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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Blog matters

Gonzaga

Jim Meehan

Monday: Hmm, could have sworn I saw Gonzaga seeded No. 1 when the brackets came out, despite all the pro-con sparring of Jay Bilas and Jay Williams, and Doug Gottlieb and Seth Davis.

Later, I looked at some of the predictions of the “experts” and GU might as well be a 6-seed. Seth Greenberg still has the Zags going to the Final Four, but he backtracked a bit by saying they’re the most susceptible of the No. 1s. 

Several have GU falling to No. 5 Wisconsin, nearly everyone has No. 2 Ohio State making the Final Four out of the West Region. 

My nonexpert opinion is that the West bracket looks pretty favorable to the Zags, so we’ll see.

Friday: I’ve been asked several times in the last 24 hours if Gonzaga overlooked the 16th-seeded Jaguars. My reply: Don’t think so. The Zags didn’t play all that well, but they didn’t appear disinterested or unmotivated.  

Southern brought great energy and a knack for hitting shots just when it appeared GU was going to grab the game by the throat.

Chiefs

Chris Derrick

Wednesday: Brenden Kichton has been a constant for the Spokane Chiefs for five seasons. He’s excited about this year’s Western Hockey League playoffs, his final with Spokane, especially after an injury knocked him out of last year’s postseason in the first game.

He has glowing things to say about his second home.

“I’ve met a lot of great people here and a lot of great friends, co-workers and everything,” he said. “It’s just been a great city to play in and I’ve had a lot of great memories here. It’s going to be missed.”

Kichton fans will be glad to know that another Kichton may play in the WHL down the road. Brenden’s 14-year-old brother, Marcus, plays defenseman for a bantam AAA team in Spruce Grove. Brenden said he helped teach his brother how to play.

Cougars

Christian Caple

Tuesday: It’s been pretty well estimated that this (battle for No. 1 QB at WSU) is a two-man race between Connor Halliday and Austin Apodaca, and I’d wager that’s an accurate way to describe it.

This will be Halliday’s first healthy spring practice since the spring before the 2011 season. If you’ll recall, he was limited last year after aggravating his liver injury on the first day of spring ball, turning what was supposed to be a competition with Jeff Tuel into a one-man show.

With Tuel gone, the job seems Halliday’s to lose, though his shaky performance last year has some wondering if Apodaca might have a shot at the job.

It seems it would take a pretty big spring for Apodaca to head into the fall as a true challenger, considering the experience Halliday has.