Greetings Cougar Nation. Hope you all are having a great week. Fortunately, for you all, I am more than swamped, so this post will be like my underwear: warm and brief.
And since I’m into FULL disclosure today, I will reveal to you all a budding concern:
I CAN’T TAKE PERFECTION MUCH LONGER!!!!!
Although I don’t have all the posts to show it for this basketball season, it is true that I have yet to be wrong on prognosticating any Cougar football or basketball game this year.
Hopefully, I can rid myself of such an honor before I am wrong when it really matters–like the NCAA tournament.
With that in mind, I am going to continue to predict these games in bunches–knowing that the outcome and play of one game can have a profound effect on the next.
But this much I know: We WILL sweep the AZ schools this weekend.
On one hand, this is almost blasphemy since even with the sweep last year, I think we’ve beaten Arizona all of 3 times in our last 53 or 54 games. But, even outside of the X’s and O’s, the bottom line for tonight’s game is that AZ does not match up well with us and our style. Add to that, the moxy that we got that they don’t and you have a 71-57 win tonight.
ASU, on the other hand, is on their way to playing a really tough brand of basketball and they now have some pretty darn good players to boot. But, like us against UCLA where we lose on talent, ASU is just not as good as us. So, while the style is a good match-up for both teams, our wins at SC, UW, Baylor (16-2 Baylor, in case you haven’t noticed), and the Zags provides the type of experience to get the job done. We’ll win 59-54.
Enjoy this weekend and the subsequent return to the top 5. We are getting VERY close to that #2 seed, folks…And we’re #6 in the fricking country!!! Enjoy the ride
Lets keep it up.
Sedihawk's Blog 
January 24, 2008 at 11:44 pm |
Leaving in an hour to watch the game with the “Thrasher” and a bunch of Cougs in the Couve!
January 25, 2008 at 3:15 am |
BALLGAME. Who woudl have thought Low and Cowgill would get shut out? YUCK what an ugly loss. Maybe now they will put down the press clippings of how good they are and not worry about seedings. They suck as favorites.
January 25, 2008 at 3:30 am |
I hope they are ready to play on Saturday. This second half was a wipe-out. I think Arizona is still shooting 3’s and the game is over. My GOD. 57% from 3-point land? Over half their field goals made were 3’s. Felt a lot like watching Oregon beat us last year. Too much so. Saturday feels like a must win all of a sudden!
January 25, 2008 at 3:32 am |
Oh, and yeah, PalousePosse, they don’t wear the favorites role very well do they? RELAX, we’re 16-2! You knew how good the conference was this year. We had to know that there would be nights like this. And they might be 13-7, but they are still Arizona.
January 25, 2008 at 3:36 am |
Hey hey, there is SOME good news tonight:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004143636_webstadium25.html
I don’t like him qualifying the statement “this year”, but at least some people came to their senses. Now, please, find a way to keep this NBA team here so we can allow ourselves to care again?
January 25, 2008 at 3:36 am |
Perfect no more…thank god….now I can just be myself, play free, keep tempo, and so forth..
Face it: when the other team shoots like that from three, you lose…no rocket science analysis needed.
That all said, I HATE the new Sonics defense that we’ve implemented. You know, the one with Sam Perkins, I mean Aaron Baynes, flashing out high to double team the ball…It starts us scrambling and results in NO ONE staying home…tonight was like the first 35 of the Oregon game…giving up the middle of the floor and then watching the kick out from TTTHHHHREEEEEEEE.
I still think we’ll beat ASU….
And we better..
January 25, 2008 at 4:50 am |
I think this game showed how much we miss Ivory Clark on defense. I’m not too worried – sometimes a loss like this can be good. Hopefully we’ll learn from it and come out swinging against ASU. Not like we were going to get through the Pac-10 with 1 loss.
January 25, 2008 at 5:43 am |
I’m not sure how the game showed that we missed Ivory Clark, although I personally miss Ivory daily…
Our biggest challenge right now is staying home defensively–and that trap uptop is baffling. Not sure if they are running Baynes high to keep him away from getting quick fouls on the block, or if Taylor is struggling to stop the ball or what, but it sure isn’t working.
The big thing for us besides the D has been the collapse of Robbie Cowgill. TOTAL non-factor both offensively and defensively. We need to get him right in order to do anything. I hope he goes back in the line-up on Saturday…we need him to play well in the worse way…
January 25, 2008 at 7:30 am |
Brinkhater (can I still call you that?)
We all know you control all the games in the universe and obviously you just wanted to fool us today! But seriously, you said in this post that you “can’t take perfection much longer!” Ha! You knew, you knew we were gonna lose. You haven’t tricked me. Please, PLEASE give us a championship! Or at least make Oregon get killed for the rest of forever. Either works.
