From WSU Sports Info Wed, May 30, 2018 at 2:57 PM
Robert
Franks to Return to WSU for Cougar Men’s Basketball senior season
The
forward announced today that he has withdrawn from the NBA Draft.
PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University forward Robert
Franks announced today that he has withdrawn from the NBA Draft and will return
to Washington State for his senior season.
Men’s basketball student-athletes are afforded the
opportunity to put their name into the NBA Draft process, but maintain their
collegiate eligibility as long as they don’t hire an agent, and declare by
April 22. Players who have not hired agents have until May 30 to make a final
decision to return to school or remain in the draft. The NBA Draft will take
place June 21.
“We are glad that Robert got the opportunity to test the NBA
waters,” WSU head coach Ernie Kent said. “We are excited to have him back for
his senior season and continue to contribute to this program.”
Franks led WSU and ranked seventh in the Pac-12 with 17.4
points per game, along with a team second-best and Pac-12 15th-best 6.6
rebounds per game. A native of Vancouver, Wash., Franks shot .405 (66-for-163)
from beyond the 3-point arc. At the conclusion of the season he was named the
Pac-12 Most Improved Player of the Year and all-conference honorable mention
after nearly tripling his point total from his sophomore year in which he
averaged 6.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game in just 16.4 minutes per outing.
His .854 (105-for-123) free throw percentage led the league and ranks 60th
nationally and he set the school single-game record with 10 3-pointers in WSU’s
victory over California, Jan. 13.
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Little, Teigen Named to Google Cloud Academic All-District
First Team
From WSU Sports Info
PULLMAN, Wash. -- Washington State student-athletes Kyler
Little and Chandler Teigen have been named to the 2017-18 Google Cloud Academic
All-District 8® Men’s Track/Cross Country First Team, selected by the College
Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) for their combined
performances athletically and in the classroom.
Little is a junior from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, majoring in
Mathematics and has achieved a 4.00 grade point average. Little placed sixth in
the 3000m steeplechase at the 2018 Pac-12 Track & Field Championships and
has a lifetime-best time in that event of 8 minutes 59.85 seconds.
Teigen is a junior from Anatone, Wash., majoring in
Biological Systems Engineering and has achieved a 3.96 GPA. During the 2017
cross country season, he earned All-Pac-12 Second Team and All-West Region
honors, and led the No. 27 WSU men's team to a 24th-place finish at the NCAA
Championships. Teigen was 11th in the 1500m at the 2018 Pac-12 Track &
Field Championships and eighth in the NCAA West Region quarterfinals. He will
compete in the NCAA Championships 1500m semifinals next week in Eugene. His
lifetime-best 1500m time is 3:43.13, run at the Stanford Invitational earlier
this year.
The 2017-18 Google Cloud Academic All‐District® Teams are divided into eight geographic
districts across the United States and Canada. WSU is a member of District 8
which includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawai’i, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Canada.
Little and Teigen are two of the 10 men selected as First
team Academic All-District 8 honorees (listed below), all of whom advance to
the Google Cloud Academic All-America® Team National ballot, where first,
second and third team selections will be announced next month.
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From WSU Sports Info
COUG Football center Frederick Mauigoa Named To Rimington
Trophy Watch List
PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State junior center Frederick
Mauigoa was named to the 2018 Rimington Trophy Spring Watch List, presented
annually to the most outstanding center in Division I College Football, the
Rimington Trophy Committee announced Wednesday.
Mauigoa is one of 57 centers named to the list and is one of
10 from the Pac-12 Conference. Riley Sorenson was named to the same watch list
prior to the 2016 season. Mauigoa started all 13 games at center last season,
anchoring the line that blocked for the nation's second-best passing attack.
Dave Rimington, the award's namesake, was a consensus
first-team All-America center at the University of Nebraska in 1981 and 1982,
during which time he became the John Outland Trophy's only two-time winner as
the nation's finest college interior lineman.
For more on the Rimington Trophy and a list of past
recipients, visit www.rimingtontrophy.com. Since its inception, the
seventeen-year old award has raised over $3.6 million for the Boomer Esiason
Foundation, which is committed to finding a cure for cystic fibrosis.
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From Vince Grippi, Spokane S-R
Grip on Sports: The NCAA does the right thing and grants
WSU’s Lewis another season
Wed., May 30, 2018, 7:24 a.m.
There’s an old adage about good things happening to good
people. Sometimes it is true. Sometimes not. It’s about 50/50. Read on.
On the plus side, the
NCAA granted Washington State’s Robert Lewis a sixth year of eligibility to
play football.
And that’s a bit surprising.
Surprising because the sixth year is usually only granted
when a college athlete loses two seasons to injury. That’s not what happened in
Lewis’ case.
The slot receiver from inner-city Los Angeles was one of
Mike Leach’s first recruits at WSU. Yes, Lewis has been around that long.
He entered Washington State after grayshirting and then –
and here’s the key point – redshirted as a freshman to get bigger and stronger.
At 5-foot-9 and 140 pounds in high school, it seemed like the appropriate thing
to do.
It was. But in most cases the NCAA dings you for it down the
road if an injury ever occurs.
As it did just before last season was set to begin.
Lewis tore his ACL in a scrimmage a few days before the
opener, costing the Cougars their most experienced receiver and, seemingly,
ending Lewis’ college career.
