Cougars Borislava Hristova of Bulgria, Chanelle Molina of
Hawaii Earn All-Pac-12 women’s basketball honors
3/5/2019 | Women's
Basketball from WSU Sports Info
SAN FRANCISCO - Shouldering the load for the Cougars all season
long, the duo of redshirt-junior Borislava Hristova and junior Chanelle Molina
earned All-Pac-12 postseason honors as announced by conference commissioner
Larry Scott Tuesday afternoon. Hristova was named to the full all-conference
team while Molina took home a honorable mention nod as well as earning
honorable mention distinction on the all-defensive team.
For Hristova, the All-Pac-12 award was her
second-consecutive full team honor while also marking the third time the star
forward was named to the postseason award list after earning honorable mention
status as a freshman. One of the elite scorers in the country, Hristova ended
the regular season third in the Pac-12 in scoring at 20.2 points per game, a
mark which ranked 22nd in the nation in Division I basketball. Not only did she
score at an impressive clip, she did so efficiently as well as she hit 48.1% of
her shots (227-of-472).
In 29 games, Hristova hit double-figures in 27 contests
including putting together a 19-game streak to begin the year which ranked as
the sixth-longest run in WSU history. She posted 14 20+ point games throughout
the season while eclipsing the 30-point mark four times including scoring a
career-best 38 points at Washington to earn player of the week honors at the
start of Pac-12 play.
Hristova needs just 13 points in the Pac-12 tournament to
become the sixth Cougar in program history to record 600 points in a season. On
top of her scoring, Hristova upped her game on the glass as she grabbed a
career best 5.6 rebounds per game while tallying five double-doubles throughout
the season while asked to play myriad of positions on the floor for WSU.
The catalyst of the Cougars' offense, Molina earned her
second-career postseason award after picking up a place on the all-freshman team
in her inaugural campaign.
Having refound the magic she showed as a freshman pre-knee
injury, Molina finished the season scoring 15.6 points per game, ranking 12th
in the Pac-12. While setting up her teammates, the Hawaiian born point-guard
ranked fifth in the conference with 5.2 assists per game. She etched her name
in the program's top-10 for assists in a season after posting 150 in 29 games,
fourth most in a single year at WSU.
Twice the junior came up with double-digit helpers including
an 11 assist day against Boise State, the first double-digit assist game for a
Cougar in 18 seasons. In addition to the offense, Molina ended the regular
season with a career best 5.6 rebounds per game. She recorded her first-career
double-double at then No. 11 Oregon State with 16 points and 10 rebounds. She
followed with a second double-double against Washington with 18 points and 10
assists.
In addition to the all-conference team, Molina earned
recognition as one of the Pac-12's top defenders. While routinely tasked with
defending some of the best guards in the nation, Molina finished the year
averaging 1.8 steals per game, the sixth-best mark in the conference.
Playing with a short bench all season long, the two stars
were asked to play a record number of minutes throughout the 2018-19 campaign,
showing off a durability not seen before at WSU.
In 29 games, Molina played
1,095 minutes, shattering the previous mark of 1,029 set in 2013-14 by Tia
Presley in 34 games. While Molina continues to rewrite the record every minute
on the floor, Hristova sits right behind her teammate in WSU's annals having
finished the regular season with 1,029 minutes played.
The duo leads the Cougars into the Pac-12 Championships
Thursday, March 7, against the No. 7 seed Cal. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m.
at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and can be seen on the Pac-12
Network.
::::::::::
NFL combine concludes: Winners and losers
No matter what else happens in their quests for NFL
viabilit…
Scouting combine wrapup: How WSU’s Minshew, Dillard, Williams
fared
How WSU’s Minshew, Dillard, James fared in Indianapolis
By Stephan Wiebe, Moscow Pullman Daily News
Mar 5, 2019
The NFL Scouting Combine isn’t the end-all, be-all for draft
prospects, but it can help boost a player’s stock if he surprises or hurt it if
he doesn’t perform as well as expected.
Three Washington State players competed over the weekend in
front of NFL personnel in Indianapolis: quarterback Gardner Minshew, offensive
tackle Andre Dillard and running back James Williams, who left school early to
pursue a pro career.
