The Cougs wrapped up a two-game home stand against the Southern California schools; they beat the Trojans and lost to the Bruins. Now they head on the road for four games against the Oregon and Mountain schools.

This trip has the Cougs playing three teams that are in the bottom of half of the conference, and one team that is in the national top-25 polls. As for the Cougs, they are sitting right in the middle; they are also playing their best basketball of the season, and a 3-1 road trip isn't completely out of the question. That being said, a 0-4 road trip is also within the realm of possibilities, especially with a squad as inexperienced as Washington State's is at this point in the season.

Right now the Cougs are sitting at 9-14 5-7 and sixth in the conference. If they can finish this road trip at 3-1, they would end up at .500 in Conference play; and guarantee, at worse, a 8-10 finish in Pac-12 play. That is an obvious improvement over their 5-13 finish in conference last season. There is also the fact that this squad is very young; of its 15 players, six are freshmen and three are sophomores. An 8-10 finish in conference play would not only guarantee a solid seed heading into the Conference Tournament in Seattle. It could be a great launching point for next season.

For these reasons among others, this road trip is huge, not just for the decent seeding in the conference tournament but for the future of this program. This season could very well end up marking the turning point of the women's program; and make them a legitimate threat in the Pac-12.

Of course, now that I've written this post the Cougs are going to lose out.