Seattle Sports: In the Morning

At noon, the Hawks will announce that the man at right (pictured in the 1981 Washington Husky football media guide) will coach the Seahawks after Mike Holmgren retires.

Tony Wroten's incredible basketball ability is due to hard work (he does 4 a.m. workouts with his dad) and great bloodlines (his aunt is former Olympian and Harlem Globetrotter Joyce Walker, who's probably the best basketball player in state history). So writes the Times' Tom Wyrwich has the most in-depth profile of Wroten yet. The P-I's Michael McLaughlin profiled Wroten in December. Wroten's next game is the unmissable Garfield/Franklin matchup, Friday at Old Lincoln High.

You are going to feel like a dick if you boo Miguel Batista this year. Reports Geoff Baker: "Mariners starter Miguel Batista has spent the past week supplying medicine to flood victims in five cities in his native Dominican Republic...Guillen and [Julio] Lugo are focusing efforts primarily in and around their hometown of San Cristóbal, one of the areas hardest hit. Batista has gone to San Cristóbal as well, but is also picking up the slack in the rest of the country, giving supplies to 2,000 people in places like Santo Domingo, Samana and San Jose de Ocoa."

All 150 Mariner games that FSN televises will be in HD. Also--there won't be any games on KSTW. The remaining 12 games will either be on FOX or ESPN (also in HD) or available on the Extra Innings package.

Metro will go to three divisions next year.

Warren Moon pled not guilty to DUI.

How is Kurt Thomas still playing at 35? He tells the P-I's Gary Washburn his secret: "You have to be able to adjust your game, and some people don't adjust their game. I have some very good teachers and having that knack of loving the game of basketball, I've just been very fortunate on the court."

In the same piece, Kevin Durant continues his year-long routine of jokes at the expense of Thomas' age. Washburn asks if he ever searched the Internet for film of Thomas, and Durant responds: "I tried to. But I don't think they were making film back then."

Ex-UW star Louie Nelson tells the P-I's Dan Raley about playing at Oregon's Mac Court in the 70's: "One time I was inbounding the ball and a person had a hold of my shorts and I couldn't run. I had to talk to the ref about that."

The Blazers' James Jones is out for two weeks.

Today's games:
Duke @ UNC, 6pm, ESPN
Mexico @ USA, 6pm, ESPN2
Sacramento @ Blazers, 7pm, Comcast Sports Net. Tickets: Blazers, Craigslist.
Sonics @ Sacramento, 7pm, ESPN