Not this year

That feels good. Back in first place in the Pac-10, to boot. I’ll have more thoughts either tonight or early tomorrow.

GAME THREAD: Oregon (12-5, 3-2) at No. 8 WSU (15-1, 3-1)

Beasley Coliseum (Pullman), 5 p.m. PT
TV: FSN

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For the rest of the country, some of the luster came off this matchup when the Ducks tanked in Seattle three days ago. Not for us.

It’s one thing to lose to a team. It’s another thing to lose to another team 13 consecutive times.

But it’s still another thing altogether to lose 13 consecutive times to Phil Knight U., its tens of millions of dollars of resources and their legions of irritating and completely undeservedly arrogant fans.

As much as I dislike the Huskies, because I have plenty of friends and family that are Washington fans I like watching them lose mostly to see them humbled. When Oregon loses, I take a sadistic pleasure in their failure, even when it’s the Huskies that inflict the pain. Maybe that’s twisted. I don’t know. But if there’s one thing Cougars and Huskies can agree on, it’s that we all hate Oregon. And I’m OK with that.

With that in mind, I don’t just hope we win today. I hope we embarrass Oregon on national TV, exposing the Ducks for the fraud that they are, to the tune of a 20-point victory.

How best to do that? Games are all about matchups, and it might be high time for the Cougs to throw a wrinkle at the Ducks. The Bennett defense is based almost exclusively on keeping players out of the paint, but that’s just what the Ducks want you to do — collapse on drives and kick out.

Good teams show they can adapt. Will Tony Bennett continue to try and impose his will on Oregon? Or will he wise up and adapt so that his team, which has been better than the Ducks for two years now, do something a little different? Jump screens? Pressure the ball at 25 feet? I’m hoping for the latter, because we do not want Porter or Taylor or Hairston to get hot from the perimeter. Let’s make them uncomfortable with their stroke and force them to take it in amongst the trees.

You might ask, “Why the focus on defense?” Because Oregon can’t stop anyone. The Ducks win with offense. Period. End of story. They’ve allowed every conference opponent to exceed a 100 offensive efficiency rating, and the Cougs have only had two games all year under 100 — Gonzaga and Washington. Oregon doesn’t even begin to approach that kind of defensive intensity.  The Ducks will try to outshoot you, and if they can’t, they will lose.

One final word on matchups: Watch out for the Aron Baynes/Maarty Leunen battle. The winner there will give his team a massive advantage in the overall contest. You’ll hear a lot of talk about trying to get Leunen in foul trouble because Oregon is so pitifully thin up front, but that’s just wishful thinking. Leunen is far too savvy for that. The only guy able to come even close to doing that to Leunen this year was Jon Brockman, and we’re kidding ourselves if we think that any one of our big man can do to Leunen what Brockman did.

More likely is that Leunen channels his inner Vlade Divac and begins flopping all over the place every time Baynes even looks like he’s going to make contact. Baynes will then have a choice. Will he go Shaq and frustrate himself right out of the game with a series of cheap fouls? Or will he outsmart an opponent for once, relying on his brains instead of his brute strength? Given the way last week ended for Baynes, I see redemption today.

I think the Cougs dominate this one from tip to finish with an intensity the Ducks just can’t match — picture UCLA’s effort last weekend. WSU wins this one going away, sending the Ducks and their ugly uniforms waddling back to Eugene after being swept right out of Washington.