It was a near flawless first half and a near disaster in the end, but Washington State held on to beat Oregon (for the third time this year) to advance to the Pac-10 Tournament semis. That's where they'll meet Stanford. The Cardinal used a strong second half to get past Arizona last night, 75-64.

Stanford is one of three teams that swept the Cougars during their two regular season meetings. The Cardinal won an overtime thriller in Pullman on February 2nd, 67-65 (Taylor Rochestie missed the coast-to-coast layup as time expired). They also won in Stanford 60-53 on March 1st (the Cougars led by as many as 14 in the first half). With that said...it's never easy to beat a team three times in one season.

Sure the Cougs beat Oregon three times this year, but they are the Ducks (18-13 overall, 9-9 in the conference). Oddly, I actually found myself rooting for Stanford to beat Arizona because I think Wazzu has a better chance against the Cardinal, WSU had them up against the ropes in both earlier games, but couldn't deliver the knockout blow. Will it be different this time around? I have no idea...last night's second half showing worries me.

Stanford is only a two point favorite. The winner will play USC or UCLA in the Pac-10 Tournament Championship on Saturday. Not trying to look past the Stanford game, but let's hope it's USC (stating the obvious). The Bruins looked like a team on a mission yesterday against Cal (they won, 88-66).

Tip-off is set for 8:30 tonight. I hope I'm back here again tomorrow previewing the tourney championship.

My fingers are crossed...

1 Comments

megan said:

=| i hate Stanford. GO COUGS!

March 17, 2008 7:32 AM

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