A New York Times blog item by Thayer Evans quotes Missouri coach Gary Pinkel regarding his interest in the Washington football job:

“Washington was a place I always wanted to be a head coach. But I also have great respect for Washington. We did have a discussion, but I did not want to take the next step if I really in my heart didn’t want to do it, because of my respect to them.”

Pinkel ended up with a new contract at Missouri instead.

“I just felt that I wanted to stay here the rest of my career,” he told the newspaper. “Fortunately, Missouri felt the same way.”

Here's the blog item.

UW, of course, went on to hire USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian.

And Missouri ended its season tonight with an exciting overtime victory over Northwestern in the Alamo Bowl.

Lorenzo Romar was asked this afternoon about the Huskies’ Pacific-10 Conference opener Saturday at Washington State.

“At this point, I’d like to reserve talking about that until after this Morgan State game,” he said. “We’ve got one more before we play Washington State.”

“Morgan State is a good team,” he continued. “They won 22 games last year and went to the postseason; so, they’re a good team. They go on the road and they beat DePaul. They go on the road and played Ole Miss very tough and could have won the game. They’ve only been really blown out one game. With a tough schedule, they’ve been in just about every game.”

So, if Romar wants us concentrating on the Morgan State game, here's some quick info on the Morgan State game.

MORGAN STATE (5-7)
AT WASHINGTON (8-3)
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
TV: FSN.
Radio: 950-AM

Series: UW won the only previous meeting, 118-51, on Nov. 13, 2006, in Seattle.

Statistical leaders: For Morgan State, G Reggie Holmes, 14.2 ppg; F Kevin Thompson, 6.5 rpg; G Jermaine Bolden, 4.6 apg. For UW, F Jon Brockman, 16.4 ppg and 10.7 rpg; G Isaiah Thomas, 3.2 apg.

Scouting report: This is UW’s final tune-up before the start of Pacific-10 Conference play. … The Huskies rank second nationally (behind Louisiana State) with a plus-12.6 rebounding margin. … Brockman remains less than 100 percent due to ankle and hand injuries. Forward Quincy Pondexter is fighting a groin injury. Both are expected to start. … Morgan State had won three straight before losing to St. Mary’s, 76-60, on Sunday. One of the wins came at DePaul, 79-73. … The Bears average 62.3 points per game (274th out of 330 schools) and allow 65.5 points (132nd). … Morgan State is a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The school is located in Baltimore. … A couple of ongoing UW issues remain unresolved. There is still no word on whether the Lehigh game will be rescheduled, and still no decision on if true freshman Tyreese Breshers will play or redshirt. … The UW women will play No. 22 Kansas State at 5 p.m., before the men's game. One ticket is good for both.

Next: 3 p.m. Saturday, at Washington State, Friel Court, Pullman.

It's been a while, but I'll be back on with Dave "The Groz" Grosby on KJR radio, 950-AM, at 5:35 p.m. today, talking primarily about UW hoops, I believe.

The conversation also will be streamed over the Internet.

Washington plays its final tuneup for Pac-10 play at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, when Morgan State visits.

I'll have more on the visitors later today, but here's an early look from their Web site.

Then, UW begins Pac-10 play at 3 p.m. Saturday at Washington State.