Pac Ten Alley

Not exactly a lot of stuff going on this week in Huskyland. Ty still has not announced a final assistant to round out his staff which leads to speculation that he is having a tough time finding someone to take the job. I disagree, I think it is just Ty being Ty, and Ty always takes his time. We still have over a month to go until Spring practice so he still has plenty of time to make his choice.

The Husky basketball team tries to salvage the basketball season in the Bay area this week playing Stanford, and California. I have no idea if they will show up or not after Saturdays game against ASU. They do seem to respond best with their back against the wall.

Spring Practice will start in April 3rd and wind up with the Spring game on April 26th. Teams only get 15 practices during the Spring with twelve being in pads. the Spring game wil coencide with lots of activities going on around campus.

UW baseball split a 4-game series at UC-Riverside over the weekend.

Ted Miller is leaving the PI to take a position at ESPN. I am going to miss Ted because he was probably the most knowledgable college football guy in the Northwest. Jim Moore will be stepping up to fill his void which is scary.

Terence Thomas's mother's condition has improved, thanks for all the prayers sent in that direction.

Pac Ten Alley

Once again it is time to take a walk down the coast to see what the neighbors are up to.

This week we check in with Addicted to Quack to see what is going on. They have something in common with Michael Wines blog, not much going on as the Oregon basketball team is fighting with Washington for eight place. I will say one nice thing about the Duck basketball team and that they are doing extremely well academically which is very nice to see in college hoops, and a credit to coach Ernie Kent.

Dear God, these jerseys are beyond bad. Lets salvage some pride and get the Bruins.

Seattle native Trent Johnson gets a well deserved extension at Stanford.

Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby confirmed via email Monday afternoon that a contract extension is in the works for Trent Johnson, whose five-year deal was set to expire after next season. I wrote a short news story for the Tuesday edition of the Mercury News (will provide the link here when it’s available), but I wanted to add a few thoughts and open the Hotline comment boards to the subject. Casual Stanford fans might not have realized that Johnson was approaching the final year of his deal, or that his future on The Farm was even an issue.

Arizona's basketball team is fading, but the Wildcats are cheering for Antoine Cason's performance at the NFL combine.

University of Arizona Jim Thorpe Award winner Antoine Cason might have added to his list of accomplishments at the NFL combine. Cason went to Indianapolis wanting to prove himself, and show a solid 40-yard dash time. It appears a corner, slated by most prognostications to be a first or second round pick, did just that. “Cason pleasantly surprised scouts, running his 40s in the high 4.4-second range,” The Sporting News wrote on the final day of the Combine when mentioning the “Risers.”

California is making some progress towards their athletic facility renovation plan. They have all the money they need to get it done by the way.

Lawyers challenging UC Berkeley’s plans for a gym next to Memorial Stadium must produce expert evidence to back their claim that the two buildings are really one. That was the ruling Wednesday by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara J. Miller, upholding a directive she issued in December. Attorneys for the City of Berkeley and neighborhood and environmental groups challenging the university’s plans had contested the order, which had been supported by the university’s lawyers.

It's baseball season once again in Corvallis, but the Beavers are off to slow start battling the nations best in the Demarini Invitational. ASU is the team to beat in the Pac Ten this season.

Game 1 vs. No. 3 Vanderbilt Highly ranked Vanderbilt started the game with three runs in the first two innings, and didn't look back from there. Oregon State's bats were asleep for most of the game, as the Beavers only had five hits total, three of them coming in the one-run sixth inning. Mike Stutes started on the mound, and went 4 innings, giving up four runs. Final Score: Vanderbilt 8, Oregon State 1.

The noose is tightening for Reggie Bush and USC. The question of course is whether the NCAA will have the courage to do something about it.

Attorneys for former USC Heisman Trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush have asked that his deposition in a lawsuit brought against him by San Diego businessman and sports marketing agent Lloyd Lake not be shared with the NCAA and the media, according to a papers filed in Superior Court in San Diego Friday. Also in the court papers, Bush's attorneys have asked that their motion for a protective order and motion to quash be heard May 2, or soon thereafter, an attempt to further postpone Bush's deposition. Bush failed to appear Monday for his scheduled deposition.

Things are going well for ASU in just about every sport as we near Spring.

It was a successful weekend for the Sun Devils. Both men's and women's basketball teams beat Washington this weekend and the #1 ranked baseball team opened the season by sweeping the DeMarini Invitational.

At UCLA it is just a matter of time till Rick whips out his guitar.

One thing I noticed during the first two months of UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel's tenure is how different he is, not to mention comfortable, in the public spotlight when compared to former coach Karl Dorrell.When not out recruiting, Neuheisel is at every basketball game, chatting with fans, shaking nearly everyone's hand and holding court with a group of people. During halftime of Saturday's game against Oregon, Neuheisel was along one of the baseline chatting with a close circle of boosters.By contrast, I rarely saw Dorrell at basketball games, could never remember him holding court with people nearby and rarely was approachable for interviews in the offseason.

Tony Bennett seems to be the leading candidate to take over at Indiana if he is willing. Hmmm....WSU or Indiana? It really isn't that simple because it isn't exactly Bobby Knight's Indiana anymore. It is one thing to take over for Johnny Carson, and another thing to take over for Jay Leno. Whoever takes over at Indiana will have probation to deal with. Kelvin Sampson had it made, too bad he couldn't play by the rules.

What I wonder about is what are Tony's ultimate goals? Withers lays out the idea of how father Dick stuck it out for a long time at WISC-Stevens Point and WISC-GB before finally getting to Wisconsin. Maybe there is something to the idea of building and learning something of substance at your current situation, and only move on when you've learned what is to be learned and experienced everything that you can?