It’s March, which means rain showers, mud and the Zags in the NCAA basketball tournament
A GRIP ON SPORTS • What would March be without the Zags in the NCAA tournament? Not the same, that’s for sure. Read on.
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• Mark Few was on SportsCenter right after Gonzaga defeated Saint Mary’s 85-75 in the WCC tournament final last night and mentioned his son A.J. The point? A.J. is 16 years old and never experienced a college basketball season without his dad’s team playing the NCAA tournament. That’s how ingrained GU is in the best postseason tournament we have. This is, in NCAA terms, Gonzaga’s century. Think of all the crud that’s happened since Y2K turned out to be nothing. And then realize throughout it all, all the good and bad, Gonzaga’s basketball program has rolled on to the NCAAs. Every year. Some have been easier than others – this one comes to mind under the “others” – but they’ve all ended up the same way. With a berth. No matter where you stand on the Bulldogs, no matter how much you might want to degenerate the accomplishment, it’s just hollow to do so. And not worth it. It’s too much of an achievement. Eighteen consecutive years the Zags have either won the WCC tournament or justly earned an at-large berth. The streak will end someday. Everything does. But it wasn’t going to be last night, even if GU had yet to find a way to solve the puzzle of Saint Mary’s this year. The ups and downs of a college basketball season had led Gonzaga to this point, outside looking in according to the national pundits – if the Zags didn’t win on Tuesday night. So they did. Win, I mean. In convincing fashion. A fashion that left no doubt who, right now, is the better team. And left no doubt about the NCAA tournament. They are going again. All is right in this little corner of the world. Or, as Few put it, “all is well in Zagville again, huh?”
• So I praise the officiating in one college basketball game and am accused of being as doped up as Maria Sharpova? OK. I’ve learned my lesson. No more words of approval here. Don’t want to tick off anyone. Every official in America is awful and every game is officiated in such a way as to discriminate against “my” team. Got it.
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• WSU: One tournament ends as another in Las Vegas begins. The Cougars will open Pac-12 tournament play with Colorado today. Jacob Thorpe will be there and he has an advance of today’s game. It’s been so long since WSU has won a Pac-12 tournament game I covered the last one, in 2009. Wow. ... Calvin Green, a backup defensive back, was arrested over the weekend. Jacob has this story. ... The regionalization of the Pac-12 Networks may really sink in this week. ... The Cougars played a little water polo the other day. It showed up in social media and led to this post on ESPN.com’s Pac-12 blog. And brought back memories. In high school, we used to play water polo outdoors in our school’s pool. I couldn’t – and can’t – swim. So my JV baseball coach allowed me to play in the shallow end both halves. I was the only one he did that for, being afraid of losing his catcher/three-hole hitter, I’m sure.
• Gonzaga: The game, and the ensuing celebration, is all contained in this John Blanchette column, this Jim Meehan story and this Colin Mulvany photo report. ... You want more stories? We have one from the Bay Area with a Saint Mary’s bent and one (or more) out of Las Vegas. ... The USF women came back strong and upset BYU in the women’s final. ... The BYU men are resigned to being in the NIT.
• EWU: The Big Sky Conference tournament began yesterday and the Eagles had little trouble with Northern Arizona, snapping their four-game losing streak with an impressive 74-52 win. They will play Idaho tonight. Jim Allen is in Reno and has this game story. ... Jim also advances the Eastern women’s Big Sky opener and adds a feature on the Eagle coaching staff as well. EWU will open with Sacramento State. ... Back to the men, North Dakota got past Southern Utah, Portland State stopped Northern Colorado and Sac State upset Montana State.
• Chiefs: The regular season is winding down and Tom Clouse examines the Chiefs’ homestretch. ... Spokane didn’t play but it was a good night nonetheless. Tri-City lost and Everett defeated Portland. The Chiefs are in a playoff chase with the two teams that lost.
• Seahawks: Goodbye Bruce Irvin. Enjoy purgatory, aka, the Oakland Raiders. The outside linebacker agreed to a long-term contract with the Raiders yesterday. ... The Hawks are being cautious thus far in free agency but there is one player who may be their answer at left tackle. ... Seattle made a couple personnel moves yesterday. None of them, however, had to do with Michael Bennett.
• Mariners: Another close loss for the M’s yesterday, but that’s not what’s important right now, is it? It’s spring training and the important thing is finding some depth for the bullpen, tightening up the defense, getting ready for the regular season.
• Sounders: Seattle made some roster moves yesterday that weren’t all that important for themselves but may have some more importance down the road.
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• That’s it for this Wednesday. I want to make sure I watch some hoop tonight just to rail about the officiating. It’s un-American not to. Until later ...
