Washington State Still Speeding Up
It was a major change for Washington State when they went from the Bennett family coaching tree to Ken Bone three years ago. Dick Bennett was well known for his slow it down mentality. He installed the system that is basically still being run by Bo Ryan at Wisconsin. The elder Bennett came out of retirement to coach the Cougars from 2003 to 2006. Those three years were not particularly successful. By the end it was pretty bad.
However, he left the team to Tony Bennett. The younger Bennett runs a similar style of play as his father, but did let loose the reigns a little bit. And his father did help him out by leaving some pretty good players on the roster. That little speeding up of tempo made a big difference, as the young Bennett led WSU to two NCAA Tournament appearances right out of the gate, including a Sweet Sixteen run in 2008.
However, neither Bennett really stuck around Washington State very long. Each was there for just three years and neither system was completely implemented. But the players that were on the roster were made for running a slow offense and that was odds with Coach Bone’s philosophy. WSU certainly knew it would take time.
During the 2008-2009 campaign, Tony Bennett’s last at Washington State, the Cougars averaged 59.2 points per game, ranking 314th in the nation. And that was a pretty good team too. That was just how they played and that was under Tony Bennett, who actually sped things up compared to his father.
Coach Bone quickly turned that around, letting his plays run, seemingly, wild. During the 2009-2010 season, WSU averaged 71.9 points per game, ranking 103rd in the nation. Last season they went up to 72.9 points per contest and 65th in the nation. Coach Bone wants that points per game number to keep climbing and now that his players are almost exclusively on the roster, it will. And thus far the win total has climbed as well.
Read the in-depth men’s basketball preview for this team
