Cougars can’t come up
with clutch hit
Moscow Pullman Daily News
3/26/2019
LOS ANGELES — Washington State tied the score in the top of
the ninth inning but wound up stranding the winning run at third base Monday in
a 3-2 nonleague baseball loss to Loyola Marymount.
With the Cougars trailing 2-1 in the ninth, Anthony Notaro
and Danny Sinatro delivered back-to-back singles. Following a pop-up, both
runners advanced on a wild pitch, but reliever Matt Voelker induced groundouts
from Brody Barnum and Dillon Plew to end the game.
Four Marymount pitchers held the Cougars to eight hits, and
Wazzu (6-17) left eight runners on base. Notaro batted 2-for-3 for the Cougs.
Washington State used six pitchers, the third of whom,
Michael Newstrom, absorbed the loss. WSU starter Tyson Guerrero threw three
hitless innings, walking two and giving up a run. First reliever Zane Mills
also allowed no hits.
The winner was the second pitcher for Marymount (15-8),
Giuseppe Benedetti.
In the WSU fifth, Koby Blunt led off with a bloop single,
stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch before Kodie Kolden scored him
with a groundout.
Wash. St. 000 010 001—2 8 4
Marymount 001 001 10x—3 4 1
Guerrero, Mills (4), Newstrom (5), Barison (6), Ichimura
(6), Baillie (7) and Natoro. Paquet, Benedetti (5), Finkelnburg (7), Voelker
(8) and Elizalde, Uhl.
W — Benedetti (3-0). L — Newstrom (0-1). Save — Voelker (5).
WSU hits — Plew (2B), Kolden, Alvarez, Notaro 2, Sinatro,
Gouldsmith, Blunt.
Marymount hits — Sogard, Shearer, Esquerra, Delgado.
:::::::::::::::::
Basketball Men
Here’s why the NCAA tournament has been a success and a
failure for the Pac-12
March 25, 2019 at 11:54 am Updated March 25, 2019 at 2:56 pm
By Jon Wilner San Jose
Mercury News
Ttakeaways on the key developments in the Pac-12 over the
past week, including Oregon’s surge to the Sweet 16, UW’s exit, Mike Hopkins’
extension and more.
==1. Nuance dominates
One week down, and the Hotline is ready to pronounce the
NCAA Tournament a success for the Pac-12. And a failure.
It’s both, and neither.
It’s certainly not an abject failure given that Washington
and Arizona State each advanced one round and Oregon made the Sweet 16 … and
that expectations were in the gutter following the awful regular season.
But it’s hardly an unqualified success given that the
Huskies and Sun Devils weren’t competitive in their second game and that the
conference advanced just one team to the Sweet 16 — same as the West Coast and
American.
From the weeds of the past five months, the Pac-12’s
performance should elicit a sigh of relief. (Better than last year!)
From the perch of history, however, the modest success
shrivels in comparison to what it used to be … to what it should be.
So there you have it: Not awful, not great, and largely
dependent on perspective.
==2. Oregon rolls on
The Ducks’ surge into the Sweet 16 comes as little surprise
if you think back to November, when they were 14th in the AP preseason poll and
in possession of a talented mix of newcomers and returnees, size and skill.
Then came Louis King’s injury and Bol Bol’s injury and Kenny
Wooten’s injury and Paul White’s injury and the search for an identity and the
collapses against UCLA and the four losses in six games and the three losses in
succession and the middle-tier finish and then … poof! … everything changed.
They committed to winning with defense and to a bigger
lineup. King found his rhythm and Payton Pritchard grew into the point guard
Oregon always hoped he would be.
For reasons stated above, the Ducks took much longer to
coalesce than originally expected, but they had this kind of March charge in
them all along, even without Bol Bol.
They were absolutely as mediocre as they looked for many
months, and they are absolutely as good as they’ve looked for the past three
weeks.
Those dueling Duck existences help define the Pac-12’s
season on a larger scale.