The four-day combine wrapped up Monday. Here’s how the three
Cougars performed.
Dillard
The 6-foot-5, 310-pound tackle had one of the best showings
of any player at the combine. More than 50 lineman competed, although not all
did all the drills, and Dillard more than held his own.
He was first in the broad jump (118 inches), first in the
20-yard shuttle (4.40 seconds), second in the three-cone drill (7.44 seconds)
and fourth in the 40-yard dash (4.96 seconds).
His 24 reps on the bench press tied for 23rd.
During the combine broadcast, NFL Networks analyst Daniel
Jeremiah called Dillard “The best pass protector in the entire draft.”
Some analysts, including Jeremiah, predict Dillard to be a
top-15 draft pick in April.
Minshew
WSU’s mustached quarterback made a name for himself in part
because his mobility added an extra dimension to coach Mike Leach’s Air Raid
offense. Minshew was sacked only 13 times last season compared to the 44 sacks
between WSU quarterbacks in the 2017-18 season.
But Minshew may want to refer NFL coaches to his game tape
rather than his 40-yard dash at the combine. Minshew’s time of 4.97 ranked
second-worst among quarterbacks.
He also went 0 for 3 on his deep passes in the passing
drills, although one was a drop.
Minshew did, however, fare better in several other drills
that displayed his athleticism.
Minshew’s vertical leap (33.5 inches) tied for third-best
out of 15, his broad jump (116 inches) tied for fourth best and his his
three-cone drill (7.14 seconds) was fifth best.
Minshew is seen by many as a late-round draft pick and
that’s likely still the case after his combine showing.
Williams
Williams posted solid numbers among the combine’s running
backs. Most of his numbers were around the middle of the pack.
The 6-foot, 205-pound Williams tacked a 4.58 40-yard dash, a
36.5-inch vertical leap (fifth best), a 118-inch broad jump and a 4.25-second
20-yard shuttle.
Williams led the Cougars with 83 receptions (1,173
all-purpose yards) last season and has the potential to be a role player as a
pass-catching running back at the next level.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Stating their case
Dillard makes a splash among linemen while Minshew, Williams
get ‘better than average’ grades at NFL Combine
Lewiston Trib and AP 3/5/ 2019
No matter what else happens in their quests for NFL
viability, Andre Dillard owns a sweet bragging right over Washington State
teammate Gardner Minshew.
By a hundredth of a second, he posted a better 40-yard dash
time in the NFL Combine last week at Indianapolis.
Yes, an offensive lineman outran a quarterback known among
Cougar fans for his elusiveness. Of course, part of Minshew’s success in
avoiding sacks last season was the lockdown protection he was getting at left
tackle from Dillard.
Dillard’s 40 time of 4.96 seconds is one reason he landed an
overall combine score of 6.19, meaning he “should become an instant starter” in
the National Football League.
Minshew’s time of 4.97 may have been disappointing for a
quarterback whose escapability helped invigorate his college team’s offense,
but the NFL acknowledged his varied intangible assets and awarded him a grade
of 5.16, meaning he has a “better than average chance to make a roster.”
Cougars running back James Williams, who forfeited his
senior season to turn pro, scored 5.10, which also falls into that “better than
average” range.
Among linemen, Dillard and center Garrett Bradbury of North
Carolina State had the best performances at the combine last Friday, the first
full day of workouts. Both helped themselves with good performances in the 40
and demonstrated their agility with solid times in the three-cone drill and
20-yard shuttle. Bradbury also had 34 reps on the bench press, second among
offensive linemen.
Two prospects from rival colleges in Mississippi were among
the combine’s biggest winners. Receiver D.K. Metcalf showed off his muscle-man
physique as well as his speed, while defensive end Montez Sweat proved big men
can run fast too.
Following Metcalf’s performance in the 40-yard dash, the New
York Jets’ official Twitter account posted: “4.33? At that size?”
The comment could tip off the Jets’ plans for the No. 3 pick
in April’s NFL draft, considering quarterback Sam Darnold will be entering his
second season in the league this fall.
And who could blame them for taking Metcalf, who possesses
rare athleticism for a receiver that measures in at 6-foot-3 3/8, 238 pounds
and has 1.6 percent body fat.
