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UCLA starts six-game test for WSU

Jan. 22, 2009 7:54 a.m. • 17 comments

COUGARS • UPDATED: 9:30 A.M.

A tough six-game stretch tips off tonight for the Washington State Cougars, starting with Pac-10-leading UCLA coming to Beasley Coliseum. It’s been a long time since WSU has defeated the Bruins – eight consecutive games – and even longer since the Cougars have won in Pullman – the last win over UCLA was in LA in 2004. After the Cougars host UCLA and USC, they head on a four-game road swing, with two in Arizona and two in the Bay Area. We’ve got links. Read on.

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• We put up our feature on Aron Baynes and some notes last night here, though you can find the edited version that ran in the paper here. There are also advances from the West Side papers, with Bud Withers’ piece in the Times and freelancer Howie Stalwick’s story that runs in a bunch of West Side papers. … We linked the LA Times advance last night, but here is Brian Dohn’s story from the Daily News.

• UPDATE: We also had a brief on freshman football player Anthony Laurenzi, who was arrested last week. Here is the link.

• In other football news, there’s this short from the Deseret News in Salt Lake City. Former Cougar John Rushing is moving from an assistant at Utah State to the Green Bay Packers.

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• That’s it for this morning. We’ll be back this afternoon – remember the game starts at 6 – with our pregame post. Till then …

17 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

rufus on January 22 at 8:16 a.m.
appears UW commited a minor recuritng violation – they are well on their way back to the top … and the day’s of Billy Joe… new cars. et al.
Tom_R on January 22 at 10:14 a.m.
Lots of uncertainty in this game. For example, which Cougar can hit a 3-point shot besides Rochestie? Will WSU forget that Baynes has one of the best shooting percentages in the PAC-10; and thus, seldom throw the ball inside to him? Can the freshmen cut down on their mistakes?
gslbball on January 22 at 10:29 a.m.
Hate to say it, but this could easily be a 1-5 stretch for the Cougs. And, it could be 0-6 if USC wakes up at home. The Oregon wins were good (and important), but let’s face it–those two teams are very weak.
RobbH on January 22 at 11:07 a.m.
GSL, you may be right. but I think to keep dwindling hope for an NCAA bid, they need ten conference wins. Probably need to go three for six to get there, for sure they need two out of these six. SC on Saturday is a must.

You never know about SC, or really Arizona. One of two in Nor Cal, might be the hardest.

Pac Ten has two bad teams, otherwise, it is still a pretty brutal conference.
MikeSequim on January 22 at 11:59 a.m.
Rufus,

I can appreciate your zeal as a Coug Fan but I would suggest keeping your stones in your pocket for awhile! We aren’t out of the woods yet either…case in point…Mr. Laurenzi!!!!! No need to bring up all of the ones last year either. How about moving forward and cleaning up our own yard first? There will be plenty of things and time ahead to debate rivalry in a somewhat civil tone…well at least with a little bit anyway.

A win tonight would be sweet!

Go Cougs!

Mike, Sequim
RobbH on January 22 at 2:01 p.m.
Actually, the funny thing about the UW situation is a parallell with RN’s first year. Within days of landing, he was commiting minor infractions in recruiting phone calls. He said that at Colorado, they always had recruiting sewn up before then (lie).

So now Sark gets there, first recruiting weekend, recruiting violations. And he says…..I didn’t know that was against the rules (lie?). I find it strange that a guy making millions doesn’t know this simple rule.

I am a fan, but not the biggest fan ever, and I knew they changed that rule, mostly because what they were doing in the SEC.

The cycle may continue. Who knows.
TommyCoug on January 22 at 2:01 p.m.
First a “freshman” basketballer…now a “redshirt” freshman footballer! Is there a “dealer” of substances inside the Wazzu athletic department? Or just on or hanging around campus? That’s the “jerk” or “jerkess” that needs to be arrested and disclosed by the Pullman Police and WSU.

Beer and hard liquor are bad enough…drugs, in particular, are a road to worse actions and eventually nowhere!

Let’s battle hard tonight Cougs…it will take a nearly perfect game…good defense, good shooting, patience on the offensive end, look hard for Baynes inside, few fouls, low turnovers and tough rebounding to beat the Bruins this evening…keep the faith and let’s get it done!

GO COUGS!!…BEAT THE UCLANS!!
MikeSequim on January 22 at 4:24 p.m.
TommyCoug,

I would love to see the kids play their hearts out tonight! I hope the fans are on their feet the entire game and coach B. has his best night also.

The fireplace is going, my Coug blanket is over the knee’s, smoke salmon dip with cheese and crackers on the side! Boy, I wish I were there for this WIN tonight!

Go Coug’s

Mike, Sequim
Tom_R on January 22 at 4:33 p.m.
The Cougars are in my view quite a longshot in this contest against UCLA—worse than the 5 1/2 point underdogs Las Vegas has posted. To me they don’t appear to be nearly as tough and cohesive as some of the Dick Bennett teams at Wisconsin and WSU. Of course, I will be rooting for them fanatically. If somehow they can pull it off, it will certainly be a huge step in them getting invited to the NCAA tournament.