==3. Washington
departs, oh-so-quietly
The Huskies were who we thought they were:
A decent team that won a bad league, that clinched too
early, that coasted into the postseason, that got run off the floor in two of
its last three games and left a decidedly underwhelming taste in its wake.
The cruelty of March: UW would have been better off as a No.
10 seed, avoiding the No. 1 in the second round.
Instead, the Huskies were slotted into the 8-9 game and, as
a reward for beating Utah State, drew an opponent they had no chance to beat.
In addition to their advantages in size, skill, depth and
overall talent, the Tar Heels are plenty familiar with the UW zone, having seen
it a few weeks ago against Syracuse.
They pummeled Syracuse on the boards en route to 93 points
and did the same to Washington on their way to 81 (which could have easily been
91 … or 101).
Undoubtedly, a few Huskies fans are left wondering about the
fairness of the draw, about Oregon finishing five games back of UW but
receiving an undeniably easier path into the Sweet 16.
Um, yeah.
==4. So does Arizona
State
We knew the Sun Devils would have anything but a routine
visit to the NCAAs — little about this team has been routine for the past five
months.
The only question was whether ASU would touch the ceiling
with a lights-out performance before it went splat on the dance floor.
There was no ceiling for coach Bobby Hurley’s team, only an
erratic, mistake-filled victory over St. John’s in the First Four. Then came
the flop.
Yes, point guard Remy Martin was injured.
Yes, Buffalo is one of the best 25 or 30 teams in the
country.
Yes, the travel was brutal: The Sun Devils arrived in Tulsa
at 3 a.m. Thursday morning, then played Friday afternoon.
Their legs were still in Dayton.
Even accounting for the circumstances, the performance was
disappointing. ASU was down 13 at halftime and 18 or 20 for most of the second
half.
(Two-year NCAA Tournament tally: Buffalo 180, Arizona and
ASU 142.)
It’s a reminder that every game counts, that even a
late-December loss to Princeton or an early-February face plant against
Washington State matters to the end-game.
Win one of those — much less both — and ASU surely would
have escaped the First Four and had an easier road into the second round, and
the second weekend.
All in all, we’ll grade the Sun Devils’ season a success.
Their performance cannot be separated from the surrounding
muck that was the Pac-12 — the second-best team in the conference wasn’t one of
the 40 or 45 best in the country.
But had you dangled second place, 23 wins and a visit to the
round of 64 in front of the ASU constituency, no one would have complained.
==5. Give that man a
rai … err, never mind
Washington’s Mike Hopkins is no longer the best value in
Pac-12 basketball.
The Huskies took care of their two-time conference COY,
handing Hopkins a new six-year deal worth $17.5 million on Thursday, the day
before they opened NCAA play.
That works out to $2.9 million per season, which vaults
Hopkins to the top of the conference.
Well, almost to the top.
Utah’s Larry Krystkowiak remains the top-paid coach by a
wide margin.
Hopkins is No. 1 in the conference’s non-Krystkowiak wing.
Here is an updated list with Hopkins’ new deal and the old
compensation figures for Steve Alford, Ernie Kent and Wyking Jones, courtesy of
USA Today’s salary database.
Utah’s Larry Krystkowiak: $3.6 million
Washington’s Mike Hopkins: $2.9 million
Oregon’s Dana Altman: $2.8 million
Arizona’s Sean Miller: $2.7 million
UCLA’s Steve Alford: $2.65 million (dismissed)
Arizona State’s Bobby Hurley: $2.4 million
Oregon State’s Wayne Tinkle: $2.1 million
Colorado’s Tad Boyle: $1.8 million
Washington State’s Ernie Kent: $1.4 million (dismissed)
Cal’s Wyking Jones: $1 million (dismissed)
==6. Turnover at the
top
The week brought earth-moving news at the top of the
conference’s power structure, on two fronts:
Longtime Oregon State president Ed Ray, one of commissioner
Larry Scott’s staunchest supporters, announced he’s stepping down in the spring
of 2020, at the end of his current contract.