His performance was even better. After wowing scouts by
doing 27 reps on the bench press at 225 pounds, he posted a vertical jump of
40½ inches, a broad jump of 11 feet, 2 inches, and the 40-yard dash time — all
top-five performances among the receivers.
What made it even more impressive for the son of former NFL
offensive lineman Terrence Metcalf was that he did all of it after having
season-ending neck surgery last fall.
“I’m not supposed to be here right now,” the former Ole Miss
star told NFL Network following his workout.
Meanwhile, Sweat, the former Mississippi State defensive
lineman, made his workout look like it was, well, no sweat.
The 6-foot-6, 260-pound Sweat was clocked at 4.41 seconds in
the 40, the top speed by a defensive lineman since at least 2003 and faster
times than those posted at the combine by Amari Cooper, Julio Jones or Odell
Beckham Jr. Sweat also finished fourth among edge players in the broad jump (11
feet, 2inches) and three-cone drill (7 seconds flat) and was sixth in the
vertical jump (36 inches).
The only question might be his strength. He did 21 reps on
the bench press, 12th at his position.
But the NFL’s official Twitter account was impressed with
what it saw.
“Something special out of Starkville,” Sunday’s post read.
Now team officials will spend the next six-plus weeks
picking apart game film and combine performances, attending pro day, doing
additional background and medical checks while bringing in players for formal
interviews before making draft-weekend decisions.
The offensive and defensive linemen are supposed to be the
strength of this draft. The combine proved it.
Defensive end Nick Bosa and defensive tackle Quinnen
Williams of Alabama put themselves in the conversation to be the top overall
pick with strong showings. Bosa completed the 40 in 4.79 seconds and did 29
reps on the bench press. Williams, at 303 pounds, ran the 40 in 4.83 seconds.
Michigan’s dynamic duo of defensive end Rashan Gary and
linebacker Devin Bush also helped themselves with strong showings Sunday. Gary
ran a 4.58 in the 40 — No. 1 among defensive linemen — while Bush posted a
4.43.
Safety Zedrick Woods of Mississippi posted a 4.29-second 40
on Monday, fastest time all week. Cornerback Jamel Dean of Auburn ran a
4.30-second 40 on Monday, the second-fastest time of the week.
At least four players couldn’t finish their workouts because
of injuries, including potential first-round pick Jachai Polite from Florida.
The outside linebacker came to Indy with high expectations
but ran the 40-yard dash in 4.84 seconds, slower than inside linebacker Manti
Te’o in 2013, whose 4.82-second run helped him slide into the second round.
Polite stopped after hurting his hamstring and will have to try and rebuild his
stock before the draft.
Highly rated defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence of Clemson
didn’t finish because of a minor thigh injury in his left leg, and his college
teammate, linebacker Tre Lamar, hurt his right shoulder on the bench press.
Top cornerback Greedy Williams of LSU did not compete after
suffering cramps Monday.
But the most serious injury may have come Sunday when Ohio
State cornerback Kendall Sheffield suffered a torn pectoral muscle, NFL Network
reported. Sheffield did not work out Monday.
And scouts may be hard-pressed to find breakaway runners in
this draft class. Though Josh Jacobs of Alabama did not run Friday, the fastest
back in the group was Justice Hill of Oklahoma at 4.40. Ryquell Armstead of
Temple was second at 4.45.
Questions about Lawrence’s suspension for using a banned
substance, which kept him out of the College Football Playoff, continued in
Indianapolis. And Lawrence acknowledges the surprise results of his previous
test have made him wary.
“Every time I take a drug test it’s going to be skeptical
because that was just something that I know I didn’t do and something to pop up
like that just really unfortunate,” he said. “Every time I pee in a cup now I’m
just thinking, ‘OK, let me pray because it’s just something stupid like that
can happen.’ “
::::
Bennett on Men’s basketball: A team-by-team assessment on
the Disappoint-O-Meter
Arizona, UCLA, Oregon among ‘colossal’ disappointments
By Brian Bennett | Special Correspondent, San Jose Merc News
PUBLISHED: March 4, 2019 at 7:25 am UPDATED: March 4, 2019
at 3:39 pm
(Brian Bennett, formerly of ESPN and currently a contributor
to The Athletic — he authors the site’s bracketology feature — writes a weekly
Pac-12 basketball column for the Hotline.)
