Roundup: Mike Riley returns to Oregon State to join Jonathan Smith's staff
Hot off the presses on OSUBeavers.com – former Oregon State head coach Mike Riley will be joining Jonathan Smith's experienced coaching staff in Corvallis. Riley is listed as an assistant head coach with a "to-be-determined position assignment."
In an absolute stunner, Washington men’s basketball upset No. 2 Kansas 74-65 in Kansas City Wednesday night, and it wasn’t exactly a nail-biter. That thing was pretty much decided down the stretch. Here’s some video of the Huskies pouring water on head coach Mike Hopkins in the locker room after the game. I’m sure that was a fun plane ride back to Seattle; hats off to Hopkins and Co.
Good thing the Huskies won, because it wasn’t nearly as pretty elsewhere around the Conference of Champions for men’s hoops. For starters, Cal lost at home by 27 to Central Arkansas, allowing the Bears to shoot 50 percent from downtown. The Golden Bears got down 35 at point.
Washington State also lost by 27 to Idaho, allowing the Vandals to shoot a whopping 56 percent from downtown. The Cougs have dropped two straight after a 6-0 start to the season.
At least Colorado beat New Mexico for the first time since 1980, defeating the Lobos 75-57, so it wasn’t all bad outside of the Dawgs’ win. J.B. Long and Mike Montgomery give us the recap in the preceding link.
The UCLA men’s basketball game against Montana was cancelled Wednesday night because of the wildfires in the area. The Bruins will next play Saturday at Michigan.
As Steve Mims of The Register-Guard lets us know, Willie Taggart apologized for leaving Oregon after one year at his Florida State press conference.
Here’s a story from the Associated Press on Stanford running back Bryce Love emerging from Christian McCaffrey’s shadow to be a Heisman Trophy finalist.
Former Arizona State and NFL quarterback Jake Plummer called out Arizona State fans who are against the Herm Edwards hire, telling them in a tweet that he wishes Edwards well and hopes the naysayers “#eatcrow.” Let ‘em know, Jake the Snake.
Christopher Kamrani of The Salt Lake Tribune features Utah volleyball coach Beth Launiere, who is in her 28th year at the helm. The Utes face Texas in the Sweet 16 at Stanford Friday night.
Reid Forgrave of CBS Sports writes that Arizona men’s basketball grew up a bit in the win over Texas A&M Tuesday night.
Joey Kaufman of the Orange County Register gives us a first look at Ohio State, USC’s Cotton Bowl opponent.