Happy Friday Cougs, and happy last weekday of March (or is it SMARCH, what with this crazy weather we've seen lately?  I know I've used this picture before, but wow, Lousy SMARCH weather).  Anyway, there's a lot to get to in the Coug universe, with a ton of recaps, interviews, and news-n-stuff.  So continue on after.....

Hello Followers.  Hope you’re having a great week.

Well, tonight, the Pitt Panthers avenged their defeat from Monday by squeeking out a win against our gritty and undermanned Cougies, 57-53.  And in so doing, set up a showdown on Friday night for the CBI championship.

For more thoughts (cough! Cough!) on Wednesday night's contest click on the ole jumperoo.

"Here it comes, Jared....wait, who are you again?"

Good morning and Happy Hump Day, Cougs! You'll have to forgive me if I become incoherent at any point this week. I've come down with a serious case of CBI Fever. Symptoms include spontaneously making "Three Goggles" Abe Lodwick-style, getting super stressed out about ultimately meaningless things and watching HDNet. I'll try to get through today's post before the fever completely takes over. As I'm sure you're obsessively well aware, our gridiron Cougs are now a week deep into Spring practices and just four (3.5) short weeks away from the Crimson and Gray game. Thanks to the efforts of Christian Caple at the Spokesman, the WSU Athletic Department and Cougfanin particular, there is no shortage of content to be found on how things are coming along over at Rogers Field. Reading through all those tea leaves, I've come up with four takeaways from Washington State football spring practice. So without further ado, here are four takeaways from Washington State football spring practice. Hmmm...maybe that sentence was actually just further ado. Oh well. Let's do this.

Hello Followers.

Tonight, the Washington State Cougars moved one step closer to being the 101st best National Champion in the country, downing the Pitt Panthers 67-66 in front of a screaming group of 26,000 fans at Friel Court.

A terrific basketball game for all Cougar fans, who watched Abe Lodwick and Reggie Moore combine for 30 points in the winning effort.  My three thoughts from the game (be kind because I've only had 4 all day):

• Down 3 at halftime, Pitt decided to "contain' WSU's 3 point shooting by going to a zone.  Dixon's thought:  The zone would lead to fast break opportunities for a more athletic Pitt team that was dying to get out in transition. The result: The Cougs picked it apart and EVERYONE got hot, especially Mr. Charlie Enquist.  Cougs got up as much as 12 with 7:00 left as a result.

• As attacking as Reggie Moore was for the most of the game, he became just as passive down the stretch.  And the result was almost catastrophic.  If we have any hope of stealing 1 of 2 in Pittsburgh, Moore has got to be relentless throughout.  It also wouldn't be bad if Motum decided he could play.

• Abe Lodwick is the recipient of the "Spank then Hug" doctrine from the basketball gods.  For the second year in a row (Northwestern in the NIT being the first), Abe had an opportunity to seal it from the line with 3.5 seconds left and clanked it.  But, thanks to a money block by Shelton and a missed 3 at the end (how did that shot miss again?), we were spared the heartbreaking defeat.  We now move on to Pittsburgh up 1-0.

So, there you have it.  Cougs clinch a winning season by going 19-16.  And if we win the stinking title, we will have won 20 games for the second year in a row.

How cool are we???

Finally, here are some highlights from the game.  Enjoy!

I know you’re all enjoying the beginning of Spring Football and the all the promise it brings for a new era, but before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we still have a basketball season to wrap up. Tonight the Cougs host Pitt in game one of the three game championship series of the CBI. The Pac-12 has been the whipping boy of the college basketball world, including having the conference champion Huskies left out of the field of 64. That is something I never thought was possible, but hey, the Pac has struggled getting the respect it deserves in a good year, so its no surprise the powers that be decided to really pile it on in in their weakest season ever. But as this post season has unfolded, the Pac-12 teams that were sprinkled around the various other 3^rd (and 4^th) rate post-season tourneys have been on a mission for redemption and our Cougs are a big part of that mission.

What the hell am I talking about? You'll have to jump to find out...