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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Every start has to be accompanied by a finish

Liberty players celebrate at the buzzer after defeating Brewster 55-52 to reach the State 2B title game. (Dan Pelle)
Liberty players celebrate at the buzzer after defeating Brewster 55-52 to reach the State 2B title game. (Dan Pelle)

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Today is the end. And the beginning. Read on.

••••••••••

• We're speaking about basketball, of course. Today marks the end of the local high school basketball season. It also marks the beginning of Gonzaga's postseason run, something many Zag fans have been talking about since, oh, I don't know, September? Whenever a Gonzaga season begins, the first question you hear from fans is "how far will our Zags go in the NCAA tournament?" Or something to that effect. Such is the level Mark Few's program has reached. The regular season has become a dress rehearsal. Oh, sure, there are games everyone looks forward to, though this season there seemed to be fewer than usual. And there has been a hiccup or two, including that season not all that long ago when St. Mary's won the WCC regular season and tournament title. But that's the exception, not the rule. The Zags rule the West Coast Conference, so an NCAA berth seems to be a given. It is this season, that's for sure. But as Few loves to tell you, the NCAA tournament is about matchups, so today's game – and how many other ones GU plays in Las Vegas – matters. What's sad is a win probably won't affect the Zags' seed line. But a loss will. Right now, thanks to the BYU upset, Gonzaga is just trying for two things: staying out West, with the hope of playing all of its games within a short travel distance for its fans, and avoiding an Elite Eight matchup with Kentucky. Yes, that's the potential of this team, whether anyone wants to admit it or not. Besides Kentucky and quite possibly Tony Bennett's Virginia team, there is no one out there that should be a prohibitive favorite against Gonzaga. Now that doesn't mean no one else can beat the Zags in the tournament. Lots of teams are capable of that, including, in a weird sort of sense, Gonzaga itself. But GU matches up fine with just about everyone except those two schools. Wisconsin, Duke, Arizona, Villanova, Wichita State, name a school and, on a good night, Gonzaga is capable of getting by them. On a bad night? There are a lot of schools capable of getting past the Bulldogs. But the easier the route, the better. Which makes the next three games important for the Zags. A loss in Vegas will not stay there, at least not this week.

• Over in the Arena, in Tacoma, in Yakima, in Nampa, local high school teams will be playing for state basketball titles. It's a night of joy for half of the finalists, a night of sorrow for the other half. Goals will be met, dreams shattered. But no matter the outcome, it will be the final game of their high school career for a lot of kids – and for most of those, the final competitive basketball game of their lives. They have been dribbling and shooting since they can remember and today it will end. If you happen to be in attendance, remember that. And cheer on both sides. It may be the last time they ever get to experience such a moment.

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• WSU: Speaking of endings, today will be the final Pac-12 game in Pullman for the Cougars' seniors. Jacob Thorpe previews the matchup with Colorado in his morning post. ... He also had a post yesterday looking back at the Utah loss. ... The WSU women's season ended in Seattle yesterday as the Cougars fell to No. 9 Arizona State 67-48. Tom Clouse was there and has this game story. ... It's Saturday, so we have the mailbag from ESPN.com's Pac-12 football blog. ... The blog has some spring questions for WSU. I have one. Why does everyone forget about wide receiver Gabe Marks, who redshirted last season? ... Jon Wilner continued his look at the conference's financial condition in a couple of blog posts from yesterday.

• Gonzaga: The men begin their WCC tourney today but the women got started yesterday, with a lot more on the line. The men know they are going to the NCAAs. The women? If they don't win the automatic berth they will probably be left home, despite a 27-6 record right now. They started down the right path with a second-half blitzing of Loyola Marymount yesterday. Jim Meehan has the story while John Blanchette has a column on Lindsay Sherbert, who hurt her knee again. ... Colin Mulvany has this photo report from Las Vegas. ... Jim also has an advance of the men's game against USF. ... Now that the rest of the conference knows Gonzaga can be had, thanks to BYU last week, the tournament should feature some tight games. ... USF and Santa Clara won yesterday.

• Whitworth: The Pirates posted their most lopsided NCAA tournament win yesterday, defeating LaGrange 88-60 in a game that was tied at halftime. It was also coach Matt Logie's 100th win.

• Chiefs: Kamloops put an end to the Chiefs' four-game winning streak, stopping Spokane 4-2. ... Everett got past Tri-City 1-0 while Portland hammered Seattle 7-1.

• Preps: The Post Falls boys will be playing for the Idaho 5A title tonight after a 61-56 semifinal win over Capital. ... The Gonzaga Prep girls will be playing for the Washington 4A title tonight after Laura Stockton's 24-foot jumper lifted them to a 41-39 semifinal win over Todd Beamer. Greg Lee has the story. He also had a blog post yesterday. ... In Yakima, the Clarkston boys are in the 2A finals and the Lakeside girls advanced to the 1A title game. The East Valley girls dropped their 2A semifinal. ... Over in the Arena, we have stories on the 1B girls and boys semifinals and the 2B boys and girls semifinals. Such veteran writers as Chris Derrick, Jim Allen, Mike Vlahovich and myself covered those games, which means we were awake way later than usual. ... There are also capsules of all the games that took place at the Arena. ...  Photographers Tyler Tjomsland and Dan Pelle combined for this photo report.

• Seahawks: The big news yesterday was the Hawks and Marshawn Lynch agreed upon a contract extension that does a couple things. It gives Lynch more money next year but lessens the salary cap hit Seattle was slated to take. It also has a much larger cap hit in 2016 and 2017, meaning there is a good chance next season will be Lynch's last in Seattle. Getting this done was so important to Seattle, owner Paul Allen flew in to be part of the conversation. ... The Hawks made some other roster moves yesterday, including parting ways with tight end Zach Miller. ... Jermaine Kearse is getting a big raise. ... They may be in the market for a new backup quarterback. Jake Locker anyone? ... The Jets are reportedly trading for Brandon Marshall. That means they will probably release Percy Harvin. And that has implications for the Hawks.

• Mariners: The M's finally – it was the third game – lost in spring training, 7-4 to a split squad of Dodgers. ... Erasmo Ramirez didn't do much of anything to help his quest for a roster spot. ... Roenis Elias is also vying for the fifth starter role. ... The stars of the pitching staff have yet to make an appearance.

• Sounders: Seattle will open the MLS season, a season that was in jeopardy thanks to labor problems, on Monday night. One of the Sounders' key player is Osvaldo Alonso, whose journey to Seattle was a tough one. ... The Sounders are one of the league favorites. ... This year Seattle gets to compete in the Champions League.

•••

• I didn't get anywhere close to my usual amount of sleep last night so I hope there aren't too many glaring errors. More than the usual I mean. Until later ...



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Looking for a Grip on Sports?

Vince Grippi's daily take on all things regional sports has been moved to our main sports section online. You can find a collection of these columns here.