Northwest Sports: In the Morning

Reaction to the Cougs' loss
"WSU scored 47 points on 31% shooting. So, I guess we play defense, too." [UNC blogger Born and Bred Ed]

"We can talk about not getting the ball to Aron Baynes enough, or not going hard enough to the bucket, but really what it came down to was that it was an extremely poorly timed bad shooting night. Nothing more than that. Of course, that’s really all it takes with a team such as North Carolina." [WSU Hoops]

Tony Bennett via the Seattle P-I: "We did the job on Hansbrough, but Green was a wild card for them. He stretched the floor. He certainly hurt us."

A moist-eyed Robbie Cowgill, via the Seattle P-I: "It hurts me just to be done. You don't want to go out like that. You want to go out better. This group of guys meant a lot to each other. We've been through a lot together. It hurts when you lose, when it's over."

UNC's Danny Green, via the Raleigh News-Observer: "They were doubling our bigs, Deon [Thompson] and Tyler. They did a great job finding us crosscourt. Luckily, they found me, and I knocked down some shots."

Roy Williams via the Raleigh News-Observer: "I said to Marcus and Wayne [Ellington] and Danny, 'You're going to be hit by a screen, you've got to be tough enough and patient enough to get through it. And a guy's going to cut on the baseline, and he's going to stop and cut the other direction, and you've got to be tough enough and patient enough to continue trying to play the defense for 35 seconds.'"

Was it Tony Bennett's last game as Wazzu coach?
He wouldn't say. "Right now, I'm the coach at Washington State. I want to talk about the seniors."

Wazzu AD Jim Sterk: "I'm sure some people will want to talk to him."

P-I runs a terrific M's preview about eight M's pitchers and their favorite pitches...
David Andriesen writes about Jarrod Washburn's reliance on the fastball: "A few years ago, when he was in Anaheim, Washburn joked with teammates that he was going to go out and throw 100 fastballs in a game. Two starts in a row, he did -- 100 out of 102 one outing, 105 out of 109 the next. He allowed a total of one run in the two starts." According to Josh Kalk's indispensable Pitcher Cards (from MLB pitchtracking data), Washburn threw 69.4% fastballs last year. That is a lot. How does he get away with it? Says Wash: "Even though it's a fastball, you don't have to throw every one as fast as you can. Take a little off every once in a while, put a little extra on it once in a while, and make sure you move it around the zone. Up, in, out, down, keep them off balance."

The P-I also has pieces on Felix's change, Bedard's curve, Batista's cutter, Dickey's knuckler, Silva's sinker, O'Flaherty's slider, and Putz' splitter. Really interesting stuff.

Other Mariner news...
The final roster cuts appear to be held up by two issues: Brandon Morrow's health, and John McLaren's infatuation with Greg Norton. If they decide Morrow isn't ready, Mark Lowe makes the team. Then again, they may decide to go with a 12-man staff, in which case Norton wouldn't. Norton's a switch-hitter, managers love that.

Blazers lost...
Nate McMillan's post-game reaction, via The Oregonian: "That team over there is the eighth seed -- and they kicked us. We learned that we have a ways to go. For all that we have done this season, we still have a ways to go...We just have to get better at guarding the ball. Just seeing us in this situation, it was clear that (Golden State) was bigger, stronger and faster than us. We were dominated."

Greg Oden apparently played in a pickup game, earning McMillan's ire. Said Mac-10: "We heard about that, and I talked to him. I let him know he can't do that. I know he is excited to be moving again, but as I talked to him about it, he said, 'Coach, I promise I wasn't running hard ...' And I was like--'I really don't care.'"

Brandon Roy's out for two weeks with strained muscles in his hips and groin. If it were any other player, the Blazers might shut him down for the season, but they know Roy would try to get back and play anyway. Writes John Canzano: "He's played games where it was evident that every stride was uncomfortable. And after watching Theo Ratliff take unnecessary nights off, and knowing Rasheed Wallace took it easy in practices, and observing a half-decade of Blazers decide to go soft and beg off and foster a permissive atmosphere, Portland needed someone like Roy."

The latest on the Sonics
Art Thiel writes: "The city has not yet found the $75 million to close the KeyArena upgrade deal, and is down to back-channel conversations with state legislative leaders. Again."

David Stern nudged open the door to Seattle getting a replacement for the Sonics: "There's a very strong recognition -- because of the pressures of revenue sharing -- that if particular cities that we currently have can't support a team, we should consider moving them to cities that can. I'm not totally on board with that approach, but it's increasingly gaining some steam among a strong group of owners." Meaning that we could get the Hornets.

In team news, Chris Wilcox is out for the year with a dislocated pinkie. Brandon Roy he is not.

Why you may be chewing your nails and muttering "C'mon Mare" this fall...
The Hawks signed Olindo Mare as their kicker. Mare was a Pro Bowler in '99, but he's no Josh Brown. He was only 1/5 from beyond 50 yards last year, with three of those misses coming in domes. It's Mare's job to lose, but he could lose it. Tim Ruskell tells the Times' Danny O'Neil: "I could foresee a situation where we have a vet and a rookie in there fighting it out. That would be the perfect world for us."

Other stuff...
Former UW lineman Benji Olson retired.

OSU has a new running backs coach: Reggie Davis, a former Husky who played under Riley in San Diego.

Vancouver's Greg Biffle is second in the NASCAR standings after five races.

Stuff you won't care about...
My beloved Garfield Bulldogs are looking for a new basketball coach--and with the chance to coach Tony Wroten for three years as the perk, Garfield's principal tells the P-I's Darren Fessenden that the applicant base is "dream list to die for."