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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Grip on Sports: Today is the best day for a variety of reasons, not all of them coming on a basketball court

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Rui Hachimura (21) visits with Wataru "Wat" Misaka, a retired professional basketball player, after a practice leading up to the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament on Wednesday, March 20, 2019, at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The best day of the year deserves more than just some random thoughts. But that’s what the NCAA Tournament, which really begins today, is receiving. Read on.

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• The first game today, on CBS, is the Pitino Bowl, featuring Minnesota, coached by Richard Pitino, against Louisville, where his dad, Rick, once coached to a national title.

It’s funny, isn’t it, that of all the head coaches implicated in the FBI probe of college basketball coaching, Rick Pitino, who led Kentucky to the 1996 title and Louisville to the 2013 one, even if the NCAA no longer acknowledges the latter these days, who lost his job.

Considering all the other things Pitino did in his coaching past, maybe it isn’t as funny as it seems at first glance.

• Aren’t we beyond the TruTV jokes by now? It’s been a decade, basically, that the “Impractical Jokers’” network has broadcast games the first week of the tournament. We know where it is, right?

Well, I almost had to look it up again Tuesday night . But I guessed, got close enough to find it with little trouble and then made a joke about it. It’s always worth a couple laughs. So, I guess the answer to my question is “no.”

If you still need help, we are always here for you with a link.

• Someone in the NCAA offices – or at CBS – must have it out for the West Coast Conference.

Gonzaga’s personal playground received two bids to this year’s tournament, the second assured when Saint Mary’s shut down the vaunted GU offense and won the WCC Tournament final. The Gaels didn’t have to sweat Selection Sunday this year.

Of course, that’s when they found out they would be playing defending national champion Villanova. Strike one. And then later that evening the times were announced.

The Gaels, who compete with Gonzaga for everything, were slotted at the exact same time. The Bulldogs tip off at 4:20 on TruTV versus Fairleigh Dickinson, Saint Mary’s are on TBS. Even if you are a rabid fan of the WCC, you can’t watch them both.

Maybe there will be a rout in one of the game so the second half WCC lovers can concentrate on the close game.

• If Gonzaga wins today – what are the odds? – it will face the winner of Syracuse and Baylor, the eighth and ninth seeds. The Orangemen will play tonight without its point guard, Frank Howard, after he was suspended indefinitely yesterday for an unspecified violation of team rules.

He’s a pretty big part of what Jim Boeheim’s team does. That’s a big blow.

• If GU and Syracuse do advance, it will cause one more NCAA meeting between two really good friends. Gonzaga coach Mark Few and Boeheim are close, really close.

Few told me recently Boeheim is about the only coach in the Eastern time zone that routinely texts him after Gonzaga’s games, which can start at 10:30 or later in Syracuse, New York. It’s pretty obvious the longtime Syracuse coach knows what Few’s team is capable of.

• My favorite part of the NCAA Tournament? The contrast in styles. Teams that are successful playing basketball differing ways meeting and trying to impose their will.

There are many examples today. The best may be at 11 a.m., when Vermont and Florida State meet on TBS. Two schools who play the game with different philosophies.

Of course there are other matchups featuring teams with similar styles, like Nevada versus Florida (3:50 p.m. on TNT) or Murray State against Marquette (1:30 p.m. on TBS).

And then there is the matchup that features a school with a coach under indictment in the new admissions scandal … and LSU. Yep, Yale has a coach who is facing charges for accepting money to play the admissions system. LSU has its own problems, sure, but an indictment isn’t one of them. Yet.

• You know those people all over social media this week telling you “no one wants to hear about your bracket?” They’re crazy. Everyone wants to know how you are doing, good or bad. So, no matter what, take to Twitter or Instagram or My Space and, after game, update everyone you know after every game.

They’ll love you for it.

Trust me on this one.

And, oh ya, I picked Michigan State to win it all in my bracket. You can trust me on this one too.

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Gonzaga: No, it won’t happen again. Jim Meehan has a preview of today’s game and this No. 1 will not lose to a No. 16. … Jim also has the most interesting story of the day, as Rui Hachimura met with a 95-year-old trailblazer in the game of basketball. … John Blanchette tells us the story of Fairleigh Dickinson’s coach, Greg Herenda. … Theo Lawson looks at the Knights. … Jim has the key matchup … Theo writes about the bond between Josh Perkins and Geno Crandall. … Tyler Tjomsland has photographs from yesterday’s activities. … Jim Allen has a feature on Melody Kempton, a freshman who will play more when the women kick off the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.  … There is more on the Jimmy Kimmel front. … Killian Tillie is back. … Gonzaga’s run of excellence has put a bullseye on its back. … Around the WCC, the 11th-seeded Gaels will have their hands full with Villanova. But a loss isn’t the worst thing in the world.

WSU: Spring football begins in Pullman today and the Cougars have questions. Lots of them. Theo bores into five, including one about the quarterbacks. … Ernie Kent is gone and now so is Carter Skaggs. He will transfer. Despite being in Salt Lake City, Theo has that story as well. … Theo also talked with Larry Weir yesterday for the latest Press Box pod. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, Arizona State picked up the conference’s first NCAA win in a couple years, defeating St. John’s in a play-in game. … The win helps make every Pac-12 school some more money. … Oregon will try to earn even more against Wisconsin. … Washington is zoned in as it prepares for Utah State. … Colorado is ready for its next NIT game. … Oregon has extended the contract of former Gonzaga women’s coach Kelly Graves. … There are football stories, or contract stories, from Utah and Oregon.

EWU: Both Eastern basketball teams ended the season on hot streaks. Which leads Ryan Collingwood to believe next year could be good for the Eagles. … Around the Big Sky, Montana shouldn’t be surprised by anything Michigan does. They played last year.

Chiefs: Spokane earned some WHL postseason honors.

Preps: The weather is improving, but soccer season is still not going full bore. Justin Reed looks at the upcoming GSL season as well as taking a glance around the area. … When snow makes playing outside impossible, golf teams have to improvise. Dave Nichols has a story on two schools who came up with a fun way to play a rivalry “match.”

Mariners: The first time every rookie steps on a major league baseball field, they are beginning a journey that will end someday. They may not think about it, but career’s, even the best career’s, are finite. Ichiro’s came to an end today in Japan. One of baseball’s best hitters – ever – finished in a fitting way, alone on a field with thousands of adoring fans calling his name. What a player, what a career. Next stop, the Hall of Fame. … Oh, ya, the M’s won again. They are 2-0 to start the season. … Dave Nichols has some thoughts on the opening series in the latest Out of Right Field column. … Sean Kramer has written for the S-R before. Now living in Japan, he caught up with Marco Gonzales after his opening win. … It’s T-Mobile Park now and it is magenta.

Seahawks: Doug Baldwin will have more surgery this offseason.

Sounders: Getting better individually is best left for the breaks in the schedule.

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• I made a joke about brackets in the open today, but I’m deadly serious about this: I have no idea who will win the tournament this year. That’s nothing new, but the depth of the feeling is. Duke has the most talent but I have this stinking suspicion somewhere en route to Minneapolis either the Blue Devils will go 2-for-29 from beyond the arc or Zion Williamson will call a timeout at the end of a game they don’t have. In a perfect world, for me anyway, Gonzaga and Virginia would meet for the title. Or both would lose to UC Irvine en route to the Anteaters’ first national championship. Until later …