NCAA Dance-Off: WSU Cougars vs. Winthrop Eagles

The NCAA Tournament is underway this morning at Seattlest Sports Headquarters. We could barely sleep last night with eight games tipping off before noon today. This afternoon, the Washington State Cougars launch their campaign at the NCAA Championship at the high time of 4:20pm on CBS. In their first-round game, the No. 4 seed WSU Cougars face the No. 13 seed Winthrop Eagles.

Both teams pride themselves on their defense and prefer a slower tempo on offense. Winthrop (22-11 overall), winners of the Big South Conference Tournament, relies heavily on the production of their two top scorers, guard Michael Jenkins and forward Taj McCullough, the only two who average more than 10 points a game for the Eagles.

On the other hand, Wazzu (24-8 overall) has a much more balanced attack (four starters who average more than 10 a game). Look for the Cougs’ Kyle Weaver to lockdown Jenkins on defense and for the offense to revolve around center Aaron Baynes down low early. The Cougars will also need their 3-point sharpshooters, Daven Harmeling and Derrick Low, to show at least some level of consistency to progress through the tourney. If Weaver and Baynes stay out of foul trouble early, everything will fall into place for WSU to move on to the next round (Saturday).

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Drew M in News on March 20, 2008 9:00 AM

Comments [rss]

ebxtreme

Good to see the cougas dispense of a team they're supposed to beat. Where's the love for their defensive shutdown of Winthrop? Come on, Seth, we all know if the dawgs had won their CBI game (CBI??) against Valp, it would've been up first thing. ;-) Next up for the Cougs: the fighting Irish of ND and the Big East player of the year. Baynes is going to have to play well again and not get in foul trouble in this one.