Point/Counter Point

“Jane you ignorant slut.”

Hello Coug fans and welcome to our first ever edition of Point/Counter Point where we will take on the big issues facing our Cougs from opposing perspectives. Today’s big issue is the Cougar Men’s basketball team who have fallen to 4-4 in conference play after shooting their way out of a game with Arizona this weekend. In one corner you have yours truly here to tell you why Cougar Nation needs to take a collective step back from the ledge because everything is going to be just fine. In the other corner, our esteemed guru of the hardwood, the Sutra will rebut my optimism and explain why you should follow through on your plans to burn Ken Bone in effigy and book your reservations for the CBI. I’ll kick things off after the jump.

Here we go…

After the gut wrenching loss to Arizona on Saturday it seems a lot of Coug fans are ready to give up on this year’s basketball season, or at least a lot of you are revising your expectations. At times like these there is one thing most Coug fans seem to hate even more than the Huskies… an optimist. That makes me about the most hated man in town right now. I understand where you’re coming from, I mean, if everything is ok and there’s no reason to be so upset, why do I feel SO ANGRY!? Right? Well I say turn those frowns upside down because there is still plenty of reason for optimism. Coug fans, from my perspective the glass is half full, the sun is shining bright, the birds are singing, and yes, its all…

Puppies and rainbows. Let me tell you why.

First of all this team is alone in 4th place in the Pac-10 with a favorable schedule ahead of it. Two of our toughest road trips are behind us and we have a huge opportunity this weekend to close out the first half of conference play with a major statement by beating the Dawgs at Friel. Yeah, its actually a possibility.

Also, this team is playing well. For 2 games in a row we have done exactly what we need to do to win games… on defense force our opponent to rely exclusively on long contested 3 pointers, and on offense, attack the basket so we dont have to rely solely on our own jump shooting prowess to win. Sure, we had a freakishly bad shooting night against Arizona who coincidentally had an unbelievable shooting night from beyond the arc. It was a painful loss, but I’m afraid we’ve let our pain blind us to all the good things this team has been doing.

Of all the “what ifs” how bout this; If Klay, Casto and Capers had shot a measly 55% from the free throw line (well below all their season averages), instead of the 22% they combined to shoot – we would have won the game and we would ALL be talking about how great this team is playing. We’d be talking about how this team has had almost 40 assists in the last 2 games and how DeAngelo Casto has come alive in the post. We’d be singing the praises of Klay Thompson who although he had an off shooting night, continued to contribute in so many ways, leading the team in assists and steals. We’d be celebrating the return of Reggie Moore who is once again scoring in double digits and taking much better care of the ball. We’d be talking about how UW better look out this weekend.

But instead, because of a few uncharacteristic clangs at the charity stripe, we are left to pound sand and write off a season that is still young and still full of promise. Despite how terrible you feel right now, a 14-6 record is very rare territory on the Palouse and we are well positioned to win 7 more games between now and the Pac-10 tournament. Lets start this coming weekend. The Huskies are much better then the rest of the conference, just as their record shows.  But I saw the Cougs reactions to the loss on Saturday up close and I am confident they are going to be focused and excited for the opportunity to put that all behind them on Sunday. So lets fill up Beasley, make some noise and get behind this team again, because this thing is far from over.

Tune in tomorrow to see what Sutra has to say, and as always, GO COUGS!