Cougars aiming for rare sweep of Huskies

Good morning. This might come as a surprise to you lifelong Cougar fans, but our football and basketball teams haven't had much success against the team from the other side of the Cascades. While we are painfully aware of the heartbreak we've experienced on the football field, the results from basketball court haven't been much better.

In the last 20 years, WSU has swept the season series with Washington exactly four times. If you don't count the times a guy with the surname of Bennett was leading the team, that figure drops to one. There was a time not too long ago when WSU owned this series. For three years, WSU won seven straight against Washington, including a win in the Pac-12 Tournament.

The one other time WSU swept UW was 2010-2011, winning 87-80 in Pullman and 80-69 in Seattle. Even then, though, the Huskies had the last laugh. Despite Klay Thompson's Pac-10 Tournament record 43 points, UW beat WSU 89-87, sealing WSU's NIT fate. This is a long way of saying we've not seen our Cougs have much success against Washington (or anyone else, if we're being honest) on the hardwood. That makes Sunday night's opportunity a bit special, even if it is (once again) amid a forgetful season.

After a less-than-inspiring nonconference season, WSU opened Pac-12 play with a somewhat stunning win in Seattle. In the interim, that result has become less surprising, as Washington has turned out to be pretty damn terrible despite having a top three NBA draft pick in the lineup. UW enters the game 0-for-February, having lost nine straight overall. They sit just one game out of the cellar.

A win Sunday night clinches no worse than tenth place for WSU, and would move them into a logjam for seventh place with Colorado, Stanford and ASU. That is to say Sunday's game looms pretty large in terms of Pac-12 Tournament seeding. The game starts at 5:30, and can be seen on ESPNU. The oddsmakers are calling it a tossup. Given that Andrew Andrews isn't around to murder our hopes yet again, WSU has its best chance to sweep the Huskies in quite a while.

Basketball

Ernie Kent says Washington is lucky to have Lorenzo Romar | The Spokesman-Review
Lorenzo Romar is probably thankful that WSU has Ernie Kent.

In 121 years, Huskies men have never lost 10 straight. Can they avoid history vs. WSU? | The Seattle Times
Never in the 121-year history of the Washington men’s basketball program have the Huskies lost 10 straight games in a season.

Pac-12 basketball power ratings
Uh, no. Just...no.

Cougs Finish The Regular Season With A Bang, Downing Colorado 67-56 - WSUCougars.com | Washington State University Athletics
From the first possession until the last the Cougars (11-18, 6-12 Pac-12) kept control of the contest against the Buffs (15-14, 5-13 Pac-12) en route to earning the season split and securing at worst an eighth place finish in the loaded Pac-12.

Football

2017 Prespring Rankings: No. 34 Washington State Cougars | College Football News
Technically, WSU beat two bowl teams last season. Still, much of this is pretty accurate.

Pac-12's best position groups: North Division
Strength doesn't always lie in numbers here as it often does at running back or wide receiver. Sometimes that strength comes in the form of a single player, and when you're a three-year starting quarterback in Mike Leach's Air Raid offense, you are the strength.

Beer

Best beer I had this week: Broke out a Ballast Point Watermelon Dorado Saturday. Still one of the best IPAs I've ever had.

The Craft Beer Guide to Spring Training :: Drink :: Lists :: baseball :: Paste
Pro baseball teams are heading to Arizona and Florida for spring training, and we've got your guide for making the most out of each training league's beer scene.

Non-Sports

Embedding with an Uber Driver at Super Bowl 51 | The MMQB with Peter King
On the Friday before The Big One, we rode shotgun with an Uber driver desperate to cash in by shuttling revelers (with varying levels of rudeness and/or belligerence) around a rocking Houston