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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Morning links: digesting WSU’s basketball season

Washington State will not be one of the 75 or so teams earnestly huddled around TVs at 3 p.m. today earnestly awaiting their NCAA tournament fate.

For the Cougars, the 2014-15 season is almost certainly in the books. So in the paper today we took a look at the WSU season that was, why the Cougars could be better next year and how they might be worse.

In a week there will only be 16 teams left with a shot at a national championship, but for now lots of teams are still living that dream. That includes a couple area teams: Gonzaga and Eastern Washington. Seattle University almost made it, falling to New Mexico State in the WAC championship game last night, meaning we were this close to seeing a scenario in which three teams from the State of Washington make it to March Madness and none of them coming from the Pac-12.

Arizona will certainly make the tournament after thumping Oregon in the Pac-12 championship last night. The Wildcats sure looked the part of a No. 1 seed, but will likely settle for No. 2 seed today. Utah is likely to be the conference's only other tournament team, probably joining the Wildcats in Portland.

In other Pac-12 news …

-- Joe Pistorese pitched a gem for WSU last night to give the Cougars a 4-2 upset at No. 6 USC.

-- One of the state's best juniors has decided to play football at Washington.

-- Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott spoke a little more about freshman ineligibility yesterday.

-- California is hoping that some junior college transfers can get the Golden Bears back to a bowl game.

-- A Colorado offensive lineman is facing assault charges after a fight.



Jacob Thorpe
Jacob Thorpe joined The Spokesman-Review in 2013. He currently is a reporter for the Sports Desk covering Washington State University athletics.

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