SMU vs. WSU

Another installment of the annual "Battle of the Rock" finishes as expected... but this one was a little different.

SMU was leading 11-2 at one point and went into the half down by only four (40-36). They continued to nip at the heels of the D2 power until about eight minutes into the second half, where WSU established a double-digit margin and held out for the win.

Consider the past two meetings between these teams to put things into perspective:

2008: WSU 92, SMU 65
2007: WSU 118, SMU 53... wow.

I almost consider this year's game a moral victory. We stuck with a national D2 powerhouse for 30 minutes and gave them a GOOD scare. It made me so damn happy to see WSU panicking when they were down 11-2.

David Johnson is just too good. The HVL product is so well-rounded that he was scoring in the paint almost as much as from outside. His three-point shot wasn't as effective as other games this season, but he still sunk 22 points and made the difference for WSU.

C.J. Erickson will be a legendary player at WSU by his senior year. Don't let his meager appearance fool you - the scraggly beard and white tee distract his defenders while he dunks over them. He finished an amazing play tonight where Brad Meyer and him were working a 2 on 1 break against Tim Kunkel; Meyer wisely gave it to Erickson who slammed over Kunkel, picked up the and-one and crashed into the bottom of the hoop. The guy plays with reckless abandon and is well-rounded.

The only two gripes I had were related to the WSU fans. And yes, I consider myself one of them (when they're not playing against SMU)... but they are just absolutely spoiled from a few years of dominance. This is NOT the same Warrior team from a few years ago. All I heard at the scores table was grown men complaining about the calls being made against WSU or even worse, the "non-calls." They think every damn call is going to go their way! Every time down accusations were being tossed around of travels or tic-tac fouls. I guess this is probably just the nature of a passionate home crowd, but it bothered me for the first time ever in McCown gym.

The meat of my frustration comes from the absolute jokers that were dressed as power rangers standing at the corner of the gym. When school is in session, McCown is a home court to be scared of, as students line the court and provide constant noise and intimidation. But with tonight being a non-conference game and students being away for Christmas break, there were these four douchebags that insisted on pestering SMU all game. They were dressed in the stupidest fucking outfits and were behaving in extreme poor taste. The incident that made me enraged was when SMU's Will Wright was laying on the ground injured and they STILL pointed at him and mocked him. I could barely stand it.

Overall, this is a game that proves that SMU can run with ANYBODY. We killed Bethel, nearly beat Gustavus and kept up with the vastly superior WSU for more than a half. Despite our current 4-4 record, I see us winning at least two of our next three and sitting near the top of the conference. GO CARDINALS!