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3 stories filed under center on Wazzu. The newest of them: “Another Cougar on a national watchlist, Alex Covill makes the cut”, “David Riley says next year's roster has more talent walking in than last year's”, and “Cougs add a 6-8 forward who likes to score”. Alex Covill is on another national watchlist, and at this point, it's starting to feel like a habit we don't mind getting used to. David Riley isn't sugarcoating last season. The unofficial read for people who left Pullman and stayed Cougs. The list below is every center story on Wazzu, newest first.
Another Cougar on a national watchlist, Alex Covill makes the cut
Alex Covill is on another national watchlist, and at this point, it's starting to feel like a habit we don't mind getting used to. The Cougar women's basketball guard has made the cut, and while we don't have the full list of names in front of us, seeing a Coug's name on a national radar is always worth a second look. Covill has been building a reputation, and the recognition is catching up to the work. This isn't her first nod of the preseason. We wrote earlier about her and Villa landing on the Pac-12 impact list, and that kind of company says something about the direction Kamie Ethridge's roster is heading. The program is coming off a tough year, but the talent is stacking up. Covill is a big part of why the Cougs might bury that 9-25 season sooner than people expect. We don't stretch stories here, but we do notice patterns. A player who shows up on multiple lists, with national eyes starting to look, is a player worth watching. Covill isn't just filling a spot on the floor. She's earning her name in the conversation. Go Cougs.
David Riley says next year's roster has more talent walking in than last year's
David Riley isn't sugarcoating last season. 12-20 stinks. He knows it. We know it. But he's got a new roster, and he's not shy about the upgrade. "We have a lot more talent walking in the door than we did last year," Riley said Friday. That's not coachspeak. That's a guy who watched his entire starting five walk out for a combined $10 million in NIL deals elsewhere. Ace Glass to Vanderbilt. ND Okafor to Mississippi State. All of them. Riley's take? He 10x'd their value. Good for them. But now he's got to win with the next wave. And the next wave is eleven newcomers. Nine from the portal, one freshman, one prep alum. Plus two returners. That's almost a full teardown and rebuild in one spring. Riley says the timing helped this time, players bailed early, so the staff had more runway to find replacements. Last year's chaos didn't repeat. The names are interesting. Sebastian Akins from Wake Forest is a physical guard who can score at all three levels. Lazerek Houston is a DII MVP with pro potential. Ladji Dembele brings a 7-2 wingspan from Iowa and UNLV. Riley thinks this group has higher confidence and higher talent than last year's haul. We'll see. But it's worth noting the Cougs also just scheduled Duke in Palm Springs for November. That's a measuring stick. And the Battle of the Palouse is back for two years, which means more games that actually mean something to people who live here.
Cougs add a 6-8 forward who likes to score
The Cougs just added a 6-8 forward who likes to score, and that's a good thing for a roster that lost 12 players. Ronnie Harrison, out of East Texas A&M, put up 14.7 points and 6.1 boards last season, shooting 53% inside the arc. He's not a three-point gunner, 30% from deep, but he gets buckets from everywhere else. He also blocks shots and picks pockets, so the two-way stuff is there. Harrison is the fourth addition this spring for David Riley and his staff. He joins Manhattan's Fraser Roxburgh, TCU's RJ Jones, and Central Missouri's Lazerek Houston, who averaged over 20 points as a true freshman. That's some serious scoring depth. Harrison mostly played power forward and center for the Lions, so he gives Riley flexibility up front. The Cougs are essentially rebuilding. Of last season's team, only Dominik Robinson and walk-on Dio Blakely return. Ace Glass is gone to the SEC, and we wrote about that in "Ace Glass trades Crimson for Gold as fourth Coug exits Pullman." That one stung, but Harrison is the kind of get that helps you move on. He's a Dallas kid who started at Tarleton State before finding his groove at East Texas A&M. He became their top scorer in a hurry. Now he's a Coug. For a team that needed bodies and buckets, this is a solid pickup. Go Cougs.