Hello Followers.  Hope you're ready for a nice basketball free weekend!

Tonight, our Cougies laid an egg of the biggest sorts, losing to UCLA 71-51. 

Its now been nearly 20 years since we've beaten the Bruins IN PULLMAN.

As the header states, now is the time for some serious soul searching about who we are and where we are going.

As far as tonight was concerned, two disconcerting issues seem in play: (a) Bone has NO CLUE about how to attack a zone; or (b) His players are not listening to him.

Tonight, once again we saw Ben Howland brilliantly pick us apart.  Their game plan:  (a) Play zone with the understanding that we have no clue how to attack it; and (b) Pound us inside recognizing that we have no presence whatsoever at power forward.

Our plan was to, well, I don't know.  Hypothetically, our answer was to have our smaller, and perhaps, quicker four exploit UCLA by stretching the defense with our presence on the exterior/baseline.

Unfortunately, in order for that to work, you have to move the ball.

A few weeks ago, I provided yet another classic Sutra "state the obvious" insight.  That insight was as follows:  Teams that dribble against a zone defense LOSE.  Conversely, teams that rapidly swing the basketball by PASSING THE FRICKING ROCK are able to beat zones.

Tonight, for the second straight time, we dribbled, dribbled, dribbled, dribbled.  And when you do that against a competent zone, you are left with a myriad of contested shots and turnovers.  And that is what we saw tonight.

As I've noted to you before, this team feeds off of its offense (as opposed to Cougar teams of T-Bone lore).  And while folks like Grippy want to talk about how terrible our defense was, that isn't the point.  The FIFTY one total points at home is what you all should look at.

So, what can we take from tonight?  Well, Saturday will tell a lot. 

In the meantime, don't count me as one of those Bone apologists that are currently in the blog-o-sphere.

This team has been HORRIBLY coached and managed over the past three weeks.  And, if the boys are the culprits of not obeying the coach, then lets see a healthy dose of Bjornstad, Allen, Brown, Motum and company.

Only Casto and Thames looked like they had a clue tonight.

And with a week to prepare for team that beat us at the same game a few weeks back, tonight was inexcusable.

The buck stops with you, Ken Bone.  Its beyond time to deal with it.

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Comments (10)

How?
written by gp, February 18, 2010

can a team get worse as the season progresses? Are they slowly learning how to un-play basketball?

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Relax
written by wazzu, February 18, 2010

This is a young team that has a lot of growing to do no doubt. However, calling ken bone a bad coach is ridiculous at this point in time. Now if we put up this same type of performance when these guys are seniors and juniors then there may be some truth to your argument. These guys are learning a completely different style and tempo and it is ridiculous to think that everything is going to go smoothly when this is a roster filled with underclassmen and the lone upperclassmen is koprivica. Ya losses like tonight aren't fun to watch and its frustrating, but young teams like this go through growing pains, I am excited about the future of cougar basketball.

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Relax
written by KirklandCoug, February 19, 2010

Bone is a really good coach. I agree, today Bone deserves some blame, but he doesn't shoot the ball, not hustle on Defnese etc.. I know you dont want me to say it, but we are young. In the Cal game, the Bears are flat out better than us. We shot 70% or something like that in the 1st half, no they could mantain that. As for Stanford.. Tough loss. And I have heard people whine about rotations.. None of us know what is happening in practice, and Bone has said if you aren't good in practice and your not a starter, you probally won't play much as is the case with Motum not understanding the Defense.

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Good post wazzu
written by KirklandCoug, February 19, 2010

Alot like mine haha. Good point on if this continues next year and the year following, then this stuff is appropriate. But, it definaltey is ludicrious at this point. I recommend not posting after a loss like this.

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huh?
written by Coug-a-sutra, February 19, 2010

You guys are right. We did everything right tonight schematically, but the shots didn't fall. Just like we didn't take players out of the game against Cal in the final 6
minutes who were in rhythm. Oh yeah, we also executed brilliantly down the stretch last Thursday as well.

Look, for all of you who think this team is a cellar dweller (during the worst season of PAC-10 hoops ever) then sure, apologize for Kenny.

But this isn't a one night thing. We've now lost 6 of 7. And if players aren't doing what they're told in practice, then who is culpable?

I recommend that you closely read what is written.

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youth
written by wazzu, February 19, 2010

It's hard to win games down in the clutch no matter how well coached you are if you don't have leadership in the 5 thats on the court. That is something this team lacks currently. That isn't because of Ken Bone that is up to the individual players to take over a game when it's time. Reggie Moore has shown glimpses but after all he is just a freshman. The top teams in the PAC-10 that are doing well right now have some leadership to lean on. CAL has the leadership of Randle and Robertson. UW has the leadership of Pondexter and Thomas who is in his 2nd year now. ASU has a senior point guard in Glasser. Arizona has Wise they can go to in clutch. USC has three starting seniors. Sure UCLA is young but they have guys that are in the 2nd and 3rd year of a system. This is our entire roster's first year in Ken Bone's system. Ya sure tonight we underachieved, but I think it is more a sign of a young team going through growing pains. Experience is a great teacher. Like I said give it time it'll come together. If you don't give it time then I can't wait to say "I told you so" in a few years. Even take a look at the structure of rosters in the top 25 most teams have a junior or senior leader that wins games down in the clutch. As for who is responsible for this slide? I think it is youth, and there are some good examples that point to that.

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youth
written by gp, February 19, 2010

So next year magically as Juniors they are going to come out and be able to beat all of these teams. I don't know if I follow that logic. Blowing leads and losing by 20 shouldn't be happening. It is not like all of the other pac-10 teams a laden with upper class talent, with the exception being Cal, we are basically going to be playing the same guys next year but they will have improved as well. So obviously something needs to get figured out soon.

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Youth
written by sdcoug09, February 19, 2010

I buy the youth excuse for the Gonzaga and Kansas State games. But after 26 games and on the second time against the conference opponent, this team should be better prepared for these opponents, young or not. You could have watched the UCLA game at Pauley instead of the one in Pullman and seen basically the same thing. I don't expect to win every game but after this poor performance and the collapse at Stanford, I don't have confidence that this team will win again. It doesn't look like there is any heart or desire to win out there sometimes. For me, the lack of effort is on the players, lack of preparation is on the coach. It started with lack of preparation that turned into a lack of effort. I completely agree with Sutra. Bone got out coached again after having a week to prepare for the same show we saw earlier and that's inexcusable.

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Is Bone losing the team?
written by selahcoug, February 19, 2010

Some of their comments in Grippi's article sound like some of the guys who played for Bennett are not happy with the lack of defense, especially by their younger team mates. Maybe it is just a riff among players, but Bone needs to take control.

I just think Bone needs to make people more accountable and bench them when they have a lapse in defense, turnovers or try and dribble straight into the zone again and again just to turn it over. Or just show a lack of effort on getting back on defense when they miss a shot. I hate to single out players, but Klay and Reggie seem to be the biggest culprits, yet rarely are removed from the game. Sure they are the best offensive players, but we have seen the same thing too many times to not change something.

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BLOG FIGHT!!!!!
written by Grady, February 19, 2010

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