Spokesman.com
David Riley gets a little family trash talk as WSU hoops tips off
David Riley's brother Noah, a coach for the New York Giants, spent the summer telling him his Cougs are soft. That's the kind of trash talk that sticks, especially when the numbers back it up. WSU finished last season ranked No. 292 in turnover rate and No. 248 in effective field goal percentage defense. That's not a blip. That's a pattern.
Riley's response? Make practice chippy. Uncomfortable. Make somebody lose. It's a simple philosophy for a team that badly needs an edge. Monday night against Davidson, we'll see if it took.
The roster is almost entirely new, 14 newcomers, only two returners. That means a lot of transfers learning on the fly. Ronnie Harrison looked the part in the exhibition win over UW, dropping 23 points and 11 boards. But that game was ugly: 87 combined free throws, neither team shooting 40%. The Cougs won, but it wasn't pretty.
This is a rebuild in a rebuilt Pac-12, and Riley is trying to teach concepts to a group that barely knows each other. The losses from the portal stung, Ace Glass, ND Okafor, Ri Vavers, and others all left. The guys who replaced them have to prove they can hold the ball and guard someone.
For more on how this season fits a bigger pattern, check out our story on the Cougs' one-win start to the fall. The themes are similar: talent isn't the issue, but decisions are. Go Cougs.
