It’s easy to talk up Rochestie

COUGARS

In today’s Spokesman-Review, Glenn Kasses visited with Taylor Rochestie, the Cougar guard from Santa Barbara via Tulane University, blown to Pullman on the winds of Hurricane Katrina.

But talking with Rochestie was never the problem. According to Glenn’s story, he was always talkative. For a while, though, getting a chance to see the left-hander play, now that was a problem. First it was due to the knee injury that ended his career at Tulane. Then it was his spot on the depth chart, so low the minutes read more like a GPA.

That’s changed. And now Rochestie, the confident floor leader, has emerged.

He’ll be on the floor Thursday night (8; FSN; 920-AM) when the ninth-ranked Cougs take their 22-4 overall and 11-3 Pac-10 record into Eugene to face Oregon.

For more on WSU, check Glenn’s blog.

• Tony Bennett’s future, and his paycheck, are part of Todd Milles’ Pac-10 roundup in the News Tribune

• The Cougars are the lead to the Times’ roundup of Eastern Washington colleges.

• The P-I has its weekly Pac-10 notebook and a story about Ephrata’s 14-year-old WSU recruit.

• Will the Pac-10 get seven teams in the NCAA? Hw about six? The discussion starts here in this News Tribune story about the Huskies’ hopes and continues in this Everett story. What do you think? How many berths should the Pac-10 get? I know a lot of you want to write, “If the Huskies finish fifth, the conference should get four. If they finish sixth, the conference should get five …”