Post by mhbruin on May 9, 2023 14:12:37 GMT -8
CHANGES
Added transfee Isaac Jones from Idaho.
Added freshmen Isaiah Watts and Spencer Mahoney.
Carlos Rosario entered the portal and is transferring to Drake.
Justin Powell and Mouhamed Gueye stayed in the draft.
---------------------------------
Next are the 5th-6th place Washington State Cougars.
GRADUATING
Flowers led WSU in scoring, assists, and A/TO ratio.
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
* Bamba returned to college, but transfered.
Gueye and Powelll stayed in the draft, altough I doubt Powell gets drafteed.
TRANSFERRING OUT
Bamba led the team in scoring and steals.
Rodman was their 4th leading scorer and second-leading rebounder,
Dishon Jackson sat out the entire season with an injury, so his stars are from 2021-22. He was the only true center on the roster, but they did very well with Gueye playing center. He pulled the rare double transfer, first announcing on April 26 that he was transferring to Charlotte, and then less than two months later choosing Lubbock instead.
Diongue was one of the very last players to enter the transfer portal. If he stayed in Pullman, he would have been the highest ranked recruit on the roster. He played sparingly as a freshman.
RETURNING
WSU loses
Scoring: Top 4 scorers.
Rebouning: Top 2 and 4 of top 5
Assists: Top 3
Blocks: Top 2
Steals: Top 4
In short, they lost most of their production and will need to rebuild almost from scratch. They return EXACTLY ONE guy who was ranked at all out of high school
Kyle Smith (not to be confused with Utah's Craig Smith) played a lot of guys last season, so he is returning some guys who played last season. However, once your get past Mullins and Jakimovski, you don't bring back a lot of production.
Based on recruiting rankings this is a pretty untalented group, with only one guy who was even ranked out of high school.
There are a couple of decent three-pooint shooters, but the returning guys were pretty bad inside the arc.
Jabe Mulllins, was a very good outside shooter, and he is their best returning ball-handler.
Andrej Jakimovski is a solid role player and their best returning rebounder.
Houinsou looked good at times as a freshman. If he discovers his outside shooting touch, he could have a breakout year. Europrospects ranks him a 3-star, and the #23 best player in his birth year. Players ranked that low are not typically stars in the US.
However, overall this returning group has more questions than answers.
RECRUITS
(#66 class, #7 in Pac-12)
Two of these guys were ranked coming out of high school.
With no true center on the returning roster, Coach Smith seems to have recruited the position hard.
Chinyelu seems to be talented, although not too many freshman centers are ready to contribute right away.
Cluff started all 31 games at Cochise College, who are nicknamed the Apaches. There is no reporting on how the local Apache tribe feels about this. He averaged 12 points in 24 minutes, shooting 75% from the floor, with 2.6 blocks per game. Since Cal was the only other school to offer, I wouldn't expect too much.
Neither Watts nor Mahoney look like they will contribute much as freshmen.
(#70 transfer class, #6 in Pac-12)
More unranked players. WSU fans of unranked players must be swooning.
Jaylen Wells was a Division 2 All-American. If he successfully makes the jump to D-1, he could be a realy good player. His numbers are outstanding. He scored 30 points against Division I opponent Cal Baptist.
“As a basketball player, Jaylen is a ‘six-tool’ guy,” WSU coach Kyle Smith said in a release from the school. “He can play multiple positions. He can dribble, pass, drive, shoot, defend and rebound. He’s a late bloomer that has a big upside.”
Wells recorded 11 double-doubles – 26th nationally – and led the Seawolves in scoring, rebounds, steals and assists .
I really liked Joseph Yasufu when he played at Drake, but I guess the move to Kansas wasn't all he hoped it would be. His shooting was pretty bad. He does bring a championship ring to WSU.
Here's part of a story about Jones:
Isaac Jones, who played a starring role last season for Idaho’s basketball team, is staying on the Palouse for his final season of eligibility.
The All-Big Sky forward/center signed with Washington State.
Jones comes to WSU as a four-star transfer recruit and the No. 9-ranked big man in the portal, according to 247Sports.com.
The 6-foot-9, 240-pounder was named newcomer of the year in the Big Sky and captured all-conference second-team honors last season after averaging 19.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.
