Football, hoops news collide

COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN — Between the basketball team’s preparation for Pittsburgh, Brock Motum’s right ankle and the football team continuing spring practices, there was some scrambling to be done down at Bohler yesterday. But that’s what makes this job fun. Read on for the results.

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We’ll start with the most  pressing news of the day, which is that of Brock Motum’s right ankle. The bottom line: it’s not looking as if the junior forward is going to play on Monday. Coach Ken Bone termed the chances of Motum’s return “slim,” and it sounds as if the goal at this point is to get him healthy enough to play by Wednesday. We had a story in the newspaper and a blog post on the subject. … Meanwhile, Day 2 of the Mike Leach Spring Experience (that’s a new, unoriginal working title) unfolded on Rogers Field. It was a little warmer this time around. We wrapped up the day in this blog post , and wrote a little about the receivers for our story in the newspaper. Check back later today for our video interview with linebacker Eric Oertel. The Cougars are off until Tuesday. … Howie Stalwick writes about Travis Long’s increasing versatility in this Kitsap Sun story. … Stalwick also has a story about Motum . … Bud Withers also writes in the Seattle Times about Motum’s health . … CougCenter has a spring practice recap . … Klay Thompson scored a career-high 31 points in Golden State’s win over Sacramento last night. … A WSU spokesman said Saturday that 1,300 tickets have been sold for Monday’s game, not counting students. … On a semi-related note, I’m semi-ashamed that I forgot to link that Nick LaRoy story yesterday that Vince so kindly passed along. Not only was it WSU related, but it was in my hometown paper and I knew it was going to run. I even worked with LaRoy’s brother, Mike, for a summer on the Cowlitz County road crew. Oops.

Around the Pac-12 … Arizona is being brought along slowly in its first year under new coach Rich Rodriguez. … Utah’s offensive coordinator is not, in fact, an idiot . This Utah linebacker requires refreshment . … Stanford basketball coach Johnny Dawkins says he isn’t interested in the Illinois job. … A former USC linebacker’s transition to running back is permanent . … UCLA lost a quarterback . … The NIT is a ” big deal ” to Washington. Lorenzo Romar sold his team on getting excited to play in it . … BYU’s scrimmage was dominated by the defense .

That’s all I’ve got this morning. Enjoy your Sunday.

Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com . Twitter: @ChristianCaple