Washington State will have its first practice of the spring at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow in Martin Stadium.

The practice is open to the public, but if you want a sneak peak at what the new WSU defense will look like under Alex Grinch, just watch the Philadelphia Eagles.

That's what the Cougars are doing.

Grinch was good enough to sit down with me and watch a little film and lay out his vision for his first spring in Pullman, which I lay out in this story for today's paper. For one, he wants a speedy defense, and the Cougars will ride the wave of schools spending most of the time in sub packages by primarily employing a nickel defense.

And now, I must make a confession. I won't be at practice on Thursday or Saturday because I'm helping out with our coverage of Gonzaga's NCAA tournament run. But our man Sean Kramer will make the trip over from Moscow to cover Thursday's helmets-only practice.

I also put together a list of 10 players to keep an eye on if you make it out to any of the practices this spring. If you can't make the trek, I'm sure they will all make frequent appearances in our practice reports.

Now for the links …

-- The WSU baseball team's freshman got a hard lesson last week in what life is like in the rugged Pac-12.

-- Jim Meehan has a story about the last time Gonzaga faced UCLA in the NCAA tournament and spoke with former Bulldog Adam Morrison, whose on-court anguish became a symbol for some of GU's struggles to make a deep tournament run.

-- The biggest news in the Pac-12 yesterday was Arizona State firing basketball coach Herb Sendek.

-- Somehow Dana Altman is already the fourth-longest tenured Pac-12 basketball coach.

-- Ted Miller looks at the 10 biggest Pac-12 football upsets since 2000.

-- A former UW safety is part of HBO's special on head injuries.

-- T.J. McConnell is already training his replacement.

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