Jones finished second in the Big Sky and 36th nationally in scoring. He set a career high with 42 points (19 of 26 shooting) against Sacramento State on Jan. 5. Jones led the conference in blocks (35) and ranked second in the Big Sky with 11 double-doubles. The Spanaway, Washington, native topped the conference in field-goal percentage at 62.9% – ninth nationally.
Jones is at his best in the paint. He’s a lengthy, sturdy rim-protector and skilled post-up scorer who uses his strength to push past defenders and get to the rim. But he also boasts impressive coordination and foot speed in one-on-one matchups underneath the basket. Jones shot just 6 of 19 from 3-point range, but he exhibited a soft touch on shortrange attempts and showed some flashes from midrange.
...............
With so little production returning and an uninspiring freshmen class, Coach Smith, like Utah's Coach Smith, will need to rely a lot on transfers next season. These guys could turn out to be pretty good, but none of them are proven at a Pac-12 level.
CONCLUSION
If you were counting (I know you weren't), 9 of the 12 scholarship players were unranked out of high school. That must be some kind of record for a Power 5 team. Unranked TJ Bamba turned out to be very good, but Washington State needs to find a lot of diamonds in a pile of poop. Good luck!
Added transfee Isaac Jones from Idaho.
Added freshmen Isaiah Watts and Spencer Mahoney.
Carlos Rosario entered the portal and is transferring to Drake.
Justin Powell and Mouhamed Gueye stayed in the draft.
---------------------------------
Next are the 5th-6th place Washington State Cougars.
GRADUATING
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
| - none - |
Flowers led WSU in scoring, assists, and A/TO ratio.
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Can Return? |
| Mouhamed Gueye | 33 | 33 | 32 | 14 | 8 | 1.9 | No |
| Justin Powell | 34 | 34 | 34 | 10 | 4 | 2.8 | No |
| T J Bamba | 31 | 31 | 32 | 16 | 4 | 1.7 | Yes* |
* Bamba returned to college, but transfered.
Gueye and Powelll stayed in the draft, altough I doubt Powell gets drafteed.
TRANSFERRING OUT
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Destination |
| T.J. Bamba | 33 | 33 | 32 | 16 | 4 | 1.7 | Villanova |
| DJ Rodman | 31 | 30 | 32 | 10 | 6 | 1.4 | USC |
| Dishon Jackson | 24 | 13 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 0.4 | Charlotte -> Texas Tech |
| Jack Wilson | 14 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | Minnesota |
| Adrame Diongue | 22 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0.2 | |
| Carlos Rosario | 22 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 0.3 | Drake |
Bamba led the team in scoring and steals.
Rodman was their 4th leading scorer and second-leading rebounder,
Dishon Jackson sat out the entire season with an injury, so his stars are from 2021-22. He was the only true center on the roster, but they did very well with Gueye playing center. He pulled the rare double transfer, first announcing on April 26 that he was transferring to Charlotte, and then less than two months later choosing Lubbock instead.
Diongue was one of the very last players to enter the transfer portal. If he stayed in Pullman, he would have been the highest ranked recruit on the roster. He played sparingly as a freshman.
RETURNING
WSU loses
Scoring: Top 4 scorers.
Rebouning: Top 2 and 4 of top 5
Assists: Top 3
Blocks: Top 2
Steals: Top 4
In short, they lost most of their production and will need to rebuild almost from scratch. They return EXACTLY ONE guy who was ranked at all out of high school
| Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG% | 3Pt% | A/TO | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank |
| Jabe Mullins G | 30 | 8 | 23 | 8 | 2 | 1.6 | 44% | 43% | 1.6 | Sr | Unranked | |
| Andrej Jakimovski F | 23 | 21 | 27 | 8 | 5 | 1.1 | 35% | 35% | 1.0 | Sr | 3 | 141 |
| Kymany Houinsou G | 34 | 9 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 1.4 | 41% | 21% | 0.9 | So | Unranked | |
| Mael Hamon-Crespin F | 8 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0.3 | 40% | 40% | 0.4 | So | Unranked | |
| Dylan Darling G | 25 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 0.6 | 26% | 17% | 0.7 | So | Unranked | |
Kyle Smith (not to be confused with Utah's Craig Smith) played a lot of guys last season, so he is returning some guys who played last season. However, once your get past Mullins and Jakimovski, you don't bring back a lot of production.
