John Blanchette: Renewal of Gonzaga-Washington will be true wake-up call

After nine years of indifferent chill, Gonzaga and Washington will resume basketball relations this week, and applause is due.

Not just for the détente, though that’s outstanding and welcome, too.

But surely it couldn’t be more ironic or apt or ironically apt that the renewal of what was for a time the high-temperature meeting on the pre-New Year’s side of the college basketball schedule in our parts – and then the most overblown divorce since Tiger and fill-in-the-swing-coach – is taking place 3,000 miles away in midweek at a time when the coffee hasn’t even kicked in yet.

And that’s presuming the power has been restored to your house by then to watch on TV.

This will not make the game an afterthought, exactly. Well, OK, it might.

Not to the two teams playing it, of course. But really, at 9 a.m. PST on the eve of Thanksgiving, you’re more likely to be thawing the turkey or thawing the pipes than enjoying the Zags-Dawgs thaw.

And even at that awkward hour, the moment may be more significant than the opponent.

“The biggest thing for us is, we’re in one of these tournaments and you want to keep playing at night,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “That’s your biggest motivator. You want to give yourself a chance to play for the championship.”

The championship in question is that of the Battle 4 Atlantis, an eight-team klatch on Paradise Island, Bahamas, featuring all sorts of high-end college basketball teams, but only two of any particular concern around here.

It’s happening in just a few days, but it all seemed far away Saturday night, and not just because it’s hard to put the Bahamas in context when the indoor temperature in much of Spokane is in the 40s.

The Zags were occupied at the good-and-warm McCarthey Athletic Center with Mount St. Mary’s, a dogged little outfit from up near the Maryland-Pennsylvania line and not to be confused with Saint Mary’s, in that the Mountaineers have been to the NCAA tournament more recently than the Gaels.

This one went marginally better than the home opener Wednesday, Gonzaga finally steamrolling the visitors 101-56 and nicely spreading the glory – or what passes for it in these purchased victories – with six Bulldogs scoring in double figures.

The most prominent was the latest buzzkid, Domantas Sabonis, who also had 14 rebounds to go with his 15 points. But it also included the likes of guards Kyle Dranginis, Silas Melson, Eric McClellan and Josh Perkins, who served more as out-of-focus extras in Game 1.

All had their moments – McClellan the spark in the early going, Melson with some welcome aggression attacking the basket, Perkins with a couple of sensational passes and Dranginis with back-to-back 3s to break the game open.

Speaking of which, the Bulldogs shot 50 percent from beyond the arc – with the five guards in rotation going 10 of 18. So there.

And they turned it over 10 times in the first half. So there back.

These growing pains are hardly unexpected, given the graduation of Gary Bell Jr. and Kevin Pangos, Gonzaga’s starting guard tandem dating backed to the laced ball. Few’s mission is simply stated if not simply achieved: shortening the times when “we look awful for stretches,” and drawing out the good stuff.

“Hopefully, there was a good lesson tonight in moving on to the next play,” he said, sounding very much like a bowl-bound football coach in this area. “Some of the guys young to the program struggle with that – they have a tendency to dwell and feel sorry for themselves. You just can’t. Got to move on.”

Especially come the next assignment. Beyond Washington, the potential opponents in the Bahamas are Texas, Texas A&M, Charlotte, Syracuse and two ranked ogres on the other side of the bracket, No. 19 Connecticut and No. 24 Michigan.

Gee, how did the Huskies and Bulldogs get paired in the first round?

“I don’t think it was the flip of a coin,” Few said.

The funny thing is, the schools had agreed to restart their series next season anyway – this just accelerated it a bit. It’s wonderful that it’s happening in this fashion after all the ill will – real and imagined – and laughable “neutral site” solutions and, worst of all, statehouse grandstanding that we can only hope will be forgotten by the time they begin showing up at each others’ arenas again.

Also, it could be pretty good. The Dawgs are 3-0, young and feisty and playing better than pretty much anyone thought.

“I know a lot of those guys personally,” Melson said, “and I know they have a chip on their shoulder this year. They think they’re underrated.”

Set your alarms. We’re about to find out.