Philly Gym Rat (The Perry “QM” McMullin Story)

[PointGuard]

Our incoming players should strengthen our team, particularly at the PG and PF positions. I also think our depth should be better this year.

The goals provided by the university’s administration are not much more strenuous than last year, since only one of the 3 were increased: finish in the top half of the conference. The other two remain the same as last year: finish above .500 and improve school prestige.

[PointGuard]

We have 3 graduating seniors this year, but only two of those are on scholarship, so just two slots to fill. I really want to pick up a very strong SF with good scoring potential and also with rebounding and defensive skills. For the 2nd spot, I’m hopeful we can pick up a solid SG. We’ll focus on HS seniors and only seriously look at JC players if things come down to the wire in the spring.

After talking things over with Alex Grannum, my 3rd assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, I decide to buy the basic versions of the National Report and the Western Report.

After taking this action, Alex comes into my office excitedly, “Coach, now that we’ve saved so much money on reports, we should have enough for me to attend all the summer camps, huh!”

“You know Alex. I just don’t think we have yet developed a program that will easily attract high schoolers from all over the country. I think our efforts will better be served by you focusing on the western part of the U.S. Nationally we can try to get a stud by checking out the top guys at the Elite Camp and following up on a few of those.”

Alex acknowledges what I’ve said and glumly leaves, his dream of camp-hopping vanquished.

We makes plans to attend the Indy Elite Camp and the Las Vegas Revue.

[PointGuard]

In order to get them off to a good start, we have our incoming players take some summer classes, each with a tutor. Some of the guys are complaining about all the focus on book work. But by the end of summer, everyone seemed safe although we continued to enforce study tables for 4 players to ensure they spent sufficient time on their classes and create good habits.

[PointGuard]

I ask Paul Mosman, our AD, to try to schedule some good teams at home for pre-conference play. He questions if I really want to tackle some of the better teams in the nation. I reply, “It’s not about what I want, but what our team needs, Paul.” His reply, "OK. Well, no complaints."

[PointGuard]

No one from last year’s squad transferred, fortunately. But all of our scholarships are filled, so we will skip looking at transfer players. Josh Jackson, a 6-7 Jr SF from the University of Washington is transferring and I think we’d have a good chance of landing him. He scored 14.0 ppg and pulled down 5.4 rpg last season. But I’m unwilling to cut anyone and prefer to focus on filling our SF needs with a HS senior. John Archie, a 6-2 Jr SG, who played for me at New Hampshire, would be another guy we probably could convince to come to WSU. A 3rd player we’d have a good chance of getting would be Steve Joseph, a 6-4 So SG from Arizona State. He averaged 9.5 ppg in his freshman year. But both Archie and Joseph have some attitude problems so I’m not interested in having them mess up our team chemistry.

[PointGuard]

There’s not a lot of talent coming out of the State of Washington this year, so we’ll need to focus on players within the West Region and also at any high flyers nationally we can create interest within.

The West Region isn’t as strong as usual either, so we’re forced to look at a higher percentage of national recruits than we’d like.

We set our aim much too high apparently. While we generate some interest in some high flyers, we are rebuffed when we offer scholarships and they pick other programs. Our large list of excellent high school players mostly evaporates as they make verbal acceptances to offers from throughout the country. So true, to what I had said earlier this year to Alex Grannum, my recruiting coordinator, Washington State University still isn’t in the purview of top high school players from around the country. Our remaining high school candidates have strengths, but also major weaknesses.

We watch as the interest steadily builds within the only JC player on our list of prospects. We finally offer him a scholarship in late September and he accepts in early October:

SF Terrence Richardson, 6-7 JC So, Arcata, CA, 2.4 GPA. Last year’s stats: 14.8 ppg, 1.5 apg, 4.1 rpg, 1.6 spg, 0.7 bpg. He’s an excellent scorer with a very nice outside shot, very strong defensively, a good passer. Ranked #56 in the nation. Overall rating: A.

I expect he will be able to compete immediately for a starting role on next year’s squad at a position where we are presently weakest.

When the summer/fall recruiting cycle ends, we decide to hold off and make an offer of our final scholarship in the spring.

[PointGuard]

We get the unexpected and welcome notice that newly arrived JC transfer PG Tommy Lewis has been nominated for the Norton Award. The WSU faithful are all abuzz about this since it’s been many, many years since a Cougar was nominated.

[PointGuard]

Paul Mosman asks me to visit him in his office. I arrive and he shows me a handwritten sheet of paper. It’s a list of pre-conference opponents. “Well QM, you asked for some tough opponents. I called with so many AD’s trying to convince them to bring their teams to Pullman that my ear got sore. In the end I found some good teams for you to play, but not here.”
I look over the list and my spirits flag. We are only able to schedule 3 of our 11 pre-conference games at home.

Home games: Arkansas, Marquette, St. John’s

Away games: Villanova, Penn St., #25 Wisconsin, Southern Illinois, #18 Notre Dame, #24 Iowa, Loyola Marymount, #23 Georgia Tech

After envisioning the worst, I decide to look at this schedule for what it is…a challenge. It’s a tough schedule and I’m sure we are going to take our lumps. But it should prepare us for what we be an equally brutal Pac-12 schedule that includes two games against #16 Utah, 2 games against #22 UCLA, and one game against #9 Oregon plus games against every other Pac-12 team that can win on any given day.

[PointGuard]

The Pac-12 scribes have predicted that the top 3 in the Pac-12 will be Oregon, Utah and Stanford. Not unexpected (with the possible exception of UCLA not being included in the triumvirate).

Surprisingly they’ve picked Washington State to finish in 4th place above UCLA, USC, Cal, and Arizona. That is going to put a target on our back. I expect the Pac-12 to be as cut-throat as last season with no one getting through without a lot of bruises.

[PointGuard]

I’d like to redshirt one of our 3 eligible freshmen this season, but I think we’ll need all 3 of them and feel all three are ready to step in and contribute. Instead, I opt to redshirt sophomore SG Ronnie Randle. Ronnie played in 2/3 of our games last year and showed a few glimmers of promise but was inconsistent. So hopefully an extra year to mature will make him a valuable asset in the future.