Live chat, and a busy WSU Thursday

COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN — Washington State returns to the court later tonight. Way later tonight. The Cougars play Arizona State at 8 p.m., which, of course, is the start time that every sports writer dreams about. In our nightmares. Read on.

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First, a note that we’ll hold a live chat at 1 p.m. today. … We took a bit of a different approach with our advance of the game in today’s newspaper, examining some of the numbers behind WSU’s eight “close-game” losses, the defintion of a “close game” being one in which WSU led at some point in the second half. We also have this short item in our area roundup and a short capsule previewing the weekend. … We spoke for a while yesterday with former WSU football coach Paul Wulff, who is coaching with the 49ers in the Super Bowl, and wrote this story . … ASU is emerging as a surprise contender for the Pac-12 title. … A good story here about Steve Gleason and his fighting spirit . And another one here. … Here’s a preview of tonight’s game from Howie Stalwick.

Around the Pac-12 … Two games yesterday, and two surprises. USC started the party by beating UCLA, 75-71 in overtime, at Pauley Pavilion . … Stanford was a 3-point favorite at home against shorthanded Oregon, but the Cardinal’s 76-52 drubbing of the Ducks was still a pretty big shocker . … Arizona visits Washington tonight (6 p.m., ESPN), and the Wildcats haven’t had a lot of success in Seattle recently. This week could tell a lot about the Huskies. … Oregon State is desperate to turn its season around as it plays at California tonight (7 p.m., ESPNU). … An odd development in Utah as one of its players is taking an indefinite leave from the team. … A Colorado player does a good job of inspiring his more talented teammates.

That’s all for now. See you at 1 p.m.

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