March 15, 2018 /
Baseball from WSU Sports Info
BASEBALL COUGARS
OPEN PAC-12 PLAY AT NO. 14 UCLA
WASHINGTON STATE at No. 14 UCLA
Los Angeles, Calif. | Jackie Robinson Stadium (1,879) | March
16-18, 2018
Friday, 6 p.m. | Saturday, 2 p.m. | Sunday, 1 p.m.
COUGARS OPEN PAC-12 PLAY AT NO. 14 UCLA
Washington State (4-9)
opens Pac-12 Conference play with a weekend series at No. 14 UCLA (10-4).
Friday's opener is set for 6 p.m with Saturday slated for 2 p.m. and Sunday's
finale at 1 p.m.
FOLLOW ALONG
Cougar baseball fans
can follow all the season's action on the Washington State baseball official
twitter page @CougBaseball, instagram page @Coug_Baseball and wsucougars.com.
Links to live stats and radio streams will be available at the baseball
schedule page on wsucougars.com. Every Cougar home game will be webstreamed
through wsucougars.com.
ON DECK
WSU will hit the road
for the second straight weekend, heading to Tucson for a series at Arizona.
LAST TIME OUT
Washington State dropped
a nonconference game 5-1 to Long Beach State at Blair Field Wednesday evening.
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WSU WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
A look back at the season that was for women’s basketball
Cougars had high hopes entering season but adversity affected their play
Sophomore Guard Johanna Muzet attempts to bypass California freshman
guard Kianna Smith during the game against California on Feb. 23 at Beasley
Coliseum.
By AVERY COOPER, Evergreen reporter March 9, 2018
The buzzer sounded as WSU women’s basketball saw its season end after
losing to University of Southern California in the first round of the Pac-12
Tournament last week.
Interim Head Coach Mike Daugherty said it was similar to every other
contest for the Cougars this season.
“Just another game that went down to the final minute,” Daugherty said.
“We had 15 of those this year, we won two. But it was just another hard-fought
game. We played good enough to be there at the end. They made the plays, we
didn’t.”
In a season full of adversity, the Cougars struggled to win in
conference play and posted a 10-20 record overall and 3-14 in conference play.
Junior center Maria Kostourkova said the Cougars’ success this season
can’t be measured by the stat box, but by how they competed.
“I think this team played hard,” Kostourkova said. “You can’t say that
we ever stopped playing hard and stopped giving everything we had at every
practice and every game.”
The season started with high hopes after the Cougars reached the
semifinals of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament in the 2016-17
season.
In that season, three starters were hurt, including then-freshman guard
Chanelle Molina, who suffered an ACL injury.
Other starters that suffered year-ending injuries were then-redshirt
freshman forward Borislava Hristova and then-redshirt sophomore forward Louise
Brown.
Daugherty said some of the players did not rebound from injury the way
the team had hoped this season.
“I thought the kids coming back from year-long injuries didn’t come
back as fast as we expected them to, and sometimes it takes that much time,” he
said. “I expect them to progress and be way more ahead next year at this time.”
Despite the injury problems, WSU had experienced and tournament-tested
players after the WNIT run. Many thought it would be enough for an NCAA
tournament berth this season, Molina said.
“We didn’t perform to their expectations like everyone hoped, I
wouldn’t say that’s okay,” Molina said. “But there was just so many things that
went on with us as a team that happened to us. Just a lot of adversity. We can
take a lot from that.”
Head Coach June Daugherty took a leave of absence in late January that
left her husband, Mike, as the interim head coach. Her absence marked the
beginning of the Pac-12 season for the Cougars.
“That’s our coach. That’s the person we look to, the motivator of our
team,” Kostourkova said. “It’s never easy to lose the head coach. That is the
most important person on the team.”
On top of losing June Daugherty for Pac-12 play, the team had to deal
with the passing of David Lang, the director of strength and conditioning for
the team, prior to senior night.
However, Mike Daugherty said the tough times the team faced this season
will help them grow down the road.
“I thought no matter how much adversity … they came out and played
hard,” he said. “You had tragedies, you had injuries, you had losing ends of
games time after time where you’re one stop, one basket away. Just the fact
that they went through that is going to make them stronger.”
Daugherty said the team allowed opponents to get to the free-throw line
too often this season. In total, opponents scored 130 more points than the
Cougars from the free-throw line this year.
Molina said no matter what happened this season, the team’s love of
basketball showed.
“The passion is always consistent with us,” she said. “Always.”
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WSU COUGARS MEN’S BASKETBALL
Dear Mr. Chun: Fire Ernie Kent
This just isn’t good enough. Somehow, some way ... do something.
By Jeff Nusser Coug Center Mar 13, 2018, 10:00pm PDT
Dear Mr. Chun,
It’s time for Ernie Kent to go.
