Cougs advance, wait for opponent

COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN — Washington State extended its season at least one more game with a win over San Francisco last night. A couple other Pac-12 teams were in action, too. Let’s get to it.

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First, the basketball stuff — a correspondent covered the WSU game in San Francisco last night and filed this story . We also put together a postgame blog post after watching the game on television. The Cougars will face the winner of tonight’s game between Wyoming and North Dakota State. Here’s an advance from the Wyoming side, which quotes the Cowboys’ coach as saying he’s not sure where their second-round game would be if they win. Neither is anyone else, but my guess is it will be in Pullman. We’ll see. … We continued our series of football assistant profiles with a look at running backs coach Jim Mastro. … The WSU baseball team picked up a big win last night, too, beating No. 8 Cal-State Fullerton 9-8 in 11 innings.

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Tweeted this yesterday and filed a short item for the paper, but can’t find it, so we’ll paste it below. It’s about Wade Jacobson earning a medical hardship waiver for last season, giving him another year of eligibility.

PULLMAN – Washington State offensive lineman Wade Jacobson has been granted a medical hardship waiver by the NCAA and will return to the Cougars for another season.

Jacobson, who came to WSU in 2010 after two seasons at Gavilan College, started 11 games at left guard as a junior in 2010. He appeared in four games at right tackle last season before tweaking his back in practice, an injury that led to season-ending surgery. Jacobson will be a fifth-year senior in 2012.

A WSU spokesman said the team is still in the process of filing paperwork to receive a medical hardship waiver for quarterback Jeff Tuel, who will be a senior in 2012. Tuel appeared in just three games last season while battling a variety of injuries. Acute compartment syndrome in Tuel’s right calf ended his season after the Fresno, Calif., native completed 11 of 13 passes in the first half of a 44-21 loss to Oregon State on Oct. 22.

The NCAA typically does not award hardship waivers to players who were able to play at any point during the second half of the season, as Tuel did.

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As for the rest of last night’s action in the Pac-12 …

NIT — Washington 82, Texas-Arlington 72 : The Huskies played much of the game as if they didn’t want to be there, but still pulled away at the end.

NIT — Oregon 96, LSU 76 : Tony Woods helped the Ducks blow away the Tigers and advance to the second round.

NIT — Stanford 76, Cleveland State 65 : Only 1,339 came out to watch the Cardinal win its first-round NIT game, making the Pac-12 a perfect 4-0 in postseason play on Tuesday (and 3-0 in the NIT).

As for today’s Pac-12 action …

NCAA — California vs. South Florida , 6 p.m. (TRU TV): As a Pac-12 team, the Bears aren’t feeling much pressure to succeed this week, so the team’s mood has brightened .

NIT — Bucknell vs. Arizona , 6 p.m. (ESPN2): The game will be a test for the team and for its fans. Some reasons to care about the NIT.

CBI — Western Illinois vs. Oregon State , 7 p.m. (HDNet): The Beavers are embracing the CBI’s benefits.

Elsewhere … The Pac-12 made its move of the conference basketball tournament to Las Vegas official on Tuesday. … Colorado’s reserves are peaking just in time for the NCAA tournament . … A safety is moving to linebacker for the Buffs football team this spring. …The Cal football team is trying to get its mojo back . … Arizona State began spring practices on Tuesday at a much faster pace . … Ben Howland will return to UCLA next season. Brendan Lane will not. … Kevin O’Neill says his team needs to be in the mix for an NCAA tournament bid next season.

All for now.

Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com . Twitter: @ChristianCaple