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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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WSU waits; UW loses a player

COUGARS • UPDATE 10:10 A.M.; 3:45 P.M.

The Pac-10 men's basketball tournament begins today at the Staples Center, but not for Washington State. No, the Cougars get another day of practice and another day of rest for point guard Reggie Moore's ankle. Read on.

• UPDATE 2: Reggie Moore's ankle has improved enough that he's expected to play Thursday. Moore practiced Wednesday. 

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• Washington State: Though the men aren't playing today, the WSU women are, kicking off their Pac-10 tournament at the Galen Center against USC at 5 p.m. We'll be there for that and will have a story for tomorrow's S-R. ... We will also have an advance of tomorrow's game with Washington (and we should know more about Moore's ankle later), which got infinitely more interesting yesterday with the long-expected charges filed against Venoy Overton, alleging the guard supplied alcohol for a minor. There are links and links and links in the section below that piece of news overshadowed another nugget that may even be more important for the Huskies against WSU. Justin Holiday, who does the majority of the work on Klay Thompson and also adds another outside threat, suffered a concussion last week and may not play. If Holiday can't go, that's a much bigger deal for the Huskies this season than the loss of Overton (though both being out does affect their depth at guard). ... One last thought about injuries. ASU didn't have two of its best players against WSU and won. WSU didn't have two of its best players against UCLA and nearly won. UW may not have two of its best players against WSU and – well, we will find out Thursday night. ... Cougfan has this look at the week ahead and the WSU Football Blog does the same.

• UPDATE: A mea culpa. With all the running around yesterday and last night in the old stompin' grounds, didn't realize the Washington State basketball team's flight from Pullman was cancelled and the Cougars had to put off their trip to LA by a day. They arrived about an hour ago at LAX and are headed out to breakfast then practice. Just one of the perks of playing hoop in the Pac-10's most remote outpost. What's funny is this group has responded to adversity well lately, from the lion's den that is Hec Ed, through the second half of the USC game without Moore, to the UCLA game and all that carried with it. Wonder if having all the problems getting out of Pullman yesterday will actually be a plus.

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• Around the Pac-10: We have to start with the problems in Seattle, mainly because it’s a Washington state school and also because the Huskies are WSU's opponent Thursday. When Overton's charges came down Tuesday, coach Lorenzo Romar acted quickly, in large part because he's known this was coming for a long time. So did the area media, so the response was quick, and in-depth, as well. Both Jerry Brewer (here) and Steve Kelley (here) had columns in the Times, while John McGrath had one in the News Tribune. The news also affects how the Huskies will play, starting Thursday with WSU. ... There are two men's games tonight, and both involve schools from Oregon. First a fully stocked Beavers squad will play Stanford, whose coach, Johnny Dawkins, came under some criticism today – at 6 p.m., then the Ducks meet Arizona State – a rematch of last weekend's game – at 8:30. ... The Pac-10's NCAA chances seem to be dwindling, though, as small as they might be, these guys prove small is OK. ... UCLA's Reeves Nelson is playing his best ball right now, but Malcolm Lee's status is still up in the air . ... The annual Pac-10 writers' survey is out.

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• That's all for this morning. Spent yesterday taking care of some little things around the house for my stepmom, before climbing into a time machine back to 1977 and watching Jackson Browne perform with my best friend. Even wore the same type of pants and shirt I did then, though the sizes have changed considerably. Boy, everyone at the concert was really old. What happened? ... We'll be back from Galen with some notes before the women's game. Until then ...



Vince Grippi
Vince Grippi is a freelance local sports blogger for spokesman.com. He also contributes to the SportsLink Blog.

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