Grip on Sports: If there is an award for best quarterback in a tough position, we know the winner
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Thank goodness for Gonzaga basketball. And awards. If not for those related items, there would be nothing to chat about this morning. Or very little. Read on.
••••••••••
• Before we get into the award news, how about we examine a longshot? Gage Gubrud heard from the NCAA recently. According to our Theo Lawson, the organization decided the former Eastern Washington quarterback doesn’t fit its criteria for a sixth year of eligibility.
We had written before it was a tough ask for Gubrud, who was injured in the Eagles’ fifth game last season and lost the rest of his final year. Not because of that, as Eastern went on to play 15 games, keeping Gubrud’s injury in the first third of the season.
No, what was problematic was his first redshirt season. The NCAA will look long and hard at two seasons lost to injury – as is what happened to WSU’s Peyton Pelluer – and sometimes be amenable to a sixth season. But redshirt a season for developmental reasons – either academic or athletic – and the NCAA usually tells you to go start your life.
So Gubrud’s inevitable appeal is a Hail Mary of sorts. His best chance if he can’t prove two years of injuries, according to folks I have spoke with over the years, is to show he needed the redshirt year to adjust to the academic rigors of college. Pulling at the NCAA’s academic heartstrings has worked occasionally in the past.
We’ll have to see if anything works this time for a student/athlete that just wants to keep playing the game he loves.
• Every time a national award list is released, there seems to be a Gonzaga basketball player on it.
Yesterday, that happened twice.
One was expected – Rui Hachimura is on the Wooden Award late-season watch list, along with 19 others from around the country. The other, Josh Perkins making the cutdown to 10 for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the nation’s top point guard, was only unexpected for those not paying attention.
Perkins’ game has evolved since he stepped on campus, no more so than this season, his last in Spokane. These days, he fits the point-guard mold Mark Few wants. That couldn’t always be said of Perkins in his first few years with the Bulldogs.
And it’s paying off, not just for the 21-2 Zags, but also for Perkins.
He’s sixth in the nation in assists and first in the West Coast Conference in assist-to-turnover ratio. In other words, he’s valuing the basketball and, when he makes a pass, it leads to something productive.
• One other thing always shows up on Mondays this time of year. No, not a snow shower, though that’s pretty common as well. We are referring to the polls. Theo votes each week and then tells us why he made the decisions he did.
•••
Gonzaga: I’m pretty sure Jim Meehan would rather have a quiet Monday than have to write stories about Hachimura and Perkins and their respective award lists. But it wasn’t to be. … Jim also has the news Hachimura won another WCC player of the week award and the Zags’ poll standings. All in all, he had a busy day. … Justin Reed has a story about freshman post Filip Petrusev and his diminishing playing time. … The women moved up to 13th in the latest poll. They have a quiet week ahead, one that Jim Allen previews in this story. … Around the WCC, BYU had a young player emerge last week.
WSU: Theo takes a look at Gubrud’s denial by the NCAA and what lies ahead for the quarterback. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, there is some interesting news, though little of it is from the court. For example, it looks as if Sean Miller may have to testify in an upcoming trial. It’s not as if his Wildcats have much of a chance to win the conference this season anyway. No one except Washington does. … A Colorado player’s return to Los Angeles will come with some baggage. … Oregon State had a good weekend. … On the football field, Arizona State begins spring practice today. Really. … Recruiting California isn’t the sole property of USC and UCLA anymore. If it ever was.
EWU: The Big Sky scheduled a few Monday night basketball games this season and last night was the Eagles’ turn to play. They hosted Northern Arizona and Ryan Collingwood was at Reese Court for their 82-64 win. … Colin Mulvany was also there and has this photo report.
Idaho: The Vandals are in a free fall, losing for the seventh consecutive time. Peter Harriman has the coverage of their 75-64 loss to Southern Utah.
Seahawks: Do the Hawks handle the end of games well?
Mariners: A front-office employee has left the organization just before the start of spring training.
•••
• If you thought Spokane was going to get through an entire winter without at least one cold spell, you were wrong. This year’s version hit last night and seems to have settled in. It’s no polar vortex, but it’s enough to make your toes curl when you let the dog out. Actually, it was cold enough I had to push the dog out this morning. And he didn’t waste a lot of time outside. Smart dog. Until later …