A GRIP ON SPORTS • This is supposed to be the hole in the crumb-doughnut that is the year is American sports, isn’t it? The time after the Super Bowl. Before baseball begins. Heck, even the NBA and the NHL are off this weekend, basically, with silly All-Star events and an Olympic hiatus, respectively. Then why did Saturday feel so dramatic?
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• College basketball, mainly. And its varied iterations, all of which have a connection to Riverfront Park. There was boxing in Providence. An upset in the Sonoran Desert. And the same old same old in the Bay Area.
• As the book says, the last shall be first. At least here. Today.
Gonzaga’s men have been on top of the West Coast Conference basketball standings so often this century, it’s almost as if the database has a default setting. And yet, almost every season of Mark Few’s tenure, there has been one, or more, schools that rise to the challenge. And mainly come up short.
Saint Mary’s is the usual suspect. And the only one who has ever knocked the Zags from the perch. BYU made a somewhat brief visit to the conference, threw a 20,000-seat arena and a basketball tradition at the Bulldogs. And came up short. San Francisco has waxed and waned. And fallen to the wayside. Portland, San Diego, Pepperdine and everyone else have occasionally put up their dukes, but never really a fight.
This year’s newest entrant?
Santa Clara. The Broncos, who haven’t played in an NCAA Tournament since Steve Nash was on campus 30 years ago, entered last night’s slugfest in the Leavey Center with hope. Fans. And a half-game lead in the conference regular season race.
That resulted in … well, disappointment. Mainly because Graham Ike is still wearing a Gonzaga jersey. The Broncos, and the rest of the WCC, just doesn’t have anyone who can truly match up with the latest left-handed Big Man to grace Few’s roster.
Sam Dower. Przemek Karnowski. Domantas Sabonis. Honorary lefty Drew Timme – left-handed mentality, ambidextrous ability. And Ike.
The Zags have been blessed with strong, crafty lefties. More so than any other program in the WCC. On the West Coast. Much of the nation. Ike is just the latest in a long line.
A post, no matter which hand is dominate, that demands attention. The rest of the conference has always had trouble matching up. Santa Clara certainly did. Just Ike’s presence and performance – 21 points, 15 rebounds – opens doors for others. Saturday night Tyon Grant-Foster (20 points) and Adam Miller (21) burst through.
“I think none of us can take 21 and 15 for granted, the 30 (point games),” Few told Theo Lawson. “I think it’s time he starts seeing his name pop up on first team All-American or second team All-American. I know we’re all obsessed and infatuated with these freshmen, but he’s literally been delivering night in and night out at the highest level.
“I think he needs to start garnering some attention, at least nationally. So help me out.”
OK Mark, though that’s not the main reason why my fingers are flailing around the keyboard this morning. It’s because when Ike’s on the court and his fiery personality is kept in check, Gonzaga is still the force in the conference. Even with Ike’s left-handed running mate up front, Braden Huff, out with a left knee injury.
When it comes to those types of bigs, the rest of the WCC is just left out.
• A couple of the posts on the list above came to Spokane thanks in large part to the recruiting efforts of Tommy Lloyd. But nowadays Lloyd is recruiting players to Arizona, where he’s in charge. And, up until this week, his Wildcats were undefeated. The nation’s unanimous No. 1 team.
A loss to Kansas took care of the first part. A second loss, 78-75 in overtime last night to visiting 16th-ranked Texas Tech, will certainly take care of the latter. What a disaster.
We jest. Though the crazies that occupy the expensive seats at McKale (or whatever it’s called) probably aren’t in a joking mood this morning. The 23 wins before February was half-over? Expected. The two losses this week? The beginning of the end.
• At least the Wildcats went down fighting – in the correct sense.
What happened in Providence yesterday was the wrong kind. And a possible preview of the type of on-court animosity that can bubble up in the unlimited transfer era.
St. John’s Bryce Hopkins was Providence’s best player last season. Now he’s St. John’s. That’s led to bitterness among some Friar fans – and players. It sure seems Duncan Powell is one of them.
Powell attacked Hopkins on a breakaway, not just challenging his shot but challenging his health with a flagrant foul. It was also a call to arms many of the players responded to.
Seven were ejected after an almost 20-minute adjudication.
After the pause ended, former Central Valley High star Dylan Darling took over. Darling, who is a two-time transfer – he started at WSU, hardly played, then transferred to Idaho State where he blossomed into the Big Sky’s best player – who found his way to New York last offseason, led St. John’s to victory with 23 points and eight rebounds.
And did it without throwing a single punch.
