COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN — This is why we toil through the winter months out here — it's mid-May, and I'm writing this in the middle of the night with the screen door open and a nice breeze blowing through the apartment. Ahh, summer weather in spring. Read on for some more reading material.

COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN — The Mike Leach era at Washington State will begin two days earlier than originally planned. Read on for more.

On Feb. 25th, BYU had a chance to earn a co-WCC women's regular-season title with a win over Gonzaga but was routed 77-60 in Spokane. The Cougars had another opportunity against GU on Monday and this time they registered a 78-66 victory in the WCC Tournament championship at the Orleans Arena.

The Cougars made 60.4 percent of their shots while keeping GU standout duo Kayla Standish and Katelan Redmon in check. The two combined for just three second-half field goals and were 9 of 27 from the field. BYU earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga believes it'll make the tournament field, too, but it will have to wait until Monday to find out.

You can read my unedited story below. Chris Anderson's photos can be found here.

Good morning. Gonzaga's men shut down BYU 77-58 and will face Saint Mary's for the WCC Tournament championship on Monday. GU's women outlasted Saint Mary's 83-78 and advance to a title-game matchup with BYU.

A ton of reading material for you from yesterday's semifinals. Here are the men's links: My game story, John Blanchette's column and Chris Anderson's photos. More on GU's win in the Seattle Times. The BYU angle is covered in the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News and Daily Herald. Saint Mary's victory over USF was covered by the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News.

Here are the women's links: My game story, Anderson's photos, and a game story from the San Francisco Chronicle.. BYU's victory over San Diego was covered by the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News and Daily Herald.

The WCC Website has all kinds of information here.

I'll be back later with previews of Monday's championship contests.

Back with my unedited game story from Gonzaga's 77-58 win over BYU in the men's tournament semifinals on Saturday. You can read it below.

San Diego gave BYU fits for most of the game, but the Cougars dug out a 73-68 win late Friday night to move into the semifinals of the WCC men's basketball tournament against Gonzaga. GU and BYU split two regular-season games.

I filed a short preview of the GU-BYU matchup. You can read the unedited version below.

Any later and this would have been the first day after day-after post, or something like that. But we're back with a day-after BYU post and a quick look at Saturday's game against surprising San Diego.

It's a shorter-than-usual day-after post following Gonzaga’s 74-63 win over BYU last night, the main reason being there's a vast amount of information contained in the numerous articles from the game. The links: S-R game story, Blanchette column, Anderson photos (of course he got Elias Harris' one-hand jam; pictured above). Elsewhere, articles in the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, A.P. and Seattle Times. Here's the rundown on seeding/tiebreakers/scenarios, etc., from the WCC office.

Read on below for more.

Gonzaga earned a season split with BYU with a 74-63 victory Thursday in front of a packed house at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

Elias Harris led the way with 19 points and 16 rebounds and Kevin Pangos added 18 points as the Bulldogs made 36 free throws and limiited BYU to 31-percent shooting.

The victory assures GU of at least a second seed and a bye into the semifinal round of the WCC Tournament.

Here's a link to my game story. Check back tomorrow for a day-after post and a short preview of the San Diego game.

Gonzaga and BYU are going through pre-game warmups at the MAC with tip about 45 minutes away. BYU's Noah Hartsock, who strained his knee in Saturday's win over Santa Clara, is suited up and warming up with a brace/sleeve on his left knee. It looks like he will play.

In-game updates at Twitter.com/srjimm.

Back with a notebook from Gonzaga's practice and media day on Tuesday.

One of the biggest games of the season is approaching with BYU, which thumped Gonzaga in Provo, visiting the Bulldogs on Thursday. We checked in with coaches Dave Rose (BYU) and Mark Few (Gonzaga), explored Gonzaga's home-vs.-road statistics and updated Noah Hartsock's status in an article that will run in Wednesday's S-R.

Not sure if I actually slept last night or if I simply dreamed that I slept for a couple hours. I’m guessing Gonzaga’s staff and players were pretty restless after a disappointing 83-73 setback to BYU last night at the Marriott Center.

