Some help for WSU on Thursday night
COUGARS
It doesn't seem right. USC handing UCLA a chance to move into first-place in the Pac-10 basketball standings by defeating 10th-ranked Arizona? Seems like the Trojans should have lost just to spite the Bruins. Isn't that what a rivalry is about? We kid, of course, but the USC upset in Los Angeles was not good for Washington State. Read on.
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• Washington State: Before we get to basketball, wanted to send you to John Blanchette's column on Paul Wulff and his offseason, including the staff changes. Don't forget. Spring football opens Monday, March 7. It might be 12 degrees by then. ... Now back to basketball. We talked with Ken Bone yesterday – you can read what he had to say or watch it below – then talked a bit with Reggie Moore for our advance of Sunday's game. I will share one nugget from Moore. He's not naïve. He expects to hear it Sunday from the Husky fans, a la the chants that emanated from the WSU student section about a UW player who was dealing with the authorities when the teams met in Pullman. ... As for the Cougars, Jeff Nusser is looking at the problems they've faced down the stretch. ... And that's about it for now.
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• Around the Pac-10: We'll start with that upset in Galen Center, where the Trojans, trailing 54-50, end the game on a 15-3 run to win 65-57. They held Derrick Williams to eight points and, after Kevin O'Neill's protection comments, shot just two free throws. Wonder if the Pac-10 will reprimand O'Neill for his comments, as it did to Mike Montgomery this week. Doesn't matter. They seemed to have worked. ... California also posted an upset, going into Matt Arena and winning 81-71. Didn't really matter much who won that game in terms of WSU's Pac-10 standing. The Cougars are fighting both for that sixth-place spot. ... But Oregon State's 87-80 whupping of Stanford does matter. It makes it all that much tougher for the Cardinal to avoid playing on the first night along with Arizona State and the Beavers. Speaking of OSU, the Beavers played man-to-man in the second half and the defensive change seemed to really help their offense. ... The Bruins started slowly, as has been their M.O. at times this season, but they still ended up routing Arizona State, 71-53. Now Arizona visits Saturday with first place on the line.
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• That's all I've got this morning. We'll be back if events warrant. Until later ...
