Links on the season’s final Saturday
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FROM LOS ANGELES -- It's the final Saturday of the Pac-12 regular season. For some, that means a lot. For others -- such as WSU -- all that's on the line is a chance to build momentum heading into the conference tournament. We have links around the conference after the jump.
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We'll start you off with our story about the dismissal of linebacker Sekope Kaufusi from the football program. The obvious conclusion here is that Mike Leach doesn't seem to care who you are or how valuable you might be to the team -- if you violate his code, you're gone. He certainly seems to be sticking to that so far. Lots of talk out there about the Pullman Police Department's role in all this, too, which is fair. But it seems that a reasonable way to avoid being arrested for marijuana possession -- something that players know darn well will cost them their scholarship -- is to avoid being in possession of marijuana. ... We have a short advance previewing WSU's game at USC this afternoon. The focus? Forget about Thursday and move on. Said coach Ken Bone: "I think you have to worry about it if all of a sudden you have the next game be bad. You have bad games every once in a while and certain players have really bad games, but you’ve got to bounce back from those. If we go out and play really poorly again tomorrow, then I’d be disheartened going into the Pac-12 tournament. We’ve had bad outings in the past and have rebounded pretty well off of them. So if I know this group very well, we’ll be back tomorrow playing good basketball." ... The WSU baseball team beat Northern Colorado, 8-2, on Friday.
As for the rest of today's Pac-12 action ...
Washington State at USC, 3 p.m. (USCTrojans.com)
Washington at UCLA, 11 a.m. (CBS): The Huskies are rising, while the Bruins are not (though WSU may dispute that claim). UW can clinch the Pac-12 championship with a win. UCLA is glad to be saying goodbye to the Sports Arena (and so is everyone else who has ever stepped inside that dump).
Colorado at Oregon State, 1 p.m. (FSN): The Oregonian runs down Jared Cunningham's best dunks. OSU's goal is to play WSU in the Pac-12 tournament opener. The game is important to Colorado's position in the standings. Bruce Pascoe details how Arizona could meet Colorado again in the Pac-12 tournament.
Utah at Oregon, 3 p.m. (CSNNW): The Utes spent Friday at a bowling alley in Eugene. Maybe that will help them find their rhythm. The Ducks are still trying to wrap up a top-four seed in the Pac-12 tourney.
The Arizona Republic has a video preview of the Pac-12 tournament.
That's all for now. We'll be back later from the Galen Center.
Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple