NCAA basketball

PORTLAND – In years to come, the 2023-24 Gonzaga women’s basketball team will be looked on fondly for many reasons.

PORTLAND – Their fans will certainly indulge the question, but the Gonzaga women were in no mood Friday night to compare this year’s team to past versions.

Pride and disappointment, the latter enters every locker room except one after the 67 games of an NCAA Tournament, were on display Friday as Gonzaga players processed a season-ending 80-68 loss to Purdue.

DETROIT — This Gonzaga season was not short on doubt. A couple of months ago, the Bulldogs' consecutive NCAA Tournament-appearance streak — which dates back to 1999 — looked like it might be in jeopardy. The Zags rallied, though, winning 19 of their next 21 games and shoving themselves into the Sweet 16 once again. On Friday, however, there was no doubt. Gonzaga got beat by a superior team ...

PULLMAN – Jim Shaw said he’s disappointed in Washington State’s decision to move on from him as a candidate for the school’s opening at head basketball coach.

PULLMAN — Washington State's basketball roster is changing by the hour.

SEATTLE – It can be argued Will Conroy, the former standout from Garfield High in Seattle, Washington walk-on and career Husky assists record holder who served as an assistant on two coaching staffs, is the most ardent supporter of the UW men’s basketball team.

DETROIT – Fifth-seeded Gonzaga played with a shorthanded backcourt Friday night against top-seeded Purdue in the Sweet 16.

PULLMAN – Washington State’s next head basketball coach will not be associate head coach Jim Shaw.

DETROIT – As a group of reporters huddled around Anton Watson, two teammates sitting near the senior forward decided to pause their own conversation and started eavesdropping on the one that was unfolding a few seats down.

Purdue’s Braden Smith dished out 15 assists – the second-highest total of his career – while scoring 14 points and nearing a triple-double with eight rebounds.

It didn’t matter to Duke’s Jeremy Roach how poorly he performed in the first half Friday night against Houston.

Stanford achieved its goal of getting out of Maples Pavilion but will go no further, as senior post Cameron Brink saw her career end in her hometown, having fouled out early in the fourth quarter.

An old nemesis of Gonzaga from her years at BYU, the second-year grad transfer stuck it to the Zags one last time. 

PORTLAND – Much to Gonzaga’s frustration, history repeated itself Friday night.

PORTLAND – Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Gonzaga women’s basketball team in the first half Friday.

DETROIT – Gonzaga’s men dominated so thoroughly the first week of the NCAA Tournament, it almost seemed like they had been sandbagging during much of this inconsistent season.

Zach Edey, the reigning national player of the year, piled up 27 points and 14 rebounds, guiding the Boilermakers to an 80-68 win over No. 5 seed Gonzaga on Friday in the Sweet 16 at Little Caesars Arena.

Gonzaga coach Mark Few and player after player described the predicament – trying to crowd 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey inside, but not to the point of leaving Purdue’s capable perimeter shooters open. Gonzaga is familiar with the conundrum because it is essentially what the Zags were able to do to opponents during a surge over the second half of the season that propelled them into Sweet 16.