Grip on Sports: The best part of winter begins today and continues until the spring

A GRIP ON SPORTS • It gets dark outside really early. There is the occasional frost on the windshield in the morning. The dogs don’t want to get out of bed until the sun warms the windows. You know what that means? Yep, college basketball season is ready to begin. Read on.

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• The five local four-year college basketball teams are ready to play for real, with three games on tap for opening night tonight and the other two schools beginning soon. Before you know it, there will be basketballs bouncing all over local arenas.

And that’s good.

• There is a national spotlight on the area thanks to the expected success of Mark Few’s Gonzaga Bulldogs. They are ranked as high as third in the nation in one of the multiple polls or power rankings. They have much of their firepower returning. Fresh faces help bolster the optimism.

It all begins tonight when Idaho State visits. The game will be broadcast on KHQ starting at 6. We’ll be watching and at some point this evening will post our view from the couch. As far as I can tell, reading recent emails from some of you, the view is pretty much the same from your couch.

By the way, there was a fun event downtown last night hosted by the S-R and SWX. If you had a chance to watch any of it, the interplay between some of the key folks in Gonzaga’s past and their walks down memory lane were enough to brings smiles to your face – which made it better than 78 percent of what’s on TV most nights.

• The other local game tonight featuring a ranked team has Eastern Washington at 16th-ranked Syracuse, as the Eagles try to post only their second-ever upset of an Associated Press top 25 team.

In football, season openers are a good time to do just that. Basketball, which isn’t as dependent on scheme, is a bit of a different story. But the Eagles, who play a tough nonconference slate this season, will see if they can shoot down the Orange in the massive Carrier Dome.

• You won’t be able to see Idaho’s opener tonight, but if you could you would be experiencing it live from the best college campus in America – in my humble opinion.

Yep, the Vandals open at UC Irvine.

But don’t worry, even if UI is breaking in a lot of new parts, it has more than a good shot at winning. My alma mater isn’t what you would call a basketball powerhouse. Us Anteater fans have a fatalistic view of their chances every season and are as slow to embrace them as many Cougar fans are with their basketball team.

• Speaking of the Cougars, they don’t begin until this Sunday afternoon. Ernie Kent has brought in a lot of new faces in an attempt to get off the hot seat the last few years has prepared for him.

It’s a make-or-break year in Pullman for Kent and his Cougars and in an attempt to turn the ship around, Kent and his staff brought aboard a handful of new players. But their best recruit was and is Robert Franks, the sharpshooting wing who decided to return to school after flirting with the pro ranks.

If Washington State is going to be successful, Franks’ offense will be a big part of it.

• The other highly touted team in the area, Whitworth, doesn’t begin for more than a week. Division III schedules are different. But when the Pirates take the court, watch out. This could be Matt Logie’s best team and that’s saying something.

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WSU: We devoted the first part of the column today to basketball, but football is still ongoing. Especially the recruiting part of it. It was a great 24 hours for the Cougars’ defensive line, as Theo Lawson documents in this piece. … The other side of the ball also came in for some mention yesterday, with Mike Leach praising the play of redshirt freshman offensive tackle Abraham Lucas. Theo covers Leach’s comments in this story. … WSU travels to Boulder this Saturday and Theo has his first look at Colorado. … Finally, he spoke with Larry Weir for the most recent Press Box pod. … The NCAA soccer tournament field was announced yesterday and Washington State will host Montana in a first-round match. Jim Allen has more in this story. … The Times has a look at the women’s basketball team.

Elsewhere in the Pac-12, we will start with football and with Jon Wilner’s power rankings. He has Washington State and Washington at the top. … The Cougars may see Colorado’s best receiver this weekend. No one has for almost a month. … The Huskies received some good news this week, when injured left tackle Trey Adams told Chris Petersen he was planning on returning for a fifth year. … Oregon has lost a starting linebacker to a broken leg. … Oregon State needs to improve its starts. … Tyler Huntley may be able to play in Utah’s bowl game. … UCLA does its special team’s coaching a bit differently than some Pac-12 schools. … Arizona State has won two consecutive games. … Arizona is happy to have a bye before playing Washington State. … In basketball news, Washington coach Mike Hopkins is looking forward to his second season. … Oregon has enough newcomers for incite big expectations. … Oregon State begins with UC Riverside. … California is playing in China. … USC’s Bennie Boatwright hopes for smooth sailing. … Steve Alford needs a smooth season at UCLA. … Arizona State needs to win its opener. … Arizona is getting healthier.

Gonzaga: As we said above, the Zags begin their highly anticipated season tonight by hosting Idaho State of the Big Sky. Jim Meehan has a preview of the contest. He also has a look at the key matchup. … Two Zags, Rui Hachimura and Killian Tillie, are on the Naismith watch list, though Tillie will begin the season as a spectator with a stress fracture in his ankle. Jim has more in this story. … Dan Thompson has this story from the Gonzaga Legends event last night downtown. Dan Pelle has the photo report. … The women begin their season Wednesday, hosting Montana. Jim Allen has a preview. … Around the WCC, BYU has really improved its nonconference schedule. It begins tonight against No. 7 Nevada. … USD believes this will be a special season.

EWU: The season opener tonight is just the beginning of a tough nonconference slate for the Eagles. Ryan Collingwood has that and more in this preview. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, there are a lot of conference teams ranked, including Idaho State. … Northern Colorado didn’t play well versus Eastern. Now the Bears have Montana State. … Montana and Idaho renew what was once one of the best rivalries in the conference. … Weber State is tough at home. … In basketball news, Idaho State is looking forward to the Gonzaga challenge. … Montana State is getting healthier as the opener looms. … Northern Arizona hopes to turn around its recent bad luck.

Seahawks: Could health decide if the Hawks make the playoffs? Sure it could. … Is Bruce Irvin headed back to Seattle? Maybe. … The Rams, coming off their first loss of the season, loom for Seattle.

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• Did you know it is Election Day? Of course you did. If you are like me, you voted a while ago. But if you didn’t, please educate yourself on the candidates and the issues and then mark your ballot. Voting is important but informed voting is crucial. That’s why I don’t vote in college polls. Until later …