January 25, 2008 at 9:15 am |
First of all we are getting killed because Taylor and D-low are not doing a good enough job of defending the ball 1 on 1. We should have had Weaver man to man on Bayless all game in order to neutralize penetration and prevent our defensive collapsing which results in open looks from 3 point land. (See vandy, Oregon, USC last year. That said offensively Derrick Low CANNOT be 0-7 after 38 minutes of play. We have absolutely got to get him involved more often with specifically designed sets that produce looks for him. Secondly Aron Baynes cannot become a black hole. When he has the ball in good position he should take the opportunity to make a move. When he finds himself doubled or forced out 10-12 feet from the hope he has to kick out and re-post.
We should allow TR to free-lance and create more offensively. On the defensive end Harmeling is a massive liability but he need to see time on the floor. Cowgill is lost on the offensive end. Forest should not be playing ever for a top 10 team…maybe Henry?? Anyway do not listen to anything brinkhater says as he is the mindless droning of that husky fan sitting behind you in the bar. “Bank on” the fact that he is clueless. We will be fine after this loss…we get a free-bee with ASU losing tonight. The Pac-10 title is still ours for the taking if we recover and take care of business.
We need to keep Tony Bennett forever and we will be the new national power and media darling.
January 25, 2008 at 2:19 pm |
Way to go, Cougs, lose to one of the teams I hate most, Arizona. A Waspy school with an old coach and the way they thumb their noses at the rest of the conference.
Hey guess who won in the state of Arizona last night? Washington!!!!!
I hope they beat you guys in Friel.
January 25, 2008 at 2:37 pm |
You hope they beat us in Friel? Wow, Joshua, I thought you said this earlier on your blog:
To all fans of the team near Idaho, I hope this is a blip on the screen. Now that the Seahawks season is over, I am officially joining your bandwagon.
I guess you are OFF the bandwagon now after one loss? Whatever.
January 25, 2008 at 5:06 pm |
I think Ivory’s quickness on D was missed – we could have used his help last night.
January 25, 2008 at 5:33 pm |
It’s hard to blame the defense when your opponent shoots like that. I do however agree with the comment above that Low and Rochestie are not doing a very good job of keeping guys from driving into the key. You could see it in the Oregon game, especially from Low, and it was still an issue last night. If we take care of that issue this defense will be rock solid again.
I didn’t get to see much of the second half but I thought the offense was out of sync and almost counter-productive. So much for all the hype about setting things up for Low and not starting out slow. I couldn’t figure out what they were trying to do. Several times I saw 3 Cougs huddled together on what quickly became the weekside because the point would dribble and pass away. Then there would be no re-set and no opportunity to set picks away from the ball. It looked about as organized as my rec league team.
So I don’t really see what Brinkhater has said so far to prove him “clueless”. I definitely don’t see what anybody named anonymous has said to qualify them as being able to make that statement. I know Brinkhater and he is pretty f-ing far from “mindless”. Send us a link to your blog anonymous – I want read what someone with your caliber of basketball knowledge has to say. Yeah… I didn’t think so.
January 25, 2008 at 5:48 pm |
PHUCK EVERYONE!
January 25, 2008 at 6:15 pm |
People need to relax. Yes, there is stuff that went wrong, but c’mon — sometimes this just happens. This is not a trend, except for the whole Cowgill thing. That, too, concerns me, as I wrote this morning.
But let’s relax a little bit. Do you think UCLA fans were screaming “THE HOUSE IS BURNING DOWN!!!!” after that debacle against USC?
Relax. Arizona is talented. Maybe not talented and consistent, but that doesn’t stop a team from jumping up and biting you on any given night. Let’s root like heck for the Cats to beat the Huskies.
Nuss
January 25, 2008 at 6:37 pm |
Ditto Nuss. It’s easy to overanalyze things. But it’s not the fact that they lost, it’s the way that they lost that raises a few flags. But we’re still 16-2, and it’s crystal clear that this conference is going to be an absolute grind this year. Outside of Oregon State, which is a mess, there isn’t a single “layup” in this conference. It’s a LOOOOONNNGGG season. And as I told Brinkhater today, if you are going to have some struggles, have them now. Just be playing your best ball at the end of the year, and who knows what can happen.
January 25, 2008 at 6:39 pm |
Sorry about my inconsistency, ih8u, I suppose I was disappointed in losing to U of A because I don’t like them and their arrogant coach.
In any event, WSU would beat the Huskies at Friel by at least 10, no matter what I think or hope.
At least WA hoops is better than IL hoops. The best team in IL is Illinois State, who just lost to Drake.
I would love to see a win over a North Carolina or Duke.