Grip on Sports: Now you know March is really here – postseason college basketball tournaments are beginning

A GRIP ON SPORTS • And so it begins. If you were flipping around the dial last night, you may have seen snippets – or full games – from the Pac-12 women’s tournament or the WCC tournaments. The NCAA push is underway. Read on.
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• Let’s be honest. The teams playing yesterday in the tournaments mentioned above have a snowball’s chance in Death Valley of winning the NCAA Tournament. So what.
At least, with the advent of conference tournaments, the players get to experience the heartbreak or joy of the sudden end or continuation of their season. It’s somewhat like the NCAAs (or NIT or whatever postseason tournament calls down the road).
And it fills the programming needs of the 732,000 sports-related channels out there.
• The preliminaries take nothing away from the main events. It sort of like how a good appetizer whets your desire for an excellent dinner.
The Gonzaga men and women are the main course for the West Coast Conference tournament, even if neither take the court until after the BYU-mandated Sunday blackout.
To get you ready for the most important WCC games in Las Vegas, we have a special section full of Gonzaga-centric news. It’s a pretty big deal. Consider it your menu for the gourmet meal about to be served.
• Kim and I are contemplating making Vegas (or, more precisely, its suburbs) our winter retirement home. And the next few weeks is a big reason why.
The WCC has its postseason tournament there. Same with the Pac-12. And the Mountain West. The WAC. But it’s not just the basketball that is enticing.
We have family in Southern California. It’s not that far away. There is spring training in Arizona. It’s not that far away. In case of the zombie apocalypse, Area 51 seems like a good place to hide. It’s not that far away.
• I’m not a betting man – Vegas beat that out of me when I was 18 and lost two weeks of meal money at the blackjack tables (I looked old) starting a baseball road trip – but if I were, I would put $20 on either Gonzaga or Virginia winning the NCAA title.
It’s not that I’m sure either will win, but both have as good a chance as anyone. And it’s a nostalgia thing, dating back to watching live the three Gonzaga vs. Washington State games during Tony Bennett’s tenure in Pullman.
A green chip – those are worth 25 cents, right? – to anyone who knows the record between Mark Few and Bennett in the three games.
• Finally, Dan Jenkins died yesterday. Do yourself a favor this weekend. Explore his golf writing in Sports Illustrated’s archives. Read “Dead Solid Perfect” or “Baja Oklahoma” or “You Gotta Play Hurt” or “Life Its Ownself” or “Semi-Tough.” Go back through his Twitter feed. Do whatever you have to do to read his writing.
It’s not perfect. But it’s a hell of lot closer to perfection than all but a couple writers the last half century.
Besides, it is guaranteed to make you laugh as you think. And that’s something everyone needs.
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Gonzaga: You better have some time today to read as well. There is news – Killian Tillie is getting more and more active at practice according to this Jim Meehan story – and there are features – Jim tells us the GU guards are scoring more and documents the Zag dominance of Las Vegas. And there is Jim’s summary of the high points of the regular season. … John Blanchette has a history lesson for you, going back all the way to the early 1990s. … The women need to win in Vegas to have any chance of hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Jim Allen delves into that with this story and also looks at the regular season highlights. … Around the WCC, the tournament opened yesterday with a couple favorites winning. … BYU welcomes back a sick player this week, but is wondering if it will lose one of its stars at the end of the season.
WSU: I wrote about the Pac-12 yesterday, then Larry Weir and I talked about it for the Press Box pod. That and other things. … Around the Pac-12, the mountain schools, Colorado and Utah, made life miserable for the Los Angeles schools, UCLA and USC, in the regular season’s penultimate games. … California won again, this time against rival Stanford. What the heck is going on? … Washington hasn’t been as sharp in the second half of the season. … The postseason tournament lineup is anything but set going into the final games, but it’s getting closer. … There is football news today as well, including from Oregon State, UCLA and USC. … The bowl landscape is changing. Maybe next year’s recruiting class will help.
EWU: The Eagles kept their hopes alive for a bye in the Big Sky tournament, riding Cody Benzel’s career-high 30 points – no, he didn’t have 10 3-pointers; it was only eight – in a 91-62 win at Idaho State. … Around the Big Sky, Portland State swept Montana this season. … Montana State lost at Sacramento State. … Northern Colorado won at Southern Utah. The Bears will host Northern Arizona on Saturday. They lead the conference by a game over Montana.
Idaho: The women clinched a share of the Big Sky regular season title with a win over Weber State in Moscow. … The men lost again, this time in Ogden to Weber.
NIC and CCS: Both of the local schools opened the NWAC tournament with victories.
Chiefs: With six games remaining, Spokane needs a strong finish to catch Portland for second place in the U.S. Division of the WHL. As Dan Thompson explains, the Chiefs are five points behind heading into the stretch.
Preps: Gonzaga Prep’s Anton Watson was voted Washington’s Mr. Basketball by the state coaches’ association. Dave Nichols has more in this story.
Mariners: My favorite Mariner during the glory years? Dan Wilson. Now his his son is coming to Seattle for a college baseball tournament. … Daniel Vogelbach needs to produce to stay in the M’s organization. … The M’s won big yesterday.
Seahawks: No, Russell Wilson is not being traded.
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• Want the answer to the Bennett/Few question? The first game came in December, 2006 in Pullman. The Cougars upset the 18th-ranked Bulldogs 76-66. A year later, in Spokane, Washington State won again, this time getting past the 17th-ranked Zags 51-47. The final meeting came on the Palouse with fourth-ranked GU blowing out Bennett’s last WSU team, 74-52. Until later …