New WSU men's coach David Riley's basketball offense planning

‘Structure and freedom’: Inside the offense new head coach David Riley is planning to bring to WSU

By Greg Woods, Spokane S-R.  4/9/2024

Geoff Crimmins photo for S-R  

PULLMAN — Telling the story of last season’s Washington State team is impossible without telling the story of how the Cougars’ use of Isaac Jones changed down the stretch.

Jones, WSU’s 6-foot-9 athletic forward, was best with his back to the basket. He’d catch the ball on the block, back his guy down with a dribble or two, then use some nifty footwork to stride into the lane for an easy layup or dunk.

Except as the season hit its final stretch, as the Cougs established themselves as the Pac-12’s second-best team and surged into the national rankings, opponents wised up. They started doubling Jones on the catch. They also started fronting him, but without enough spacing to open up the pass, WSU had a really difficult time even getting the ball to Jones.

Then, last week, Washington State hired a head coach whose offense could make this pass with ease.

David Riley, the former head man at Eastern Washington for three seasons, prides himself on efficient offense. Last season, his Eagles ranked fourth nationwide in effective field goal percentage, sixth in 2-point field goal percentage, and nobody in their rotation shot worse than 35% from beyond the arc.

With shooters at all five positions, Eagles opponents had no choice but to stick to their assignments, which opened up the floor for post entry passes like those. It may only be one play, but it demonstrates the kind of offense Riley might implement at WSU, whose lack of spacing toward the end of the season hampered its offense in a meaningful way.

“We have a very concept-based offense,” Riley said at his introductory press conference last week. “We’re gonna allow these guys a ton of freedom within the structure of it. And as long as they’re unselfish — because if you give guys some structure and freedom, but you’ve got a bunch of selfish dudes, it doesn’t work. But if you have unselfish guys that buy into it, it’s a beautiful thing.”

In short, Riley wants to transform WSU into an offensive machine, the kind he molded Eastern Washington into. In terms of personnel, the Cougs are working from a near-bare cupboard. At this point, they return three players, maybe four, depending on junior wing Jaylen Wells’ decision on whether to turn pro or not: Freshman guards Isaiah Watts and Parker Gerrits, plus forward Spencer Mahoney, who was not on scholarship last season.

Riley, who said he hopes to finalize his coaching staff this week, could get an assist from his old squad. As of Monday, three former Eagles have entered their names into the transfer portal: Junior wing Casey Jones, who led the nation last season in free-throw rate, junior center Ethan Price, who shot 47% from deep in Big Sky play last season, and freshman guard LeJuan Watts, who took home Big Sky Newcomer of the Year honors.

Whether they follow Riley remains to be seen — Jones has received interest from Stanford and WSU coach Kyle Smith, according to one report, which included Ole Miss and Grand Canyon on that list — but it does illustrate the archetype of player Riley has built his teams with. His best players can all shoot the ball, and they’re willing passers.

A stat that demonstrates that best: Last season, EWU ranked ninth nationally in assists on made shots with a figure of 62%. Senior point guard Ellis Magnuson ranked second in the conference with an assist rate of 31%.

“We’re gonna make sure that we take great shots and then play together,” Riley said, “and once they kinda understand that structure, that’s where they get that freedom to make reads and be creative and be themselves.”

Still, concerns exist in other corners of Riley’s operation at EWU. Last season, the Eagles allowed an average 3-point percentage of 36.9%, which ranked nearly last in the country. Their defensive effective field goal percentage mark of 52.8% ranked in the 300s in the nation. They also registered steals on just 8% of possessions, No. 293 nationally.

It’s one of the reasons Eastern Washington disappointed in two straight postseasons, taking the top seed into each of the past two Big Sky Tournaments, only to get upset in the quarterfinals both times. Last season’s Eagles didn’t make any national postseason. The year prior, they appeared in the NIT, taking down WSU in Pullman before falling to Oklahoma State in the next round.

Still, Riley took care to note, EWU ranked well defensively within the Big Sky. The Eagles finished fourth defensively in conference play last season, allowing a league-low effective field goal percentage of 51.3%. A year prior, that number was 49.2%.

Can Riley keep those trends intact — and turn around the wrong ones? Much of that will depend on the roster he fields come fall. One thing seems for certain: Riley’s is an offense where WSU playmakers like Wells and Watts could thrive.

