THE MORNING PAPER: No. 3 WSU at No. 2 Arkansas

Here's the best of what's around the Internet this morning to get you ready for today's NCAA Regional-opening matchup between the Cougs and Arkansas. First pitch is slated for 11 a.m., and we do believe that you can catch the game for free via Oklahoma's "regional central" site. So we've got that going for us. Which is nice.

Here are the links:

• First, if you didn't catch Dancing Football's awesome post last night about the remarkable improvement of Matt Way, make sure you do that. It's good.
• Here are the official SID game notes from WSU. (Well worth the perusal time if you have it.)
• There are a handful of previews out there on the game. The Spokesman-Review's Steve Bergum takes a look at the "Friday Night Guys" for WSU and Gonzaga.
  
• The Seattle Times' Bud Withers focuses on the familiarity between the two teams, as does this preview from the Northwest Arkansas Times.
  
• Freelancer Howie Stalwick writes about the renaissance of baseball in the northwest. 
• On the Arkansas side, you can get all the skinny on the Razorbacks from the Hog Blog at the Northwest Arkansas Morning News. There is some good stuff in there.
• Lastly, if you're feeling nostalgic, The Spokesman-Review's John Blanchette catches up with the patriarchs of WSU and Gonzaga baseball, while Cougfan.com writes about the original WSU two-sport superstar, Gene Conley.

That's all for now. We'll be back at 10 a.m. with the Game Thread.

Hat tip to Vince Grippi at the S-R's SportsLink for digging up a couple of these links that I didn't find myself.