Hey, Cougs! Welcome back to positive vibes basketball Monday! Since practically nothing Coug-y is going on these days besides fantastic Mariners baseball and a seemingly lackluster NBA finals, I am going to continue overanalyzing the Wazzu men’s basketball team (sorry not sorry).
As most of you are aware, we got a new head coach from Eastern Washington (David Riley), along with nearly their entire starting roster during the last couple of months. My plan today is to make some predictions on who I think will be my favorites for this year! First, I’ll go over the current roster as it stands so far.
PGs: Nate Calmese (transfer from Lamar and “Thou that shall not be Named”), Parker Gerrits (redshirted freshman from Washington State), Kase Wynott (freshman from Lapwai HS Idaho)
SGs: Isaiah Watts (Coug legend from last year), LeJaun Watts (Watts x2 from EWU), Tomas Thrastarson (freshman recruit from Iceland), Marcus Wilson (freshman from Bella Vista Prep AZ), Cedric Coward (transfer from EWU)
SFs: Rihard Vavers (transfer from Quinnipiac)
PFs/Cs: ND Okafor (transfer from Cal), Ethan Price (transfer from EWU), Dane Erikstrup (transfer from EWU)
This lineup brings us to a total of 12 players, 25% of which came from Eastern. Now, I know what you’re thinking— Aren’t we just essentially Eastern South now? Maybe, yes, but that might be the absolute best thing. Continuity is something that goes quite a long ways in college basketball, ESPECIALLY if you can keep your head coach. Most teams that have had repeat tournament appearances usually have some sort of continuity, unless you’re Kentucky or UConn, which we are clearly not…yet. While we don’t have the majority of our roster from last year and Eastern Washington didn’t make March Madness, they DID win the Big Sky Championship. Plus, players like Coward, Price, and Dane Erikstrup saw the NIT the year before, where Steele Venters was not so kind to our beloved Cougs! In the day and age of transfer portal chaos, chemistry is everything.
With all of that being said, on to my predictions for next year! I expect the EWU gang to see significant minutes together because of their chemistry, with Price and Coward leading the way. As two of the three top scorers for the Eagles, Cedric Coward and Ethan Price were averaging 15.4 pts and 12.2 pts per game respectively last year, and I expect to see this continue for the Cougs.
My other predicted major contributor is Isaiah Watts, who had a big impact on last year’s team even with his miniscule minutes, posting an offensive rating of 124.0 on the season! With the hands-on development that he has been receiving from Donald Watts and working alongside Jaylen Wells in 2023, I expect him to be a deadly catch-and-shoot or pick and roll assassin in Coach Riley’s system. Nate Calmese and Parker Gerrits will likely battle for the position of playmaker on the team at the Point, and I think LeJuan and Tomas will act as our off-ball and back-door slashers. ND Okafor and Erikstrup will operate in the paint with Price, offering protection defensively and glass cleaning for offensive boards when we need it.
So to narrow down my favorites for the 2024-2025 season even more, I picked: Cedric Coward, Parker Gerrits, Isaiah Watts, and ND Okafor.
I think Gerrits will set an assist record at WSU, Okafor will get on the top 10 all time block list, and Isaiah/Cedric will be leaders in the WCC in efficiency ratings. Of course, I also expect some all time team vibe moments, hopefully against our old friend (rival) to the north, Gonzaga!
My sleeper favorites who may become big time Cougs are Kase Wynott, Tomas, and LeJuan, who I just haven’t seen enough of yet, but seem to have really great energy and skills already. I’m looking forward to this next season, which will likely have a WHOLE different speed and rhythm to the team than before— But hey, that’s nothing new to the Cougs, who always make it work and persevere time and time again. Let’s go win this silly little (actually very intimidating) West Coast Conference and get back to the Big Dance! Go Cougs and have a great week!