I know you don’t know me; I’m just a WSU alumnus and crazy basketball
fan whose heart breaks just a little more every time he sees photos such as
this, in which there are far more empty seats in Beasley Coliseum than actual
fans:
Plenty of good seats still available. James Snook-USA TODAY Sports
I know you’re new around here, I know you’re likely still trying to get
the lay of the land, and I know there’s the pesky matter of that onerous contract
(which we’ll get to in a minute). However, I’m sure it didn’t take you long to
figure out there was a problem with men’s basketball at Washington State. Even
if you knew nothing about how we ended up in this spot, images such as these
lay bare the current state of the program.
So, Mr. Chun, let me catch you up, and explain why it’s important to
move on from Ernie Kent — immediately.
When Ernie was hired in April 2014, he told the world, “I pride myself
on building basketball teams and I think you have a terrific environment to
build a basketball team.” He said that WSU was a place he could win, that his
recruiting connections were still alive and well, and that defense was going to
be an important component of his program. (Yes, he really said that.)
After four years, he not only has failed to live up to those
expectations he set for himself, he’s often produced quite embarrassing results
along the way.
A place he could win? Kent has lost more than than 60 percent of his
games overall and 75 percent of his Pac-12 games, never finishing higher than
8th in the conference — and that high-water mark came in his very first season
with his predecessor’s recruits. Since then, Kent has finished 12th, tied for
ninth, and — finally — 11th this season, his first with a roster completely of
his own construction. He is 0-4 in Pac-12 tournament games.
Strong recruiting connections? He has failed to land even a single
recruit thought to be in the top 200 nationally, and he has yet to recruit a
player who has become all-Pac-12 first or second team.
Defense? In four seasons, the Cougs have finished 12th, 12th, 11th and
12th in the conference in defensive efficiency.
Beyond Ernie’s own benchmarks, there are other objective ways to
measure the lack of progress in the program. One way is through the metric
created by analytics guru Ken Pomeroy for measuring the actual quality of
teams, since wins and losses are dependent on competition. By that measure,
Kent has taken a program that was ranked 190th nationally in Ken Bone’s final
season and “built” it into a program that has been ranked 186th, 186th, 193rd
and 182nd. Statistically speaking, that is no improvement at all.
Kent has failed to deliver on nearly every promise he has made to WSU,
save for one — the promise to make academics a priority. That’s happened, and
for that, he is to be commended.
But let’s be frank: While that’s nice, the school hasn’t paid Ernie
$5.6 million over the past four seasons to produce academic all-conference
players. He’s been handsomely compensated in anticipation of forthcoming wins
that would put butts in the seats at Beasley Coliseum.
And yet, the arena is practically empty — even more empty than it was
at the end of Bone’s tenure, if you can believe that, and it’s a direct result
of the dreadful product Ernie has produced. (Try not to laugh when Ernie makes
one of his “chicken-or-egg” arguments with the crowds, whose presence he seems
to think will propel his team to new heights.)
It’s possible you’ve already had your end-of-season meeting with Kent.
If you have, he likely told you that the Cougs are going to be much, much
better next season; only graduate transfer Drick Bernstine departs (as of now),
and the two stars of the team return (as of now). Although Kent’s famous for spewing
nonsense in that regard — and if I’m being honest, his insistence on spewing
nonsense is a big reason why I’m less inclined to give him the benefit of the
doubt at this point than I might be with other coaches — this actually is true.
But how much better? Are they suddenly going to be in the NCAA
tournament?
You certainly wouldn’t know this, Pat, but in WSU’s recent history, a
big jump has been roughly 70 spots in the kenpom rankings and 6 additional
wins. That means, if we assume a typical jump, we’re looking at a team next
season that wins 18 games and is ranked around 110 in the kenpom rankings —
basically, we become this year’s Colorado (17-15, 110). For what it’s worth,
the Buffs missed out on the postseason.
Kent will want credit for getting the program to the point where a
season that’s just a tad over .500 is celebrated, but don’t fall into the trap:
It shouldn’t be considered some kind of major achievement for him to simply
exceed the low bar he himself established.
Now, WSU fans will tell you about an outlier in terms of improvement:
WSU’s 2007 squad, coached by this “Tony Bennett” guy you might have heard of —
they improved by 11 wins. Here’s the thing about that jump, though: Those guys
had lost a bunch of close games in 2006 as sophomores, and turning around most
of those close results while picking up some wins as a byproducts of the
maturation of a young squad is how they surged into the NCAA tournament.
It would take a real stretch for you to honestly look at this season’s
results and think a similar breakthrough is on the horizon. The 2006 squad was
outscored by just 87 in conference play with six Pac-12 losses by five or fewer
points and four by just two; by comparison, WSU was outscored by 184 points in
conference play in 2018, with just two of their 14 conference losses coming by
five or fewer points.
But what if the 2019 team makes a bigger-than-expected jump? Even if
you assume that, it still actually makes the most sense to move on from Ernie
right now.
