Cougars face Huskies looking for sweeps

Good morning, Cougar fans. It's another busy Sunday for Cougar Athletics, as both the men's and women's basketball teams face Washington in what either is or isn't known as the Apple Cup of basketball, depending on who you talk to. It's a rare college hoops double-header in Beasley Coliseum, with the women taking the court first at 1 p.m., followed by the men at 5:30.

The men are looking for their first sweep of Washington since 2010-2011, when the team featured some guy named Thompson. Washington comes to Pullman in significantly worse shape than they were when WSU beat them on January 10. Robert Upshaw was still on the team, UW was 11-3 at the time and despite dropping their first two conference games on the road, was still looking in good shape for a tournament bid. Oh how times have changed.

The Huskies have now lost seven straight games, their longest such streak since 2000-01. Despite the anticipated return of Jernard Jarreau from injury, this is a really good opportunity for the Cougars to sweep the season series. Another positive is that the game is actually on a channel not named Pac-12 Networks. Hooray! WSU enters the game as a one point favorite, and sources close to me are indicating that if the Cougs pull off the win, Michael Preston will get a Josh Hawkinson tattoo to match his Ernie Kent body art.

On the women's side, this is a critical game for the Cougars. They took a huge step toward resuscitating their postseason hopes with a win at Washington Friday night. That gives the Cougs three straight over the Huskies. A win Sunday would give them another quality victory, since UW is a near lock for the tournament at 19-8/8-7. If they can somehow win out over UW, USC and UCLA, they stand a good shot at receiving an NCAA Tournament bid.

On the baseball diamond, the Cougars guaranteed themselves no worse than a 2-2 record at the Pac-12/Big-12 Challenge in Arizona. They rallied from two deficits, and put the game away by scoring four runs in the decisive seventh inning. One good sign is they were able to overcome a shaky outing from the usually-reliable Joe Pistorese, who labored through three innings. The Cougs conclude their series in Arizona Sunday with an early game against Kansas State. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m.

Finally, Saturday was Vince Mayle's workout day at the NFL Combine. You can check out the raw statistics from his performance here, and Cougfan wrote up a pretty good summary as well. One thing that likely hindered Mayle is the fact that he apparently suffered a broken thumb during his week at the Senior Bowl. Despite that, he gutted his way through the pass catching drills. After looking at how things went for him, let's hope he rebounds for his Pro Day, which is scheduled for March 12.

Basketball

Cougars men expect to face quicker Huskies team tonight in Pullman - Spokesman.com - Feb. 22, 2015
Since Washington State beat Washington in Pac-12 men’s basketball in Seattle two months ago, the Huskies have seen their NCAA tournament hopes flushed, booted their best player and lost their last seven games.

PULLMAN: Huskies missed on Shoreline native Josh Hawkinson, now a double-double machine at Washington State | University of Washington | The News Tribune
Hawkinson committed to Washington State, the only Pac-12 school to offer him a scholarship. That proved to be a wise decision for both parties: now a sophomore, Hawkinson is the only Pac-12 player averaging a double-double, scoring 14.4 points and grabbing 10.5 rebounds per game.

WSU's attendance could skyrocket on Sunday | The Spokesman-Review
Playing the Huskies has been a surefire way to get people in Beasley Coliseum and since the 2005-06 season the UW game has had around 2,800 more attendees than the WSU home average.

Cougars Wrap Up Rivalry Week Hosting Washington Sunday - Washington State University Official Athletic Site
Washington State (15-11, 6-9) will face rival University of Washington (19-8, 8-7) again Sunday two days after posting an 83-72 victory in Seattle, this time in Beasley Coliseum. Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks.

Baseball

Timely Hitting Lifts WSU Over Kansas - Washington State University Official Athletic Site
Aggressive baserunning and four late runs proved to be enough as the Washington State baseball team topped Kansas, 8-5, on day three of the Pac-12/Big 12 Challenge. The victory improves the Cougars to 4-3 on the season, while the Jayhawks fall to 2-4.

Football

Biggest shoes to fill for Washington State Cougars - ESPN
With that, almost by default, we look to the other side of the ball, where there are plenty of gaps to plug. Most notably: Cooper. At 6-foot -4 and 299 pounds, the defensive tackle experienced enough success over the past three seasons to convince himself he was ready for the NFL draft.

Mike Leach – WSU Cougars | 1170 KPUG-AM
If you'd like to hear Mike Leach talk about the new recruiting class, he joined KPUG on what is now my favorite sponsored phone line, the Angel of the Winds Casino Zone Phone.

Scout.com: 2015 Pre-Preseason Pac-12 North Rankings
Someone should let the fine folks at CFN know that Cheetah is not actually back.

Beer

The most expensive ingredient in beer? It’s not hops, it’s taxes.
So upon retirement in 2019, I'm either living in Wyoming or moving to DC to become a craft beer lobbyist.

Craft beer drinkers just love their IPAs
I realize that IPAs come in many forms and flavors, but still, BOOOOOOOOO.

Non-Sports

How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life - NYTimes.com
The last three sentences of this article couldn't be more perfect.