What does Bill Moos think about future of programs?

 

Sports pioneer Moos fears for future of programs: ‘It’s against everything I believe college athletics should be about’

 

By Thomas Clouse, Spokane S-R. 

Photo by Jesse Tinsley of S-R 4/7/2024

 For a man who will always bleed crimson, the current fate of Washington State University – and college athletics in general – causes him great distress.

Bill Moos spent 35 years helping lead athletic programs to some of their greatest heights. He led a facilities upgrade at Montana, which won a Division 1-AA national championship in football in his final year of 1995. Moos then helped guide Oregon from a Northwest also-ran into national prominence.

Moos returned to Pullman in 2010, hired the late Mike Leach as football coach and guided WSU’s largest sports facilities-building project before ending his career in 2021 after a four-year run at Nebraska.

“What a fabulous journey we were able to take in this profession. Lots of great memories,” said Moos, who is compiling a memoir he hopes to have published this year.

Now back at his small ranch in Valleyford, Moos recently watched much of what he built crumble.

The Pac -12 Conference disintegrated when Oregon and Washington bolted last August for the Big Ten Conference. Abandoned by the rest of the former schools, WSU and Oregon State were left to fend for themselves.

College players now can transfer to any school without penalty. Those same players can now sign name, image and likeness (NIL) contracts for financial gain, and the largest conferences are shepherding the vast resources to mostly benefit themselves.

“I wouldn’t have gotten into it,” Moos said, referring to his entrance to the profession at age 30 in 1982. Conference breakups, paying players and rule by television contracts are “against everything I believe college athletics should be about.”

Poster boy

Moos grew up in Edwall, Washington, before attending high school in Olympia. After graduation, he joined WSU to play football. The offensive lineman was named All-Pac-8 his senior year in 1972.

After owning and managing his own businesses for a few years, Moos returned to Pullman in 1982 to work as associate athletic director.

Moos landed his first athletic director job in Missoula. But some of his biggest moves came in Eugene after he was hired as the athletic director at Oregon in 1995.

“We were aggressive,” Moos said. “When I went there in 1995, it was a doormat. The facilities were run down. There was apathy. I spearheaded a blueprint we put together that gave us a chance.”

He convinced the school and donors to build the first indoor practice facility west of the Rocky Mountains and other facilities that attracted the athletes that won 13 Pac-10 championships across six sports.

“Why? It’s all about recruiting,” Moos said. “We are going after the same talent that USC and UCLA are telling to stay home.”

All of a sudden, schools like Michigan State and Wisconsin began agreeing to home-and-away series in Eugene.

“You can have the best coaches in the world, but if you don’t have the arms and legs to carry out the X’s and O’s, you are not going to be successful,” he said.

After a falling out with Oregon megasponsor Phil Knight, the co-founder of Nike, Moos left Oregon in 2007. He ranched in Valleyford until the late WSU President Elson S. Floyd invited him back into the Cougar fold in 2010.

“I loved Elson Floyd because he was a big thinker. If you wanted to get on his bad side, say you can’t do something,” Moos said. “He never made me feel like I worked for him.”

But Moos also told Floyd: “We have some challenges – big, costly challenges. And, you have to have my back. We have to do it now.”

By 2012, WSU moved forward on $165 million worth of upgrades to football-only facilities. More spending upgraded the baseball clubhouse, training facilities, practice facilities for men’s and women’s basketball, and a new soccer complex.

That same model, upgrading facilities to attract recruits, had worked everywhere Moos had been.

“That arms race of it, I was in the middle of it,” Moos said. “I’m probably the poster boy.”

But as a result, current WSU President Kirk Schulz now faces an uncertain revenue situation after the breakup of the Pac-12, and $100 million in debt from Moos and Floyd’s spending.

“There was debt service that I will take full responsibility there,” Moos said. “But, it was money well spent. To get our facilities up to par and to hire a coach like Mike Leach. Look what came of it.”

Aside from playing 1998 and 2003 Rose Bowls, which were both losses, WSU’s most recent pinnacle came when ESPN’s College GameDay arrived in Pullman in 2018 to watch the mustachioed Gardner Minshew and the No. 10 Cougars defeat Oregon 34-20.

