Trifecta of Cougs advance to Olympic semis

You may have heard this already, but there’s a lot of basketball players in Brazil playing for a necklace with a shiny gold thing hanging from it*, but no school has more players vying for that necklace than Washington State University, who boasts three — Klay Thompson, Brock Motum and Aron Baynes.

*It should be noted that some basketball players will get a necklace with silver thingy on it and some will get one with a bronze thingy, but there’s a good chance that a former WSU basketball player receives one of those necklaces — probably three!

Anyway, the three of them are all doing just great and we’re very proud of them. They did things yesterday, though, and that’s why I’m typing these words.

Klay Thompson and the USA basketball team advanced to the Olympic semifinals yesterday in what was a riveting 28-point win over Argentina. Meanwhile, Brock Motum and Aron Baynes helped lead Australia to a dominant 26-point win over Domantas Sabonis and Lithuania. Suck it, Gonzaga.

(I actually don’t know how impressive these games were, because I haven’t watched anything Olympic related except for a boring video of Ryan Lochte getting into a taxi at a gas station, but I’m assuming both teams played spectacularly.)

Thompson didn’t have a great night in the win over Argentina, going 0-for-6 from beyond the arc and finishing with just four points in 20 minutes. Whatever, he probably wasn’t trying very hard and didn’t want to completely embarrass the Fighting Ginobli’s.

The Boomers, however, got a big game out of Baynes, who finished with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting while adding five rebounds and a few assists in the blowout win. Motum played just four minutes in the contest, but made the most of them, finishing with four points.

Thompson and the Americans will move on to play a dangerous Spain team in the semifinals while the Aussies will face the Serbians, setting up a potential rematch in the gold medal game this Sunday. Both semifinal games tip tomorrow afternoon.

Go Cougs.