Grip on Sports: Gonzaga wins again. If you want the condensed version of what happened against North Dakota State, this isn’t the place to look

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Where were we? Oh ya, in the same place we are now. With Gonzaga winning. Read on.

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• We are also in the same place personally. Doing our civic duty. So today’s column will read more like those books your grandma used to have on her mantle. You know the ones. From Readers’ Digest. The condensed versions of classics and sort-of classics. Great for reading while Uncle Dan and Aunt Alice were fighting over Thanksgiving dinner.

Below you will find all the stories that appeared in The Spokesman-Review sports section this morning. And a few more from around the nation. But as long as we have to leave for the courthouse early in the morning, we won’t be going into as much depth as usual. When our jury duty requirement goes away, we will be back to normal. Promise.

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WSU: Now that the regular season is in the rearview mirror, we can start enjoying the rumor season. Mike Leach will be a big part of it. Already is, actually, though he denied any interest in the open Texas Tech job when asked about it by our Theo Lawson. … Theo is a voter in the Associated Press basketball poll and he explained this week’s selections in this story. … He also spoke with Larry Weir for the most recent Press Box pod. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, there was a huge basketball upset last night in Eugene. Texas Southern, which recently lost at Gonzaga by 37 points, handled Oregon 89-84. That really hurts the conference in the long run. … California’s win over Santa Clara doesn’t help much. … Arizona State had an argument to be ranked. … In football, an Oregon State quarterback is transferring. … Oregon’s bowl situation is interesting. … Here is one opinion on the best in the Pac-12 this season, including Leach as Coach of the Year and Gardner Minshew as Player of the Year. … Utah has finally made it to the conference championship game. … USC will keep Clay Helton. That is all. … Which NFL-bound players will skip bowl games this season? … Will Khalil Tate transfer from Arizona?

Gonzaga: At some point we will move this section to the top of the daily links list but not today. The Zags, who for the third time in their history ascended to the top spot in the polls, overcame their first challenge without Geno Crandall, routing North Dakota State 102-60 at the Kennel. Jim Meehan was there and has the game analysis and the three keys to the win. Earlier in the day he covered the poll news as well as Crandall’s injury, a broken hand that will keep him out four-to-six weeks. Two of Gonzaga’s top seven players are now sidelined. … If that’s all Jim had for us, that would be enough. But no. He also covers the newest NCAA metric system, the NET rankings, which were released for the first time Monday. And Rui Hachimura was named WCC player of the week again. … John Blanchette is back from Hawaii, was at the NDSU rout and has this column on what the Crandall injury will mean to the Zags. … Dan Pelle has the photo report from last night’s game. … Finally, I have my TV Take, which had a since-fixed typo in the first sentence. (I am blaming autocorrect.) … Finally, editor Rob Curley explains how hard it is to be a fan of both Gonzaga and Kansas right now. … While we were out doing our civic duty, we didn’t report a home loss for BYU or another USD victory.

Chiefs: Spokane made a trade with Kamloops yesterday and picked up a veteran center.

Seahawks: The Hawks are coming off a crucial win in Carolina in which a lot went wrong, but the crucial things went right. … Russell Wilson was on his own at times against the Panthers. … That they are even in the playoff hunt is a tribute to Pete Carroll. … Next up are the 49ers.

Mariners: The M’s now have a hitting coach. Remember the old adage, those who can’t do, teach? … Jean Segura is available.

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• Whenever I am faced with a tough task, I always think of the graveyard scene from “Young Frankenstein.” You know the one, right, where Prof. Frankenstein and Igor are digging up the criminal’s body and the professor begins complaining about how hard the work is. “I don’t know, it could be worse,” Igor says. “How?” “It could be raining.” And then it starts to pour. Apropos of nothing, it is raining hard in Spokane this morning. Until later …