“That exposure, you can’t pay for it. You have to earn it,” said Moos, who was at Nebraska at the time. “College GameDay showing up there, that was cultivated from the first day I got there.”

Roots of discord

The single-most erosive force in amateur athletics today is money, Moos said.

When he played in the early 1970s, the Cougars were lucky to have a couple of games on television. Now, nearly every Division I game is televised somewhere, which is great for fans, but he believes it also planted the seeds of the sport’s possible undoing.

As the national appetite for college football grew and television ratings generated more money, it created a new kind of arms race, Moos said.

“In 1998, there were three football coaches who were making $1 million year. They had all won national championships,” Moos said of Bobby Bowden, Steve Spurrier and Phil Fulmer.

In 1999, Washington hired Rick Neuheisel, who hadn’t won a conference championship, for the same kind of money.

“Guess who was in athletic directors’ offices the next day? Football coaches. Mine was,” Moos said. “Before you knew it, coordinators were making more than a million. Basically, there was no way to put the brakes on it.”

Soon, coaches who found success were being lured away by larger schools that could pay the best salaries, as part of the age-old problem of “haves and have-nots,” Moos said.

That was the story of WSU and OSU when Moos arrived in Pullman in 2010, he said.

At the time, WSU was averaging about $3.5 million of revenue a year from the Pac-10. Those schools with the largest TV markets – Washington, USC and UCLA – got more.

Moos said conference bylaws required eight of the 10 schools to approve revenue disbursement changes.

Finally, in 2011, the conference expanded by bringing in Utah and Colorado, which gave the smaller schools a voting bloc to change the system, Moos said.

“I’m proud of the fact that I led the charge to be able to realize equal distribution,” he said.

At the same time, the Pac-12 approved a $3 billion television rights deal. Overnight, WSU’s annual take went from about $3.5 million to $25 million. That’s what prompted Moos and Floyd to start the facilities upgrades, he said.

“Of all the things I may have done in my career, that’s one I’m most proud of,” Moos said. “Not just for my alma mater, but it benefited Stanford and Cal. They had a level playing field. But the programs that were dominating were no longer dominating to the degree they once were.”

Image is everything

As the Pac-12 finally achieved financial parity, another fight was brewing.

Ed O’Bannon, a former UCLA basketball player, in 2009 sued the NCAA over its use of players’ image and likeness for commercial purposes. In a trial in 2014, O’Bannon won.

That case led to the NCAA allowing players in 2021 to start earning money on their name, image and likeness, or NIL.

Moos is not a fan.

The days of playing for school and an education are probably gone, he said.

“They aren’t factoring in the value of that education,” Moos said.

He explained how he sat down 15 years ago with fellow athletic directors and assigned values for the benefits athletes receive. That included room and board, out-of-state scholarships, three meals a day, personal trainers and access to facilities.

“In the Pac-12 that year, it was about $200,000 a year,” Moos said. “That’s pretty good for a 19-year-old.”

But the new rules of NIL will likely erase the parity reached from the revenue-sharing he fought so hard to achieve.

“Let me put it this way, you’ve got a player who developed at Washington State. But his best NIL opportunity may be doing an advertisement for Cougar Country Drive-In,” Moos said. “Maybe he gets $10,000 to eat a hamburger on TV. But that same kid … can now go to UCLA and make $250,000 as a spokesman for Orange County Chevrolet.

“We are back to the major market having the upper hand.”

After the O’Bannon loss, the NCAA continues to face myriad anti-trust lawsuits, including one in which former players are seeking monetary damages for back pay for the time frame before the NIL rules took effect.

“I think personally, the NCAA went to sleep at the wheel and the train left the station,” Moos said. “Now they are standing there asking, ‘What happened here?’ What the NCAA looks like in the next three, five to 10 years is not what it looked like three, five and 10 years ago.”

Picking up the pieces

Moos recently watched as his friend, Pat Chun, left WSU to become athletic director at Washington. WSU men’s basketball coach Kyle Smith recently departed for Stanford.

In the meantime, Schulz, OSU and the Pac-12 are trying to figure out whether to invite other schools to join what’s left of its conference or to join another.

Moos applauded the legal efforts, which secured about $222 million for both schools over the next two years.

“They’ve done a really nice job … trying to salvage the monetary piece,” Moos said. “You’ve got to have a plan and a contingency plan. That’s 24 months.

