BULLDOGSWith a weekend from hell behind them, the Zags now have a weekend with 40 minutes of hell ahead of them.At least Saturday's date with eighth-ranked Memphis (22-3 and winners of 14 consecutive games) in the Arena (3 p.m.; ESPN; 1510-KGA) is about basketball and…
COUGARS, 65-61When Washington's Justin Dentmon drove the baseline with 23 seconds left and the Huskies trailing WSU 62-61 I figured he would either score or a whistle would blow.And he would walk to the line. After all, the Huskies had walked there enough for 21…
COUGARS, 51-48When teaching post defense, every coach in America instructs in the use of the arm bar, that is, using a forearm on the back of a post player as a way to deny the offensive player the ability to back you down.As long as…
COUGARS, 26-25The WSU defense tonight isn't up to its usual standard, yielding easy shots and second-chance opportunities. Part of that is the Huskies are playing more unselfishly than they usually do (six assists on their first nine baskets). But part of it is WSU's slower-than-normal…
COUGARS, PREGAMEThere are two faces to the Husky basketball team, almost as diametrically opposed as the faces of Janus.There is the Huskies' road face, headed south, just like their postseason hopes. In eight road games – it is Valentine's Day and UW has played just…
PREPSA couple of stories that I didn't link to earlier.The first comes from the Vancouver Columbian, and it's on girls' wrestling, which will have its first state tournament this weekend.The next advances the protest at Lincoln High in Tacoma over the suspension of girls' basketball…
PREPSThe first-ever Hoopfest sportsmanship of the year award was given to Shea Vucinich, Coeur d'Alene High quarterback whose display of sportsmanship after a defeat to Lake City was behind the honor. The junior female team of the year was won for the third consecutive year…
PREPSThe senior awards, which have already been in the paper, have been acknowledged, including Becca Noble, Adam Morrison, the Spokane Shock and Brad Walker.The first junior award is the male athlete winner Adam Hall, state champion wrestler from Bonners Ferry who is now at Boise…
PREPSThe awards are about to be handed out and thank goodness, I'm afraid we are going to be killed by a falling food tray. Back here by the kitchen, it's a real possibility.There's been ice spilled, a tray went flying by our table, just barely…
PREPSI'm wearing a tie right now.Yes a tie. And tying it was easy. Sort of like that old saying about riding a bike. Once you learn, no matter how many years you go without doing it, you still can.And it's been years since I rode…
PREPSI remember walking into The Spokesman-Review sports department years ago and mentioning something about USA Today's national poll to long-time S-R prep reporter Merle Derrick.I was met with a withering stare from over his glasses and a well-thought-out lecture from the man everyone called Doc…
PREPSGreg Lee is either down south or on his way, ready to cover the week of Idaho state girls basketball tournaments.He kicks off the coverage today with an advance of the 1A tournament, which has two local representatives, Wallace and Kootenai and begins Wednesday. The…
BRONCOS, 84-73It's over.Gonzaga University's longest-in-the-nation 50-game home winning streak ended Monday night, shot down by a Santa Clara University team that hardly missed a shot. The Broncos won 84-73, before another sellout crowd of 6,000 at the McCarthey Athletic Center. You can read the game…
BULLDOGSIt's just a symptom of our society, I guess.It's the Nancy-Grace-who's-at-fault-rush-to-judgment culture we live in now.It's the way we react to bad news. Bad news like the news that hit Friday night and Saturday morning about Gonzaga basketball players Josh Heytvelt and Theo Davis arrested…
PREPSThe next four weekend's in Washington will be filled with state tournaments, starting with wrestling and gymnastics this weekend, then moving on with three consecutive basketball weekends.Mike Vlahovich looks ahead to all the fun (or in his case, work) in his Monday morning notebook.• For…
MARINERSWith spring training beginning in some voluntary form this week, it seemed like a good time to start paying a little more attention to the M's.The much-improved M's.Just kidding.• The Seattle Times' Geoff Baker tried to figure out if they are any better today and…
VANDALS, EAGLESThe Portland State Vikings are a flawed team. Their 16-11 overall record and 7-7 mark in Big Sky play doesn't scream perfection.But Saturday night in Cheney they were nearly flawless in two areas: offensive rebounds (grabbing 16 and turning them into 22 points) and…
COUGARSIt's hard to write any more superlatives about how WSU plays defense, so I'll just write a number: 91.That's how many points the Cougars yielded in two Pac-10 games against the Bay Area teams in Pullman this weekend.Ninety-one.I know, a lot of that has to…
BULLDOGS, POSTGAMEI'm not one to say "I told you so" … who am I trying to kid? Of course I am.It might not have been, overall, their best game of the season, but it was there best defensive game of the season. At least head…
COUGARS, 59-46So in two games this weekend, WSU yielded 91 points. That's the usual total some schools give up each game.With the win, the Cougars move to 21-4 overall and 10-3 in the Pac-10, a half-game behind UCLA in the standings. It has been 15…
BULLDOGS UPDATED: 2:20 P.M.UPDATE: The breaking news story with comments from athletic director Mike Roth, coach Mark Few (shown at press conference; Spokesman-Review photo by Dan Pelle) and Gonzaga president Robert Spitzer can be found here.The news is Josh Heytvelt and Theo Davis were arrested…
BULLDOGSThere is revenge. And there is just a must-win game. Sometimes they coincide, like today for Gonzaga.The Bulldogs need a win over Saint Mary's tonight (5; KHQ-6; 1510-AM) just to keep their NCAA resume strong – and to keep atop the West Coast Conference standings.…
PREPSThe Greater Spokane League basketball season is over. And two special things happened, both related to the number 20.The Ferris boys became the first team in league history to go through a 20-game schedule undefeated. And the Lewis and Clark girls won their first outright…
COUGARS, 58-45Just a quick link to the first story as WSU secures second in the Pac-10 all alone with a tough win over Stanford.We'll be back soon with a couple of comments.
PREPSIf you have never attended the Whitman County tournament, pack up your wallet and head to Endicott.Make sure you don't use a map from Google.But once you find your way to Endicott, you'll find the tournament.And you'll find a place where basketball is played the…
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