Dick Bennett entered the 2003-04 collegiate basketball season with 453 career wins, making mountains out of mole hills at Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Wisconsin.
With Stevens Point, he made three appearances in the NAIA Tournament. With Green Bay, he made a team that went 5-23 in the 1985-86 season into one that went to the NCAA Tournament with a 27-7 record in 1993-94.
With Wisconsin, he took the Badgers to the Final Four during the 1999-2000 season, eventually ending the season with a 22-14 record.
He retired, only to come back this season to guide Washington State. Saturday was his first visit to McArthur Court.
It wasn’t pretty. The Cougars scored 18 first-half points and during the final 10 minutes of the game, when Oregon went cold, Washington State basically did nothing as well.
That’s a tough night, one that has plagued the Cougars all season long. The 45 points Washington State put on the board was the sixth time this season it has failed to post 50 or more in a game. The Cougars’ highest-scoring night came against USC on Jan. 10 in Spokane, Wash.
They scored a whopping 76 points.
“Offensively, we’re very poor,” Bennett said. “We really have no scorers.”
That includes Marcus Moore, who had to leave the Oregon game early because he twisted his ankle. Last year’s leading scorer at 18.2 points per game, he averaged 13.4 coming into the game against Oregon.
Moore scored five points in 26 minutes of play against the Ducks.
“Marcus likes to have the ball in his hands, and it’s hard for these kids to do much because he holds onto it,” Bennett said. “He just doesn’t shoot it well enough to have the ball in his hands that long.”
At this point, it has to be hard for Bennett to say anything else. The Cougars are in a bad spot. They haven’t had a winning record since 1995-96 and haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 1994.
Suffice to say, they really have nowhere to go but up.
That will all happen when Bennett gets the chance to coach more of his “own” team. The group that was on the floor against Oregon doesn’t know what it takes to win. They haven’t tasted that culture during their time in Pullman, Wash.
Bennett knows that culture all too well. Despite taking over a team that has seen its fair share of losses in the past few seasons, he’s beginning to instill a winning attitude — albeit a little one — into Washington State, even if its just a .500 record (8-8) at this point.
Bennett is taking baby steps this season, one at a time, and in a manner that will benefit the fans at Friel Court in the next few years. It may not always be apparent, but he knows how to get the best out of his teams, evidenced by his track record at the previous three schools.
He’s brought over a sleepy, tired offense that drains opposing offenses of their rhythm. The Ducks fell into that trap, shown by their 37 total shots and 60 points.
Against a team of lesser athletic ability and propensity to shoot from the perimeter, the Cougars could have pulled out the win. For the mean time, though, Bennett’s teams will suffer against the Pac-10’s powerhouses.
Against a conference that likes to run more than anyone else, Bennett will have his growing pains. He will go up against teams such as Stanford, which can play the same style as the Cougars, only the Cardinal can shoot the ball.
Teams such as Arizona and Oregon will run, run and run more, forcing the few shots the Cougars take to matter that much more.
This year, Bennett will take his lumps. Next year, Bennett will take his lumps. And so on and so on …
But soon enough, Bennett will be giving those lumps instead of taking them.