“If that money is spent and you are looking at a potential of a Mountain West payday, you aren’t going to be able to operate the program in a manner in which it has become accustomed.”

The breakup was particularly hard on Moos, who said he spent a decade building up the rivalry between Oregon and Washington.

“What’s sad is the true college towns in the old Pac 12 are being left in the dust,” he said. “It’s kind of blatant deception. I don’t know if WSU or OSU could have done anything. Why would someone want to come to Pullman to play now? That’s sad, because it took decades to get there.”

The best possible path forward for WSU probably lies with joining a new conference, Moos said.

“The one that makes the most sense from the beginning is the Big 12. There are a lot of like institutions,” he said. “I was kind of hoping that was the direction it would go, and maybe it could still. This realignment isn’t over yet.”

With the chaos of transferring players, NIL payouts and administrators all chasing security with the “haves” of the sport, Moos said he’s glad to have his farm at Valleyford.

“There’s just too much uncertainty right now,” he said.

As he ponders the future, Moos said his Montana days stand out.

“I often think back on just how pure and clean and wonderful that was,” Moos said. “To get on a bus with 65 football players and drive 9½ hours to Ogden, Utah, and nobody is complaining about how many Nike jumpsuits they had.”

The players struggled for each other, and for the pride of the school they represented, he said.

“I don’t know where it’s going, but I don’t like the direction,” Moos said. “I’m kind of glad I’m now a rancher.”

 

WSU and OSU agree on $65 million payout with 10 former Pac-12 members

WSU and OSU agree on $65 million payout with 10 former Pac-12 members

By Thomas Clouse, Spokane S-R 3/25/2024

After two major legal victories gave them control over what was left of the Pac-12 Conference, Washington State and Oregon State both announced Monday that they have come to an agreement with the 10 departing schools about how to distribute the remaining revenues.

As part of the deal, the departing schools, which include Washington, Oregon, UCLA and USC, which all are joining the Big10 Conference; Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado, which are joining the Big 12 Conference and Stanford and California, which are joining the Atlantic Coast Conference, agreed to give up a total of $5 million each during the remainder of the 2024 fiscal year. 

Those departing schools will also pay $1.5 million in a “supplemental contribution” to the conference that can be used by WSU and OSU to navigate an uncertain future. 

“We are pleased to have reached a fair and equitable settlement with the 10 departing schools that will set the Pac-12 Conference on a path toward future success. With this issue resolved, we can focus on ensuring that OSU and WSU student-athletes continue to compete at the highest levels of college sports,” OSU president Jayathi Murthy and WSU president Kirk Schulz wrote in a joint statement posted on social media.

The statement did not explain how OSU and WSU would use that potential pool of $65 million that otherwise would have been disbursed to the 10 departing schools.

Schulz, through a spokesman, did not return a message seeking comment.

Likewise, Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould did not respond to an interview request.

“Teresa and the conference are not discussing the settlement other than to confirm that it is complete and we look forward to finishing a successful academic year with all 12 institutions and moving forward with Oregon State and Washington State next year,” Pac-12 spokesman Erik Hardenbergh said in an email. 

Like Murthy and Schulz, the departing schools also issued a joint statement about the settlement, which was agreed to in principle late last year.

“We are pleased to finalize an agreement with OSU and WSU that provides support for all our student-athletes while ensuring an equal distribution of the vast majority of funds earned by all 12 schools during the 2023-24 academic year,” the 10 schools who are leaving said in a statement.

“Under this agreement, our schools will have the right to vote on matters that affect all 12 schools this year, while OSU and WSU will have control over future Conference revenue and decisions.”

The settlement ends the ugly breakup of a conference that started on June 30, 2022, when officials from the University of Southern California and UCLA announced that those schools would be leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten.

“The announcement came as a shock,” attorneys for WSU and OSU wrote, “neither school had shown any sign they were contemplating leaving the Pac-12.”

The conference board then met at least 20 times without representatives from either of those schools attending. Then Colorado announced on July 27 its intention to join the Big 12 Conference.

Colorado officials were informed that their representation on the Pac-12 board automatically ceased, according to court records.

On Aug. 4, just moments before the conference could announce a media-rights deal with Apple TV, Washington and Oregon announced they, too, were jointing the Big Ten.

