Grip on Sports: WSU needs to seize its opportunity tonight with California in town
A GRIP ON SPORTS • It’s an important night in Pullman. The Washington State Cougars return to Beasley Coliseum and are presented an opportunity. The California Golden Bears are in town. Read on.
••••••••••
• It hasn’t been the best of seasons thus far for Ernie Kent’s team. Winless in their first three Pac-12 games, all on the road, the Cougars have seen their record fall to 7-9.
They’ve had to play the first part of the conference schedule missing their leading scorer, senior Robert Franks, out for four games with a hip problem.
But things are looking up.
Franks is back tonight, cleared to play. It’s a big boost. And the Cougars are home. All seven of their wins have come on Friel Court. They have yet to lose in Pullman. They don’t want to start tonight.
Ask anyone connected to college basketball and they’ll tell you the Pac-12 is a mess this season. But no one is messier than California.
The Bears have descended into the depths of the conference standings, winless despite already having held a home weekend – something Washington State hasn’t enjoyed.
It’s gotten so bad in Berkeley, there is a story this morning from the San Francisco paper using the term “tough love” connected to Cal and its coach Wyking Jones. That’s never a good sign.
But when you are 0-7 away from your home arena, as the 5-11 Bears are, then maybe “tough love,” however you define that nebulous term, is called for.
All I know is tonight is a great night for the Cougars to get off the floor and pick up their first conference victory.
•••
Gonzaga: The Zags have another defensive-minded foe coming into McCarthey tonight, though Loyola-Marymount’s Lions have been struggling lately. They have lost two of their first three WCC contests. Jim Meehan has more in his game preview and in the key matchup. … Jim also has a story on a couple future Gonzaga players nominated for the McDonald’s All-American game. One is Gonzaga Prep’s Anton Watson. … First-place in the conference is on the line tonight in Provo, when the Gonzaga women face off with BYU. Jim Allen has a preview. … Around the WCC, San Diego is dealing with injuries and a depth problem. … BYU hopes to defend better on the road.
WSU: As we mentioned above, Franks will be back in the lineup tonight for the Cougars. … Yesterday marked a year since Tyler Hilinski took his own life. … Theo Lawson took some time to speak with Larry Weir for the most recent Press Box pod. … We spent some time recently combing through the numbers related to Cougar football last season – and the next one. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, Washington’s shot selection has improved, mainly due to the efforts of a couple players. … Oregon State is scoring more often. The first-place Beavers will be tested by the Arizona schools. … Speaking of the Arizona schools, Oregon and UA meet tonight in Tucson. It should be fun. … Colorado’s depth issues are aggravated by foul trouble. … Stanford needs more from its best players. … UCLA does too. … In football news, there is change happening all over among assistants, most notably at Washington, where Chris Petersen has hired a new receivers coach with Eastern Washington ties. … Arizona State has lost a defensive coach to Michigan. … Former USC assistant Todd McNair has been granted a new trial as he fights the NCAA. … Former UW and Cal assistant Tosh Lupoi is headed from Alabama to the NFL.
EWU: Around the Big Sky, we start with football news as Montana State is trying to attract alums to fill vacancies in its coaching staff. It brought home a big one yesterday. … In hoops, Northern Colorado is atop the standings if not the statistics. … Weber State has a tough week ahead. … Northern Arizona is happy to be home. … A couple of Idaho State players have set a standard. … Montana State’s bench hasn’t always gotten the job done.
CCS: Women’s coach Bruce Johnson picked up his 600th victory last night, which is roughly equal to the number of shots he used to take in our pickup basketball games back in the day. … The men also won last night.
Preps: It’s Thursday, so there are quite a few stories, ranging in subjects as a large family that’s had a huge impact on Northwest Christian’s basketball program, to next week’s huge wrestling showdown featuring the Mead schools. Our Dave Nichols has written both of those pieces. … Dave was also at last night’s Stinky Sneaker games between U-Hi and Central Valley. … We also have a wrestling roundup and a gymnastics roundup concerning Wednesday night’s action.
Seahawks: Darrell Bevell is moving to Detroit. … Mychal Kendricks won’t know his fate until April.
Mariners: The Mariner Caravan rolled into town Wednesday and at the wheel, figuratively, was former Gonzaga star Marco Gonzales. Dan Thompson spent some time with Gonzales and the other M’s as they visited with youngsters at a place familiar to anyone who has played baseball at GU: The Warehouse’s hitting facility. So did Tyler Tjomsland, and he has a photo report with some of the coolest photos you will ever see, like the one we highlighted here.
•••
• This is the time of year one has to be extra careful when you let the dog out at 3 in the morning. At least he needs to be. It was skating rink outside our house. Poor guy looked a bit like Nancy Kerrigan for a while, even with his built-in four-paw drive. Until later …