If nothing else, we’ll always have the week of Feb. 25-March
3.
That was the only week in the calendar year 2019 that a
Pac-12 basketball team appeared in the top 25.
It was a glorious seven days, even though it included the
ranked team, then-No. 25 Washington, losing in embarrassing fashion at Cal.
Soak it up, because the next moment of national relevancy
might not occur for many months.
In case you can’t tell, we’re running out of ways to
describe just what a fiasco this Pac-12 season has been.
As we enter the final week of the regular season — with not
much on the line besides some byes and seeding for a potentially bonkers
tournament in Las Vegas – let’s dig deeper into the morass.
The collective has no doubt cratered. But how many
individual teams have actually fallen far short of our preseason expectations?
Have any actually exceeded or met them?
Here’s what I’m calling the Pac-12 Disappoint-O-Meter
(copyright pending):
*** Exceeded Expectations (2)
Washington: Forget for a moment the monumental face-plant
last Thursday in Berkeley (please, say Huskies fans everywhere).
Yes, that defeat suddenly tossed Washington close to the
bubble and, at best, cost it a seed line or two on Selection Sunday.
But take a step back and appreciate the big picture. Picked
to finish third in the preseason poll, Mike Hopkins’ club laid waste to the
rest of the conference for nearly two months and should return to the Big Dance
for the first time since 2011.
The lack of quality wins is troubling, of course. But this
still must be called a successful season in Seattle.
Oregon State: Last week wasn’t great for the Beavers, who
dropped both home games against the Arizona schools when they could have
clinched second place.
But remember that this team was picked 10th in the preseason
poll, and it’s still one win away from finishing with a winning league record
for the first time since 1990.
An 0-2 finish might change our minds, however.
*** Met Expectations (4)
Arizona State: How to judge Team Jekyll & Hyde?
The Sun Devils certainly have the talent and the potential
to be a top-25 team, as they showed in wins over Kansas, Mississippi State,
Utah State and Washington.
But they’ve also lost to Washington State and Princeton at
home and were blown out at Oregon last week before rebounding to win at Oregon
State on Sunday.
You can say it’s disappointing that Bobby Hurley’s program
has struggled with consistency for the second straight year.
Or you can say that a team picked sixth in the preseason
poll finishing second in the league and landing right on the bubble constitutes
progress.
With this team, the answer depends on the hour.
Colorado: If you would have told Tad Boyle back in November
that McKinley Wright IV would play most of the season with a torn labrum in his
shoulder, he might poured a stiff drink.
Yet here the Buffs are at .500 in league play (8-8) entering
the final week. They’re 6-2 in their last eight games. A couple more wins could
push them into the NIT.
This is … fine.
Stanford: Once Reid Travis transferred to Kentucky, this
looked like another rebuilding year in Palo Alto. The Cardinal was picked ninth
in the preseason poll and started out 0-3 in league play. Since then, however,
we’ve seen some real growth out of this young team.
Stanford hammered UCLA, won at Oregon State and basically
battled Washington to a draw Sunday. (For heaven’s sake, however: drive the
ball to the basket when you’re down one point in the final seconds!)
No one wants to play these guys in an early round in Las
Vegas.
If sophomore KZ Okpala — who has been projected as a NBA
Lottery pick — decides to come back to school, we may look back on this as the
year Jerod Haase turned the corner with this program.
Utah: The Utes have pretty much done Utah things: They’re
tied for fourth place in the standings despite an eighth-place preseason
prognostication. (When we will we ever learn to stop underestimating Larry
Krystkowiak?)
They’ve pulled off a few nice wins (at Arizona State, at
UCLA, at USC, vs. Arizona) and have generally been competitive.
Not much here to get overly excited or agitated about.
*** Disappointments (2)
Cal: We all figured the Golden Bears would be bad again this
year. But worst-high-major-in-years kind of bad? There’s little excuse for
that.
Still, Cal – which hadn’t won a game since Dec. 21 before
shocking Washington – is somehow now riding a two-game winning streak. That may
provide school officials enough cover to save some money and bring back Wyking
Jones for a third season.
