NCAA basketball

Days after an offseason coaching change prompted Washington to cancel the final two games of a long-term contract with Gonzaga, another program on the Bulldogs’ nonconference schedule is honoring its commitment despite a leadership change of its own.

Hooptown USA is not a recognized geographical area.

The West Coast Conference took significant steps by adding Washington State and Oregon State as affiliate members for the next two years and the Western Athletic Conference’s Grand Canyon and Seattle as full members beginning in the 2025-26 season. The moves provide the WCC with stability as well as strength in numbers in case Gonzaga leaves for another conference down the road. The Zags have had multiple conversations with the Big 12 but those talks have cooled off with the conference expanding to 16 this fall with four former Pac-12 schools in the fold.

The two games remaining on the Gonzaga-Washington men’s basketball series are no longer on the schedule, Zags athletic director Chris Standiford confirmed.

Rasir Bolton posted impressive numbers and earned all-league honors during his first professional season in Europe.

Mark Few will have plenty on his plate when he links up with Team USA in Las Vegas a few weeks from now to start preparations for the Summer Olympics, but the Gonzaga coach shouldn’t have many concerns about the state of his program back in Spokane as he begins an international tour that includes stops in Abu Dhabi and London before a late-July arrival in Paris.

The expected addition of Senegal native Ismaila Diagne to Gonzaga’s basketball roster became official Tuesday. The agile, 7-foot post has signed a financial aid agreement and will join the Zags for the upcoming season, according to a Gonzaga release.

Approximately two weeks after Ismaila Diagne was initially linked to Gonzaga, the 7-foot Real Madrid center announced Monday on his social media platforms he’s signed with the Bulldogs, filling the 13th and final scholarship spot on Mark Few’s roster for 2024-25.

One of the stronger offseasons in recent memory could end with a major recruiting coup for Gonzaga.

Maybe it goes back even further, but this legacy of Monson fathers passing basketballs down to their sons at least traces back to Oscar “Swede” Monson, who coached at Menahga (Minn.) High School before World War II.

Washington State will have to find a new voice of its sports programs.

Updated forecast still ranks Alabama, Gonzaga at the top.

Gonzaga will be busy at the Battle 4 Atlantis when the inaugural Players Era Festival tips off in Las Vegas this November, but Mark Few’s program is reportedly one of eight more that will join a loaded 2025 field according to multiple reports Wednesday morning.

College sports is submerged in uncertainty. Or, perhaps, the more optimistic term is “opportunity.” It all depends on your perspective. Anne McCoy — the interim athletic director at Washington State — is providing plenty during her recent press swing. She's doing so during a tumultuous period both for her institution and the entire industry, as college athletics braces for unprecedented upheaval … and the Cougs search for stability.

At what point will schools sell the naming rights to their teams? 

Less than two months ago, in a land that now seems far, far away, Dan Hurley grabbed a microphone and screamed to a throng of deliriously happy people that UConn basketball “has been running college basketball the last 30 years.” This was more than pep rally aggrandizement; it was, in fact, true. That April evening in Phoenix, the University of Connecticut had laid claim to its sixth men’s national championship, bettering the banner collections of Duke and Indiana and pulling even with North Carolina.

It won’t be long before Gonzaga and Washington State learn their full West Coast Conference schedules for the 2024-25 basketball season, but the Inland Northwest rivals can officially count on at least two games against one another next year, according to the conference pairings that were revealed Thursday.

PULLMAN – After a while, it became clear Myles Rice was getting tired of telling the same story. As he led Washington State back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 16 years, stealing the show as the Cougars’ lead ball-handler and scorer, he began doing scores of interviews about his journey.

Hunter Sallis knew exactly what he was doing when it came time to make a decision about his future.