Gonzaga begins NCAA basketball title quest

The Gonzaga Bulldogs, listed inside the top 15 in several preseason basketball polls, will hold their first practice today at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

The Zags, coming off a 29-7 campaign that ended with a loss to Arizona in the NCAA tournament, return three starters: guards Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. and center Przemek Karnowski. Kyle Wiltjer, who sat out last season after transferring from Kentucky, and freshman Domantas Sabonis are skilled power forwards who can also play the center position.

Transfer Byron Wesley, who averaged 17.8 points and 6.4 rebounds last year at USC, and junior Kyle Dranginis, who started eight games and averaged 24.2 minutes last season, are candidates at small forward.

The fans’ first chance to see the Zags will be at Kraziness in the Kennel on Oct. 25. Gonzaga is host to Thompson Rivers in an exhibition game Nov. 1, and opens the regular season against visiting Sacramento State on Nov. 14.

Washington State

New coach Ernie Kent will hold his first formal practice at Washington State today as the Cougars begin preparing for their Nov. 7 home exhibition game against Azusa Pacific. The Cougars’ regular-season opener comes Nov. 14 at UTEP.

Kent joined WSU last spring after a three-year break from coaching. He takes over a team that has struggled the last two seasons, including a 10-21 record last year that resulted in the dismissal of previous coach Ken Bone.

The new coach does have some talent returning, and he put together a four-person recruiting class over the spring and summer and added a transfer from Houston in center Valentine Izundu.

Senior guard DaVonte Lacy will lead the Cougars after averaging 19.4 points per game last season. His backcourt mate will likely be Que Johnson, a sophomore that the Cougars relied on for scoring when Lacy missed time with illness and injury last year.

Eastern Washington

The Eagles will open practice Saturday morning with their regular-season opener coming on Nov. 14 against Texas Southern. EWU will be host to Puget Sound in an exhibition game on Nov. 9.

“We are really excited to start the season and get practices started,” said coach Jim Hayford, who didn’t have a senior in the lineup last year on a team that finished 10-10 in the Big Sky Conference and 15-16 overall.

The Eagles return highly regarded juniors-to-be Tyler Harvey and Venky Jois. Harvey was a first-team All-Big Sky selection and earned second-team honors on the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 6 team – EWU’s first player honored on that team since Rodney Stuckey in 2007.

Eastern has 30 practice dates prior to its game against Texas Southern. The Eagles will follow that with home games against Utah Valley on Nov. 17 and Walla Walla on Nov. 19.

Idaho

The Vandals return to the Big Sky Conference this season, renewing rivalries with the likes of Montana and Eastern Washington.

They get the earliest start of the four schools with an exhibition game against Simon Fraser on Oct. 31 and another exhibition on Nov. 7 against Lewis-Clark State. The first regular-season game is Nov. 14 against Eastern Oregon in Memorial Gym.

The Vandals return three senior starters to a team that finished 16-18 overall under coach Don Verlin, who is starting his sixth season at Idaho.

Senior guard Connor Hill (Post Falls) is the leading returning scorer. He averaged 14.2 points a game last season.

Senior power forward Bira Seck also started all 34 games for the Vandals last season and earned the Gus Johnson Award as the team’s top defender.

Point guard Mike Scott returns for senior season after starting 16 games last season and averaging 8.7 points and 2.2 assists a game.