WSU and Moos continue talks
COUGARS
The biggest question in Pullman today: What did President Elson S. Floyd serve for dinner last night? Inquiring minds want to know. My guess is beef. We kid because we could care less. Anyhow, no one, as of yet anyway, seems to have a beef with WSU's dance with Bill Moos (sorry, bad pun). We have news and notes on the link, so read on.
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• Washington State: We'll start with our story. If I were a betting man, and I most certainly am not, I would bet everything will go smoothly today and Moos and WSU will come to some sort of agreement that is announced Friday, Saturday or Monday. Then again, and yes, I'm covering my behind here, something untoward could happen today and a search committee would be put together Friday, Saturday or Monday, pushing an AD hire back into next month. The odds on the latter are probably greater than last year's Cougs winning the USC game. ... The Moos courtship is the subject of John Blanchette's column this morning. ... From outside the Palouse, Jim Moore takes a look at the athletic director intrigue of the past few days, while freelancer Howie Stalwick had this column in the Kitsap Sun. ... More on Jim Sterk's hire in San Diego (nice headline). ... Let's get back on the court – and field – shall we? ... In football news, WSU made special team coach Dave Ungerer's hire official, though it wasn't any secret. He'll also coach the running backs, something I wasn't sure about. ... Stalwick has some notes from Bone's teleconference Tuesday (you can listen to the whole deal on CougCenter). ... I also found this story, that doesn't have a byline, on the Arizona Daily Star website. There is one glaring problem. Bone's T wasn't because he was arguing about Klay Thompson's missed 3-pointer. He was specifically asked about that after the game. He was still miffed, and arguing about, the Thompson turnover a possession before. I'm pointing this out because though we reported it that way, a paper in the Bay Area reported it the other way – without asking anyone – and it seems to have become accepted fact. Too bad. ... CougCenter looks at Sterk's legacy. ... The WSU Football Blog begins a position preview series with quarterbacks in the run-up to spring football, which starts March 25.
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• Around the Pac-10: Bud Withers tells us to throw out our history books, because precedent won't give you a clue about the Pac-10 and the NCAAs this season. He's right of course. ... Oregon State will be hosting Cal on Thursday, with the Bears knowing they were lucky to hang on in Berkeley. ... The Ducks have Stanford, and they should have guard LeKendric Longmire available. ... USC has a tough assignment Thursday, and we're not talking about playing at Washington. No, the Trojans go before the NCAA's Infractions Committee. ... Like WSU, Thursday's opponent, UCLA, is hoping to be ready to play its best basketball at the Pac-10 Tournament. ... Nikola Dragovic will make his last visit to Pullman. With Nikola Koprivica's parents in town, the population of Serbian speakers within the city limits will probably triple this week. ... Down in the desert, Sean Miller is still ticked off about last Saturday's defeat to OSU. ... Trent Lockett has helped ASU stay in the Pac-10 title chase.
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• That's it for this morning. We'll be back this afternoon with our basketball story, then be heading over the Moos' meet-and-greet with the campus community. Until then ...