The Cougars showed some unexpected friskiness by sweeping
the Arizona schools on the road and beating Colorado in a four-game stretch.
Then they lost to Stanford by 48 points and dropped a game to Cal last week.
If there’s a plan in Pullman, we can’t seem to decipher it.
*** Colossal Disappointments (4):
Arizona: Plenty of people predicted doom and gloom in Tucson
after the mass exodus last spring. Starting 13-4 overall and 4-0 in the league
was clearly a mirage.
Yet the historic seven-game Pac-12 losing streak, some truly
inept offensive performances and the continuing off-the-court controversies
give this season a catastrophic feel.
Oregon: The Ducks were the preseason favorite and No. 14 in
the preseason AP poll.
Granted, freshman unicorn Bol Bol played only nine games,
and there were other injuries. But the Ducks still had veterans Kenny Wooten,
Payton Pritchard and Paul White to lean on, plus five-star freshman Louis King,
for most of the conference season.
The Ducks finally looked like the team most expected in a
pair of blowouts over the Arizona schools last week. But it might be too
little, too late.
UCLA: Hindsight being 20/20, we know now that Belmont and
Liberty – whose wins in Pauley Pavilion hastened the firing of Steve Alford –
are actually pretty good teams that could be playing in the NCAA tournament.
That’s about as charitable we can get about this Bruins’
season. Even with a current three-game win streak, UCLA remains maddeningly
inconsistent and too loose in its fundamentals for a team with so much raw
talent.
USC: Speaking of underachieving in L.A., we arrive at the
Trojans.
They lost every meaningful non-conference game and are 8-8
in the Pac-12 after a 5-2 start. They must win one of their remaining two games
(at Utah and at Colorado) to avoid a losing record in the regular season. At
least the football program is … oh, right.
So there you have it.
By my fairly easy grading, half the league’s teams can be
called disappointing, and they include many of the marquee schools. Those that
met expectations had very modest ones to begin with, and even the overachievers
haven’t blown anyone’s minds.
That’s how you get a terrible season for the conference as a
whole.
Of course, one of these teams could get hot, win the
conference tournament and make a run in the big bracket to completely change
its perception. But do you trust any of them to do that?
Big Man on Campus
Louis King, Oregon: The Ducks’ freshman forward is finally
becoming the force many thought he’d be. King had 19 points in Thursday’s 79-51
win over Arizona State and 14 points, seven rebounds and four steals in
Saturday’s 73-47 destruction of Arizona. He’s averaging 15.8 points and 6.2
rebounds in his last six games.
It was great to see King not let a poor shooting performance
against the Wildcats (4-for-13 from the field) affect the other areas of his
play.
Oregon allowed just 0.75 points per possession to the Sun
Devils and 0.72 to Arizona. If the Ducks bring that kind of defensive effort to
Las Vegas and King keeps leading the way offensively, they could steal the
automatic bid. And possibly redeem a cruddy season in Eugene.
Games of the Week
Oregon State at Washington, Wednesday (7 p.m., Pac-12
Networks)
Oregon at Washington, Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN)
So what is up with the Huskies?
They won their first 10 Pac-12 games by an average of 12.5
points. Since then, they lost convincingly at Arizona State, held off
Washington State by a bucket, imploded at Cal and needed a late defensive stand
to escape Stanford.
Is this simply a case of late-season doldrums for a team
that locked up the conference crown by Valentine’s Day? Have opponents
discovered something in their scouting reports?
The numbers don’t tell a clear story.
Washington’s defense has seen some slippage, especially on
the two-point field goals its 2-3 zone usually excels at stopping. The Huskies
came into Sunday allowing opponents to make only 45.5 percent of their twos,
ranking No. 25 nationally.
Arizona State shot a whopping 76.7 percent inside the
three-point arc during the Sun Devils’ win in Tempe, while Cal made 56.4
percent of its two-point tries and Washington State connected at a 53.6 percent
clip. If you can get the ball in the middle of the zone and convert, you can
beat Washington.
The Huskies also made shots at a high level earlier in the
conference season, eclipsing 50 percent from the field in six of their first 10
Pac-12 games. Notably, they haven’t reached that plateau since.
