Another Friday from WSU
COUGARS
This is the silly season of college football and the fun part of college basketball. The silly comes from the game of musical chairs played by coaches, though it doesn’t seem all that silly to the families involved. The fun comes from the interesting matchups on the court, with schools traveling thousands of miles to play or local schools getting together. Read on.
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• Washington State: Mike Leach has been on the radio more lately than Doug Gottlieb, appearing on the Scott Van Pelt and Jim Rome shows yesterday before jumping on with Dan Patrick today. Gee, I wonder if he'll talk with Patrick about their experiences with ESPN? ... If you're looking for reading material on football, there's not that much, though Marquess Wilson made this all-sophomore team and freelancer Howie Stalwick has this piece on fund-raising. And a Texas high school linebacker has committed to WSU. I'm old enough to remember when the Cougars recruited pretty heavily in that state and there was a bit of criticism online about it. I thought then, and still think today, it isn't the place being recruited but the players who are important. ... As for Cougar basketball, which has been slowed by finals this week, there is this CougCenter dissection of team chemistry. And Cougar coach Ken Bone will hold a live chat with the Seattle Times.
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• Around the Pac-12: Speaking of live chats, ESPN.com's Ted Miller held one yesterday and his first question came from Pullman. ... The ASU hire of Todd Graham as head coach has elicited quite a bit of comment, including this analysis by Miller and more from Phoenix and other quadrants. ... Graham's Pitt players might feel a bit like the cornerbacks at UW, who lost their position coach this week. ... USC is losing the cornerstone of its offensive line, Matt Kalil. ... Oregon lost a game this season when its kickers couldn't come through. They want another chance. ... As for basketball, we had the Glen Dean story yesterday in the S-R, but here's more on the Utah guard – a former Eastern Washington player – who is dealing with a brain injury. ... Oregon's newest big has a interesting past. ... Oregon State jumped over Howard, 93-72, sparked by Jared Cunningham's dunk.
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• That's all for this morning. Hope to be able to pass along some news this afternoon, but not sure. By now, it's getting a bit anticlimatic. Until later ...