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WSU: The answer to all your questions about the Cougars’ future? Tom Clouse has it this morning. Money. It’s the new world order. And college athletics’ future. … The near future for first-year football coach Kirby Moore and his rebuilt roster? That would be a September filled with challenges. And, as Jon Wilner sees it in this column, the third-toughest schedule in the rebuilt Pac-12. … Wilner’s mailbag, which we linked yesterday, is on the S-R site today. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, a couple of Northwest men’s programs bounced back in Big Ten play Saturday. (That sentence makes no sense whatsoever but it’s true.) Washington handled visiting Minnesota 69-59 and Oregon snapped a 10-game losing streak by defeating Penn State 83-72 in Eugene. … Colorado played better but lost to injury-saddled BYU. … Utah State took care of Memphis in a rare February nonconference matchup. … Utah got past Cincinnati. … Soon-to-be No. 1 Michigan has a lot of talent. That seemed to bother UCLA coach Mick Cronin some after the Wolverines blew out the Bruins. What else is new? … Yes, Arizona has lost two consecutive games. Adversity? Yes. The end? No. … Nevada will probably be happy never playing another game at San Diego State. … Colorado State rallied past Wyoming. … The Oregon State women got back on the winning track with a victory over Pacific. … Oregon and 25th-ranked Washington meet today, with the Ducks trying to earn their first top 25 win this season. … Colorado attacked BYU and overpowered the Cougars. … It was not a good day in Tucson. The Arizona women also lost and the Wildcats lost to rival Arizona State. In overtime. … Finally, college baseball season is underway. John Canzano checks in on most of the Northwest programs.
Gonzaga: Theo has the usual game analysis from the win as well as working with the folks in the office on the recap with highlights. … Jim Meehan chips in with three takeaways. … Tyler Tjomsland was in Santa Clara and put together a photo gallery. It is not linkable – is that word? – but all his photos are available at the top of the recap. … We can also pass along this game coverage from the Mercury News and the Chronicle. … The women could have put a padlock on the WCC regular season race Saturday in L.A. But, instead, they couldn’t keep the ball safe, turned it over a season-high 26 times and fell at Loyola Marymount 72-63. Greg Lee has this story on the loss which dropped GU into a first-place tie with the Lions at 11-3.
EWU: Teams can improve through the course of the season. Case in point … wait, that’s not enough. Huge case in point, Eastern Washington’s men. The Eagles dominated visiting Weber State 84-66 for their fourth consecutive win and their seventh in 13 conference games. Remember, Dan Monson’s squad was 2-11 in nonconference play. Dan Thompson was in Cheney and has this story. … The women suffered their worst loss of Big Sky play, falling 74-72 in overtime at last-place Weber State. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Sacramento State’s football team found an FBS home. All it took was about $18 million in entry fees to get the MAC to offer a spot. Part of that has to be the $5 million the NCAA demands to let an FCS school move up a level these days. … Montana State has hired a new defensive coordinator. … In basketball play, Portland State ran into the hot Northern Colorado Bears and dropped a 77-65 decision in Greeley. … The Montana State men completed a rare season sweep of Montana. … The Montana State women also won, topping the Griz for the fifth-consecutive time.
Idaho: The Vandal men had been scuffling coming into Saturday’s rivalry game with visiting Idaho State. They had lost three consecutive times. But the Bengals were even worse, with an eight-game losing streak. Idaho broke its streak in a big way, with a 99-69 victory. Peter Harriman has the story. … The Vandal women also earned another win, staying atop the Big Sky standings with a 65-50 victory over third-place Idaho State in Pocatello.
Whitworth: The Pirate men are the Northwest Conference regular-season champions. Again. Their 93-86 home win over George Fox clinched their 23rd title.
Preps: Dave Nichols’ first assignment Saturday included two District basketball games. Gonzaga Prep won them both. … There is a roundup to pass along filled with the rest of Saturday’s basketball and wrestling action.
Chiefs: The second stop for Dave? The Arena, where he watched as Spokane rallied but ultimately fell short against Wenatchee, 3-2.
Mariners: We linked this Seattle Times questions-and-answers story previously. It is on the S-R website now, so we link it again. … If the M’s latest highly touted young pitcher was out to make a statement yesterday, he did.
Seahawks: Can Seattle repeat? There will be challenges but the oddsmakers think so. The Hawks are the betting favorite but the recent champion filling that role is pretty typical this time of year. There are Seattle Times columnists, though, who feel they can too. And keep the city’s recent run of pro success going. … A repeat didn’t happen after the last Super Bowl win. So how does this team compare? … There is a different person in charge these days.
Olympics: The pressure in the Games is a tradition unlike any other, with apologies to Jim Nantz and the Masters. Some athletes rise to the moment. Others do not. … Another tradition? Controversy. Even in curling.
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• Kim and I were in Venice in September when Inter Milan and Juventus met in the first leg of what Italians view as an even more-important Super Bowl of the real football. And can attest to the passion. Heck, a gondola driver and, down the road, a winery owner, gave me crud for wearing a Juventus hat. The second leg of the series, won by my son’s favorite team, Inter? It was Saturday night. In the middle of the Olympics. The Games took a back seat in Milan. Until later …