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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Grip on Sports: Every point over the years has built a memory we can call on as the years go by

Gonzaga Prep's Anton Watson (32) lays in the ball against Mt. Spokane during a high school basketball game on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018, at Mt. Spokane High School in Mead, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We are never too busy for a walk down memory lane. Which makes today’s story from prep writer Dave Nichols one of those pieces we can get lost reading. Read on.

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• As Gonzaga Prep’s Anton Watson ascended the all-time Greater Spokane League scoring ladder this season, his rise began to trigger memories of the league’s other great scorers.

Adam Morrison. Angie Bjorklund. Sean Mallon. Derek Taylor. Players we watched grow up around Spokane and then go on to score either more than or close to 1,000 points in GSL games.

It’s funny. Some of them seemed destined for greatness in fifth or sixth grade (Bjorklund and Mallon come to mind). Others, like Morrison and Watson, who will share a Gonzaga University bond, began to really excel in middle school and beyond. But all of them seemed to find the right fit in high school, no matter which one.

The girls’ list is dominated by players from the past 10 years. Five of the top six on the list played in that time frame. The boys’ reaches farther back into the past, with Watson the only player to reach the top five in the past decade. I’m not sure why that is, but it’s worth noting.

Anyhow, Dave’s story is a fun one. And well worth your time – even if it triggers memories of sitting on rock-hard high school bleachers, jammed in among hundreds of strangers while you wonder just how much noise your ears can really handle.

• If you have some time this morning, you might want to spend it reading another story as well. Yahoo Sports has an in-depth look at the problems facing Arizona’s Sean Miller (and others) arising from the FBI investigation.

The fire should really get stoked in April when Christian Dawkins’ trial begins.

Dawkins, who worked for a sports agency, has already been found guilty in federal court once. Now he faces even more charges.

And Miller is almost certain to be dragged into it.

It’s a long and complicated story, but well worth the time. Why? Because it sure seems as if the landscape of college basketball, at least on the West Coast, could change if Miller is implicated and forced out at UA. After all, even with all this hanging over his head, Miller has attracted the top recruiting class in the nation for next season. The Wildcats are poised to bounce back if Miller can survive the next few months.

If not, there are five highly rated players who may just be looking for a one-year college destination again.

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Gonzaga: Speaking of high school basketball players and the Bulldogs, a highly sought-after center will visit GU soon. Jim Meehan has that story. … Jim also takes a look at the NCAA title contenders, of which Gonzaga is certainly one. … The women are ranked as high as they have ever been. … Around the WCC, BYU had a young player emerge last week. (Yes, this is the same sentence we wrote yesterday. But it is a different story.)

WSU: Theo Lawson didn’t write about anything yesterday but he certainly spoke about some important items. He did that with Larry Weir for the latest Press Box pod. … So how did Bill Moos lure Mike Leach to Pullman? It’s a pretty interesting story actually, and Jon Wilner goes over it again. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12, it is once again football’s signing day. There will be news from around the conference as schools fill out their recruiting classes. We have previews of Washington’s day, but we’ll wait to sum up everyone else’s tomorrow morning. … Arizona State is already in spring practice. … Colorado will not have its best player available until the summer. … In basketball news, Oregon’s Payton Pritchard is trying to shoot his way out of a slump. … Halfway through the conference season, neither UCLA nor USC seem to be a contender to make the NCAA Tournament. … Neither is Utah. … Arizona also has injury problems.

EWU: Jacob Davison had a big game Monday night. Tuesday, he was named Big Sky player of the week.

Preps: Dave’s story is the highlight of the day’s prep coverage, but we also have roundups of girls and boys action from yesterday.

Seahawks: The draft is still a ways away but there are always mock ones available. … An assistant coach is leaving.

Sounders: Seattle made a trade yesterday.

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• When I first started coaching Anton Watson in seventh grade, I wasn’t sure what his ceiling was. I had watched his dad, Deon, play at UI and his older brother, also Deon, play AAU and in high school, but Anton was his own person, at that time a quiet young man trying to find his path. After a couple seasons working with him, my thoughts changed. I was sure his ceiling was really high. It still is. Until later …