Grip on Sports: It’s awards season and the WCC does its best to give us something to argue about

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Every sport has an awards season. It comes as the competition winds down and honors an ever-increasing number of players at every level. We are in the midst of it for basketball. Read on.

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• The best part of awards season? The arguments it engenders.

Let’s have one or two over the West Coast Conference basketball awards, announced yesterday. But before we do, let’s look at the women’s standings. Let’s see, who is on top? That would be the Gonzaga Bulldogs. They were 17-1 and won the conference title by four games. That’s like winning the Olympic downhill by 10 seconds. It just isn’t done.

So the Zags dominated the WCC’s first team, right? Well, head coach Lisa Fortier was the coach of the year. And junior forward Jill Barta was the player of the year. But they must have won 17 games all by themselves.

The WCC picks a 10-person first team in a game that has just five spots. Of those 10 spots, Barta is the only Zag represented.

She must be Cheryl Miller good.

Zykera Rice and Chandler Smith made the five-person second team. Jenn Wirth made the all-freshman team. And that’s that.

Either the coaches felt Fortier is really a lot better than they are or Barta was so dominant as to win 17 games by herself, or they just didn’t want to acknowledge how important the rest of the GU players were.

• The men’s team was a bit less egregious, but there were still a few odd occurrences.

The coaches expressed their mea culpas by voting Mark Few the coach of the year award, as well they should. The group unanimously, basically, picked Saint Mary’s to win in the preseason, which just gave Few another card to play with his guys. He played it and they cashed it in, winning 17 league games and another regular season title.

Jock Landale was the player of the year and rightfully so. Take any one player off Gonzaga and the Zags probably finished second or third. Take Landale off the Gaels (as the Bulldogs basically did in Moraga), and Saint Mary’s finishes fourth or fifth.

But there was at least one oddity to point out.

Gonzaga’s Zach Norvell was named the newcomer of the year, an award given to the best first-year player in the conference.

He earned it, considering not only his 11.8 points per game but also his propensity to hit shots, often from long range, when the Bulldogs needed it.

But Norvell didn’t make the first team. Or the second. He was only honorable mention. Which is, in itself, OK, except … San Diego’s Isaiah Pinero was a first-team selection.

This was Pinero’s first year in the conference after transferring from Portland State. That would make him, by definition, a newcomer. He’s also good enough to be on the first team. And yet he’s not good enough to be newcomer of the year? How is that possible?

His Torero teammate, Isaiah Wright, who transferred from Utah, was a second-team selection, which is, by my experience, a better award than honorable mention.

But Norvell? All-freshman team, sure. Newcomer of the year. And only honorable mention.

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WSU: Speaking of awards, Borislava Hristova made the Pac-12’s 15-player all-conference women’s team. Jim Allen has that story. … Men’s coach Ernie Kent held his weekly press conference yesterday and Theo Lawson posted video from it. … The Seattle Times takes a look at the four Cougars who will be at the NFL combine this weekend. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, we start with basketball, where there are players all over the league, from Washington to Oregon to Colorado to USC to Utah, hoping to step up and help their team finish strong. … Sean Miller is still MIA at Arizona’s practice. … The Wildcats have reportedly lost a big-name commit to UCLA. … In football, Colorado is in spring practice mode even though March doesn’t start until tomorrow. … Stanford has begun its spring practices. … Washington expects to send another tight end to the NFL. … A USC wide receiver avoided felony charges.

Gonzaga: We linked their stories above, but we will also link Jim Meehan’s piece on the men’s WCC awards and Jim Allen’s on the women’s here. … San Diego is trying to get back to (somewhat) normal. 

Idaho: Senior guard Perrion Callandret is out for the rest of the season. Peter Harriman has the story. … Yes, it’s warm enough to golf somewhere. Las Vegas in this case.

Chiefs: There are 10 games left in Spokane’s WHL regular season. No matter. The Chiefs have already clinched a return to the playoffs. … Portland crushed Tri-City in Kennewick last night.

Preps: It’s a big basketball weekend coming up. We start in Idaho, where the boys’ tournaments will start Thursday. Dave Nichols has a preview. … In Washington, the tournaments begin tonight. Dave previews the boys and girls tournaments from the 1A through the 4A. … Greg Lee looks at the 1B and 2B tournaments, which begin tonight at the Arena. … There is a Press Box podcast featuring state hoops as well. … With the big schools on the West Side of the state this weekend, there are prep stories from over there to pass along.

Boxing: John Blanchette has a column today on the return of the House of Fury.

Mariners: Another blown lead. And another. M’s fans better hope it’s not a pattern – or a habit. … James Paxton pitched. And he’s still healthy. That’s more than Felix Hernandez can say.

Seahawks: So what do the Hawks need to get out of the combine?

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• Will any local schools win a state basketball title? The Central Valley girls seem like the best bet. After that, it’s a matter of teams playing their best basketball for three or four days. If they do, they will take home a memory that will last a lifetime. Until later …