Grip on Sports: The PK80 is a great idea but shouldn’t a tournament honoring Phil Knight have earlier start times?

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s way too early to be up on Black Friday. Unless, of course, you are in line at a big box store trying to buy a microwave for $2.39. Or want to catch up on what happened last night after the turkey coma kicked in. We can only help with one of those. Read on.

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• Why is it too early to be moving around today. A couple reasons.

Overeating is one, though being a savvy veteran who had two family members working yesterday, we didn’t eat all that much the first go-round. The pie and the late-night turkey sandwich, however, put us over the edge a bit.

But the main reason for our drowsy state was the late start for the Gonzaga game.

When the PK80 times were announced months ago, the 9 p.m. start rang the alarm bells. And when it turned out to be closer to 9:40 than the scheduled time, the coffee pot took a beating.

Heck, you know it’s a late game when the majority of the commercials advertised copper-infused workout products. That’s only a half-step up from an info-commercial starring some child actor from the 1970s. 

The after-midnight start (in the East) meant when the game was over, we finished our TV Take around midnight (on the West Coast). But we were still wired due to a combination of caffeine and deadline stress. That made falling asleep an iffy proposition.

• Speaking of iffy propositions, giving the ESPN2 crew a good review for their performance last night seems to be one as well.

I was surprised by the vitriolic nature of Gonzaga fans’ responses to the pair of Doug Sherman and Dan Dakich. It didn’t seem deserved.

I spent last season listening to national announcers make mistake after mistake concerning the Zags’ past and present. Other than an occasional name screwup (Dakich twice mixed up Josh Perkins and Silas Melson, which is inexcusable), the duo was well-schooled in the program’s past, had good insight into the present and played it more than down the middle when talking about both teams, with the team winning getting most of the coverage.

But my thoughts on the broadcast didn’t seem to coincide with many Zag fans’ thoughts. I received more feedback today than I have in a long time – and it wasn’t agreeing with my assessment. 

Yes, the humor missed sometimes. And, yes, the odd aside about Adam Morrison doing radio seemed out of place. But overall, the coverage was about as good as it gets on ESPN these days. At least we didn’t get a 10-minute dissertation on the Missoula floods.

• It’s pretty early in the basketball season, but we’ve already learned one thing about Ernie Kent’s team at Washington State: It’s a second-half monster.

The Cougars haven’t knocked anyone’s socks off with their first half play in their 4-0 start (they score, on average, less than 28 points a game in the first 20 minutes), but they have pounded people after halftime.

Last night’s 75-71 win over Saint Joseph’s in the Wooden Classic was Washington State’s third come-from-behind victory of the season. And they are averaging about 50 points in the final 20 minutes.

The Cougars face 21st-ranked Saint Mary’s tonight in the tournament’s semifinals.

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WSU: The Apple Cup is tomorrow night, so rest up today. But before you do, don’t miss Theo Lawson’s story on the lone surviving senior linebacker the Cougars have, Isaac Dotson. … Or the story on Washington State’s hoop victory, which was covered in a couple different spots. … Back to football, the Apple Cup divides those in the media who pick games as well. … The Huskies’ running backs are tight. So is the comparison between the teams’ receivers. … The Cougar senior class is looking for one win against UW. The Husky group wants a sweep.  

Elsewhere in the Pac-12, let’s get right to the rivalry games, like the one in Eugene. The coaching staffs at both Oregon and Oregon State have a lot riding on the Civil War. … Speaking of the transient nature of coaching, and we were, Colorado’s Mike McIntyre has seen both sides in the past two years. At least he’s had a solid running back to fall back on. … Utah needs a win as well to go bowling. … Down in the desert, it seems as if Arizona State’s Todd Graham is being roasted while Arizona is looking for Kahlil Tate to do what he does. … Stanford is still evaluating its freshman class. … California would love to go bowling this year but host UCLA stands in the Bears’ way. … Why don’t we just hand the title to USC? … In basketball, it was a busy day and night. Oregon was playing in the PK80 and lost. Arizona was playing in the Battle 4 Atlantis and lost – again. Oregon State was playing in the AdvoCare and lost. Other than Arizona State’s victory, it was not a good day for the Pac-12.

Gonzaga: On one of the free throws last night, the camera caught the S-R duo of Jim Meehan and John Blanchette, looking awful lonely in a not-too-crowded press section under the opposite basket. Jim raced and finished his game story in time for the morning’s paper, while John had his column on the tournament itself. By the way, the game included some of the worst stat keeping I’ve seen on the college level. Three times players made great passes that were fumbled away and the stat folks gave the turnover to the passer. Plus, once a pass was thrown toward a player, the defender stepped in, stole it and the turnover was given to the intended recipient. It was odd. … We had some turnovers, I’m sure, in our TV Take. Hey, it was late and I’m not young anymore. … Jim was perfect in his three keys and his story about the shoes GU wore, while Tyler Tjomsland was nearly so in his photo report. … There is other coverage of the game as well. … Former Gonzaga center Ryan Edwards played in the tournament as well, for Portland State. … The women’s team is in Las Vegas for a tournament. The Zags lost the opener to Belmont, despite Jill Barta’s 21 points and 22 rebounds. … Around the WCC, Saint Mary’s won at the Wooden and will face WSU. Portland lost to No. 9 North Carolina at the PK80. … BYU isn’t happy about a change to the Barclays Classic, which begins today.

EWU: The FCS playoffs start this weekend but Eastern isn’t a part of them. So Jim Allen uses the time to look toward next season. … Around the Big Sky in hoops, Eastern travels to face Utah today. … Portland State gave Duke a scare before falling in the PK80. … Sacramento State lost to San Diego State and Idaho State lost at San Jose State.

Idaho: The Vandals opened the Great Alaska Shootout with a 10-point win over Santa Clara.

Seahawks: The Hawks hit the road Sunday but it’s only to San Francisco, where the 49ers have struggled and will be starting a rookie quarterback. … Seattle would love to see the old Thomas Rawls. … The Hawks will see a rejuvenated Dion Jordan. … And they may see some other familiar faces off the injury list.

Mariners: Will the M’s bring back Hisashi Iwakuma? And will they sign a free agent outfielder?

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• The plan this morning? A piece of pumpkin pie for breakfast (pumpkin is a fruit, isn’t it?) and then back to bed. If you happened to pick up two of those cheap microwaves, bring one by, will ya? It would make a great stocking stuffer for the daughter-in-law. Until later …