Pac Ten Alley

Not much coming out of Montlake this week concerning the football team. UW did reportedly offer a couple of local players, DB Desmond Trufant, and DT Deandre Coleman. LB Marcus Sealey is another guy on their list that will have to wait till they see how his knee responds later this Spring. Sealey was probably the top in state recruit until he blew out his knee wakeboarding last August. UW has a need for LB's in the next recruiting class, expect most, or all of that need to be filled close to home. O'Dea's Allen Mooney, and Edmonds-Woodway's Tony Heard are another pair of local LB's who could get offers this Spring.

One thing that is going on is Randy Hart is leading the Mat Drills twice a week. Mat Drills are pure torture, and garbage cans are kept in the general proximity of the players so they have a place to barf.

The players are also working independently on their 7 on 7 drills. This is pretty important this year since it gives Jake Locker the opportunity to get used to his new, and talented receiving corps before the start of spring practice.

Jake also has reportedly been working out privately with Greg Barton in one of his QB clinics. Hopefully Jake picks up enough to improve his accuracy. The clinics are open to both HS, and college players. The Barton's hold them throughout the Northwest at various times through most of the year. Luther Leonard who will attend UW this Fall has also been a participant.

Beaver Discipline?

Oregon State interim coach Kevin Mouton said on the Pac-10 conference call today that he may take some disciplinary action against the players who were involved in some of the pre-game incidents last week before the Huskies beat the Beavers in Corvallis.

Finally a little buzz

Not exactly the buzz you want to hear because this girl has the chance to be very good. It isn't exactly surprising since she didn't want to come here after Daugherty was fired.

Jess McCormack, a promising 6-foot-5 freshman forward-center for the Washington women's basketball team, has decided to quit the Huskies to pursue playing opportunities elsewhere, coach Tia Jackson said Tuesday.

Nathan Ware

Most interesting to me is the common notion that six Pac-10 teams will get bids to the NCAA tournament. After breaking down the numbers, I think it's very possible that only 5 teams get bids. The impetus behind this statement is that precedent tells us that Pac-10 teams need a .500 or better record to get a bid. Additionally, it's difficult to get into the NCAA tournament if you have less than 20 wins. USC, Cal, ASU, and Oregon will have to win some big games down the stretch to achieve a .500 conference record and/or 20 wins.

The latest from Malamute

Malamute takes a look at past recruiting mistakes.

Pac Ten Alley

It is that time once again when we take a walk down the coast to see what the neighbors are up to.

We start with the Ducks who split with the Washington schools last week.

Oregon, which made 32 3-pointers and averaged 81.5 points in its two previous games, was held to four 3-pointers on 17 attempts and 25.9 points below its season scoring average despite shooting 49 percent from the field.

The Lopez twins have put Stanford in a position to possibly win the Pac Ten title.

So Stanford and Arizona break from a timeout with 29 seconds left and Brent starts talking about which Lopez is going to get the ball. I’m thinking, Which Lopez? Every human on the planet (and many non-humans) knew which Lopez is going to get the ball — the Lopez that always gets the ball. I’m also thinking, how bad can Musburger be? And then he gets worse. Next comes the biggest play of the game, and he blew it royally.

An Arizona freshman wins player of the week honors.

Arizona freshman guard Jerryd Bayless was selected the Pac-10 men's basketball player of the week after averaging 32.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 5.0 assists in games against Cal and Stanford. Bayless made 16 of 36 shots, including 5 of 13 3-point attempts. He made 26 of 28 free throws.

Jeff Tedford is all choked up about his recruiting class.

Jeff Tedford begins to speak, and you immediately can tell Cal's football coach is congested. He coughs every so often, confirming he's contracted a bad case of the flu. "I'm much better today," Tedford says. "You should have heard me yesterday."

Jake does an excellent job with the Oregon state blog, too bad he doesn't have much to work with this Winter.

After a strong performance against the LA schools three weeks ago and then a slump last week, Lathen Wallace returns to the top of the shooting chart again. He led the Beavers in shooting percentage when the Beavs played UCLA and USC in late January. It's good to see the former Jefferson High School star fight for his minutes and find a chance to score, especially because of Oregon State' shooting woes this season.

USC's Hazleton undergoes a very nasty surgery.

USC wide receiver Vidal Hazelton underwent surgery for two muscle tears in his stomach that bothered him most of last season. Hazelton played last season with what was thought to be a groin injury, but turned out to be multiple stomach tears. He is expected to be fully recovered for spring practice, which begins next month. The surgery was performed in Philadelphia by Dr. William Meyers of Drexel University. USC rarely sends an athlete to the Northeast for an operation, but Hazelton's family insisted the surgery be performed by an expert in abdominal surgery.

The fued continues to build in Arizona.

This Sun Devil dominance has left many cat fans clueless and unprepared (just like their degrees do- Zing!) for encounters with Sun Devil fans who have been basking in the glory of their recent success. Apparently Arizona Athletic Director Jim Livengood felt they should all be on the same page.

UCLA is trying to plug some holes in the defensive line this Spring.

Senior Nate Skaggs, who spent the last two seasons on the offensive line, is moving back to the defensive line during spring practice. He will be at defensive tackle. Skaggs began his career as a defensive tackle, but was moved to center for the 2005 Sun Bowl because of injuries and started the game. He was a reserve in 2006 and 2007, but is being shifted back to defense in an effort to bolster UCLA's defensive tackle depth. In 2005, Skaggs made two starts at defensive tackle, including the season opener at San Diego State. He appeared in seven games.

WSU is licking it's chops over the prospect of having another Trufant attend school in Pullman. The money though is on Desmond to attend UW.

As we bask in the glow of the Oregon win (more on that in a moment), some actual football recruiting buzz is starting to percolate. What do you know? Desmond Trufant has been making a name for himself down in Tacoma, and is drawing raves from all over. And I guess Wulff meant it when he said that right after signing day they are already working on next year's class. Wulff has already stepped up and offered Trufant a full ride (what a difference with this coaching staff?).