfish Head's Beer for Breakfast. As the link will tell you, it contains actual breakfast stuff! Have one with your cereal!
Paste's 10 Best Beers of 2016 :: Drink :: Lists :: craft beer :: Paste
The year is coming to an end, that means it's time for rankings!