USC ended its endless search for a president by hiring Carol
Folt, whose credentials include experience with a scandal-plagued athletic
department.
For the past six years, Folt has been in charge in Chapel
Hill.
Compared to the clean-up duty awaiting Folt at USC,
navigating North Carolina through its mammoth academic fraud case was a lay-up.
Ray’s departure and Folt’s arrival represent the latest
instances of turnover at the president/chancellor level.
Without Ray, only two CEOs remains from the group that hired
Scott in 2009: ASU’s Michael Crow and UCLA’s Gene Block.
The rundown, with date of appointment:
·
Arizona State Michael Crow July 1, 2002
·
UCLA Gene Block Aug. 1, 2007
·
Colorado Phil DiStefano May 5, 2009
·
Oregon Michael Schill July 1, 2015
·
Washington Ana Mari Cauce Oct. 13, 2015
·
Washington State Kirk Schulz June 13,
2016
·
Stanford Marc Tessier-Lavigne Sept. 1,
2016
·
Arizona Robert Robbins June 1, 2017
·
Cal Carol Christ July 1, 2017
·
Utah Ruth Watkins April 2, 2018
·
USC Carol Folt July 1, 2019
·
Oregon State Ed Ray (outgoing)
Nine of the 12 have changed out in the past four years, if
you include Oregon State.
The newcomers have entered a very difference conference from
the one that existence at the time of Scott’s arrival.
:::::::::::::::::
WSU COUGARS MEN BASKETBALL
Robert Franks is your newest Ike Fontaine All-Star
By PJ Kendall Coug Center Mar 24, 2019, 6:00am PDT
Good morning. I didn’t think I’d be writing about basketball
again for a good bit, but seeing as how we’re in the midst of the greatest
tournament humans have ever created (non-Roman chariot racing category), maybe
taking one more lap won’t be so bad. Besides, this is a kinda sorta celebratory
topic, even though it means that WSU Basketball put its fans through yet
another terrible season.
A couple years ago, I wrote about an idea that had been
bouncing around my head for a while. And with that, the Ike Fontaine All-Stars
were born. In case you don’t feel like reading that article (who could blame
you?), here is the least unimportant part:
The origin of this phenomenon began when I was a student at
WSU, and Ike Fontaine clung to greatness as Kevin Eastman gradually destroyed
everything Kelvin Sampson had built. Ok, I’m sure Ike wasn’t the first great
player on a terrible WSU team, but he’s the first guy I vividly remember, so the
time period starts there.
We should probably start by listing the criteria. There
aren’t any. This is an entirely subjective exercise. There were a couple guys
on this list who had more than one really good year, so in those cases, I went
with the year when the team stunk the most. You’ll never see Chris Crosby on
this list because Chris Crosby wasn’t very good, despite scoring a decent
amount of points.
We’ll also recognize a Cameron Johnson All Star from each of
these seasons. If you ever saw Cameron Johnson play, you know why they’re
called the Cameron Johnson All Stars.
So let’s welcome our newest member.
Robert Franks, 2018-19: 21.6/7.2/2.6 (1st team All Pac-12) -
Despite the fact that WSU could only muster an 11th-place finish in a
historically-awful conference (thanks for those units, ASU, Oregon and
Washington!) Robert Franks was one of the Pac-12’s best players. Franks’
improvement over the past two years has been nothing short of amazing. As a
sophomore, he was little more than an overweight afterthought who averaged 6.3
points in 16 minutes per game.
I have no idea what he did between his sophomore and junior
seasons, but it was definitely a caterpillar-to-butterfly situation. Franks
nearly tripled his output, averaging 17.4 points in 33 minutes per game.
Somehow he was left off 2nd-team All Pac-12 in favor of conference legends like
George King, Dusan Ristic and David Collette.
