The year’s biggest day of basketball
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
There are four important basketball games today, with the Gonzaga game probably having the least impact on the postseason, if you believe the pundits.
The Zags will face USF this afternoon at 12:30 (KXLY-4; 1510-AM) having already clinched at least the second seed in the West Coast Conference tournament, and the resulting bye into the semifinals. And most NCAA bracket watchers will tell you GU must win the WCC tourney to earn an NCAA berth.
Steve Bergum's advance is here, along with more on his blog.
• The Dons' will have one player that didn't play in Spokane (a 72-56 GU win): point guard Antonio Kellogg, suspended due to academic difficulties. He's back, though scoring guard Armondo Surratt may miss the game due to a knee injury. Of course, GU will be without Josh Heytvelt, and Kellogg, who got in trouble while at Connecticut, understands.
We'll be on-line before the game with a quick preview and then at times during the game. Afterward, we'll post a game story and link you to it.
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One game that does have direct bearing on the NCAA tournament – the NCAA Division III tournament – is Whitworth's battle today with Lewis and Clark (4 p.m.; 1230-AM). Win and the 16th-ranked Pirates are in the tournament. Lose and the bid is in the committee's hands. We'll post the score and a quick summary as soon as we can afterward.
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The ninth-ranked Cougars really need to bounce back against Oregon State if they don't want their NCAA seed to fall too far. And it won't be easy. WSU hasn't won in Corvallis since 1998, so this evening's game (5; FSN; 920-AM) is not only important for seeding and in the Pac-10 race, but for the Cougs' confidence as well.
Glenn Kasses covers the game in his advance and in more depth on his blog.
We'll be on-line after the Coug game with a link to the game story.
The News Tribune's Todd Milles examines Mac Hopson's emergence. Bud Withers of the Times takes notice of how easily WSU bounces back from a defeat.
• From Corvallis, this advances is available.
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Finally, Eastern has to defeat woeful Sac State tonight (7; 1050-AM), then hope the Big Sky Conference postseason tiebreakers fall its way.
Dave Trimmer explains the importance of the game in his advance and goes into more detail on his blog.
We'll post a link to the game story as soon as it moves on the wire.