So many things went wrong. Another stinker of a first half — that’s two straight, after trailing Portland by four last Thursday. Three, really, counting the San Diego game (32-28 GU at the break). Another road test failed. GU is 11-1 at home and 3-0 on neutral courts but just 3-3 on the road with two double-digit WCC losses. Another rash of turnovers, an issue that has surfaced from time to time with GU this season. Another subpar performance in a big game.

First, the links: S-R game story, other reports by the Salt Lake Tribune (also here), Daily Herald (also here).

Read on for my day-after BYU post.

BYU, which ended GU's season last year in the NCAA Tournament, handed the Bulldogs another lopsided defeat Thursday that will make Gonzaga's bid for a 12th straight WCC title even more difficult.

BYU rolled to an 83-73 win, dropping GU to 17-4, 7-2 in the WCC. Saint Mary's is 11-0 after knocking off San Diego.

You can read my game story here. Check back tomorrow for a day-after post.

Good morning. I was a little surprised — and not just because it was 5-something in the morning — when I saw the odds in the S-R and BYU was listed as a 3.5-point favorite over visiting Gonzaga tonight. Figured it'd be a toss-up or 1-point either way.

Lots of coverage of the first GU-BYU WCC matchup, beginning with my game preview, GU-portion of S-R basketball notebook, glance and John Blanchette's column. Elsewhere, there was coverage in the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News and Daily Herald.

Check back here tonight (11-ish) for my game story. For in-game updates, follow me at twitter.com/SRjimm.

Back with all of our S-R coverage from Gonzaga's 89-67 loss to BYU on Saturday.

Here's my game story, John Blanchette's column, my notebook and Dan Pelle's photos.

Good night from Denver.

DENVER – Jimmer Fredette scored 34 points and he had plenty of help from his teammates as Brigham Young crushed Gonzaga 89-67 on Saturday to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 30 years.

The Cougars made nine 3s in the first half while building a 45-38 lead. BYU opened the second half with an 11-2 run to stretch its lead to 56-40. BYU finished with 14 of 28 on 3s. Forward Noah Hartsock hit 3 of 3 3-pointers in the second half.

Gonzaga closed within 63-55 on Steven Gray’s 3-pointer with 12:18 left. But Gonzaga’s offense went cold for the next 4:15 and BYU rattled off 12 straight points. The Cougars (32-4) led by as many as 24.

Elias Harris and Steven Gray each scored 18 points for Gonzaga. Robert Sacre added 17.

Gonzaga finished with a 25-10 record. BYU will meet No. 2 Florida on Thursday in New Orleans.

Gonzaga-BYU tip time will be at 5:55 (4:55 Pacific).

In-game updates at Twitter.com/SRjimm.

Good evening from Denver. A quick post of the GU-related material that will run in Saturday's S-R.

Here's my game preview, John Blanchette's column and a Gonzaga notebook. There's a quick capsule look at tomorrow's contest below. UPDATE: Dan Pelle's photo gallery here.

You can find the Salt Lake Tribune's BYU coverage here.

The WCC will grow to nine teams next year with the addition of BYU. A nine-team configuration will obviously impact scheduling and the conference tournament format.

Those topics, and several others were addressed when a handful of reporters sat down with WCC commissioner Jamie Zaninovich prior to the Saint Mary's-Santa Clara men's semifinal.

Highlights below.

Gonzaga buried BYU in the second half, letting their future conference foe know who is the top dog in the West Coast Conference. The final was 91-64. Check the photos out here.

“I know we need to go through them to win a championship so we'll be focused on that,” long-time BYU coach Jeff Judkins said, referring to the Cougars leaving the Mountain West Conference to join the WCC next year while their football game goes independent. “That's what I told my girls, this is the team we'll be fighting for the conference with.”

I wrote this article a few days ago, but I forgot to post it because it was held until this morning. Anyway, the addition of BYU to the WCC, beginning next season, will create a nine-team league and a bit of a scheduling quandry.

We looked at the scheduling issue here.