NCAA basketball

The conference that doesn't exist (yet) is staring at just two bids for March Madness, and are reliant upon upsets in the conference tournaments in order to send a third future member into the upcoming NCAAs.

Gonzaga returned to the top 10 in the Associated Press college basketball poll after an upset-filled week in which eight top-10 teams suffered setbacks.

Knowing how Gonzaga handled many of its nonleague contests against high-major opponents, some might have deduced the Zags would breeze through their West Coast Conference schedule, outside of close calls against the teams that traditionally sit beside them in the WCC standings.

PULLMAN – At the moment when David Riley decided to yank Ace Glass, Washington State’s star freshman guard capable of scoring in ways that only visit this campus once in a blue moon, their team was still in a good spot. The Cougars were fighting an uphill battle against Saint Mary’s, one of the titans of the West Coast Conference, and they trailed by only one. Midway through the second half, the hosts were squarely in the fight for Riley’s first signature win of the season.

Two days after giving up more points than it had against any Big Sky opponent this season, the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team shut down the Portland State Vikings on Saturday, earning a 67-55 victory over the league’s No. 1 team at Viking Pavilion in Portland.

No. 11 Gonzaga ups efficiency in the second half to beat Pacific

For one reason or another, it hasn't always been smooth sailing for Gonzaga against Pacific despite the considerable gulf that usually exists between the teams in the West Coast Conference standings.

The Idaho women’s basketball team keeps stacking up wins, and the Vandals are doing so in convincing fashion.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Washington State women’s basketball team never led, and the Cougs didn’t really offer much of a challenge against Oregon State.

It took Gonzaga a few moments to shake Pacific, but in the end, offensive balance nullified a career game for one Tiger.

Fogle has emerged in a more prominent role in the rotation in the 11 games Braden Huff has been sidelined with a knee injury.

Freshman Davis Fogle and Emmanuel Innocenti provided a scoring boost with Graham Ike enduring an up-and-down evening offensively. Both have become important contributors with Braden Huff missing the last 11 games with a knee injury.

Gonzaga will learn all the important details in three weeks’ time – seed, site, region, opponent – but Saturday’s early NCAA Tournament bracket reveal gave the Zags a sense of how they’re viewed by selection committee members less than a month before Selection Sunday.

Even two years ago, it might have been easy to look at Gonzaga’s upcoming home swing and pencil the Zags in for two routine victories.

If you ranked the people responsible for rebuilding Pacific’s basketball program after a decade of turmoil and turbulence, second-year coach Dave Smart would be an obvious choice for No. 1 on the list.

It happened before and it occurred a third time Thursday.

It was more of the same on Thursday for the Big Sky Conference’s top team.

The Eastern Washington men’s basketball team set a season high in scoring and continued its late-season surge, extending its winning streak to five games with a 102-94 road victory over Sacramento State on Thursday at Hornet Pavilion.

On the heels of his eighth consecutive 20-point game, Gonzaga’s Graham Ike was one of 30 players named to the Naismith Award Late-Season Team on Thursday morning.