Cougars seek recognition when Pac-10 honors are doled out

PULLMAN – Washington State could see two players make the All-Pac-10 team for only the third time today when the conference announces its all-league honors.

Guards Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver both have a chance to make the list of 10 players after leading the Cougars to a second-place finish, matching the best Pac-10 finish in school history.

“I guess now that we finished in second place in the league, those guys were a significant part of it,” Cougars coach Tony Bennett said. “I think they deserve serious consideration. I think it would be good for them and our program.”

And Bennett himself seems to be a slam dunk for league honors as Pac-10 coach of the year, as the first-year head coach is also considered a favorite to win national honors for his work in turning WSU around this season.

But to get both Low and Weaver on the all-conference team would be especially meaningful, since the Cougars are often considered a group of largely overachieving players.

Both have their merits, even though neither is a guarantee to earn the honor.

Low leads the Cougars in scoring with 13.5 points a game, and even when he’s scored fewer points in recent weeks he’s drawn enough attention to help open up teammates on offense.

Weaver, meanwhile, has been the jack-of-all-trades for the Cougars. He’s second on the team in points but first in rebounds, and he’s also among the league leaders in assists, steals and blocks. Furthermore, Weaver has efficiently run the team’s half-court offense as a point guard and has routinely guarded the best opposing player.

“Sure, if you’re looking for completeness, then Kyle’s got that,” Bennett said. “And the big games, Derrick’s had huge numbers and the attention he gets around the league – I wouldn’t say that one’s more valuable than the other to us. That’s why I nominated them both.”

In a league with at least five, possibly six, teams headed to the NCAA tournament, however, it might be difficult for both to make it onto the list of 10. League champion UCLA is a lock to put at least two players on the team, and stars like USC’s Nick Young and Oregon’s Aaron Brooks are also considered locks.

But if the Cougars do get both onto the team, it will be yet another sign of how much progress this team has made. And if they don’t? Well, WSU can take solace in the fact that there will be chances in both the Pac-10 and NCAA Tournaments to prove it deserved more.

“I hope I get it and if I make it that would be something I can add onto other things,” Weaver said. “It would be nice. With the season we’ve had and us being together and going through this together, if we could both make it that would be special. But if (Low) makes it and I don’t, he’ll represent me.”