No Cougs on Thursday, but plenty of Pac-12 action
COUGARS
FROM PULLMAN -- It felt a little strange to sit at home and watch basketball on a Thursday night. But there was some quality action in the Pac-12, even with the Cougars idle as they await their Sunday game at Washington. Read on for a link-aided summary of Thursday's games.
...
On the WSU front, we guide you to our update from last night of the Cougar football strength coach saga, with Kansas State denying that Chris Dawson is headed to WSU despite Dawson being listed in WSU's faculty directory. Again, the word is that Dawson has been torn over this decision for some time, and now it appears he may be staying in Manhattan. Though nothing would surprise at this point. ... Jayda Evans of The Seattle Times profiles June Daugherty in advance of the women's team hosting the Huskies this weekend. Interesting quote from Bill Moos in that story, in which he very politely wonders just exactly why Daugherty was fired at Washington. Two words, Bill: Todd Turner. Although the Huskies' winning streak, which could very well come to an end this weekend, has remained intact. ... Ryan Divish at the News Tribune conveniently embeds Ken Bone's segment with KJR AM into this blog post. Bone addresses the rotation and trying to re-integrate players like Faisal Aden, Abe Lodwick and Mike Ladd. Divish also notes that Bone was in Tacoma on Wednesday night to watch Treshaun Lexing, a junior guard at Lincoln High School.
Around the Pac-12: Percy Allen offers his midseason analysis of the UW basketball team. ... The Huskies hired Oregon State's defensive backs coach to fill the same role at Washington, though I'm not sure why, since UW's pass defense has been so stellar the past 10 years. ... It's always interesting to gauge the reactions from either side after a close game. In Salt Lake, the Utes are lamenting that they came oh-so-close but couldn't seal the deal in a 68-65 loss to Stanford. In Palo Alto, they're saying the Cardinal's win should have been much, much easier. ... And over in Berkeley, the Golden Bears had to grind for a 57-50 win over Colorado. Jorge Gutierrez didn't play well, but Colorado coach Tad Boyle still wishes the Cal guard played for him. ... Oregon led early and held on for a 67-58 win over Arizona State, which failed to protect its home court. ... Arizona and Oregon State nearly brawled at the McKale Center. When the dust settled -- and after a player from each team was ejected -- the Wildcats held on for an 81-73 victory in overtime. That's five overtimes for OSU in its last two games, though Greg Hansen thinks the Beavers are still a team on the rise. ... Like WSU, UCLA and USC must wait until Sunday to play this week. When they do, Josh Smith might be in a little better shape than he was earlier this season. Or, at least, he better be, says USC coach Kevin O'Neil, if he wants to play at the next level. Nothing like being called out by your rivals' coach for a little motivation, eh? ... Things aren't going so well for the Trojans on the hardwood, though they'll honor former USC great Harold Miner this weekend. And at least the football prospects are looking up. They're going into the spring with some depth issues at running back, though.
...
All for now. We're making the drive to Seattle tonight, but will be back before the drive with some notes from Lorenzo Romar's 12:45 conference call. Until then ...
Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple