A Grip on Sports: It’s been a shiny season for the Seahawks, but a bit of the shine has been scratched from Gonzaga’s big game this week
A GRIP ON SPORTS • The English language is weird. Take the word “luster” for example. You can take luster off something, like Gonzaga’s Wednesday night matchup with North Carolina, but you can’t really put it on something, even though the 49ers tried after the Seahawks had already finished their Sunday.
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• The matchup with the Tar Heels at McCarthey was circled in red long before the season began. Mainly because … well mainly because it’s freaking North Carolina for goodness sakes. And it is in Spokane.
But the news this weekend, and yesterday’s results, may have proved North Carolina isn’t North Carolina this year – if you get my drift. Star freshman Cole Anthony’s knee injury, which will probably keep him out of Wednesday’s game, and UNC’s 68-64 home loss yesterday to Wofford, which lost to William and Mary for goodness sake, is enough to dull even the shiniest of matchups.
Add in the surprising news the Tar Heels have dropped three consecutive games so they may not even be ranked this time tomorrow and the game of games – this week – for Gonzaga is no longer as high up on the national radar.
Funny thing, though. North Carolina’s woes may have raised the stakes a bit more for the Bulldogs.
A typical UNC team comes in, does what it does and leaves with a win, Gonzaga supporters can cite all their team’s injuries, complain about the whistles and call it an aberration.
But if this Tar Heel group leaves with an upset, especially if Leaky Smith is also out, then the Zags’ resume come March will have a huge black mark. It won’t matter Killian Tillie is dealing with a sprained ankle or Anton Watson can’t lift his left arm. Nope. All that anyone will remember is a beat-up UNC team still had enough to take down the Zags. In Spokane.
• The Seahawks took down Carolina in Charlotte yesterday morning (our time). When they went up 30-10 midway through the fourth quarter, some of us decided it was over and went upstairs to work.
Big mistake. Bobby Wagner was hurt, the Hawks gave up two quick touchdowns and the game actually was in some doubt in the final couple minutes. Lucky thing for my blood pressure I had no idea.
Talk about scraping away a lustrous finish.
Are Seahawks’ fans used to it? Sure. It’s what their team does this season. And considering how many defensive starters were not on the field the final few minutes, it is understandable.
What may not be so easy to comprehend is where the Hawks now reside in the NFC standings. For some unknown reason, their win, along with San Francisco’s home loss to Atlanta, vaulted Seattle into the conference’s No. 1 seed.
Not sure how all that works, but I’ll take the NFL’s word for it. All I know is Hawk fans are now supposed to root for the Packers, or something like that.
It’s all moot, right? The NFL is such a week-by-week league, the Seahawks could just as easily end up with the five seed as they could the first. But we do know something really cool. In what was supposed to be a step-back year (sorry, M’s fans, but that seemed the appropriate descriptive phrase), they have made the playoffs once again.
And, baring a complete collapse the final two weeks, there is nothing that can take the luster off that.
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WSU: Remember the old days in Pullman when the Cougars won basketball games? Oops, forget to finish that sentence. Wanted to add “with defense.” Anyhow, those days are back to some degree. The Cougars’ defense shined and Washington State won again yesterday, stopping UC Riverside – the Apollo College of the UC system – 70-56 at Beasley. Theo Lawson was in attendance and has this story. … Theo also has a football story. (As an aside, considering the bowl game WSU will be in, should I label everything football-related from Pullman the next couple weeks “cheezy?” No? OK. Thanks for your input.) It’s on Blake Mazza and his past few weeks. … The women’s basketball team earned another tough win, stopping UC Irvine – the Harvard of the UC system – 87-59. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, Washington wants to win the Las Vegas Bowl for Chris Petersen. … There are challenges awaiting Utah in its bowl and not all come from Texas. … Arizona State will be missing one of its wide receivers in its bowl game. … In basketball news, outside shooting has been a strength for one Oregon player. … Colorado is looking to regroup. … USC defeated Long Beach State. … The Gonzaga loss bothers Sean Miller and Arizona.
Gonzaga: Before Jim Meehan started delving into North Carolina’s injury problems, he looked back at the Arizona game (with some UW thoughts mixed in). … The Zags were sixth in the NCAA’s first NET rankings released this morning.
Whitworth: Ben College was destined to play college hoops. I mean, c’mon. It’s in his name for goodness sakes. But there’s more to it. Dan Thompson tells us what that more is in this story.
Seahawks: It was a thin Hawk defense that took the field yesterday, and it got thinner as the game wore on. Jadeveon Clowney didn’t make the trip and Quandre Diggs left the field in a boot. … They had enough, however, to hold on for the win.
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• Can you believe it? This is the last full week before Christmas and the penultimate full week of 2019. The roaring ‘20s – 2000 version – are almost upon us. Isn’t that scary? … By the way, if you are wondering why I would make such a disparaging remark about UC Riverside, I have a friend – maybe a former friend – who attended that institute of higher learning. (If you want to call it that.) Until later …