Arizona, Arizona State and Utah all then announced their decisions to join the Big 12.

At that point, Pac 12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff texted a reporter: “As of today we have 4 board members,” court records state.

But the bleeding hadn’t finished.

On Sept. 1, Stanford and California announced their decisions to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Then on Nov. 14, Whitman County Superior Court Judge Gary Libey ruled in favor of WSU and OSU’s effort to control what was remaining of the conference. That ruling was delayed but affirmed in December by the Washington Supreme Court.

The settlement announced Monday represented the final settlement of both sides agreeing how to distribute the revenues for 2024 before the departing schools leave for other conferences.

 

Yes, WSU Men's basketball head coach Kyle Smith is leaving/has left for same job at Stanford (3/25/20204). For the record, here's (from 3/18/2024) info News for CougGroup presented to promote the idea the coach would not leave

On March 25, 2024, it was announced Kyle Smith was leaving WSU's head coaching job for the same job at Stanford. 

On March 18, 2024, News for CougGroup presented information to promote the idea the coach would not leave. 

Just for the record, here is that info:

Will Coach Kyle Smith leave WSU?

If money were the only need for Kyle Smith, he can certainly do better elsewhere.

Pat Chun does a great job running WSU Athletics, but its budget is not great. The money he can offer a coach can’t compare to/compete with elsewhere. The same is likely true about NIL money supporting WSU.

Why would Kyle Smith stay at WSU? Ask his wife, Katie.

My recollection is that when Kyle was hired, or maybe when he was a year or so into the job, Kyle was quoted as indicating he hoped his stay at WSU would be a long one.

Katie (Davis) Smith is from eastern Washington. She was a basketball star for Manson High in league, district and at state. She went on to play college basketball for St. Mary’s. (Is that where Kyle and Terry met?)

(Manson is on the shores of Lake Chelan.)

Is WSU and Pullman a good fit for Kyle? Is it a good fit for Katie. Is it a good fit for their three sons, especially Bo?

I’m pleased Pat Chun is WSU athletic director. He certainly has the skills to be elsewhere. Ask his wife, Natalie, and their three daughters. Do they like WSU and Pullman?

Not everyone sees WSU and Pullman as their “forever” or “almost forever place,”

A long ago (1983-1987) WSU athletic director left Pullman for a job at a university in Florida. Story was that his wife broke her leg in snow and ice during a Palouse winter. According to the story, she didn't know it snowed in Pullman! She did not like Pullman. 

I never expected Dick Bennett and Tony Bennett to be at WSU a long time. There was a rumor that Tony’s wife, Laurel, didn’t like Pullman. If there was a prayer Tony would stay at WSU, maybe Laurel’s prayers were answered when Tony took the Virginia job?

::::::::::::

=Katie (Davis) Smith, Kyle's wife, remains a Chelan area icon

--Katie Davis Smith is not quite home in Manson, but she’s in “Pullman is 226 miles to the southeast -- but close enough for an easy weekend visit.”

https://247sports.com/college/washington-state/article/katie-smith-wife-of-washington-state-mens-basketball-coach-kyle-smith-still-a-chelan-country-icon-133299966/

::::::::::::::::::::

=‘It was the deal’: Two former Queen B’s – Davenport’s Jen Greeny and Manson’s Katie Smith – relive their record-setting high school careers

--“… when Kyle Smith was formally introduced as WSU’s new basketball coach, assuring the audience, “In most parts of Eastern Washington, I’m definitely not the most famous member (of our family).” The most famous is Katie (Davis) Smith

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/mar/05/it-was-the-deal-jen-greeny-katie-smith/

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Between baseball and college basketball, you better stretch well before you settle in to enjoy today’s competitions

--“And then there are the (Smith) family ties to Eastern Washington. His wife Katie, then Davis, played at Manson High and broke the State B scoring record in 1998. It’s a homecoming of sorts for her, though she played her college hoops at Saint Mary’s, recruited by former GU coach Kelly Graves.”

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/mar/28/grip-sports-between-baseball-and-college-basketbal/

 

(For Your Info …In December 2023, Jen Stinson Greeny left WSU for the head volleyball coach job at West Virginia.)

