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Mar. 25—Dylan Darling wanted the ball.
With 3.9 seconds left in regulation of a 65-65 NCAA Tournament Round of 32 game between St. John's and Kansas, Darling, a Spokane native and former Washington State Cougar, approached his coach, the legendary Rick Pitino.
As Pitino recounted in his postgame news conference Sunday in San Diego, Darling told him to "run power," a high-back-screen pick and roll.
Pitino was sold.
"I said 'OK, Power.' I walk away and said 'Wait a second, he hasn't scored a bucket and he wants to run a play for himself,'" Pitino said. "And then I'm thinking as I'm walking, I said 'but he's Bells.'"
Darling earned the moniker "Church Bells," shortened by Pitino to "Bells," when he hit a go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute of St. John's 88-83 victory over Xavier on Jan. 24.
"Dylan Darling, he's got balls as big as church bells. I mean, it's unbelievable," Pitino told reporters after that game.
So, it's no surprise that Pitino, even with Darling having gone 0-for-4 from the floor up to that point, would trust "Bells" to make a play.
And make a play, he did.
With KU's defense drawn out of the paint, Darling blazed past the Jayhawks, whipped the ball up and in off the glass with his nondominant right hand and watched it fall through the net before coolly turning his head straight ahead, strolling up the baseline and pumping his arms in the air as his teammates mobbed him.
Darling had just sent St. John's to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.
Talk about "Bells."
Darling's journey is the perfect encapsulation of what March Madness is all about and how transformative the transfer portal can truly be.
After a standout prep career at Central Valley High in Spokane, where he shot 55% from the floor and averaged 33.2 points per game during his senior year, Darling moved south to the Palouse, taking after his parents, James — an All-Pac-10 Cougar linebacker — and Kim Darling, both WSU graduates.
Dylan Darling was a part of former coach Kyle Smith's roster for two years, seeing the floor in 25 games his true freshman season for more than 12 minutes per game.
During the Cougars' magical return to March Madness in 2023-24, Darling, then a sophomore, played two games before suffering an injury during practice.
When Smith left WSU to take the Stanford job after that season, Darling joined the majority of his teammates in finding new homes.
His search was quite successful.
Darling joined the Idaho State Bengals, where he returned to his video game-like numbers, posting 19.9 points per game with a 44.7% shooting mark from the floor. His scoring average and 5.8 assists per game each ranked 23rd in the NCAA that season.
Pitino and his staff noticed the Big Sky Conference MVP and recruited him to Queens, N.Y., where he has made the most of the Big East opportunity through 34 games to the tune of 21.2 minutes and 6.9 points per game.
While WSU fans might have loved to see the legacy Coug stick it out at WSU with current coach David Riley, it's hard to argue with his decision making after he was at the center of the sports universe and etched his name into St. John's lore for life.
Darling's success put Smith's genius recruiting back into focus.
The 2023-24 WSU men's basketball team broke a 16-year NCAA Tournament drought and was absolutely loaded with talent. The Cougars won 25 games, finished second in the Pac-12, swept No. 11 Arizona in dramatic fashion and beat Drake in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before meeting their match against Iowa State in the Round of 32.
Two of Darling's former WSU teammates — Rueben Chinyelu of Florida and Oscar Cluff of Purdue — were also playing in the NCAA Tournament for their new squads over the weekend.
Chinyelu, who won the national championship with the Gators last season, saw his junior year come to a shocking conclusion in the Round of 32 at the hands of Iowa.
Cluff put up a second-best-in-the-country 12.3 rebounds per game and averaged 17.6 points per game last year for a 20-12 South Dakota State Jackrabbits squad. At Purdue, he has logged the most minutes in a single season of his three-year career thus far and boosted the Boilermakers to the Sweet 16.
Two more of Darling's former teammates — Jaylen Wells and Isaac Jones — are in Year 2 of their NBA careers, while two others — Myles Rice and Isaiah Watts — found their way to Maryland and are watching the NCAA Tournament from home.
In the modern college landscape, WSU was and is simply not blessed with the necessary name, image and likeness financial investment that would have been required to "get the band back together," after that magical run two years ago.
Coaching transitions were already difficult to manage and you can't fault Smith for taking a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at Stanford that was perfect for his family.
As I watched Darling sink his shot of destiny and his school's jubilation of a first-time-this -century accomplishment for St. John's, I couldn't help but think back to Wells falling on his back during his four-point play to beat then-No. 4 Arizona two years ago in Tucson and all of the jubilation that followed in Pullman.
Perhaps WSU is doomed to live vicariously through the legacies of its former players, who leave the wheat fields behind to accomplish great things — and receive a reportingly big bag while doing it.
However, there are a lot of reasons to believe that WSU men's basketball can and will win again. The new Pac-12 offers opportunity and Riley has a proven track record of talent development. Take Cedric Coward joining Wells on the Grizzlies and LeJuan Watts playing for Texas Tech as exhibits A and B.
This column isn't about whether Riley can shore up the defense, turn down the turnovers and win basketball games after a 12-20 season in 2025-26, nor is it about if WSU will give him the resources to make any of that matter on a bigger stage.
Rather, it's an invitation to stroll down memory lane ...
... look at what was possible in Pullman ...
... and believe it can happen again.
Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2260, [email protected], or on X or Instagram @Sam_C_Taylor.