One of the hallmarks of 2007 was that it was easy to see how 2008 would
be just as good or even better; unfortunately, it’s really, really difficult to
see how 2020 is going to build on the presumed success of 2019.
Here’s WSU’s scholarship allocation going forward:
I’m sure Kent would tell you that he’ll recruit at a high level to fill
those holes for 2020 and build on 2019, but that would go against everything
he’s done for the last four years. If history tells us anything, it’s that Kent
probably will sign one high schooler and a trio of junior college kids to fill
those four open spots in 2019-2020.
Do you realize that Ernie Kent has signed just one high school player
who has made it to campus in his past two recruiting classes? In the same time
frame, Kent has signed four junior college players and one graduate transfer.
I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, Pat, that loading up a roster with
underwhelming transfers who have limited development windows is no way to build
a Power Five program — it’s what bad midmajor teams do. It’s certainly not how
Dick and Tony Bennett pulled WSU out of the mess left by Graham.
And to be honest, I’m pretty sure Kent knows that’s not the best way to
build, which just underscores how disastrous his recruiting has been. And this
is a guy was hired precisely because of his recruiting reputation.
If you make the change now, the next coach can have a soft landing
while figuring out how to fill those four open spots. However, if you keep Kent
around for another year or two, the inevitable rebuild under the next coach
will just be that much further behind.
Any way you look at it, this has been a disastrous four years. The only
way this could be bigger disaster is if academic fraud or NCAA violations were
involved.
Check that. If those things were involved, at least you could get out
of Ernie’s contract scot-free. (Sorry, but I’d actually prefer that to our
current situation.)
Ah, that contract.
As you well know, the biggest problem for you here is that Kent was
given a fully guaranteed contract worth $7 million over five years, then
unconscionably handed $4.2 million in fully guaranteed extensions by your
predecessor Bill Moos. Whether it was stubbornness by Moos or simply outright
cronyism, you’re stuck with the bill for a contract that even Kent would have
to admit — if only when alone with his own thoughts — that he didn’t earn.
That means you’re on the hook for $5.6 million over the next four
years.
When put in the context of the overall deficit in the athletics
department, I recognize that’s not exactly the recipe for letting go of a
non-football coach. But you were hired because you’re a guy who can get things
done — and maybe even work miracles in financial matters. And that’s what I’m
counting on right now.
I don’t know how you do this. It seems to me the solution probably
doesn’t involve eating all of the contract; beyond the budget deficit, you and
I both know there are better things to do with $5.6 million than paying Ernie
to go drink margaritas on a beach in Mexico. (Hello, IPF.)
But maybe a win/mitigated loss can be proposed to Ernie. Maybe you
offer him the chance to publicly retire and have a nice press conference where
you and President Schulz say some very nice words about how Ernie has put the
program back on the right track, and how he “did it the right way” by putting
student-athletes and their academic wellbeing first. (Everyone has forgotten
about that whole Que Johnson/Valentine Izundu thing by now, I’m sure.)
He shouldn’t be expected to give up the entirety of what he’s owed, but
maybe a reduced buyout can be negotiated? Say, half of what he’s owed — after
all, that amounts to the last year of his original deal plus one rollover, a
reasonable amount — to be paid over the next four years? At that point, if you
hire a coach for $1 million (below the going rate for an established coach, but
not insulting), you’ve added just $300,000 to the bottom line.
We both know Ernie’s not going to jump at that. But I’m sure there are
ways you can exert some subtle pressure on him to nudge him out the door.
I don’t know. I’m just spitballing here. But if there’s anything my
years of following college sports have taught me, it’s that when there’s a
will, there’s usually a way — especially when it involves making a bad coach go
away under a new athletics director.
Make it happen, Pat. It’s time for Ernie to go.
Sincerely,
Jeff
"""""
Washington State University Elson S. Floyd Cultural Center
By Daily JOURNAL of Commerce/Seattle
3/12/2018
The Elson S. Floyd Cultural Center sits prominently at the main entry
to the Washington State University Pullman campus.
The $12 million, 16,000-square-foot design-build project was completed
last year. It was designed to celebrate diversity, with four "cultural
knowledge rooms" for educational forums that explore both the
individuality and interconnectedness of cultures. There is an art gallery, a
living room gathering space, demonstration kitchen and a meditation area.
Indoor-outdoor celebration spaces are joined by patterned paving.
Transparent operable walls are covered by a wavy roof that is evocative of the
Palouse and pays homage to the region's heritage.
The project was awarded the ACEC of Washington's 2017 silver award for
complexity, and is expected to achieve LEED silver certification.
Owner: Washington State University
Contractor: Absher Construction
Architect, interior designer, landscape architect: GGLO
Civil engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Mechanical engineer: MW Consulting Engineers
Structural engineer: PCS Structural Solutions
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