NCAA basketball

At what point will schools sell the naming rights to their teams? 

Less than two months ago, in a land that now seems far, far away, Dan Hurley grabbed a microphone and screamed to a throng of deliriously happy people that UConn basketball “has been running college basketball the last 30 years.” This was more than pep rally aggrandizement; it was, in fact, true. That April evening in Phoenix, the University of Connecticut had laid claim to its sixth men’s national championship, bettering the banner collections of Duke and Indiana and pulling even with North Carolina.

It won’t be long before Gonzaga and Washington State learn their full West Coast Conference schedules for the 2024-25 basketball season, but the Inland Northwest rivals can officially count on at least two games against one another next year, according to the conference pairings that were revealed Thursday.

PULLMAN – After a while, it became clear Myles Rice was getting tired of telling the same story. As he led Washington State back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 16 years, stealing the show as the Cougars’ lead ball-handler and scorer, he began doing scores of interviews about his journey.

Hunter Sallis knew exactly what he was doing when it came time to make a decision about his future.

The Denver Nuggets’ playoff run coming to an end. A new job. Relocating to New York. Attending former Gonzaga teammate Rem Bakamus’ bachelor party in Southern California. Squeezing in a few visits to the Portland area to see family and friends. Upcoming trips to Canada, Las Vegas and France for the Paris Olympics with Canada’s national team. Welcome to Connor Griffin’s whirlwind spring and summer.

The first of Gonzaga’s three outgoing transfers has announced where he’ll spend the 2024-25 college basketball season.

Could both conferences survive through the remainder of the decade?

After the NBA draft withdrawal deadline passed on Wednesday night, we finally have a clearer picture of what college rosters will look like when the season starts in November.

After two years in the NBA and G League, Joel Ayayi’s first professional season back home in France ended in the opening round of the LNB Elite playoffs, when the former Gonzaga guard and his Nanterre 92 team lost to JL Bourg Basket in a three-game series.

No. 1 was easy, but there was plenty of competition for the remaining spots. WSU's John Olerud and Henry Rono just miss the cut.

PULLMAN – Cedric Coward became the fourth Eastern Washington basketball player to follow coach David Riley to Pullman, announcing on his Instagram page Thursday that he will play at Washington State next season.

The last former Zag standing in the NBA postseason finally bowed out Monday night when a shorthanded Indiana Pacers team lost in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals to the Boston Celtics, despite another breakout performance from Andrew Nembhard.

PULLMAN – Former Washington State wing Jaylen Wells has played his final game as a Cougar.

In the finest tradition of Drew Timme, Anton Watson and Julian Strawther, Michael Ajayi provided some deadline day drama for Gonzaga basketball followers before withdrawing his name from the NBA draft. Ajayi’s decision hit social media Wednesday afternoon, 6-plus hours before the withdrawal deadline for early entrants. ESPN’s Jonathan Givony’s was first with the news on X (formerly Twitter) and it was quickly reposted by Ajayi.

Gonzaga’s inroads in Europe have the Bulldogs on the verge of landing a 7-foot prospect who’s spent the last two years developing in Real Madrid’s youth academy.

Bill Walton was an American original, the rare figure worthy of a documentary. He was, in no particular order, a legendary college basketball player for UCLA, an activist arrested for protesting the Vietnam War, an NBA champion for the Portland Trail Blazers, a fantastic backup to Robert Parish and Kevin McHale on the champion 1986 Boston Celtics, the father of four college basketball players and one NBA champion, a polarizing broadcaster who overcame a stutter to work for multiple decades, a tie-dye wearing Deadhead who loved Bob Dylan and Neil Young, and eventually, a cult figure for ESPN and the Pac-12 Network.

Two days after the Pac-12 took its final competitive breath, the conference lost its soul. Bill Walton passed away Monday after 71 years of a life like no other, ever.

Today’s column fulfills a promise I made to Bill Walton.