::::::::::::::::::::

=Kyle Smith Named Cougar Basketball Head Coach

--“We are fortunate to have Kyle leading our program and welcome his wife Katie, along with their sons Rocco, Bo and Luke to the Cougar Family."

https://wsucougars.com/news/2019/3/27/mens-basketball-kyle-smith-named-cougar-basketball-head-coach.aspx

 

:::

 =WSU’s Kyle Smith confronts his biggest challenge: ‘I can't help my own son’

--Son “Bo is on the autism spectrum and is nonverbal.

--“Kyle asked Washington State athletic director Pat Chun for information about Pullman’s schools and services for children with special needs. Would Bo be OK? Was this the right move for him?”

https://theathletic.com/1660213/2020/03/10/wsus-kyle-smith-confronts-his-biggest-challenge-i-cant-help-my-own-son/

:::

=Saint Mary’s associate basketball coach Kyle Smith gets top job at Columbia

--“Smith is married to Katie Davis, the Gaels’ assistant athletic director for academic services. They have a young son, Rocco.”

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2010/05/02/saint-marys-associate-basketball-coach-kyle-smith-gets-top-job-at-columbia/

::::::::::::::

POSTSCRIPT --

AP sports writer (based in San Francisco) Janie McCauley, a WSU 1998 grad, sent out a tweet in 2019 or so saying, “Look forward to you meeting/getting to know my cousin Katie Davis Smith (played against Jen!) and new men's basketball coach Kyle Smith …

:::::::::::::::::

Kyle Smith leaving WSU, hired by Stanford

Men’s basketball head coaching job vacant for first time since 2019

By Hayden Stinchfield, Evergreen, 3/25/2024

WSU men’s basketball head coach Kyle Smith accepted the Stanford head coaching job Monday morning. Just two days after ending their NCAA tournament run, the Cougs are without the coach who led them there.

It is the nature of dreams to end. When Smith was hired to the WSU job in 2019, he was taking control of a program that had not been above a .500 record for seven seasons. Through his five seasons in crimson and gray, the Cougs did not have a record below .500 once. 

They made two NITs and the first NCAA tournament for the program since 2008. They were ranked, getting as high as No. 18 and finishing their season still sitting at No. 25. 

The Cougs had two players drafted to the NBA during Smith’s tenure. That does not seem like a lot, but WSU has had only three other players drafted since 2000. Two in five years is significant.

That kind of work attracts the eyes of bigger programs. There were questions asked about extension talks throughout the season, and the answers were never particularly meaningful. 

With the conference collapsing and the athletics budget decreasing, Smith was staring down the barrel of several more years of uncertainty. Now, he will have actual conference membership along with a salary increase.

Smith released a statement via WSU social media Monday.

“It has been an honor to lead the Coug basketball program to the NCAA tournament. This has not been a one-year run, but a slow build-up of sustained success and growth year over year,” Smith wrote. “I think our greatest accomplishment was restoring the pride in the Cougs. With our success, there was a deeper connection between our students, our community, and our team.”

He is right. This season, WSU had games with fans not just in the upper-level seats, but filling them. The national media turned their attention to a program that had not been relevant since the Pac-10 era.

Smith closed his statement by expressing gratitude.

“I want everyone to know how appreciative me and my family are and will always be. We have been loved unconditionally in this community and we will always be grateful,” Smith wrote. “I often talk about how my ‘why’ is to empower people to empower themselves. Washington State empowered me to fulfill my dreams, and it is time for someone else to have this opportunity. Once a Coug, always a Coug!”

 Now, it is athletic director Pat Chun’s job to find his replacement. In the era of the transfer portal, these hires need to be fast. A coach needs a roster, and if the position sits vacant for long there will be transfers out with nobody to recruit anyone in to replace them.

An internal hire could help to retain players, while an external hire could have a higher ceiling as a coach. There are many decisions to be made, and fans will not be privy to any of them until the hire is made. They can only hope that comes soon

You may buy as a 2-inch x 2-inch vinyl of this graphic ...

 

'Ballad of the Palouse" and WSU Cougars men's basketball

'Ballad of the Palouse" and WSU Cougars men's basketball

COACH KYLE SMITH of WSU men’s basketball ….

“That’s kinda what Pullman’s about, anyway,” Smith said of the town of roughly 30,000. “You can hear it in our Ballad of the Palouse we’re singing. It’s already kinda built into the DNA.”