Based on recruiting rankings this is a pretty untalented group, with only one guy who was even ranked out of high school.
There are a couple of decent three-pooint shooters, but the returning guys were pretty bad inside the arc.
Jabe Mulllins, was a very good outside shooter, and he is their best returning ball-handler.
Andrej Jakimovski is a solid role player and their best returning rebounder.
Houinsou looked good at times as a freshman. If he discovers his outside shooting touch, he could have a breakout year. Europrospects ranks him a 3-star, and the #23 best player in his birth year. Players ranked that low are not typically stars in the US.
However, overall this returning group has more questions than answers.
RECRUITS
(#66 class, #7 in Pac-12)
Two of these guys were ranked coming out of high school.
| Player | Size | Position | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank | Offers |
| Rueben Chinyelu | 6-10 245 | C | 4 | 96 | Florida, Rutgers, Tennessee, Kansas |
| Oscar Cluff | 6-10 | C | JUCO | California | |
| Isaiah Watts | 6-3 180 | CG | Unranked | Charlotte, Fordham, George Washington | |
| Spencer Mahoney | 6-9 230 | PF | 3 | 205 | Coastal Carolina, DePaul, Hampton |
With no true center on the returning roster, Coach Smith seems to have recruited the position hard.
Chinyelu seems to be talented, although not too many freshman centers are ready to contribute right away.
Cluff started all 31 games at Cochise College, who are nicknamed the Apaches. There is no reporting on how the local Apache tribe feels about this. He averaged 12 points in 24 minutes, shooting 75% from the floor, with 2.6 blocks per game. Since Cal was the only other school to offer, I wouldn't expect too much.
Neither Watts nor Mahoney look like they will contribute much as freshmen.
TRANSFERRING IN
(#70 transfer class, #6 in Pac-12)
More unranked players. WSU fans of unranked players must be swooning.
| Player | Size | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG % | 3-Pt % | A/TO | From | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank |
| Jaylen Wells | 6-7 200 | 30 | 30 | 37 | 20 | 9 | 2.6 | 52% | 44% | 1.1 | Sonoma State | Jr | Unranked | |
| Joseph Yesufu | 6-0 180 | 35 | 3 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 0.4 | 37% | 29% | 0.9 | Kansas | Sr 5 | Unranked | |
| Isaac Jones | 6-9 242 | 31 | 31 | 32 | 19 | 8 | 1.7 | 63% | 32% | 0.6 | Idaho | Sr | Unranked |
Jaylen Wells was a Division 2 All-American. If he successfully makes the jump to D-1, he could be a realy good player. His numbers are outstanding. He scored 30 points against Division I opponent Cal Baptist.
“As a basketball player, Jaylen is a ‘six-tool’ guy,” WSU coach Kyle Smith said in a release from the school. “He can play multiple positions. He can dribble, pass, drive, shoot, defend and rebound. He’s a late bloomer that has a big upside.”
Wells recorded 11 double-doubles – 26th nationally – and led the Seawolves in scoring, rebounds, steals and assists .
I really liked Joseph Yasufu when he played at Drake, but I guess the move to Kansas wasn't all he hoped it would be. His shooting was pretty bad. He does bring a championship ring to WSU.
Here's part of a story about Jones:
Isaac Jones, who played a starring role last season for Idaho’s basketball team, is staying on the Palouse for his final season of eligibility.
The All-Big Sky forward/center signed with Washington State.
Jones comes to WSU as a four-star transfer recruit and the No. 9-ranked big man in the portal, according to 247Sports.com.
The 6-foot-9, 240-pounder was named newcomer of the year in the Big Sky and captured all-conference second-team honors last season after averaging 19.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.
Jones finished second in the Big Sky and 36th nationally in scoring. He set a career high with 42 points (19 of 26 shooting) against Sacramento State on Jan. 5. Jones led the conference in blocks (35) and ranked second in the Big Sky with 11 double-doubles. The Spanaway, Washington, native topped the conference in field-goal percentage at 62.9% – ninth nationally.
