Arizona Redux?

Hello Followers.  Hope your weekend is off to a good start.

Well, thanks to the brilliant decision  by FSN to televise Oregon State and Stanford, today’s contest between the Cougs and Troy will not be televised.  As a result, there will not be an opportunity for yours truly to disect the game in my now patented “State the Obvious” fashion.

That said, if you want to read my prediction for today’s contest, then read on.

Followers, some of you out there lately have been critical of me being critical about our coach.

So, in view of your concerns, I want to make one point abundantly clear to each and every one of you:

I DO NOT THINK THAT BONE IS A BAD COACH.

Instead, I think that Bone has done a very poor job of coaching this team lately. 

Now, in case that point isn’t clear, let me provide another example:

I think Klay Thompson is a great college player.  That said, I don’t think Klay has played up to his potential lately–especially late in games.

So to reiterate: players and coaches can be generally “good” or “great” at their craft and have a bad stretch or two.  Hell, you can be great at what you do and have a bad couple of seasons/years (e.g. Paul Wulff).

Point being:  I expect at some point–and hopefully soon–that all of our boys and men will get this figured out.  In the meantime, that doesn’t dismiss our just ability to criticize those who are under-performing.  And, as I’ve stated here, I do not view this team as a cellar dwellar in a talent depleted conference.  So, I expect us to fare much better over the remainder of the year than what we’ve shown over the past few weeks.

Now onto the game…

Today, our Cougs play a Troy team that is easily as talented as anyone in the conference.  Moreover, in addition to being comparatively talented, USC is only one of two teams in the conference (CAL is the other) that posseses enough talent and wherewithal to actually compete on the National Stage.  For this reason, winning today–especially in view of our recent performances–represents a real tall order, at least on paper.

That said, USC also represents the exact type of team that we can handle.  Although Gerrity is a really nice player, he doesn’t possess the type of ball pressure skills that we would see from a team like Kansas State.  Moreover, while Dwight Lewis is a real force, he doesn’t possess the type of offensive upside as Q from the U.

In addition, after being saddled by foul trouble in the past two games, something tells me that Reggie Moore is going to come up big today.  Further, when you factor in that Marcus Capers has been out of town and grieving for the early part of the week, you have to think that his head will be clearer today.

In short, I expect Moore to have a banner game today.  I look for Capers to slow down Lewis, and I am think that Thames, Nick, Casto, and Klay will contribute during key stretches of the game.

Thus, although this game could closely resemble our trip to Hec Ed a few weeks back, I expect this one to follow the exact same course and outcome as the Arizona game a few weeks back.

Cougs win 75-68 to keep our slim hopes of finishing in the top 7 alive.

Enjoy the game if you have access to it. And Go Cougs!