All kinds of happenings on the Palouse
COUGARS
FROM PULLMAN -- Lots of buzz around town this morning, for a couple of different reasons. We've got a ton of content to pass along today, so hurry up and read on.
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We've got so much spring football reading for you that it's not even funny. Not that there's anything particularly funny about spring football to begin with. But first, we'll pass along the WSU basketball game story by correspondent Nick Daschel that appeared in today's newspaper, because the Cougars deserve top billing after the way they dismantled Oregon State last night, led by the career night of Abe Lodwick. And, more importantly, Pittsburgh is coming to Pullman for a 7 p.m. game Monday, the first of a best-of-three series to decide the CBI champion. There was plenty of talk about whether WSU should have bothered accepting a bid to a third-tier postseason tournament. But if part of the deal is a home game against a powerhouse program that would otherwise never consider making this trip? That alone makes this tournament worth it, no? Forget that it's the CBI. Forget that Pitt had a disappointing season. Fact is, the Pittsburgh Panthers are coming to Pullman to play a basketball game in March. If that's not enough to get you into a seat at Beasley Coliseum on Monday, then I'm not sure what you're waiting for. ... We had a short blog post recapping the game, too. ... Here's the take from the Oregon State side. ... Mike Leach spoke with reporters on Wednesday in advance of WSU's first spring football practice today -- we touched on the highlights here -- and we have this story about the installation of the offense, as well. We also continued our series of position previews with looks at the offensive and defensive lines, as well as the linebackers, the defensive backs and the specialists. And we have another short post about why the Cougars are going to practice outside no matter how much it snows. ... Ted Miller writes about the Cougars in this post. ... Bud Withers has this story in the Seattle Times. ... Howie Stalwick has this story in the Kitsap Sun. ... Leach says in this story that he'd prefer a 64-team playoff in college football, among other things. ... Here's the take from the AP. ... I think that's it.
There was one other Pac-12 basketball game last night. Stanford dominated Nevada, taking an 84-56 win to advance to the NIT semifinals in New York. That gives the Pac-12 two teams in the NIT Final Four (Washington is the other).
Elsewhere ... Tad Boyle isn't interested in the Nebraska job. ... Oregon's season was a series of close misses. ... They're talking kickers in Arizona. ... A story about Utah's no-ego coaching staff. ... California is getting over the loss of a certain assistant coach. ... Arizona State's running backs coach likes what he sees. ... At BYU, the defense is dominating spring drills. ... Another examination of the Pac-12's recent basketball swoon. ... Could BYU challenge for the national title? It's a long shot, but don't count them out.
All for now. We'll be back with plenty more from WSU's first practice of the spring later this afternoon.
Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple