Northwest Sports: In the Morning

Dawgs Beat UCLA
Kevin Durant and Shaun Alexander were both at Hec Ed to see the Dawgs upset UCLA. Writes Dan Raley: "Image of the night was Romar's daughters, Tavia and Taylor, sandwiching Durant for a keepsake photo while Lisa Hawes, mother of former Huskies center Spencer Hawes, snapped away."

The UCLA win fills Jon Brockman with regret. He tells the Times' Bob Condotta: "It's good to enjoy this win, but at the same time, we should all feel just horrible and sick and stupid for playing the last four games the way we played. After seeing what we can do when we really play together with effort and with intensity and have a good game, you can look back and just kick yourself."

Steve Kelley lauds Justin Dentmon's performance: "Against the nation's fifth-ranked team, Dentmon found fissures that got him inside the paint. Like a point guard-explorer, he poked and probed, herky-jerky, and discovered paths to the basket that shouldn't have been there. He scored eight points in the final seven minutes. He ran to the basketball and drove hard to the rim. Dentmon reminded a team that had forgotten how to win, a team that had lost four conference games in a row, what it took to beat the best."

Why did Kevin Love have such a bad game? Bob Condotta asked the coaches. Lorenzo Romar pointed to Artem Wallace. "He's strong enough not to allow Kevin Love to push him all around the floor." And Ben Howland said it was the Dawgs' guards. "They did a good job pressuring the ball."

Looking ahead, Oregon's Pit Crew is planning indignities for Ryan Appleby, still a villain after refusing to shake Aaron Brooks' hand last year. Brooks had popped Appleby in the mouth the year before. Oregon hosts UW Thursday.

Jim Zorn...Head Coach?
Former Giants head coach Jim Fassel, supposedly a finalist for the Redskins job, tells CBSSportsline.com that the team's decision to hire Jim Zorn was due to their desire to "make a big splash." Not sure if Fassel has Zorn confused with Dan Marino, or even Dave Krieg. Fassel adds: "Someone said to me that Jim Zorn has three jobs he hasn't done now. He's a head coach, and he's never done it. He's an offensive coordinator, and he's never done it. And he's calling the plays, and he's never done it." But--Zorn can can skin a coyote. (Via DC SportsBog)

TNT's John McGrath defends Zorn, pointing out that he was an OC in college, called plays as an NFL QB (he played in the era when QBs still did), and has a player's perspective that Fassel--who only ever played in the World Football League--can't bring.

Between Philomath and Albany...
Oregon State goes for their third-straight NCAA baseball title this year, but first they have to get through a Pac-10 conference that's as good in baseball as it is in basketball.

The Beaver basketball team would just like one Pac-10 win, please, and they realize that this week's slate of home games against UW and WSU may be their best shot. If they don't manage a win, OSU will be the third Pac-10 team to go winless in conference play (Oregon, 71-72 and USC, 75-76). Both those winless seasons came before UA and ASU came into the league, so OSU would be the first to go 0-18.

All the rest

Mariner coaches arrived in Peoria Sunday. McLaren tells MLB.com's Jim Street: "We're ready to roll...we'll have a little meeting on Monday to kind of go over the final touch on things we want to accomplish here." Pitchers and catchers report Wednesday.

Chris Wilcox coins a nickname for Kevin Durant and Jeff Green: "They're like Ren and Stimpy. Jeff is the quieter one [Stimpy] and Kevin is definitely the more vocal one [Ren]." This in a long story about the great relationship the two have by Jayda Evans.

Brandon Roy, who missed two games over the weekend to attend a funeral, practiced with the Blazers Sunday, he'll play tonight at Houston.

Seahawks in the Pro Bowl (NFC won, 42-20): Hasselbeck: 7-9 for 78 yards and a TD. Trufant: 5 tackles (tied Al Harris for NFC lead). Tatupu: 3 tackles, 1 assisted. Julian Peterson: 1 tackle.

The Washington boys' basketball 4A and 3A playoff schedules, compiled by the Times' Tom Wyrwich.

Today's games:
Blazers (28-22) @ Houston (30-20), 5:30pm, Comcast SportsNet. Blazers two games behind Houston and Golden State for final playoff spot in West. Last game 1/25: HOU 89, @ POR 79. Blazers outrebounded 48-30.

Zags (18-6) vs. LMU (5-19), 5pm, FSN. Last game 1/12: Zags 91, @ LMU 68. Heytvelt had 19.