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Pastner's Notebook

Is Richard Jefferson able to practice now?

I got word this morning that he's cleared, 100-percent, will practice today and be in the lineup Thursday. (Sunday), I shot with him, and Saturday, he shot before the game, so he's ready to go and we're glad to have him back.

Especially with Loren Woods out, how important is it to have Jefferson back?

It's tremendously nice. The simple fact is you can't replace Loren, but we've got six scholarship players who've won two games in a row. Now we've got Richard back, a potential NBA player, is just an added boost and added self-confidence thing. Plus, it's going to help the situation because we've got another player so we can add Luke Walton inside so we've got that inside-outside presence to make up for Loren.

How is Loren handling all of this?

I think it hurts inside, because anytime you have a passion for something and it's taken away, it hurts. You might not show it externally, but for a guy like Loren, who has so much passion to play. He loves the game and it's hurting inside, but that's why we've got to keep winning and get Loren back for the first round of the NCAA tournament.

So now you have two captains ... on the bench.

We're probably the only team in America, ever probably, to have two captains not on the floor who probably won't get any more minutes the rest of the regular season at least. But hey, this team has been so unique this year and like Coach Olson said, it's been the most unbelievable year he's ever been through.

Going up to Oregon is traditionally a difficult road trip. Arizona lost at Oregon State last year and Oregon has one of the best home-court advantages in the Pac-10. Is there a tendency to look past these two games to Stanford?

These two games are huge because everybody's talking about the Stanford game. Stanford this, Stanford that. Hey, the Stanford game doesn't mean anything if we don't beat Oregon State and then beat Oregon. These are two of the biggest games we're going to have all year. Oregon State is a tough place to play with their crowd, and Oregon is going to be pumped because they have to beat us to assure their spot in the tournament. They're going to be jacked up and their crowd will be wild.

Do you expect Jefferson to play on Thursday?

I expect him to play, I don't see why not. The way he's been shooting and making cuts, he looks 100-percent.