Continue reading...
With 3.9 seconds left in regulation of a 65-65 NCAA Tournament Round of 32 game between St. John's and Kansas, Darling, a Spokane native and former Washington State Cougar, approached his coach, the legendary Rick Pitino.
As Pitino recounted in his postgame news conference Sunday in San Diego, Darling told him to "run power," a high-back-screen pick and roll.
Pitino was sold.
"I said 'OK, Power.' I walk away and said 'Wait a second, he hasn't scored a bucket and he wants to run a play for himself,'" Pitino said. "And then I'm thinking as I'm walking, I said 'but he's Bells.'"
Darling earned the moniker "Church Bells," shortened by Pitino to "Bells," when he hit a go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute of St. John's 88-83 victory over Xavier on Jan. 24.
"Dylan Darling, he's got balls as big as church bells. I mean, it's unbelievable," Pitino told reporters after that game.
So, it's no surprise that Pitino, even with Darling having gone 0-for-4 from the floor up to that point, would trust "Bells" to make a play.
And make a play, he did.
With KU's defense drawn out of the paint, Darling blazed past the Jayhawks, whipped the ball up and in off the glass with his nondominant right hand and watched it fall through the net before coolly turning his head straight ahead, strolling up the baseline and pumping his arms in the air as his teammates mobbed him.
Darling had just sent St. John's to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.
Talk about "Bells."
Darling's journey is the perfect encapsulation of what March Madness is all about and how transformative the transfer portal can truly be.
After a standout prep career at Central Valley High in Spokane, where he shot 55% from the floor and averaged 33.2 points per game during his senior year, Darling moved south to the Palouse, taking after his parents, James — an All-Pac-10 Cougar linebacker — and Kim Darling, both WSU graduates.
Dylan Darling was a part of former coach Kyle Smith's roster for two years, seeing the floor in 25 games his true freshman season for more than 12 minutes per game.
During the Cougars' magical return to March Madness in 2023-24, Darling, then a sophomore, played two games before suffering an injury during practice.
When Smith left WSU to take the Stanford job after that season, Darling joined the majority of his teammates in finding new homes.
His search was quite successful.
Darling joined the Idaho State Bengals, where he returned to his video game-like numbers, posting 19.9 points per game with a 44.7% shooting mark from the floor. His scoring average and 5.8 assists per game each ranked 23rd in the NCAA that season.
Pitino and his staff noticed the Big Sky Conference MVP and recruited him to Queens, N.Y., where he has made the most of the Big East opportunity through 34 games to the tune of 21.2 minutes and 6.9 points per game.
While WSU fans might have loved to see the legacy Coug stick it out at WSU with current coach David Riley, it's hard to argue with his decision making after he was at the center of the sports universe and etched his name into St. John's lore for life.
Darling's success put Smith's genius recruiting back into focus.
The 2023-24 WSU men's basketball team broke a 16-year NCAA Tournament drought and was absolutely loaded with talent. The Cougars won 25 games, finished second in the Pac-12, swept No. 11 Arizona in dramatic fashion and beat Drake in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before meeting their match against Iowa State in the Round of 32.
Two of Darling's former WSU teammates — Rueben Chinyelu of Florida and Oscar Cluff of Purdue — were also playing in the NCAA Tournament for their new squads over the weekend.
Chinyelu, who won the national championship with the Gators last season, saw his junior year come to a shocking conclusion in the Round of 32 at the hands of Iowa.
Cluff put up a second-best-in-the-country 12.3 rebounds per game and averaged 17.6 points per game last year for a 20-12 South Dakota State Jackrabbits squad. At Purdue, he has logged the most minutes in a single season of his three-year career thus far and boosted the Boilermakers to the Sweet 16.
Two more of Darling's former teammates — Jaylen Wells and Isaac Jones — are in Year 2 of their NBA careers, while two others — Myles Rice and Isaiah Watts — found their way to Maryland and are watching the NCAA Tournament from home.
In the modern college landscape, WSU was and is simply not blessed with the necessary name, image and likeness financial investment that would have been required to "get the band back together," after that magical run two years ago.
Coaching transitions were already difficult to manage and you can't fault Smith for taking a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at Stanford that was perfect for his family.
As I watched Darling sink his shot of destiny and his school's jubilation of a first-time-this -century accomplishment for St. John's, I couldn't help but think back to Wells falling on his back during his four-point play to beat then-No. 4 Arizona two years ago in Tucson and all of the jubilation that followed in Pullman.
Perhaps WSU is doomed to live vicariously through the legacies of its former players, who leave the wheat fields behind to accomplish great things — and receive a reportingly big bag while doing it.
However, there are a lot of reasons to believe that WSU men's basketball can and will win again. The new Pac-12 offers opportunity and Riley has a proven track record of talent development. Take Cedric Coward joining Wells on the Grizzlies and LeJuan Watts playing for Texas Tech as exhibits A and B.
This column isn't about whether Riley can shore up the defense, turn down the turnovers and win basketball games after a 12-20 season in 2025-26, nor is it about if WSU will give him the resources to make any of that matter on a bigger stage.
Rather, it's an invitation to stroll down memory lane ...
... look at what was possible in Pullman ...
... and believe it can happen again.
Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2260, [email protected], or on X or Instagram @Sam_C_Taylor.
Continue reading...
