The Slice: For Zags, biggest buzz is on dance floor

SALT LAKE CITY – Anyone who has been in a long-term relationship could recognize the look.

It’s the one that says, “I’m really, really tired of discussing this.”

To varying degrees, that vaguely pained expression was evident on the faces of Gonzaga University basketball players Adam Morrison and J. P. Batista and coach Mark Few on Wednesday afternoon. Those three endured press conferences that seemed to shed zero new light on anything.

To give you an idea of how it went, consider this: The very first question Morrison got was about his exhaustively chronicled mustache.

It did not make him smile.

Need to hear any more? Didn’t think so.

But the tournament of talk is almost over.

GU and Xavier answer all the questions in the only way that matters this afternoon. They actually play the game.

But Wednesday was a day to mark time and wait.

The press conferences took place at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on the campus of the University of Utah in this snow-covered city. (Though it’s possible, after going through one astonishingly long tunnel and hiking down another seemingly endless walkway, that the interview room was actually located somewhere in Arizona.)

A makeshift stage stood before a blue banner that featured about a million “NCAA” graphics.

Even the microphones said “NCAA.”

Emerging from behind a curtain and climbing a few steps, Morrison and Batista appeared with zero fanfare. And after a couple of minutes of just sitting there, during which they looked like guys in a dentist’s waiting room, the low-energy press conference began.

“I’m from Spokane, so a mustache is OK,” said Morrison at one point.

Any follow-ups?

A little while later, it was Few’s turn.

He said Xavier was a good team, and his highly-ranked squad would not take them lightly.

Stop the presses.

Oh, OK, the give-and-take was more specific than that. But after a while, it can all start to sound the same.

If you’ve seen snippets of these kinds of interviews on ESPN, you might have concluded that they are exciting in a sports-nerd kind of way. You would be mistaken.

About the only buzz came from reporters’ cell phones set on “vibrate.”

Perhaps postgame sessions are different, when emotions are high. But Wednesday afternoon’s edition of “Zags Meet the Press” was a distinctly sparkless affair.

It’s not the fault of the players or the coach, of course. They didn’t come down here to talk.

They all appeared to have reconnected with the life force a short time later during a practice on the Huntsman Center’s main court. Few smiled, and the players danced through drills with an ease and grace that is awesome to witness up close.

Sneaker squeaks seemed to echo up to the far reaches of the bowl-like arena full of temporarily empty bright-red seats.

Adam Lewis and his dad, Stan, were among the handful of spectators.

Lewis, a second-year law student at Gonzaga, started his day in Spokane on Wednesday. At shortly after the crack of dawn, he flew to Boise, and then on to Salt Lake City.

He’s into the Zags, you might say.

His dad, a corporate lawyer in Anchorage, Alaska, arranged for the NCAA tickets and met his son here in Utah.

But even these two basketball nuts found that they had said about all they had to say on the subjects of brackets, underdogs, seedings and such as the tournament’s first round loomed.

“How much do you know about Spokane’s housing market?” Stan asked me.

He really likes the city and is considering a relocation.

Down on the floor, the Zags were wrapping up their practice with some one-on-ones that made the players holler with delight.

They looked so young and happy.

Maybe part of that was relief brought by the recognition of one simple fact.

The time for talking is almost over.