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FROM BERKELEY — After going one season without visiting the Bay Area, the Washington State men's basketball team is back in Haas Pavilion to take on California. We have thoughts about today's game, as usual. Read on.

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Driving from Pullman to Spokane late last night, the wind was blowing so hard out of the south, my car seemed to be flying. I swear I must have gotten about 45 miles to the gallon in the old Honda. But the fact the gas gauge seemed to be going up the farther I traveled was an optical illusion, I'm sure. Just like Jorge Gutierrez's last shot Saturday night. It didn't get below the rim before it popped out, did it? Couldn't have. For more on the Cougars' 75-71 victory, and the rest of the night in the Pac-10, read on.

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With a relatively early game today, we can actually write a postgame post that will serve, in part, a role usually reserved for the morning after. Of course, we'll back with the links tomorrow, but tonight we have some thoughts and comments from the participants, so read on.

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I'm not going to bore you with a long halftime post because everyone on the court today seems to be having on off day, from both teams to the three officials. There have been, combined between the teams, five air balls, 39 missed shots, 19 turnovers and only 8 assists. You could say both teams are playing tenacious defense but when the teams have combined to hit just 4 of 10 free throws, that sort of tells the story. Lets just see what happens in the final 20 minutes.

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When a player of Allen Crabbe's caliber (15.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 79.6 percent free-throw shooter) is injured and unable to play, it changes things for both teams. That's the thrust of our pregame post, so read on.

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I've been sitting in front of the computer for more than a few minutes trying to decide what to write about on this darn lead-in. Can't think of anything, let alone anything clever. I'm giving up. Read on for more Washington State notes and links.

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A Washington State redshirt freshman cornerback was arrested on felony theft charges earlier this week and suspended from the football team. For more, read on.

We’re headed for an early end to the night, but before we go we wanted to pass along a couple links and some news about Reid Forrest. Read on.

There’s a lot to get to this morning, and by a lot I mean so much my eyes are watering from reading, so let’s get right to all the football news. Before we do, just a reminder that today is the first day of basketball’s early signing period, so we will have a post soon concerning the two players Washington State is expected to sign today. Coach Ken Bone is also holding a news conference this morning that we will attend. There is already some basketball news on the link, so read on.

UPDATE: WSU announced the signings of Davonte Lacy and Greg Sequele to basketball letters-of-intent this morning. We’ll have more, as we said on the link earlier, after we talk with Bone.

The wind was up, the temperature down and, when it was all said and down, the defense did some up-downs. For more on Washington State football, and some on basketball, read on.

There have been shrieks of disgust from the soccer fans downstairs, but we’ve ignored them as we pounded out the follow to Washington State’s 20-13 defeat to California on Saturday. That elicited shrieks of disgust as well, we’re sure. Read on.

This is the 10th in a 12-episode installment entitled, WSU, The Day After. In nine of those installments, one of the other words in the title has had to be some form of the word defeat. Same with today. Read on.

As this one was on television, you had the opportunity to watch what could never be described as an artful football game. But it was tight, coming down the fourth quarter. We have more on the link, so read on.

This is the 10th game in a 12-game season. We have some thoughts on the first nine and what might happen today, so read on.

The morning has broken warm, if not sunny, with the temperature expected to be in the low 60s during the game. Is this Pullman in mid-November or Vegas? OK, that comparison made even me laugh. Let’s get to the morning links before I write something else really dumb. Read on.

Boy, is there a lot to go over this morning. Last night we published Washington State’s 2011 Pac-12 football schedule for you and this morning there is basketball news to go over. Let’s get right to it. Read on.

The usual Thursday practice is finished, with Washington State running through the game plan on both sides of the ball. We have more from the workout, plus cover what coach Paul Wulff had to say in his press conference, so read on.

• UPDATE: We have a story on the 2011 Washington State football schedule in today’s S-R. The Cougars open Pac-12 play at Colorado, also play UCLA on the road. Host Utah and ASU from the South Division. All the games can be found below.

Sitting with my fingers on the keyboard as the seconds pass, I realize nothing witty is going to come. Not even half that. So we type a few words and tell you there is plenty of Washington State news and information on the link, so read on.

When Paul Wulff walked up to talk about practice Wednesday afternoon, the first question concerned the loud nature of practice. Not people yelling. The sound pads make when they bang together. Hard. Read on.

Think about this. When Washington State’s football schedule was first revealed last season, this was the bye week. Yep, after nine consecutive weeks, the Cougars were going to get one off. But the Pac-10 needed to make some adjustments to the schedule. The easiest decision was to move the WSU game with California to this week. Some discussion, some money and bingo, the Cougars are playing 11 consecutive weeks. For more WSU football news, read on.