Monday morning around WSU
COUGARS
An interesting Monday morning ... and not just because it's snowing/raining in Spokane. No, it's interesting on a couple of fronts, with basketball news from around the West Coast and football news out of Eugene. Read on.
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• Washington State: So I hope I didn't destroy that new-fangled machine called television too much when I made an appearance on KXLY's Cougar basketball show last night. Why anyone would want to look at my mug in regular definition, let alone high definition, is beyond me. Notice I didn't give you any warning here. No way I wanted a bunch of you tuning in and making fun of me for the rest of my life. This week, OK. The rest of my life, no. ... There has been a lot of conversation here about James Watson and his playing time. Maybe I've been a tad remiss, but I figured the reasons were pretty self-explanatory. After all, if Watson had been suspended or disciplined, you would have heard about it here, you can be sure about that. Absent such news, you can make the small leap that it's a coaching decision, right? Which it is. One given in college basketball is the guys nearest the scoring table, the coaches, want to win. It's their paramount concern, for obvious reasons. And Ken Bone is no different. He's going to put the guys on the court he believes will help him win. Recently, at the backup center spot, he believes it is Charlie Enquist. Why? A variety of reasons, but the two primary ones are Enquist does a much better job executing the offensive and defensive assignments and his length made him a better match-up against the Cougars' recent competition. So he's been playing. Next week it could be Watson's turn. ... Sorry, no WSU-related links today.
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• Around the Pac-10: Lots of sad news coming out of Eugene, where a member of the football team was attacked and beaten severely enough to need hospitalization this weekend. Plus, two football players were accused of theft by a fraternity member. The names were not included in the Register-Guard story but were included in the Buster Sports report. ... Switching gears to basketball, but staying in Eugene, coach Ernie Kent, whose team is in the cellar of the Pac-10 and should really have just one Pac-10 win, is making changes. ... Before the Huskies play WSU on Saturday, they face Seattle U. on Tuesday night. I sat a row behind coach Lorenzo Romar on the flight up from Los Angeles yesterday, and, after he spent a long time dissecting the USC tape, he attacked the Seattle U. DVD with gusto. It's an important game for the Redhawks as well. ... After blowing out ASU in Tempe on Saturday night, Arizona has a chance to be playing for the top spot in the conference this weekend. ... Finally, a look back at some of the better quotes from the weekend just past.
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• That's it for this morning. We'll post as events warrant. Until later …
