Grip on Sports: Sunday is all about football but today still holds the promise of a college basketball upset or two
A GRIP ON SPORTS • If you can pull yourself away from the Lakers and the Warriors this evening, you have an opportunity to watch some decent college basketball. Read on.
••••••••••
• I know. I know. LeBron. Steph. Klay.
But if you watch that game, you are going to miss the end of Washington State’s upset of USC in Pullman. Or much of San Diego’s season-defining win over Gonzaga.
Will either happen? Probably not. But that’s the best part of college hoops, the chance for something unexpected to happen.
If the Cougars, who have won just once in eight conference games, figure out a way to stifle Andy Enfeld’s Trojans, don’t you want to be around to see it? That way, when you walk into your buddy’s Super Bowl party tomorrow, you have something to talk about other than deflated footballs and the excellent onion dip.
I’m not saying bet the mobile home on Washington State, a six-point underdog, all I’m saying is, with wins so rare this season for the Cougars, and a chance to get one this afternoon, maybe it would be worth tuning into Pac-12 Washington to watch.
Now, if the Toreros were to pull an upset, you darn better be sure you watched at least some of it. After all, it’s not often 22-point favorites go down, especially at home.
The fourth-ranked Zags have looked unbeatable lately. But we all know that isn’t true. It is college basketball.
Especially when the team you are playing sees tonight’s matchup as a way to show everyone a corner has been turned.
So leave the college games early and watch the Warriors play around with Los Angeles for a while before blowing the Lakers out of the gym if you want. You just never know what you may be missing.
•••
Gonzaga: The West Coast Conference schedule has undergone many changes this basketball season, but the Zags have kept one traditional weekend – the Salt Lake-to-San Diego swing. Except they came home. Jim Meehan will be there and he has this preview as well as the key player for GU to control. … Jim also has a story on Gonzaga signee Brock Ravet, the Kittitas High senior who broke the state’s high school scoring record yesterday. … Larry Weir talks Gonzaga hoops in the latest Press Box pod. … Around the WCC, the record-breaking loss to the Zags has to be cleansed quickly or BYU will struggle as Loyola Marymount visits.
WSU: Neither USC nor the Cougars had good offensive showings earlier this week. That’s the thrust of Theo Lawson’s preview of this evening’s game. … The women lost at UCLA. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, conference-leading Washington wants to get off to fast starts. So the Huskies have a symbol to latch onto. … UCLA will try to hand them their first conference loss today. … Oregon State credits its defense for the win at Colorado. … Will it stand up at Utah? … Arizona still doesn’t know how bad Brandon Williams’ injury is. … In football, USC’s struggles on the field is impacting off the field as well. … Three more players are leaving Arizona State.
EWU: Former Eastern star Cooper Kupp isn’t going to play in Sunday’s Super Bowl, victim of a season-ending injury a couple months ago. And he has been missed. Ryan Collingwood has more in this story. … Another former Eagles, Ed Simmons, looks back on his NFL career and how it ended in this piece from Dan Thompson.
Idaho: When the Vandals need a scoring punch, they call on a couple freshman. Peter Harriman has the story.
Chiefs: Spokane blanked Kelowna 4-0 to win its second consecutive game. Kevin Dudley was in the Arena and has this game story.
Preps: We watched a couple high school basketball games last night, helping a former player celebrate his senior night. It was fun. The results of the games we saw are available in these boys and girls roundups. … The WIAA’s recent change in how classifications are determined is giving some schools hope. Jim Allen explains why in this story.
•••
• At least the Zags aren’t playing at 8 tonight. Who knows, maybe they will make such quick work of USD, I can get the TV Take finished and still have time to watch Klay hit a handful of 3-pointers. … OK, so I screwed up this morning. All the incorrect references to the site of today’s GU game have been fixed. But boy was that stupid. … Until later …