COUGARS

The biggest difference between football and basketball practice? One is outdoors and one in. On December 1, that's a big deal. We have notes from both, so read on.
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• About the time we were at Washington State's basketball practice today, Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports was tweeting "Washington State's Reggie Moore is expected to play Friday night against Kansas State with a splint on his wrist. Has missed first 5 games." Expected to play by whom? Sitting at practice I watched Moore go through drills and thought back to my conversation earlier in the day with coach Ken Bone. Bone made it clear then Moore would see how the splint felt, how much he was able to do with it, then a decision would be made when or if he could play with it. At the time Goodman was telling everyone he was "expected to play" no decision had been made. Does Moore want to play? Sure, he's a competitor, a tough son of a gun who wants to help his team in one of its biggest games of the season. Should he play? That's a decision WSU's medical staff and Moore will have to make together. Will he play? That's Bone's decision, and though he expects DeAngelo Casto to play against the fifth-ranked Wildcats, he's not at all certain about Moore. He doesn't want to put him into a situation he's unprepared for. So, unless something changes between now and Friday, saying Moore is expected to play is pretty damn premature. ... Casto, on the other hand, was moving well on his sprained foot. The 6-foot-8 junior center, who struggled last year at K-State, should get a chance to redeem that performance. ... After leaving the cozy confines of Beasley, we headed out to Martin where the snow was off the playing surface and the temperature was just warm enough to keep my nose unfrozen. But barely. The field was clear, but the stands were another matter. It will take a huge effort by the WSU staff to get the seats cleared by Saturday but it should get done. ... The Cougars did some pretty intense hitting, with a few players banging bodies and hitting the turf hard. It seemed to be pretty good preparation for a rivalry game that always features hard hitting. ... We have a couple stories to pass along, including our feature on the WSU seniors, 20 of whom will be honored Saturday. ... We also had our Pac-10 picks for the weekend. ... From Everett, there is this story about Paul Wulff's tenure at WSU. ... The Seattle Times' Jerry Brewer wants to see an Apple Cup classic.

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• That's it for tonight. We'll be back in the morning with our usual post. Until then ...

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