After three seasons, he had started 22 games, caught 117
passes for more than 1,200 yards and had been in the end zone six times. Not
bad numbers. But it looked at that point as if you could etch them in stone.
But lo and behold, the NCAA did the right thing. It will let
Lewis play next season as he works on his second WSU degree. It makes sense,
but when has the organization always done things that make sense?
Lewis initial redshirt year, way back in 2013, may not have
been due to injury, but was needed at his size to prevent injury later on. When
he stepped on the Pullman campus he just wasn’t big enough. The 20 pounds of
muscle he added over the years was crucial in his development.
And, yes, I know he was injured anyway last August. But
freak ACL injuries aren’t what Lewis – or anyone – tries to avoid by adding
strength and muscle. Those will happen with no rhyme or reason. It’s the daily
wear and tear, the hit after hit, that demands as much muscle as possible. It’s
a way to survive in the world of college football.
Robert Lewis survived. He did well. And, thanks to the right
decision, he will get to play once more.
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Potential legalized gambling in Colorado a growing concern
for University of Colorado athletic director Rick George
Supreme Court ruling opens the door for sports gambling
By Pat Rooney BuffZone.com writer
POSTED: 05/29/2018
01:50:32 PM MDT
A recent ruling by the Supreme Court clears the way for
legalized sports betting throughout the nation. The University of Colorado is
already looking into
This is no bluff. Odds are, legalized gambling is on the
horizon in Colorado.
And that means a few more headaches for athletic director
Rick George and the entire University of Colorado athletics department.
In a landmark ruling two weeks ago, the Supreme Court struck
down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, a 26-year old rule
that barred state-sanctioned sports gambling in all states not named Nevada.
The decision opened the door for legalized gambling across
the nation, with officials from states like New Jersey, New York, and
Pennsylvania, among a handful of others, making near-immediate noise about
generating fresh heaps of tax revenue via legalized gambling.
So far, no such decrees have echoed from the state capitol
in Denver. Yet given the resounding success of using legalized marijuana to
fatten state coffers, chances are it is only a matter of time before fans can
readily plunk down wads of cash on the Broncos, Rockies, or, yes, even the
Buffaloes. If and when a Colorado gambling bill passes, George expects CU to be
ready for the fallout.
"It's a discussion point that we'll have as we go
through the summer and get into the fall," George said. "Right now,
there are no laws in our state. But we'll certainly look at it. We'll be very
diligent and we'll have to be to make sure we protect the integrity of the
competition. We need to do a great job of educating our student-athletes and
our fans."
One of the inevitable ramifications of legalized gambling
will be the added hurdles and loopholes collegiate athletes will have to dodge
— particularly football and basketball players. As one example, CU men's
basketball coach Tad Boyle has a constant concern over how the influence of
agents will affect his players. Now he can add the potential influence of
high-end gamblers to his list of concerns.
The Supreme Court voted down the Professional and Amateur
Sports Protection Act two weeks ago, clearing the way for legalized sports
betting throughout the
The Supreme Court voted down the Professional and Amateur
Sports Protection Act two weeks ago, clearing the way for legalized sports
betting throughout the nation. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images North America)
Additionally, state legislature may eventually make it easy
for an 18 or 21-year old person to lay down money on his or her favorite team.
Or perhaps even their own team. Hitting the ground running in terms of
educating future student-athletes on the nuances of legalized gambling and the
potential ramifications regarding NCAA eligibility will become a growing
priority for George and his staff in the coming months.
"We've got to be very proactive in our messaging and
our education with our student-athletes. And we'll do that," George said.
"We'll make sure to ramp up the efforts even though I don't foresee
anything in Colorado at least at the start of this year — and how long it will
take a bill to pass and all that, we just don't know — but in the meantime if
other states adopt that we want to educate our student-athletes, our staff, on
this very subject.
"I don't know all the things that are going to go along
with this. As we start to look at this, there will be a lot of conversations
with peers around the country who may be a little more advanced than we are.
Just trying to understand the issues and what we have to tackle. We certainly
want to protect our student-athletes and we want to protect the integrity of
the competitions."
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Matthew Jockers of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will become
dean of the WSU College of Arts and Sciences on Aug. 13
Story from Evergreen May 29, 2018
WSU named Matthew Jockers as the new dean of the College of
Arts and Sciences today after months of searching for a new leader for the
school.
Jockers comes to WSU from the University of Nebraska, where
he served as an associate dean for research and partnerships and a professor of
English in the university’s College of Arts and Sciences, according to a WSU
press release by Provost Dan Bernardo. Jockers was also the director of the
Nebraska Literary Lab.
“I am incredibly
honored to be joining Washington State University,” Jockers said in the
release. “I am excited about the diverse range of people and disciplines in the
WSU College of Arts and Sciences.”
He will begin his term as CAS dean on Aug. 1, replacing
interim dean Larry Hufford, according to the release.
“Matthew Jockers has
the perfect skill set to lead the next chapter in the evolution of the College
of Arts and Sciences,” Bernardo said in the release. “He has extensive industry
experience and possesses a strong record of scholarly accomplishment.”
WSU said last October they wanted to fill the vacancy by the
middle of spring 2018.
Jockers’ research focuses on 19th and 20th century Irish and
Irish-American literature, according to the release.
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