And try to get a headline with WSU in it

You know what’s really difficult? Coming up with this paragraph every day. Heck, two or three times on some days. Trying to figure out a few words that will entice you into reading what’s on the link and making sure those words tie in all the elements we cover on said link. The length is important as well. Too short and it looks like we mailed it in. Too long and it covers your entire computer screen, forcing you to scroll down before you go inside. Think it’s easy? Whatever. It’s done for another day. Read on.

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• As we grow closer to the end of the Pac-10 basketball season – WSU has three games left, most of the conference has four – story lines grow thinner – what hasn’t been covered by now? – and little things can become big things. Like Cal coach Mike Montgomery’s comments last year, while doing his radio gig, that Oregon State’s basketball players weren’t very good – the truth is they weren’t. … But at this time of the year there have been enough games where trends emerge, like WSU playing better on the road than at home. There are plenty of thoughts why that might be true – my favorite is the inordinate number of freshmen theory, which states a team with a large group of freshmen will bond better on the road where there are less distraction – but no matter the reason, coach Tony Bennett’s team is out to change it. One proposal I asked him about yesterday: Why not put the team on the bus Wednesday night, take them to Lewiston, stay at some hotel and bus back Thursday for the game. Instant road trip. Bennett laughed and said it was something he might look into for next season. Actually, he mentioned there are some Pac-10 teams that do that on Friday nights (almost all football teams do) to get the players away from on-campus weekend distractions. … The first team to make the trip into Pullman this weekend is Arizona and interim coach – and former AAU coach – Russ Pennell. The Wildcats’ placeholder was getting a lot of love when they had won seven consecutive games, but now they’ve had that streak snapped by ASU, not so much. … The Times Bud Withers roams round the Pac-10, the conference races – including the fight for a first-day bye in the conference tourney – are tight according to the News Tribune’s Don Ruiz and, for a story out of left field, check out Dan Raley’s Pac-10 notebook. … Finally, we leave you with the edited version of our Marshall Lobbestael and dealing with alcohol violations in Pullman.

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• That’s it for this morning. We’ll be back this afternoon with the items we’ll have in Thursday’s S-R. Until then …