Jones is at his best in the paint. He’s a lengthy, sturdy rim-protector and skilled post-up scorer who uses his strength to push past defenders and get to the rim. But he also boasts impressive coordination and foot speed in one-on-one matchups underneath the basket. Jones shot just 6 of 19 from 3-point range, but he exhibited a soft touch on shortrange attempts and showed some flashes from midrange.
...............
With so little production returning and an uninspiring freshmen class, Coach Smith, like Utah's Coach Smith, will need to rely a lot on transfers next season. These guys could turn out to be pretty good, but none of them are proven at a Pac-12 level.
CONCLUSION
If you were counting (I know you weren't), 9 of the 12 scholarship players were unranked out of high school. That must be some kind of record for a Power 5 team. Unranked TJ Bamba turned out to be very good, but Washington State needs to find a lot of diamonds in a pile of poop. Good luck!
After Coach Smith arrived in 2019 , Washington State improved in his first three seasons. However, in his fourth season, they took a step back.
Nonetheless, they finished in the top half of the Pac-12, and they were a competive team, particularly at home.
The Cougars lost so much during the off-season, that is ihard to see them doing very well next season. They have one 4-star player, two 3-star players, and NINE unranked players. Rankings aren't everything, but it is hard to see this team being competitive next season. The bottom of the league will be very bad. WSU will be part of that, although I suspect they will finish around 8th or 9th.
Wilner:
10. Washington State
The heavy attrition in Pullman is reason to wonder if coach Kyle Smith’s momentum has stalled permanently. He did well to land blue-chip prospect Rueben Chinyelu from Basketball Africa, lured guard Joseph Yesufu from Kansas and just received a commitment from three-star prospect Spencer Mahoney. But the influx does not come close to matching the exodus, leaving the Cougars in a difficult spot with so many middle-of-the-pack competitors either holding their ground or making notable roster upgrades. Previous: 9
Vrooman: #10
There was a point this offseason when the model had Washington State #1 in the conference. Then Mouhamad Gueye and Justin Powell opted to stay in the NBA Draft and TJ Bamba transferred to Villanova while other teams added portal talent. It’s hard to recover from losing your 3 best players. They got Isaac Jones from Idaho to try to replace Gueye, Joseph Yesufu from Kansas to replace Powell, and Jaylen Wells as one of the better D-2 players in the country to replace Bamba. But I would bet on at least 2 of the 3 being downgrades which means it’s hard to imagine an improvement in year 5 (already!?) under Kyle Smith.
| Offensive Efficiency | Defensive Efficiency | KenPom Rank | |
| 2018 - 19 | 140 | 284 | 207 |
| 2019 - 20 | 182 | 83 | 127 |
| 2020 - 21 | 167 | 24 | 78 |
| 2021 - 22 | 82 | 28 | 44 |
| 2022-23 | 65 | 72 | 67 |
Nonetheless, they finished in the top half of the Pac-12, and they were a competive team, particularly at home.
The Cougars lost so much during the off-season, that is ihard to see them doing very well next season. They have one 4-star player, two 3-star players, and NINE unranked players. Rankings aren't everything, but it is hard to see this team being competitive next season. The bottom of the league will be very bad. WSU will be part of that, although I suspect they will finish around 8th or 9th.
Wilner:
10. Washington State
The heavy attrition in Pullman is reason to wonder if coach Kyle Smith’s momentum has stalled permanently. He did well to land blue-chip prospect Rueben Chinyelu from Basketball Africa, lured guard Joseph Yesufu from Kansas and just received a commitment from three-star prospect Spencer Mahoney. But the influx does not come close to matching the exodus, leaving the Cougars in a difficult spot with so many middle-of-the-pack competitors either holding their ground or making notable roster upgrades. Previous: 9
Vrooman: #10
There was a point this offseason when the model had Washington State #1 in the conference. Then Mouhamad Gueye and Justin Powell opted to stay in the NBA Draft and TJ Bamba transferred to Villanova while other teams added portal talent. It’s hard to recover from losing your 3 best players. They got Isaac Jones from Idaho to try to replace Gueye, Joseph Yesufu from Kansas to replace Powell, and Jaylen Wells as one of the better D-2 players in the country to replace Bamba. But I would bet on at least 2 of the 3 being downgrades which means it’s hard to imagine an improvement in year 5 (already!?) under Kyle Smith.