…. said after WSU upset Arizona 77-74 in Tucson on Feb. 22, 2024.

Thanks to Jim Crawford of WSU Athletic Communications, here are the ballad lyrics:

“Been around the wheat fields twice
 
“Winter on the Palouse cold as ice

 
“Learned a lot of lessons in PEB 142, like closing out and yelling loose!

Never missed a line on my conditioning time. Ain’t nothing I can’t do. I’m on my hustle stat!

“People like to call us nerds and that’s ok by me. Cause coach always says pull that 3!

“Anything in life worth doing is worth over doing. Moderation is for huskies and bruins and …. opponent

When the game gets tough. No one will ever forget...

“We're from Pullman, freakin Pullman, freakin Pullman, we don't care.

 “I would rather be from Pullman than a chump from anywhere. Go Cougs!”

… And, thanks to Jim Crawford, too, here are audio links so you can hear the ballad.

Here is a piece from 2020 of the ballad:

https://x.com/wsucougarsmbb/status/1326226736476925952?s=46&t=txywlbC2PDGL8wzw1V4RVA

And, the ballad is at the end of the video from the locker room celebration after the Arizona game on the WSU team’s Instagram account.

https://www.instagram.com/wsucougarmbb/reel/C3rlU-Yupai/

#

Anatomy of a men's basketball game-winner: A breakdown of Jaylen Wells’ 3-point basket to help WSU upset Arizona

Anatomy of a men's basketball game-winner: A breakdown of Jaylen Wells’ 3-point basket to help WSU upset Arizona

By Greg Woods S-R Spokane  2/27/2024

The play that engineered Washington State men's basketballs upset of Arizona Thur. 22 Feb 2024 in Tucson, Jaylen Wells’ four-point play from the corner in crunch time, wasn’t supposed to happen.

The Cougar who secured the offensive rebound and kickout pass, senior wing Andrej Jakimovski, strayed from his responsibility on the play.

His job was to get back on defense, in case Arizona grabbed the rebound and WSU needed to foul to stop the clock.

“But then I was like, ‘Let me get at least to the free-throw line,’ ” Jakimovski said, “because, 20 seconds on the clock, all we need is three. And if you miss the shot, there’s a chance that you can get an offensive rebound.”

No need. Jakimovski came crashing in, grabbed the loose ball and delivered it to Wells, who canned one of the best shots in program history. He knocked down the ensuing free throw to hand the lead to the Cougars, who never relinquished it, walking out of the McKale Center with a 77-74 win for first place in the Pac-12, their second victory over the Wildcats this season.

Here is a walk-through of the play and how it came together – with perspectives of those who watched it live and those who equipped Wells to make the shot in the first place.

“I don’t even remember, to be honest,” WSU guard Jabe Mullins said of the play coach Kyle Smith had drawn up. “Like, it was so loud in there. I think really only the guys that were on the court, in the huddle, knew what was going on, to be honest.”

=48 seconds on the game clock, 27 on the shot clock: WSU guard Myles Rice crosses half court and dribbles to the right corner, where Jakimovski comes curling around a wing screen from forward Isaac Jones. But before Jakimovski springs open, Rice tries to catch defender Pelle Larson napping. No luck.

=42 seconds on the game clock, 22 on the shot clock: Larson shuts off the drive from Rice, who dribbles back out to the left wing, where he tries to reset the play. He passes to Wells, who offers a head fake and one dribble inside the arc before he shuffles it back to Rice.

=37 seconds on the game clock, 17 on the shot clock: Rice finally gets a chance to reset. He gets a screen from Jones, whose defender, Keshad Johnson, switches onto Rice.

=32 seconds on the game clock, 12 on the shot clock: Johnson’s 6-foot-9 frame is enough to bother Rice, who rises for a 3 at the top of the key. As that happens, Jones sets a pindown screen for Wells. Arizona switches, leaving UA guard Jaden Bradley on Wells and Larsen on Jones, who fights his way into the lane to try and rebound the ball.

It clangs off the back iron and off the front rim.

“We missed the shot, and the ball was just bouncing around,” Watts said. “And then I just (saw) Andrej get the ball.”

“Myles missed the shot, and then I was like, ‘OK, I’m close to the ball,’ ” Jakimovski said. “So, I was just trying to get the rebound.”