The eye test would tell you that Washington simply isn’t
playing with the same urgency and intensity that it showed earlier in the
season. Which is understandable, given how far ahead they were in the Pac-12
race.
Hopkins tried to manufacture some energy from his guys early
in Sunday’s game at Stanford with some animated encouragement from the
sidelines.
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Podcast: CBS Sports columnist Dennis Dodd on the state of
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They can’t afford to slip up this week at home against the
Oregon schools or in the early rounds of the Pac-12 tournament.
Or else they could draw some uncomfortable comparisons to
the last time the school won the regular-season title: in 2012, when the
Huskies went to the NIT.
Arizona State at Arizona, Saturday (1 p.m., CBS): The final
day of the regular season brings this rivalry game — and a rare Pac-12
spotlight — on a legacy broadcast network.
The Sun Devils probably need to win here and at least reach
the Pac-12 tournament championship game to keep their at-large hopes alive.
Even that would be no guarantee.
Then there’s this: they haven’t won in Tucson since 2010.
::::::::::::::::::::::
Pac-12 Hotline newsletter: When it comes to targeting
penalties in 2019, the Pac-12 has no excuses
The conference has all the resources and knowledge it needs
to adjudicate targeting properly
By Jon Wilner, San Jose, Calif., Mercury News
PUBLISHED: March 4, 2019 at 12:05 pm | UPDATED: March 4,
2019 at 6:44 pm
* The Pac-12 Hotline newsletter is published each
Monday-Wednesday-Friday during the college sports season (and twice-a-week in
the summer). This edition, from March 4, has been made available in archived
form …
Targeting: Time to get it right
No rule in college football receives more scrutiny, or is
the source of more frustration, than targeting …
Because of its focus: Reducing head trauma.
Because of its complexity: Launch points, forcible contact,
body position, intent, etc.
And because of its repercussions: Disqualification.
At the same time, no conference appeared more ill-equipped
to deal with targeting last season than the Pac-12 …
Because of commissioner Larry Scott’s clunky defense of the
egregious non-call on USC’s Porter Gustin collision with Gardner Minshew.
And because of the replay-review scandal, in which an
untrained official influenced a targeting call.
Five months later, the Pac-12 is well positioned to improve
its adjudication of targeting — to get out in front of the issue and, dare we
say, become a standard-setter for assessing and applying the rule.
For those unfamiliar, the NCAA rules committee last week
proposed two crucial changes to the targeting call:
1.
If replay review determines every
criteria for targeting has been meet, the penalty will be enforced. If even one
facet of the rule cannot be confirmed in the booth, the call on the field will
be overturned.
2.
If a player commits a second targeting
penalty during the season, he will be disqualified for the ensuing game — the
full game, not just a half.
3.
In other words, the threshold for targeting has been raised,
and the penalties have been stiffened. (The rules committee got it right on
both counts.)
The changes, along with other proposals, will be voted on by
the Division I Football Oversight Committee in April.
The Pac-12 is as well positioned as any Power Five
conference, if not better positioned, to get the revised targeting rule
correct:
• Stanford coach David Shaw is chairman of the rules
committee that devised and proposed the changes.
• Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson is a member
of the oversight committee that will vote on the changes. (He was also in
charge of NFL officiating during his time as an executive vice
president/operations with the league.)
• The conference has retained Sibson Consulting, which has
worked with the NFL, to conduct an independent review of its football
officiating — all of it, not just targeting — throughout the offseason.
With Shaw, Anderson and Sibson, plus insight from other head
coaches, the conference has the necessary level of institutional knowledge to
properly teach its officials on the field and in the booth how to apply the
rules.
“We want the discipline to be severe for helmet-to-helmet
contact, but we also want it to be right,” Shaw explained late last week on a
conference call to announce the proposed changes.
”That was kind of the idea of the two-tiered system. What
we’re saying with this rule is we’re going to make sure of the ejection to make
sure that it’s right. The goal is the same, to make sure we are ejecting
players properly for the right reasons and if they don’t commit the foul then
we’re not going to eject them.”
The onus is on the conference to make maximum use of its
resources on this essential issue. There are no excuses for egregious mistakes
in 2019. None, zero, zip.
#