After testing the NBA draft waters - finding the temperature
to be tepid at best - Franks returned to WSU for his senior campaign, and thank
heavens he did. Had WSU been missing him, try and imagine how much worse it
would have been this season. Despite being the obvious focal point of opposing
defenses, Franks poured in more than 21 points every time out, and was
rightfully named the the Pac-12’s first team.
So here’s to you, Robert. Thank you for giving WSU
Basketball fans something worth watching, and best of luck in your pro career.
:::::::::
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
In Pullman, WSU Foley Institute series continues with
collegiate athletics lecture
March 22, 2019 from WSU News
With March Madness underway, one of the nation’s leading
sports economists will discuss the financial sustainability of collegiate
athletics during two public events on the Pullman campus.
Andrew Zimbalist will present, “The NCAA money race: Can it
be stopped?” at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28. Earlier, he will join WSU
Athletic Director Pat Chun in a public conversation about financing athletics
at WSU. The visit is sponsored by the Foley Institute.
Dr. Andrew Zimbalist, a professor of economics at Smith
College, earned his bachelor’s from the University of Wisconsin. He then
attended Harvard University to earn and his master’s and doctoral degrees. He
is the author of twenty‑eight books on
sports economics, including “Unwinding
Madness: What Went Wrong with College Sports and How to Fix It”, “Equal Play: Title IX and Social Change”, “Rio
2016: Olympic Myths, Hard Realities”, “No Boston Olympics: How and Why Smart
Cities Are Passing on the Torch”, and “Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble
Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup”. He has also been a private
consultant to professional sports teams and cities and appears frequently on
NPR and other media.
Zimbalist will discuss the problems and challenges in
financing collegiate sports. Recently, universities have acquired large amounts
of debt to build better athletic facilities and larger stadiums. Coaches have
become the highest paid public employees in most states, and television
contracts from different sports networks drive conference allegiances and
create imbalances between conferences. In his evening lecture, Zimbalist will
examine whether the current NCAA financial model is sustainable.
Zimbalist will also be presenting earlier that same day as
part of the Foley Institute’s Pizza & Politics Series, when he will join
WSU’s Athletics Director, Pat Chun, and Nancy Zwanger, Chair of the WSU
Athletics Council, for “Who’s paying for it? Financing athletics at WSU” a
conversation about financing athletics at WSU in the institute at noon. Both
events are free, and open to the public. They are sponsored by the Thomas S.
Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at WSU. The evening
lecture will be held in the CUB Auditorium at Washington State University, and
the noon conversation will take place in the Foley Speaker’s Room, 308 Bryan
Hall at WSU.
The Foley Institute’s lecture series aim to spreading
powerful ideas, and to broaden the educational experience of WSU students and
the surrounding community by bringing engaging speakers to campus to encourage
thought-provoking discussions.
The Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public
Service is a non‑partisan public policy
institute, located at WSU Pullman, focused on bringing world‑class
speakers for public events; supporting student internships in public service;
and supporting scholarly research on public policy and political institutions
::::
Max Ault wraps up
first month with Washington State University Vancouver
Ault took on new role as assistant vice chancellor for
strategic partnerships Feb. 1
Mar 1, 2019 from WSU Vancouver
VANCOUVER, Wash. --- Max
Ault may have moved from interim director of the Columbia River Economic
Development Council (CREDC) to a new job at Washington State University
Vancouver this February, but the landscape he’s overlooking remains very
familiar.
Ault, who joined CREDC in 2014 as the business development
manager and ascended to ever-more important roles in the organization, spent
the past five years working on business growth initiatives, assistance on
expansion projects and outreach about those projects to the public and
stakeholders. In his new gig with his alma mater, Ault will be working on
similar projects, but this time he’ll be connecting all of the Washington State
University campuses with businesses from the region and building new technology
partnerships that should benefit both students and local economies, he said.
