Oregon State vs. Washington // Pac-10 Tournament, Round 2
8:30 PM, Staples Center // TV on FSN
It's the latest tip-off of the season for a team that likes to get up early-- but this is a must-win game if the Beavers want to keep their little-kid NCAA Tournament dreams alive.
Washington, as I mentioned in the preview earlier today, presents a lot of challenges for the Beavers. I don't know about you, but I'd be much more comfortable playing Cal, Arizona State, or UCLA. For some reason, the Huskies are just flat out hard for the Beavers to beat, but I expect this game to be hard fought. It's about time the Beavers had their way against Lorenzo Romar and Washington, but it'll take some stellar execution on the offensive and defensive end of the court. Even if you limit UW offensively, they're still going to put up a lot of points. The Beavers aren't going to win if this turns into a track meet, so it's up to the team to avoid any sort of mental lapse whatsoever and play 40 minutes of heads-up basketball. And shots need to fall.
Here's the place to talk about this late evening affair. While we wait, any of today's three other Pac-10 tournament games are also up for debate.
--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)