=30 seconds on the game clock: As the ball caroms off the top rim, WSU center Oscar Cluff battles UA center Oumar Ballo for position under the basket. Ballo uses a slight push-off on Cluff, but the ball’s bounce off the front rim seems to throw off the timing of Ballo, who squeezes his hands together to grab the rebound – but the ball has slipped past them.

Meanwhile, Wells is also heading to the basket, trying to grab the rebound. His defender, Bradley, follows him there. The ball falls loose and Jakimovski jockeys into the lane, where he grabs it. He loses it for a half-second, thanks to a swipe from Bradley – who has abandoned Wells in an effort to snare the rebound.

As Jakimovski fights off Ballo and Bradley to secure it again, Wells realizes Bradley has left him, giving him an opportunity to drift back to the corner, all alone.

“I remember the scrum, the rebound,” Smith said. “I’m yelling for a foul. It was a loose ball. It looked like he kind of got fouled.”

“I remember thinking, great rebound,” said WSU play-by-play broadcaster Matt Chazanow, who was calling the game courtside, on the opposite end of the floor from where Wells hit the shot. “Jaki’s rebound is as impactful as the make. It doesn’t happen without that. He pulled that down in traffic.”

“I lost the ball, and then I was like, ‘I need to get the ball back,’ ” Jakimovski said . “I knew we needed a 3. I saw Jaylen in the corner, and I just passed it to him.”

=27 seconds on the game clock, 19 on the shot clock (it resets to 20 after an offensive rebound): As Jakimovski pivots out of the crowd, Wells has repositioned himself in the corner. Jakimovski throws it there, where Johnson, watching the play unfold from the top of the key, realizes he needs to close out to Wells.

“And then I saw Jaylen going in the corner,” Mullins said. “I was like, ‘Pass it to Jaylen. Pass it to Jaylen.’ ”

=26 seconds on the game clock, 18 on the shot clock: Wells rises up for the shot as Johnson jumps into him.

“Jaylen shot it, and I really didn’t think he was gonna make it,” WSU freshman guard Isaiah Watts said. “I’m like, ‘Bro, he can’t see the hoop.’ Johnson is 6-9, with long arms, and he just threw it up there.”

=24.6 on the game clock, 17 on the shot clock: The ball hits the far rim and falls through the net.

“I caught the ball, I shot it – I didn’t see the rim,” Wells said.

“I kind of got blocked out by the official,” Smith said. “But I did see the ball, and I saw it go in.”

“I almost want to say I saw it go in, but he kind of crumpled after the release,” Chazanow said. “He got unquestionably fouled there on the descent into the cylinder.”

=25 seconds on the game clock, 17 on the shot clock: Wells goes to the ground, facedown with his torso in the first row of the crowd, as a nearby official blows his whistle to signal the shot counts.

“I was just thrilled,” Smith said.

“I was laying on the ground,” Wells said. “The dude was sitting on me. I look up and I hear someone in the crowd go, ‘Yeah, dawg!’ I was like, ‘Oh, I made it.’ I got up and my teammates came to me like, ‘You made it.’ I did not know I made it.”

“I started running toward him,” Jakimovski said, referring to Wells. “I was like, ‘You made the shot.’ He was like, ‘No way, I made the shot?’ I was like, “Yes, yes you made the shot.’ ”

“I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ ” Watts said. “I was on the bench, but I was like, on the court. They was worried I was gonna get (a technical foul). I was so excited. I just didn’t know what to do with myself.”

“I was trying to find him, and I couldn’t find him,” Mullins said. “I realized Johnson was laying on top of him. And then he got up, and I was like, ‘No way. That’s so crazy.’ ”

Wells goes on to sink the free throw for the lead, WSU secures a stop on the other end and Wells hits two more free throws for the final margin.

“I was watching the late, late, late edition of SportsCenter,” said Rich Shayewitz, Wells’ coach at Division II Sonoma State, where Wells played the previous two seasons. “And I just texted him. I said, seeing you on SportsCenter makes me smile. Just said, congratulations. He just keeps getting better and better.

“I think the magic of what Jaylen is his mental and his temperament. Those big moments don’t change for him. He’s even-keeled. He’s out there having fun, hitting shots.”

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