John Blanchette

LAS VEGAS – In the midst of another net-cutting and another confetti shower from the rafters of Orleans Arena, Gonzaga coach Mark Few wrapped an arm around guard Gary Bell Jr. and another around Bell’s mother, Vivian. “This is our Senior Night!” he insisted. “This is our Senior Night!”

Could sophomore Kevin Pangos handle senior Kevin Pangos? Would the most embattled Gonzaga team of the last decade have a shot against the only Bulldogs to climb to No. 1? Would Adam Morrison go off for 40 points on Kyle Wiltjer – and vice versa? And who were the dolts who seeded a 28-3 team that climbed to No. 3 in the polls behind their Bulldog brothers who never cracked the Top 25?

LAS VEGAS – Less is more is a nice concept, if forever difficult to sell and even harder to fully embrace as a practical matter. Should it need a poster child for PR purposes, let this be a nomination for Byron Wesley.

LAS VEGAS – A rebound, a few swift dribbles up court, a bold move to the hoop – it was Lindsay Sherbert revealed, if not as her old self, then as a reasonable facsimile, playing with the practiced abandon so prized by her Gonzaga teammates. Then came the collision and a fall, and a disturbing flashback, and in a mere second everything but the silence was siphoned out of Orleans Arena. What is worse than unlucky? What makes unfair seem like a gift by comparison?

The people who ask Clark Vining every year – heck, every game night – if this dynasty business ever gets old presume to already know the answer. And they do.

Twenty-five years ago, hockey as we know it ended. Mick Vukota scored a natural hat trick. In the National Hockey League. In a span of exactly 5 minutes.

PULLMAN – In the last episode of Baby Steps Toward a Basketball Renaissance, Dexter Kernich-Drew had just gutted Arizona State with an implausible shot and delirium ruled at Friel Court. Washington State had taken down the team that had taken down Arizona, the most gifted collaboration this side of Kentucky, and the extrapolation made anything possible. But rather than get swept away on this endorphin wave, Cougars coach Ernie Kent dog-paddled for a brief moment.

In the last episode of Baby Steps Toward a Basketball Renaissance, Dexter Kernich-Drew had just gutted Arizona State with an implausible shot and delirium ruled at Friel Court.

It was a frigid, foggy December Monday, and inside the lifeless Spokane Coliseum the Washington State Cougars were trying – and mostly failing – to commit actual basketball. The old barn was a sad enough place – famed columnist Jim Murray once asked where they stored the dirigible on game nights. But on this evening it was especially grim, as maybe 450 people had sought shelter to watch the Cougs against what was supposed to be a Division II pastry, Eastern Montana College. In the middle of a scoreless first overtime – the Cougs would lose in three – WSU coach George Raveling left his bench and took a knee in front of the press table, presumably for a better view of the inaction at the far end of the floor. Instead, he looked over at two reporters and sighed.

It was a frigid, foggy December Monday, and inside the lifeless Spokane Coliseum the Washington State Cougars were trying – and mostly failing – to commit actual basketball.

There was no sign of anyone from the Big Sky Conference hierarchy on hand to outwardly root against Sacramento State during Thursday’s big basketball summit at Reese Court – though no one checked inside Swoop’s costume to see if that might be commissioner Doug Fullerton flapping Eagle feathers around the court with talons crossed. Still, Eastern Washington didn’t just do itself a favor in staving off the Hornets 64-61 in front of 3,114 – the biggest Reese jury in three years.

Grateful farewells and perturbed asides go down together like bourbon and butane, but that was the cocktail of choice on Vernon Adams’ getaway day. Eastern Washington’s quicksilver quarterback turned foregone conclusion into reality Monday, tweeting out his pledge to transfer to the University of Oregon for his last season of college football and first semester of grad school.

Spring was moving aside for summer in 1997, and golf was being turned on its head. A couple months before, Tiger Woods had become the first African- American to win the Masters – by 12 strokes no less. Already he’d been Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year. He would jump to No. 1 in the world golf rankings despite being “humbled” by Congressional Country Club and a 19th-place finish in the U.S. Open in mid-June.

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Word has it Robert Kraft was so giddy about his New England Patriots winning another Super Bowl that he celebrated – by firing Pete Carroll again. Thereby saving any kneejerk 12s the trouble.

PHOENIX – Russell Wilson is the next Tom Brady. Probably. The question is, does the torch get passed today or somewhere further down the line?