“I’m off to the races and there’s no shortage of things to
do,” Ault said. “This is really an expansion of the work I was doing with
CREDC. The position is system-wide, but also focused on the Vancouver and
Portland area. The focus is experiential learning for students and faculty and
research and engagement with the business community.”
Throughout his career, Ault has maintained close ties to
Washington State University Vancouver, where he graduated with a bachelor’s
degree in Public Administration in 2012. As part of that, he worked as
assistant to the chancellor for community engagement from 2017 to 2018, while
also carrying out his duties with CREDC.
Ault, who graduated from Hockinson High School, was also
awarded the General George C. Marshall Public Leadership Award in 2017 for his
economic development work with CREDC.
“The goal is to stitch everything together,” Ault said. “How
do we connect the university system to work with everyone in the state of
Washington? How does the university become the go-to resource for new and
disruptive technologies?”
Ault has a lot of leeway to build through his new job.
Washington State University only recently created the position of assistant
vice chancellor for strategic partnerships after university leadership found a
gap when developing its strategic plan, said Chancellor Mel Netzhammer.
“The way we engage with our community is hugely important,”
Netzhammer said. “And as we were working on our strategic plan and looking at
our goals around community engagement, we realized a lot of us had community
partnerships in our portfolio, yet we didn’t have a single person addressing
those partnerships.”
The new strategic plan was finalized in 2016, with a
placeholder for the position until the right person could be found. Some
objectives of the job are to provide broader research options for students,
create technology partnerships, expand on student’s business knowledge and
build technology transfer opportunities.
“We want to open some new doors where we have opportunities
to connect researchers on campus with local businesses and organizations,”
Netzhammer said.
After details of the job were finalized, WSU President Kirk
Schulz came to visit Vancouver with Netzhammer to see how the university could
get started by better integrating with Vancouver and Portland. That was when
Schulz first met with Ault in his role as interim president of CREDC.
“I think first and foremost he is one of the most well
connected individuals in this community,” Netzhammer said. “The opportunity to
have him to connect in a more formal way our campus to the business community
in the region was just a great opportunity that presented itself.”
Ault’s work will also dovetail with the university’s
internship program, and he will help businesses and students connect for
on-the-job experience and help with innovation.
“I think we’ll see experiential learning, more applied
learning,” Netzhammer said. “We have the opportunity to be responsive to the
workforce needs of our region. That’s something Max will be a connector on.”
One of Ault’s goals is to transform WSU into one of the top
25 research universities in the country. Different campuses will have different
research focuses based on their expertise, such as health care for the Spokane
campus or biotech and life sciences for the Vancouver campus.
“We have expertise in agricultural science, engineering,
computer science, data analytics and pretty much everything else across the
spectrum of research,” Ault said. “The Vancouver campus is actually more
well-integrated than other campuses around the state, and that’s another area
I’ll be working on.”
Some businesses are already talking to Ault about new
possibilities, even though he’s only been on the job for a few weeks.
“So many that I’m running out of time in the day, actually,”
Ault said with a laugh.
Projects could involve programs for master’s degree students
to create intellectual property with local businesses, for university faculty
to provide technology outreach and assistance to companies and to provide real
work opportunities for students.
“It’s a linear process,” Ault said. “The point of engagement
will be different for startup businesses than it will be for a company like
Intel.”
One company he’s already talking to is WellHaven Pet Health,
which he worked with while he was at CREDC. One natural partner for the company
would be WSU’s Pullman campus College of Veterinary Medicine.
“One of the larger focuses of that is not just training, but
also investing in professional development and teaching students how to run
their own practices,” Ault said.
He also has several other irons in the fire, including
working with WSU Vancouver’s Carson College of Business to provide some extra
training and opportunities for student researchers that are generally more
technology focused.
And that’s just the beginning, Netzhammer said.
“We’re looking forward to new opportunities that this
position opens up in terms of partnerships with our community,” Netzhammer
said.
