UW will play like there is no tomorrow - because there isn’t

COUGARS PREGAME

I guess I wasn’t clear enough earlier, because someone didn’t understand how Cal’s win bodes ill for WSU. So I’ll go over it again.

Earlier today I talked about the power of emotion, of how college teams that need to win have an edge on teams that want to win.

And then Cal went out and proved me right. The Bears aren’t the team UCLA is, no one will argue that. But Cal knows the only way it gets to the NCAA tournament is to win the Pac-10 tourney. UCLA knew it was in, no matter what.

So Cal played with more emotion, with an urgency that proved impossible for the Bruins to overcome.

Again, I ask: sound familiar?

There’s no doubt WSU is a better team than Washington. The season’s results have proved that, not just the two games they’ve played. No, the Cougars have been better over 30 games. But tonight is just one game. And it is one game the Huskies HAVE to win if they want to play in the NCAAs.

So expect UW to play with effort, intensity, hustle, desire … all that stuff that WSU has displayed all season – and the Huskies have not shown in a lot of games. And, when it comes down to it, UW will have that motivation headed down the stretch.

Will it make the difference? I can’t say. But it can’t hurt the Huskies. And anything that doesn’t hurt the Huskies isn’t a help for the Cougs.

• We’ll be back if this USC/Stanford game ever ends.