COUGARS • UPDATED: 11:20 A.M.

As we start a new week, the first week of Pac-10 basketball play, we take a little time to look around the conference and see what's what. For more, read on.

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• Washington State: If you remember, the Cougars received three points in the Associated Press poll and two in the coaches' last week. Let's see how they do this week. ... Don Ruiz, who covers Washington for the News Tribune, looks at how the Cougars early season play may affect their perception around the league and the league race. ... Catching up with the Butler defeat (we took yesterday off, went to breakfast and "True Grit" with Kim before spending the evening eating leftovers and playing video games) a day late, there is this story from the Honolulu Star. ... CougCenter had this report. ... That's it for today. We'll be on our way to Los Angeles soon, but before we head out, we'll have a preview of the Pac-10 race – I'm sticking with my preseason prediction of WSU finishing third – and a couple other items. ... UPDATE: The rankings are out and WSU got a couple more votes but not a lot.

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• Around the Pac-10: A few links from around the conference mixing a little football in with the basketball. ... Percy Allen has his Pac-10 power poll, with USC on top. ... Oregon has found someone to imitate Can Newton and no, it's not JaMarcus Russell. ... A quick roundtable before Pac-10 hoops play opens. ... Arizona still has one more football game to play. ... And, finally, this link from the LA Times. My dad used to tell me about this every time we went to a UCLA game and the Bruin rooting section started its flip-card stunts.

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• That's all for now. We'll be back as news warrants. Until then ...

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