:::::::::::
Cougars Finish First Two Rounds of Duck Invitational Robert
March 25, 2019 / Men's Golf
COUGARS FINISH FIRST TWO ROUNDS OF DUCK INVITATIONAL
The Cougars continue the road to the Pac-12 Championship by
starting the second to last regular season tournament of the year.
From WSU Sports Info
EUGENE. - The Washington State men's golf team is in 13th
through the first two rounds Monday at the Duck Invitational hosted by Oregon
at Emerald Valley Golf Course.
"It's a tough test of golf on a normal day," head
coach Dustin White said. "Patience and par go a long way out here. We need
to keep that more in the front of our mind and come out tomorrow ready to
battle."
The Cougars had a two-round score of 606 (+30), after
doubling up on their score in the first round with another 303. Washington
State is just two strokes behind Hawai'I in 12th. Oregon State is in a tie for
first with tournament-host No. 39 Oregon, both with scores of 577 (+1). Nevada
(+4, 580) follows close behind in third.
Junior Nicklaus Chiam continues leading the Cougars this
semester with a score of 149 (+5), putting him in a tie for 36th. Just one
stroke behind are junior Daniel Kolar and senior AJ Armstrong (+6, 150) in a
tie for 44th. Junior Scott Redelsperger is in a tie 76th with a score of 157
(+13) and senior Grant Cole (+17 ,161) is tied for 85th.
Cameron Kaneko of Hawai'I leads the way in first with a
score of 140 (-4). Ryan Gronlund (-2, 142) of Oregon is in second. There is a
three-way tie for third between No. 96 Spencer Tibbits of Oregon State, Sam
Meek of Nevada and Brian Humphreys of Boise State, all with scores of 143 (-1).
:::::::
Beavers sweep rowing in spring opener
Oregon State claims both Winchell Cup, Crawford Plate over
WSU for first time since 2009 Sunday
By KATIE ARCHER, Evergreen March 24, 2019
WSU rowing hosted its first regatta of the spring season
Sunday on the Snake River at Wawawai Landing.
Head Coach Jane LaRiviere said she thought everyone was
excited to race.
“You know, it’s just like being a fireman. You can only
spend so much time polishing your equipment before you have to go race,”
LaRiviere said.
Gonzaga, Oregon State, Loyola Marymount and Seattle Pacific
competed against WSU. The Beavers and Cougars were battling for the Winchell
Cup and the Crawford Plate.
The Crawford Plate is given to the winner of the varsity
eight, and the Winchell Cup is awarded to the team who wins the dual. The
Beavers won both for the first time since 2009, and OSU secured victories in
the varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four.
In the varsity eight, OSU won with a time of 6:34.9, and WSU
followed in second place with a time of 6:42.3. Gonzaga grabbed third, and
Loyola Marymount captured fourth in the event.
The Beavers posted a time of 6:52.7 to claim the second
varsity eight, and Gonzaga finished under five seconds behind them in second.
WSU placed third at 7:00.2, and Loyola Marymount took fourth.
In the third varsity eight, the Cougars grabbed a
first-place finish posting a time of 7:02.62, nearly 11 seconds faster than
second place OSU.
The Beavers defeated WSU by over nine seconds to claim the
first varsity four with a time of 7:26.05. WSU followed at 7:35.74, Gonzaga
placed third and LMU secured fourth.
OSU also won the second varsity four with a time of 7:36.16,
over 21 seconds faster than the second place Cougars.
In the novice eight, WSU took first at 7:02.7, and OSU
followed with a time of 7:08.8. Gonzaga finished in third at 7:52.2.
The Cougars posted similar times in the second varsity,
third varsity and novice eight boats.
“I think we can build a faster boat somewhere out of those
people,” LaRiviere said.
The Cougars will now shift their focus to the San Diego Crew
Classic April 6-7 at Mission Bay in California.
“We just need to get a few more weeks of training under our
belt,” LaRiviere said.
#
